Module 3

Learning, Perception and Attribution

Learning Objectives:
 Understand why people behave as they do.
 Recognize why success of an organization will depend not only with the
proper application of conceptual and technical skills but also human
skills which could be enhanced with knowledge of learning, perception,
and attribution.

Learning
Acquiring a complex set of sophisticated skills is a result of change that
comes from learning. An understanding of how people learn is very important
because it will help people explain and predict behavior.

What is Learning?
Learning may be defined as a relatively permanent change in behavior or
knowledge due to experience. When a person behaves differently from what
he previously did, it can be said that there is change in the person’s
behavior. With change there is learning.

A change in behavior happens due to any or both of the following:

1. Learning; or
2. Other causes such as drugs, injury, disease and maturation.

Theories of Learning
Eminent researchers have developed theories that help explain the learning
process. These theories consist of classical conditioning operant
conditioning, and social learning.

Classical Conditioning
Classical conditioning may be defined as a type of learning in which a
stimulus acquires the capacity to evoke a response that was originally
evoked by another stimulus. A stimulus is something that incites action. An
example of stimulus is “demotion in rank”. The respond could be “a lawsuit”.

An illustration of classical conditioning is provided as follows:

When a horse is trained to pull a calesa or carromata, the trainer is

confronted with the problem of how o regulate the speed of the horse. The
trainer uses a whip to make the horse run faster.
 Before the trainer strikes the horse with the whip, he taps the wooden
part of the rig as a preliminary move. The horse reacts positively whenever a
strike is made by a trainer.

Later, whenever the trainer taps the wood, the horse reacts quickly
without waiting for the hip to perform its function. The reaction of the horse
towards the wood tap is called “conditioned response” and the process is
called classical conditioning.

The application of classical conditioning in the workplace is too

important to be ignored. For instance, it was one Monday morning in a
typical factory hen Mr. Honesto Lumauig was called by the manager to the
office and he was asked why his last week’s output was very low. All
throughout the interview, Mr. Lumauig felt nervous and very uncomfortable.

Seven days later, and it was Monday morning again and Honesto
begins to feel nervous and uncomfortable. He can hardly concentrate on his
job.

In this case, the “original stimulus” is the Monday morning when

Honesto was confronted by the boss. Honesto’s “response” was that he felt
nervous and uncomfortable. Any Monday is a “neutral stimulus”, but it
becomes a “conditioned stimulus” when paired with the original stimulus.

When a confronted with a “conditioned stimulus”, Honesto reacts with

a “conditioned response”, i.e., he feels nervous and very uncomfortable.

Operant Conditioning
Operant conditioning may be defined as a type of learning where people
learn to repeat behaviors that bring them pleasurable outcomes and to avoid
behaviors that lead to uncomfortable outcomes.

For instance, if an employee receives cash rewards every time he exceeds

his assigned targets (e.g., 100 units of tables produced per month), it is very
likely that he will repeat such behavior. In the same light, if a salesman who
achieves the minimum sales requirement for a given period is allowed to use
a company vehicle in his daily rounds, it is also very likely that he will avoid
doing something that will reduce his sales output. Both the employee and
the salesman have learned to behave through operant conditioning.

At this point, a question may be asked: How is classical conditioning different

from operant conditioning? Classical conditioning involves adjustment to
events (or stimuli, whether conditioned or otherwise) over which the
concerned person has no control. In contrast, operant conditioning involves
adjustment to situations in which the actions of the person determines what
happens to him.

Social Learning

Social learning may be defined as the process of observing the behavior of

other, recognizing its consequences, and altering behavior as a result. One of
the ways by which people learn is through social contacts with other people.
For instance, an employee pays much attention to his boss, a highly
successful person, whenever he speaks or just plain moving around the
office. The brief encounters with the boss gave the employee the opportunity
to understand and apply some ideas shared by the superior. An example is
watching the boss perform the right way to communicate with customers.

How Social Learning is Achieved

1. by observing what happens to other people
2. by being told about something
3. through direct experience

Perception
When an accident happened in the workplace, two persons actually saw it.
Later, when both were asked to provide details about the accident, their
statements differ in several aspects. How may this discrepancy be
explained? The answer is: different perceptions of the same event.

When a situation, as in the above case, happens, it will be difficult for the
decision maker to make an accurate evaluation of what really transpired, and
the quality of his decision is affected. This underscores the importance of
knowing the various concepts and theories ascribed to perception.

Perception may be defined as the process by which people select, organize,

interpret, retrieve, and respond to information from their environment.

Factors Influencing Perception

Perception is influenced by the characteristics of the following:

The Perceiver
The person who perceives the target is the perceiver. His perception of the
target is influenced by factors that are unique to him, like the following:
1. his past experiences
2. his needs or motives
3. his personality
4. his values and attitudes

A person’s experiences in the past have some bearing on his current

perceptions. For instance, a child who had an unpleasant experience with a
surgeon will not maintain a good perception of physicians when he grow
older.
The Target
The person, object, or event that is perceived by another person is the
target. Perception may be modified by the following factors which are typical
characteristics of targets:

1. Contrast
2. Intensity
3. Figure-ground separation
4. Size
5. Motion
6. Repetition or novelty

The foregoing characteristics may be briefly described as follows:

If during the perception process, the target is situated in a background

of contrast, perception is affected. For instance, when a boy is seen with five
girls, perception will be different than when he is with five boys.

Intensity varies in terms of brightness, color, depth, and sound, and

because of these, perception is affected. For instance, a person will be seen
differently when the illumination is different form the usual one, say from an
incandescent bulb to a bright blue fluorescent bulb. Another example is the
singer who is well appreciated by the audience because his voice is projected
well by an appropriate sound system. He will not be so regarded when he
uses a poor device.

The figure and its ground is a factor that may affect visual perception.
The figure is the one being looked at, and the background is the background
against which it stands. For example, you saw your best friend speak before
a crowd on two occasions: one is when he delivered his piece in an oratorical
contest in school and second, when he was speaking before a crowd of rallies
situated near Malacañang. Your perception of your friend on those two
occasions will differ, thanks to the differences in the nature of the
backgrounds.

The size of the target is also a factor that may affect perception. Those
that are similar or larger than the average are perceived differently. For
instance, it is expected that the farmer who harvested a mango fruit twice
the size of the average mango will handle the fruit with a little more concern.

Size matters even in the placement of company personnel. A research

undertaken some years ago indicates that the taller persons have better
chances of promotion.

In terms of motion, moving objects are perceived differently from

stationary objects. For example, a housewife who is doing her routine buying
in the market perceives fish that is aggressively jumping as more fresh than
the one that is alive but is barely moving.

Repetition affects perception. For example, when a person is

repeatedly exposed to a particular music, that person gets used to it and
chances are, he becomes fond of it. When love at first sight does not work,
familiarity may do the trick.

The Situation
Perception is also affected by the surrounding environment. For example, a
person who is enjoying a meal with tribal people in the hinterlands may be
well received even if he uses his bare hands. He will be perceived differently
when he does the same in the dining halls of the privileged class in the city.

The situational factors that affect perception are: time, work setting, and
social setting.

As people’s moods vary from time to time, perception also varies depending
on the time the perception is made.

Workplaces differ from one another. As such, perception also differs from
workplace to workplace. For instance, the playing of soft music may be
perceived favorably in a certain workplace but differently regarded in
another workplace.

The social setting is also a factor in perception. For instance, a person will
perceive a Caucasian girl as very pretty when both of them are situated in a
remote place in the Philippines. However, when both are situated in a movie
studio in Hollywood, USA, the girl will be perceived differently.

Attribution
There are other theories that may be useful for a better understanding of
human behavior. One of these refers to attribution.
Attribution theory is the process by which people ascribe causes to the
behavior they perceive. An example is provided as follows:

An employee always feels very nervous whenever the office manager

calls her to present her weekly report in the manager’s office. Her anxiety
affects her very much, including the delivery of her report. Her unit
supervisor sympathizes with her and would like to help her overcome her
fears. The supervisor stared to monitor her moves so he can determine the
reason for her behavior. The supervisor is clearly adapting the attribution
theory to help her subordinate.

Common Attribution Errors

When people make attempts to determine the causes of other people’s
behavior, errors commonly happen. These errors may be classified into the
following types:

The fundamental attribution errors refer to the tendency underestimate

the influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of internal or
personal factors in the behavior of others. For instance, the area manager of
a retailing firm blames one of the store managers for failing to attract a
sufficient number of customers rather than the poor location of the store.

The self-serving bias is that type of attribution error whereby people tend
to attribute their achievements to their good inner qualities, whereas they
attribute their failures to adverse factors within the environment. An
illustration is provided as follows:

Dr. C. Agao is an employee of a state university. He and his superior

are members of a fraternity. This relationship became a major factor in
his recent promotion. When pressed by his colleagues for a comment on his
promotion, he declared that he thinks he is better qualified than the
others.

Within the span of five years, Dr. Agao failed miserably in his job. When
his superior was replaced, he was demoted. Dr. Agao blames his co-
employees.

Shortcuts Used in Forming Impressions of Others

For whatever reason, we form impressions of others. Those impressions
constitute a database in our minds that we later use as aides in making
decisions concerning others. Most often, these shortcuts produce misleading
conclusions and this should serve as a warning to people who make use of
these shortcuts. The shortcuts refer to the following:
1. Selective Perception – this happens when a person selectively
interprets what he sees on the basis of his interests, background, experience,
and attitudes.

2. Halo Effect – this occurs when one attribute of a person or situation is

used to develop an overall impression of the person or situation. For
instance, a brilliant criminal lawyer may also be perceived by many to be
also brilliant when he engage in selling real estate.

“Halo” refers to that ring of light just above the head of a saint as we
see it in pictures or paintings. The “halo” signifies that everything about the
saint is holy. A person’s outstanding achievement in one area may serve as
his “halo” and he may be perceived as outstanding in other endeavors as
well.

3. Contrast Effects –contrasting situations, oftentimes, lead to inaccurate

evaluation of a person’s character and ability. For example, a beautiful lady
may be declared s the third prettiest in a certain place, but she could be
number one on another place.
4. Projection – is attributing one’s own thoughts, feelings, or motives to
another. It is likely to occur in the interpretation stage of perception.

5. Stereotyping – refers to judging someone on the basis of one’s

perception of the group to which that person belongs. For instance, a
manager may think that older people are no longer productive. Based on
that belief, he declined the job application of a 60 year old person. The basis
for the decision is unfair because he thinks that the older people are no
longer fit to work, but not all of them. The hiring of older persons by big
retailing firms to entertain customers is proof of the ability of some older
persons.

Reference/s:
Human Behavior in Organization by: Roberto G. Medina, Ph.D