Learning Lecturer: Eric Vassilikos

How do we form attitudes?  Socialization and experience Mere exposure Classical conditioning Operant conditioning Social learning Self-perception  Mere exposure effect We are (initially) attracted more to objects we are repeatedly exposed to.

Conditioning  Classical A formerly neutral stimulus comes to elicit the same evaluative reaction as another stimulus, after systematic pairing (e.g. co-occurrence) with the latter i.e. Positive/negative reinforcement or punishment of an attitude towards a stimulus (e.g. object, person, event) in a person’s environment Spreading attitude effect  Operant A behaviour comes to be encouraged or disscouraged after systematic pairing with some form of reward or punishment respectively i.e. Positive/negative reinforcement or punishment of a person’s behaviour

Social learning (Bandura, 1986)  Observational learning/Modelling Symbolizing capability Forethought capability Vicarious capability Self-regulatory capability Self-reflection capability

Related concepts (to attitudes)  Values  Ideology Different prioritization of values Different approach to pluralism  Social representations Collectively elaborated explanations of unfamiliar and complex phenomena that transform them into a familiar and simple form

Orgnisational behaviour modification  Typical steps (Luthans & Kreitner,1985) : Identifying ‘critical’ behaviour for satisfactory performance Identifying behaviour’s strength/frequency Functional analysis of beaviour  Is it sustained by rewards/punishments?  Possible causes Identifying intervention process Evaluation

Skills’ development  Cognitive phase Understanding the task  Associative phase Intensifying association through practice  Autonomous phase Increasing automaticity

The learning organisation  An organisation promoting a continuous and enhanced capacity to learn, adapt and change  Major difficulty Transmission and management of expert, tacit knowledge and insights Knowledge management  The collaborative organisation diffusing knowledge vs. the IT-driven illusion of k nowledge management

The learning organisation  Principles of learning organisations (Senge, 1990) Person mastery  Promotion of individual motivation to learn  Continuous development Mental models  Openness to misconceptions  Double-loop learning – Critical focus on the evaluative criteria Shared vision/viewpoints Team learning  Emphasis on co-operation and communication Systems thinking