Deck 5: Learning and Creativity

Question 1

When certain behaviors receive extensive reinforcement and others do not, employees tend to focus on the former and ignore the latter.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

B. F. Skinner's operant conditioning approach describes how learning takes place through consequences.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

With a fixed-ratio schedule, the time between each instance of reinforcement is fixed or set.

Answer 3

False
With a fixed-interval schedule, the time between each instance of reinforcement is fixed or set.

Question 4

The first step in the use of reinforcement is to identify desired behaviors that the organization wants to encourage or reinforce.

Question 5

Rodney Lewis, a medical student, has watched over 100 hours of videotaped heart operations. As a result, he has detailed knowledge of heart surgery that he did not have before. Rodney has never performed the operation, but learning has taken place.

Question 6

Operant conditioning is learning that takes place when the learner recognizes the connection between a behavior and its consequences.

Question 7

Negative reinforcement often has unintended side effects and makes for an unpleasant work environment.

Question 8

In operant conditioning, reinforcement is of two types: internal and external.

Question 9

Negative reinforcement increases the probability that a desired behavior will occur by removing a negative consequence when an employee performs the desired behavior.

Question 10

Learning involves a temporary change in knowledge.

Question 11

Specific rewards are positive reinforcers for a given employee if he or she is willing to perform desired behaviors to get them.

Question 12

The negative consequence of an undesired behavior is called a negative reinforcer.

Question 13

In order to facilitate the learning of desired behaviors via positive reinforcement, managers must first determine the negative consequences feared by a given employee.

Question 14

In general, positive reinforcement is better than negative reinforcement for employees, managers, and the organization.

Question 15

One of the ways in which people learn is through the consequences they receive for their behaviors and actions.

Question 16

If reinforcement is curtailed, partially reinforced behaviors will taper off more quickly than continuously reinforced behaviors.

Question 17

Employees who are paid $20 for every four coats they sew are being reinforced on a variable-ratio schedule.

Question 18

Continuous reinforcement can result in faster learning than partial reinforcement.

Question 19

Psychologist B. F. Skinner was fascinated by how much the power of luck influenced behavior.

Question 20

Antecedents help employees distinguish between desirable and undesirable behaviors and their consequences.

Question 21

Managers should punish employees publicly to serve as a warning to others.

Question 22

OB MOD can be used to encourage the learning of desired organizational behaviors as well as to discourage undesired behaviors.

Question 23

Negative reinforcement increases the probability of desired behavior.

Question 24

Opponents of OB Mod complain that it robs employees of their dignity, freedom of choice, and individuality.

Question 25

OB MOD can only be used effectively in a narrow range of service industries.

Question 26

The reinforcement of successive and closer approximations to a desired behavior is known as shaping.

Question 27

Negative reinforcement reduces the probability of an undesired behavior.

Question 28

OB MOD is the systematic application of the principles of operant conditioning for learning desired behaviors.

Question 29

Punishment increases the probability of desired behavior.

Question 30

If managers wish to lessen the probability that an undesired behavior will occur, they need to first determine what is currently reinforcing the behavior and then remove the source of reinforcement.

Question 31

Shaping should not be used when it is unlikely that employees will be able to perform the desired behaviors all at once.

Question 32

Vicarious learning accounts for a substantial amount of learning in organizations.

Question 33

Operant conditioning is the lessening of undesired behavior by removing the source of reinforcement.

Question 34

According to social cognitive theory, thoughts, feelings, and the social environment influence learning.

Question 35

The specific type of schedule chosen is not as important as the fact that reinforcement is based on the performance of desired behaviors.

Question 36

According to social cognitive theory, employees actively process information from the social environment and those around them when they learn.

Question 37

Learning vicariously involves trial and error.

Question 38

When you model the study habits you observed in a classmate, who is earning A's in the course, you are engaging in vicarious learning.

Question 39

OB MOD should be used to encourage subjective, abstract behaviors that are difficult to measure.

Question 40

When punishment is used, managers need to be very careful that while eliminating the undesired behavior, they do not create excessive hostility or negative feelings.

Question 41

Self-reinforcers are any consequences or rewards that individuals give to themselves.

Question 42

There is no relationship between self-efficacy and vicarious experience.

Question 43

Small successes boost self-efficacy and enable more substantial accomplishments in the future.

Question 44

Creativity and the creative process, by their nature, are quite easy to predict.

Question 45

Innovation is the generation of novel and useful ideas.

Question 46

The first step in the creative process involves recognizing a problem or opportunity.

Question 47

Self-efficacy has little influence on the activities and goals that individuals pursue.

Question 48

The creative process rarely entails sequential learning steps; rather, it involves flashes of insight.

Question 49

Employees with low self-efficacy who think they are unlikely to learn a difficult task are MOST likely to give up as soon as an obstacle appears or the going gets a little tough.

Question 50

Experiential learning is essentially a vicarious event.

Question 51

Two specific personality traits that are likely to contribute to creativity are locus of control and self-monitoring.

Question 52

Social cognitive theory acknowledges that people can learn by using self-control, that is, through the mastery of their feelings and emotions.

Question 53

Individuals learn and perform at levels consistent with their self-efficacy beliefs.

Question 54

Self-efficacy does not affect the level of persistence with which a person tries to master new and difficult tasks.

Question 55

The steps in the creative process always occur in a certain sequence.

Question 56

Evidence shows that creativity is more likely to occur in some groups and organizations than in others.

Question 57

Self-efficacy is a person's belief about his or her ability to perform a particular behavior successfully.

Question 58

The performance of low-probability behavior distinguishes individuals who are exhibiting self-control from those engaging in activities they enjoy.

Question 59

Employees with an internal locus of control tend to be creative because they feel responsible for coming up with new ideas.

Question 60

Novel ideas have the potential to contribute to the performance and well-being of individuals, groups, and organizations.

Question 61

Employees should be punished when some of their creative ideas do not pan out in order to ensure future creative ideas are useable.

Question 62

________ are instructions, rules, goals, or advice from other organizational members that help workers realize the behaviors they should and should not perform and the likely effects for different behaviors.

A) Guidelines
B) Antecedents
C) Precursors
D) Conditions

Question 63

Autonomy is the freedom and independence to make decisions and have personal control over one's work on a day-to-day basis.

Question 64

Organizational behavior modification (OB MOD) expedites creativity.

Question 65

An external locus of control hinders creativity because employees believe that their own efforts are unimportant.

Question 66

When autonomy is low in the organization, creativity is unlikely.

Question 67

All of the following describe learning EXCEPT ________.

A) a relatively permanent change
B) a change in knowledge or behavior
C) a change in emotional state
D) a result of practice or experience

Question 68

Creativity is stifled when bonuses, salaries, and promotions hinge upon maintaining the status quo.

Question 69

In operant conditioning, learning occurs when the learner recognizes the link between ________.

A) a behavior and its consequences
B) a conditioned stimulus and its response
C) an antecedent and a successor
D) a negative reinforcement and its outcome

Question 70

Learning does NOT require a learner to ________.

A) learn in a specified time frame
B) experience any alteration in knowledge or behavior
C) experience any permanent or long lasting change
D) learn via practice or through experience

Question 71

When employees develop complex schemas pertaining to work activities, they appreciate how their own jobs affect the work of others and the organization.

Question 72

Knowledge management allows a learning organization to capitalize on information that its members may have, even though it might not be written or codified in formal documents.

Question 73

In general, employees are more likely to be creative when they are extrinsically motivated.

Question 74

________ is the process by which the probability of a desired behavior occurring is increased by applying consequences that depend on the behavior in question.

A) Stimulation
B) Reinforcement
C) Extinction
D) Conditioning

Question 75

________ is a relatively permanent change in knowledge or behavior that results from practice or experience.

A) Learning
B) Reconstruction
C) Behavior modification
D) Operant conditioning

Question 76

Task-relevant knowledge expedites creativity.

Question 77

Organizational learning is especially important for organizations in environments that are rapidly changing.

Question 78

A student keeps up with her assigned reading from her biology textbook and is already finished reading 20 of the 25 chapters. Which of the following statements is MOST LIKELY true?

A) Learning has occurred.
B) Learning has not occurred.
C) Learning may have occurred.
D) Learning has partially occurred.

Question 79

Organizational learning involves instilling all members of an organization with a desire to find new ways to improve its effectiveness.

Question 80

Creative people rely on brutally frank criticism to spur their creativity.