This subject will develop understanding of human behavior in various environments and such knowledge can then be used

in key aspects of management.

 Understand

differences. Assists in selecting and developing staff Understand the impact of change on individuals. How to manage and reduce negative impact on the organization and staff.

the concept of individual

Major theoretical approaches in the study of human behavior:

Behaviorist Cognitive Humanistic

Sometimes approaches are called perspectives, both describe a characteristic way of looking at the world. Each psychological theory grows out of a perspective or world view Perspective are a combination of similar theories put together. Theories are constructed to operationally define and explain something.

Cognition literally means knowing. In other words, psychologists from this approach study cognition which is the mental act or process by which knowledge is acquired. By describing thinking as information processing, cognitive psychologists are making a comparison between minds and computers.

Cognitive psychology focuses on the way humans process information, looking at how we treat information that comes in to the person and how this treatment leads to responses. In other words, they are interested in the variables that mediate between stimulus/input and response/output. Cognitive psychologists study internal processes including perception, attention, language, memory and thinking.

Memory is the process by which we encode, store and retrieve information. It includes sensory memory, short term memory and long term memory. working memory refers to a brain system that provides temporary storage and manipulation of the information necessary for such complex cognitive tasks as language comprehension, learning, and reasoning.

Mental and physical exercise Manage stress and pressure Get quality sleep In order to improve recall, use strategies like: Visual images Acronyms Loci method

perception refers to interpretation of what we take in through our senses. Perception may be defined as the process with which individuals detect and interpret environmental stimuli how we make sense of what we see, hear, taste, touch, and smell.

Human beings are prone to errors and biases when perceiving themselves. Moreover, the type of bias people have depends on their personality. self-enhancement bias: the tendency to overestimate our performance and capabilities and see ourselves in a more positive light than others see us. self-effacement bias: the tendency for people to underestimate their performance, undervalue capabilities, and see events in a way that puts them in a more negative light.

false consensus error: we overestimate how similar we are to other people. We assume that whatever quirks we have are shared by a larger number of people than in reality when people believe that a behavior is common and normal, they may repeat the behavior more freely

Social perception, or the way one individual views others, affects behavior within an organization. Factors biasing our perception: Stereotypes are generalizations based on group characteristics. What makes stereotypes potentially discriminatory and a perceptual bias is the tendency to generalize from a group to a particular individual.

Stereotypes often create a situation called a self-fulfilling prophecy. This cycle occurs when people automatically behave as if an established stereotype is accurate, which leads to reactive behavior from the other party that confirms the stereotype.

Stereotypes persist because of a process called selective perception. When we observe our environment, we see what we want to see and ignore information that may seem out of place. One other perceptual tendency that may affect work behavior is that of first impressions

The first impressions we form about people tend to have a lasting impact. In fact, first impressions, once formed, are surprisingly resilient to contrary information. Impressions are often formed by our own characteristics.

Efforts to produce favorable first impressions; Self enhancement: boost ones appeal to others. Induce positive moods in others. Work on body gait, tone of voice, etc

An attribution is the causal explanation we give for an observed behavior. If you believe that a behavior is due to the internal characteristics of an actor, you are making an internal attribution. An external attribution is explaining someones behavior by referring to the situation.

Behaviorism is primarily concerned with observable behavior, as opposed to internal events like thinking and emotion. behavior can be objectively and scientifically measured. Internal events, such as thinking should be explained through behavioral terms (or eliminated altogether).

a persons environment determines their behavior-People have no free will We are born as blank slates and learn and get conditioned to react in various responses to varying triggers.

classical conditioning is a learning process that occurs through associations between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus. Start with an unconditioned reflex an automatic connection between a stimulus and a response develop new automatic responses by transferring responses from an UCS to an originally neutral stimulus by repetitively pairing them together

Advertising - modern advertising strategies evolved from John Watson's use of conditioning. The approach is to link an attractive US with a CS (the product being sold) so the consumer will feel positively toward the product just like they do with the US.

instrumental conditioning is a method of learning that occurs through rewards and punishments for behavior. Through operant conditioning, an association is made between a behavior and a consequence for that behavior.

Positive reinforcers are favorable events or outcomes that are presented after the behavior. In situations that reflect positive reinforcement, a response or behavior is strengthened. Negative reinforcers involve the removal of an unfavorable events or outcomes after the display of a behavior. In these situations, a response is strengthened by the removal of something considered unpleasant.

 Positive

punishment, sometimes referred to as punishment by application, involves the presentation of an unfavorable event or outcome in order to weaken the response it follows. Negative punishment, also known as punishment by removal, occurs when an favorable event or outcome is removed after a behavior occurs.

The social learning theory proposed by Albert Bandura. People can learn new information and behaviors by watching other people. Known as observational learning (modeling)

The fundamental belief of humanistic psychology is that people are innately good and that mental and social problems result from deviations from this natural tendency. look at human behavior not only through the eyes of the observer, but through the eyes of the person doing the behaving.

Humanistic psychologists believe that an individual's behavior is connected to their inner feelings and self concept. Emphasizes the personal worth of the individual, the centrality of human values, and the creative, active nature of human beings. The approach is optimistic and focuses on noble human capacity to overcome hardship, pain and despair.

Humans have free will; not all behavior is determined. All individuals are unique and have an innate (inborn) drive to achieve their maximum potential. A proper understanding of human behavior can only be achieved by studying humans - not animals. Psychology should study the individual case (idiographic) rather than the average performance of groups (nomothetic).

a theory in psychology proposed by Abraham Maslow This hierarchy suggests that people are motivated to fulfill basic needs before moving on to other, more advanced needs. focus on describing the stages of growth in humans

He believed if an individual attained selfactualisation they would be a fully functioning person, living "the good life". The individual would have a positive healthy psychological outlook, trust their own feelings and have congruence in their lives between self and experience (Rogers 2004)

 In

Rogerss view, the self-concept is the most important feature of personality, and it includes all the thoughts, feelings, and beliefs people have about themselves. believed that people are aware of their self-concepts.

Rogers

Self-Concept: A person's perception of themselves is shaped by how others see them. peoples self-concepts often do not exactly match reality It is based largely on life experiences, social evaluation and the attitude of the individual's significant other.

incongruence refers to the discrepancy between the self-concept and reality. Congruence is a fairly accurate match between the self-concept and reality.

Rogers thought that people experience anxiety when their self-concepts are threatened. To protect themselves from anxiety, people distort their experiences so that they can hold on to their selfconcept. People who have a high degree of incongruence are likely to feel very anxious because reality continually threatens their self-concepts.