ATTRIBUTION Theory
 One of the most fundamental ways in which
ATTRIBUTION
 An explanation of the cause of behavior.
Attribution theory
 Describes how people explain the causes of
their own and other people’s behavior.
Attribution theory is interested in why
people behave the way they do and what
can be done to change their behavior.
Internal and External Attributions
 People generally attribute someone’s
behavior to internal and external causes.
An internal attribution assigns the cause of
behavior to some characteristic of the target and
assigns credit or blame to the individual actor.
External attributions assign the cause of behavior
to factors outside the individual.
Attributional Biases
 The attributions people make to their own
behaviors and those of others can have a
profound impact on their subsequent
actions.
FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION ERROR
 The tendency to over attribute behavior to
internal rather than to external causes.
ACTOR–OBSERVER EFFECT
 The tendency to attribute the behavior of
others to internal causes and to attribute
one’s own behavior to external causes.
SELF-SERVING ATTRIBUTION
 The tendency to take credit for successes
and avoid blame for failures.
The Nature of Learning
 Learning is a relatively permanent change in
knowledge or behavior that results from
practice or experience.
Learning through Consequences
people learn throughout their lives is
through the consequences they receive for
their behaviors and actions.
OPERANT CONDITIONING
 Learning that takes place when the learner
recognizes the connection between a
behavior and its consequences.
Encouraging Desired Behaviors through
Positive and Negative Reinforcement
REINFORCEMENT
 The process by which the probability that a
desired behavior will occur is increased by
applying consequences that depend on the
behavior.
IDENTIFYING DESIRED BEHAVIORS
 The first step in the use of reinforcement is
to identify desired behaviors that the
organization wants to encourage or
reinforce, such as using safety equipment or
giving customers good service.
POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT
 Positive reinforcement increases the
probability that a behavior will occur by
administering positive consequences to
employees who perform the behavior.
NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT
 Reinforcement that increases the
probability of a desired behavior by
removing a negative consequence when an
employee performs the behavior.
Discouraging Undesired Behaviors
through Extinction and Punishment
EXTINCTION
 According to the principles of operant
conditioning, all behaviors—good and
 bad—are controlled by reinforcing EVALUATE WHETHER THE INTERVENTION
consequences. WAS SUCCESSFUL IN CHANGING BEHAVIOR
 At this last step, the frequency of the
PUNISHMENT behavior is again measured to determine if
 The administration of a negative the intervention was successful. If the
consequence when undesired behavior behavior has been successfully modified,
occurs. then all that needs to be done at this step is
to maintain the intervention.
ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
MODIFICATION (OB MOD) SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY
 The systematic application of the principles  A learning theory that takes into account
of operant conditioning for teaching and the fact that thoughts, feelings, and the
managing important organizational social environment influence learning.
behaviors.
Cognitive processes
Five-step process:
 are the various thought processes that
IDENTIFY THE BEHAVIOR TO BE LEARNED people engage in.
OB MOD
 Should be used to encourage behaviors that VICARIOUS LEARNING
can be observed by others (and can,  Learning that occurs when one person
therefore, be reinforced), are important for learns a behavior by watching another
task performance, and can be measured. person perform the behavior.

MEASURE THE FREQUENCY OF THE Learning on Your Own

BEHAVIOR
 Before any actions are taken, it is important SELF-CONTROL
to get a baseline measure of how often the  Self-discipline that allows a person to learn
identified behavior occurs. to perform a behavior even though there is
no external pressure to do so
ANALYZE THE ANTECEDENTS AND
CONSEQUENCES OF THE BEHAVIOR SELF-REINFORCERS
 Once the frequency of the behavior has  Consequences or rewards that individuals
been determined, it is important to identify can give to themselves.
the current antecedents and consequences
of the behavior. SELF-EFFICACY
 A person’s belief about his or her ability to
INTERVENE TO CHANGE THE FREQUENCY perform a particular behavior successfully.
OF THE BEHAVIOR
 Interventions can include introducing
antecedents and applying operant
conditioning techniques including positive
reinforcement, negative reinforcement,
punishment, and extinction.