Chapter 2: Foundations Of Individual Behavior

Front 1

List the seven most frequently sited dimensions making up intellectual abilities.

Back 1

The seven most frequently sited dimensions making up intellectual abilities are:
1. Number aptitude
2. Verbal comprehension 3. Perceptual speed
4. Inductive reasoning 5. Deductive reasoning
6. Spatial visualization 7. Memory

Front 2

Define cognitive intelligence.

Back 2

Cognitive intelligence encompasses the aptitudes that have long been tapped by traditional intelligence tests.

Front 3

Define physical ability.

Back 3

Physical ability is the capacity to do tasks demanding stamina, dexterity, strength, and similar characteristics.

Front 4

Which turn of the century physiologist first conducted experiments out of which key concepts of classical conditioning were introduced?

Back 4

Classical conditioning grew out of experiments to teach dogs to salivate in response to the ringing a bell, conducted at the turn of the century by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov.

Front 5

What is the social learning theory?

Back 5

The social learning theory:
People can learn through observation and direct experience.

Front 6

What are motor reproduction processes?

Back 6

After a person has seen a new behavior by observing the model, the watching must be converted to doing. This process then demonstrates that the individual can perform the modeled activities

Front 7

What are the two major types of reinforcement schedules?

Back 7

The two major types of reinforcement schedules are continuous and intermittent.

Front 8

What is a variable-interval schedule?

Back 8

Rewards are initiated after a fixed or constant number of responses.

Front 9

The typical OB Mod program follows a five-step problem-solving model. List the five steps.

Back 9

The typical OB Mod program
follows a five-step problem-solving model:
1. Identifying critical behaviors
2. Developing baseline data

Front 10

What is self-management?

Back 10

Self-management is defined as learning techniques that allow individuals to manage their own behavior so that less external management control is necessary.

Front 11

Which is more effective:
reinforcement or punishment?

Back 11

Our knowledge about learning further suggests that reinforcement is a more effective tool than punishment.

Front 12

What does ability mean?

Back 12

Ability means an individual's capacity to perform the various tasks in a job.

Front 13

What is the major dilemma faced by employers who use mental ability tests for selection, promotion, training, and similar personnel decisions?

Back 13

The major dilemma faced by employers who use mental ability tests for selection, promotion, training, and similar personnel decisions is that they may have a negative impact on racial and ethnic groups.

Front 14

Define social intelligence.

Back 14

Social intelligence is a person's ability to relate effectively to others.

Front 15

How is complex behavior acquired?

Back 15

All complex behavior is learned.

Front 16

Define operant conditioning.

Back 16

Operant conditioning is a type of conditioning in which desired voluntary behavior leads to a reward or prevents a punishment.

Front 17

The influence of models is central to the social-learning viewpoint. Four processes have been found to determine the influence that a model will have on an individual. List the four processes.

Back 17

1. Attentional processes
2. Retention processes
3. Motor reproduction processes
4. Reinforcement processes.

Front 18

What are the reinforcement processes?

Back 18

Individuals can be motivated to exhibit the modeled behavior if positive incentives or rewards are provided. Behaviors that are positively reinforced will be given more attention, learned better, and performed more often.

Front 19

What is a continuous reinforcement schedule?

Back 19

A continuous reinforcement schedule reinforces the desired behavior each and every time it is demonstrated.

Front 20

What is a fixed-ratio schedule?

Back 20

Rewards are initiated after a fixed or constant number of responses.

Front 21

The typical OB Mod program follows a five-step problem-solving model. List the five steps.

Back 21

The typical OB Mod program follows a five-step problem-solving model:
1. Identifying critical behaviors
2. Developing baseline data
3. Identifying behavioral consequences
4. Developing and implementing an intention strategy
5. Evaluating performance improvement.

Front 22

What are the two sets of factors that an individual's overall abilities are essentially made up of?

Back 22

An individual's overall abilities are essentially made up of two sets of factors:
1. Intellectual
2. Physical abilities

Front 23

What does careful review of the evidence regarding tests that assess verbal, numerical, spatial, and perceptual abilities show?

Back 23

A careful review of the evidence regarding tests that assess verbal, numerical, spatial, and perceptual abilities are valid predictors of job proficiency at all levels of jobs.

Front 24

Define emotional intelligence.

Back 24

Emotional intelligence is the ability to identify, understand, and manage emotions.

Front 25

What is learning?

Back 25

Learning is any relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs as a result of experience.

Front 26

Which Harvard psychologist expanded our knowledge of operant conditioning?

Back 26

What Pavlov did for classical conditioning, the Harvard psychologist B .F. Skinner did for operant conditioning.

Front 27

What are attentional processes?

Back 27

People learn from a model only when they recognize and pay attention to its critical features. We tend to be most influenced by models that are attractive, repeatedly available, important to us, or similar to us estimation.

Front 28

What are we doing when we attempt to mold individuals by guiding their learning in graduated steps?

Back 28

When we attempt to mold individuals by guiding their learning in graduated steps we are shaping behavior. We shape behavior by systematically reinforcing each successive step that moves an individual closer to the desired response.

Front 29

What is intermittent reinforcement?

Back 29

A behavior is reinforced often enough to make the behavior worth repeating but not every time but not every time it is demonstrated.

Front 30

What is a variable-ratio schedule?

Back 30

The reward varies relative to the behavior of the individual.

Front 31

What do sick leave programs reinforce?

Back 31

The reality is that sick leave programs reinforce the wrong behavior---absence from work.

Front 32

What is the prima facie evidence that learning has taken place?

Back 32

Any observable change in behavior is prima facie evidence that learning has taken place.

Front 33

Define biographical characteristics.

Back 33

Employee's age, gender, marital status, and length of service with an organization are examples of biographical characteristics. These personal characteristics are objective and easily obtained from personnel records.

Front 34

Define intellectual ability.

Back 34

Intellectual ability is the capacity to do mental activities.

Front 35

Intelligence contains four subparts. List them.

Back 35

Intelligence contains four subparts:
1. Cognitive
2. Social
3. Emotional
4. Cultural

Front 36

Define cultural intelligence.

Back 36

Cultural intelligence is awareness of cross-cultural differences and the ability to function successfully in cross-cultural situations.

Front 37

What is classical conditioning?

Back 37

Classical conditioning is a type of conditioning in which an individual responds to some stimulus that would not ordinarily produce such a response.

Front 38

What was B. F. Skinners theory regarding operant conditioning?

Back 38

B. F. Skinner’s theory regarding operant conditioning was that people will most likely engage in desired behaviors if they are positively reinforced for doing so. Rewards are most effective if they immediately follow the desired response. In addition, behavior that is not rewarded, or is punished, is less likely to be repeated.

Front 39

What are retention processes?

Back 39

A model's influence will depend on how well the individual remembers the model's action after the model is no longer readily available.

Front 40

There are four ways in which to shape behavior. List all four.

Back 40

There are four ways in which to shape behavior:
1. Positive reinforcement
2. Negative reinforcement
3. Punishment
4. Extinction

Front 41

What is a fixed-interval schedule?

Back 41

Rewards are spaced at uniform intervals.

Front 42

What is behavior modification or OB Mod?

Back 42

Behavior modification or OB Mod is the application of reinforcement concepts to individuals in the work setting.

Front 43

What cost does punishment carry?

Back 43

Our knowledge about punishment's effect on behavior indicates that the use of discipline carries costs. It may provide only a short-term solution rather than elimination of the behavior, and result in serious side effects.

Front 44

Name a powerful tool for modifying behavior.

Back 44

Positive reinforcement is a powerful tool for modifying behavior. By identifying and rewarding performance-enhancing behaviors, management increases the likelihood that they will be repeated.