CHAPTER 15 LEARNING STRATEGIES

MAJOR LEARNING STRATEGIES AND PROCESSES

Much learning takes place on the job simply because people spend such a large proportion of their lives at
work. Furthermore, workers at all levels are expected to learn new job skills and technology continuously.
Learning is generally considered to be a lasting change in behavior based on practice and expenence.

A. Classical Conditioning:: Learning Simple Habits and Reflexes

The principles of classical conditioning stem from Ivan Pavlov’s digestion experiments that help
people understand the most elementary type of learning - how people acquire uncomplicated habits and
reflexes. It helps explain such elementary job behaviors as how people learn to avoid being conked on
the head by cranes and low-hanging pipes in the workplace.

B. Operant Conditioning:: Learning Through Behavior

Operant conditioning is learning that takes place as a consequence of behavior. A person’s actions
are instrumental in determining whether learning takes place.
Reinforcement Strategies. The term reinforcement refers to the means
by which behaviors are selected and retained.
a. Positive reinforcement refers to adding something rewarding to a situation.
b. Negative reinforcement refers to taking something unpleasant away from a situation.
c. Punishment refers to the introduction of an unpleasant stimulus as a consequence of the learning
having done something wrong.
d. Extinction refers to the weakening or decreasing of the frequency of undesirable behavior by
removing the reward for such behavior.

C. Modeling and Informal Learning: Learning Complicated Skills

When you acquire a complicated skill, you learn much more than simple a single stimulus-response
relationship. You learn a large number of these relationships, and you also learn how to put them
together in a cohesive, smooth flowing pattern. Both modeling and informal learning are used in
learning complicated skills and are based on processes that are inferred to take place in the brain.
Complicated learning is called a cognitive process because it requires the learner to make a number
of judgments and observations, or demanding mental activities.
1. Modeling. Occurs when you learn a skill by observing another person perform the skill. It is
considered a form of social learning because it is learned in the presence of others.
2. Informal Learning. Another way of learning complex skills in the workplace. It can be planned or
unplanned learning that occurs without a formal classroom, lesson plan, instructor, or
examination. Informal learning can be regarded as a variation of implicit learning, or learning that
takes place unconsciously and without an intention to learn.
D. E- Learning
Important innovations in learning have taken place in both schools and industry through the use of
distance learning, technology-based learning, and e-Iearning. E-Iearning is a Web-based form of
computer-based training in which the learner studies independently outside of a classroom setting and
interacts with a computer in addition to studying course materials.

LEARNING STYLES
Another important concept in understanding learning is learning style, the fact that people learn
best in different ways. Some people acquire new material best through passive learning (such as
reading), and others learn best by doing.

A. Visual. Auditory. and Kinesthetic Learning Styles

Visual learners (V) learn best by seeing, auditory learners (A) prefer to learn by hearing, and
kinesthetic learners (K) learn best while touching and moving.
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B. Improving Learning and Brain Functioning Through Rest
Common wisdom suggests that it is easier to learn when you are rested, and scientific evidence
supports this contention. The potential benefits of sleep include stronger memory and better attention
spans.

D. Individual Differences Related to Learning

In general, people with higher mental ability and personality traits that allow them to concentrate
better (such as emotional stability and conscientiousness) acquire knowledge and skills more readily.
A large-scale research study supports the idea that cognitive skills and personality traits contribute
to a person profiting from training, and then using the acquired information to enhance job
performance.

E. Continuous Learning During Your Career

A reality of almost all occupations is that career success, and even survival, depends on continuous
learning.
HOW PERCEPTION INFLUENCES HOW PEOPLE
INTERPRET THE WORLD
1. Characteristics of the Stimulus. Perceptual problems are most likely to be encountered when the
stimulus or cue to be perceived has an emotional meaning.
2. Mental Processes of People. The devices people used to deal with sensory information playa major
role in creating perceptual problems. Several of these can also be classified as defensive behavior.

a. Selective attention is giving exclusive attention to something at the expense of other aspects
of the environment.
b. Denial is the process of excluding from awareness an important aspect of reality.
c. Stereotyping is a common method of simplifying perception by evaluating an individual or
thing based on our perception of the group or class to which the person or object belongs.
d. Halo effect is the tendency to color everything we know about a person because of one
recognizable favorable or unfavorable trait.
e. Projection occurs when we project our own faults onto others instead of making an
objective appraisal of the situation.

Attribution Theory: How We Perceive the Causes of Behavior Attribution theory is the study of
the process by which people ascribe causes to the behavior they perceive. People attribute causes after
fathering information about three dimensions of behavior: consensus, distinctiveness, and consistency.
1. Consensus concerns whether other people behave similarly.
2. Distinctiveness concerns whether the behavior in question occurred in other situations.
3. Consistency concerns the regularity of the behavior.

TACTICS FOR COPING WITH CHANGE

Adapting to change is necessary for career success, and even survival. A few tactics for coping with change
include:
1. Look for the personal value that could be embedded in a forced change.
2. Ask “What if?” questions.
3. Force yourself to enjoy at least some small aspect of the change
4. Recognize that change is inevitable.
5. Change before you have to, which can lead to a better deal.
6. Continue to acquire useful knowledge.