Foundations of Individual Behavior

Foundations of Individual Behavior

Individual Behavior
 Companies who are looking for employees look for
individual characteristics that will improve the
chances of success
 Individual differences exist
 Biographical characteristics
 Abilities
 Personality
 Perception
 Attitudes
 Emotions
 Moods
 Each interacts with the other and with the task
to impact the way the employee does the job

So, lets look at the task and try to decide what

kind of person we need to successfully accomplish
it. A task/ability fit.

Lets start with ability

 Physical ability
 Intellectual or mental ability
 Companies measure both and use the results to
help with the hiring decisions
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Physical Abilities
Physical Abilities The capacity to do tasks
demanding stamina, dexterity, strength, and
similar characteristics
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Nine Physical Abilities
 Strength Factors
 Dynamic strength
 Trunk strength
 Static strength
 Explosive strength
 Flexibility Factors
 Extent flexibility
 Dynamic flexibility
 Other Factors
 Body coordination
 Balance
 Stamina

Source Adapted from HRMagazine published by the

Society for Human Resource Management,
Alexandria, VA.
E X H I B I T 22
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Next, comes intellectual, or mental ability
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Intellect, and Intelligence
Intellectual Ability The capacity to do mental
activities
Multiple Intelligences Intelligence contains four
subparts cognitive, social, emotional, and
cultural
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Cognitive Intelligence
 Intelligence tests are supposed to measure
 Abstract reasoning
 Practical reasoning
 Declarative knowledge
 Context free
 Episodic- autobiographical
 Procedural knowledge
 Rules, skills, strategies to manipulate
declarative knowledge

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Dimensions of Intellectual Ability
 Number aptitude
 Verbal comprehension
 Perceptual speed
 Inductive reasoning
 Deductive reasoning
 Spatial visualization
 Memory
E X H I B I T 21
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Social Intelligence
 How well we get along with each other.
 Dimensions central to the concept of Social
Intelligence
 Understands peoples thoughts, feelings and
intentions well
 Is good at dealing with people
 Has extensive knowledge of rules and norms in
human relations
 Is good at taking the perspective of other people
 Adapts well in social situations
 Is warm and caring
 Is open to new experiences, ideas and values
(Kosmitzki and John, 1993)

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Social Intelligence
 Social Competence depends on
 Extraversion
 Warmth
 Social influence
 Social insight
 Social openness
 Social appropriateness
 Social maladjustment (Schneider, Ackerman and
Kanfer, 1996)
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Emotional Intellegence
 Definitions
 Affect
 Generic term covers a broad range of feelings
people experience
 Emotions
 Intense feelings directed at someone or something
 Moods
 Feelings that tend to be less intense and lack
context.

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Emotional Intelligence
 Jennifer George
 Feelings (moods and emotions) play an important
role in the leadership process
 Moods and emotions affect the way people think,
their motivations, decisions made and behaviors
engaged in.
 Emotional Intelligence
 The ability to manage moods and emotions in self
and others.

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Cultural Intelligence
  The ability to function in a cultural environment
that is different than your own.
 The ability to recognize cultures different than
your own and adjust your behavior

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Biographical Characteristics
 Measuring the impact of intelligence or physical
ability on productivity, absence, turnover and
satisfaction is often complicated
 Other factors are easily definable and readily
available from historical data
 Age, gender, job tenure.

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Learning
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Companies look for employees that have the
capabilities to do the job the company needs
done.But nobody comes with everything that is
needed.
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What is missing has to be learned
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Behaviorism
 All complex behavior is learned
 A theory about human behavior (explain and
predict) must address how humans learn
  Definition
 Permanent changes in behavior as a result of
experiences
 Learning is inferred we see the
result-change-and infer that learning has taken
place

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The learning process
 Conditioning is the universal learning process
according to this theory of learning
 Two different types of conditioning yield
different behavior pattern
 Classical conditioning Pavlovs dogs and The
Manchurian Candidate
 Operant conditioning Reward and punishment to
train animals and people to perform. A feedback
system

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Criticisms of Behavioral Learning Theory
 Doesnt account for all types of learning.
Disregards activities of the mind.
 Only explains the results of learning, not the
learning itself.
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Impact of behaviorism on learning
 Simple to understand
 Relies on observable behavior
 Reinforces good behavior and punishes bad
behavior
 Teacher/student relationships
 Human disorders and antisocial behavior

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Other theories of learning
 Constructivism
 Behaviorism
 Piaget's Developmental Theory
 Neuroscience
 Brain-Based Learning
 Learning Styles
 Multiple Intelligences
 Right Brain/Left Brain Thinking
 Communities of Practice
 Control Theory
 Observational Learning
 Vygotsky and Social Cognition


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Learning Styles Theory
  DefinitionThis approach to learning emphasizes
the fact that individuals perceive and process
information in very different ways. The learning
styles theory implies that how much individuals
learn has to do with whether the educational
experience is geared toward their particular
style of learning

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Learning Styles Theory
 Different individuals have a tendency to both
perceive and process information differently.
 Because of different heredity, upbringing, and
current environmental demands
 Perceive information
 Concrete doing, acting, sensing, feeling
 Abstract analysis, observation, thinking
 Process information-make sense of information
 Active processor- do something with the
information now
 Reflective processor reflect on and think about
information

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Traditional schooling tends to favor abstract
perceiving and reflective processing. Other kinds
of learning aren't rewarded and reflected in
curriculum, instruction, and assessment nearly as
much
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Constructivism
 DefinitionConstructivism is a philosophy of
learning founded on the premise that, by
reflecting on our experiences, we construct our
own understanding of the world we live in. Each
of us generates our own "rules" and "mental
models," which we use to make sense of our
experiences. Learning, therefore, is simply the
process of adjusting our mental models to
accommodate new experiences.

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Discussion
 Learning is a search for meaning.
 Meaning requires understanding wholes as well as
parts. And parts must be understood in the
context of wholes. Therefore, the learning
process focuses on primary concepts, not isolated
facts.
 In order to teach well, we must understand the
mental models that students use to perceive the
world and the assumptions they make to support
those models.
 The purpose of learning is for an individual to
construct his or her own meaning, not just
memorize the "right" answers and regurgitate
someone else's meaning