adaptive behaviors

Examples of adaptive behaviors in the following topics:

• Behavior Therapy and Applied Behavioral Analysis

  • Behavior therapy is based on the idea that maladaptive behavior is learned, and thus adaptive behavior can also be learned.
  • It applies the principles of operant conditioning, classical conditioning, and observational learning to eliminate inappropriate or maladaptive behaviors and replace them with more adaptive responses.
  • Behavior therapy methods sometimes focus only on behaviors, and sometimes on combinations of thoughts and feelings that might be influencing behaviors.
  • The basic premise is that the individual has learned behaviors that are problematic and maladaptive, and so he or she must learn new behaviors that are adaptive.
  • The modeling process involves a person being subjected to watching other individuals who demonstrate behavior that is considered adaptive and that should be adopted by the client.

• Schemata

  • As cognitive development proceeds, new schemata are developed, and existing schemata are more efficiently organized to better adapt to the environment.
  • Cognitive development becomes evident through changes in behavior as this adaptation takes place.
  • The process of assimilation involves attempts to organize existing schemata for better understanding events in the external world, whereas accommodation involves changing pre-existing schemata to adapt to a new situation.

• Evolutionary Psychology

  • Evolutionary psychology seeks to understand human behavior as the result of psychological adaptation and natural selection.
  • Evolutionary psychology applies this same thinking to psychology, arguing that much of human behavior is the result of psychological adaptations that evolved to solve recurrent problems in human ancestral environments.
  • The brain produces behavior in response to external and internal inputs.
  • The brain's adaptive mechanisms have been shaped over time by natural and sexual selection.
  • These mechanisms combine to produce observable behavior.

• Sensory Adaptation

  • Sensory adaptation, also called neural adaptation, is the change in the responsiveness of a sensory system that is confronted with a constant stimulus.
  • One example of sensory adaptation is sustained touching.
  • These corpuscles rapidly change and adapt when a stimulus is added.
  • This is because the additional stimuli are new, and the body has not yet adapted to them.
  • In contrast, sensitization is an increase in behavioral responses following repeated applications of a particular stimulus.

• Introduction to Animal Behavior

  • Behavior is the change in activity of an organism in response to a stimulus.
  • One goal of behavioral biology is to distinguish the innate behaviors, which have a strong genetic component and are largely independent of environmental influences, from the learned behaviors, which result from environmental conditioning.
  • Innate behavior, or instinct, is important because there is no risk of an incorrect behavior being learned.
  • These behaviors are “hard wired” into the system.
  • Learned behaviors, even though they may have instinctive components, allow an organism to adapt to changes in the environment and are modified by previous experiences.

• Knowledge Management and Behavior Modification

  • Knowledge management and behavior modification are tactics employers use to ensure organizational growth and adaptability.
  • Knowledge management (KM), and the modification of behavior through utilizing organizational knowledge, is central to an organization's ability to grow and adapt.
  • Behavior modification was first introduced in psychology as a collection of behavioral change techniques to increase or decrease the frequency of behaviors.
  • Behavioral modification includes altering an individual's behavior through positive and negative reinforcement.
  • The process of behavioral modification in the workplace focuses on identifying the frequency of certain performance-related behavior, as well as determining what started or triggered that specific behavior.

• Simple Learned Behaviors

  • Simple learned behaviors include habituation and imprinting, both of which are important to the maturation process of young animals.
  • The majority of the behaviors discussed in previous sections are innate or at least have an innate component.
  • In other words, variations on the innate behaviors may be learned.
  • Innate behaviors are inherited and do not change in response to signals from the environment.
  • Conversely, learned behaviors, even though they may have instinctive components, allow an organism to adapt to changes in the environment and are modified by previous experiences.

• Adaptive Learning

  • There are many ways in which adaptive learning can be used in and outside of the classroom.
  • Systems need to be able to dynamically adapt to the skills and abilities of a student.
  • Systems need to also adapt to the skill level of the educators.
  • Therefore, current trends in distance learning call for the use of adaptive learning to implement intelligent dynamic behavior in the learning environment.
  • Some examples of how adaptive learning can help with collaboration include:

• The Behavioral-Science Approach

  • Behavioral science uses research and the scientific method to determine and understand behavior in the workplace.
  • Behavioral science uses research and the scientific method to determine and understand behavior in the workplace.
  • Many of the theories in the behavioral perspective are included in the behavioral-science approach to management.
  • Behavioral science within the business management environment is a specific application of this field, and employs a number of specific types of behavioral observations.
  • The study of human behavior in the context of organizational change is an integral part of empowering organizations to grow, adapt, and learn to capture competitive advantage.

• What is Organizational Behavior?

  • Organizational behavior is the field of study that investigates how organizational structures affect behavior within organizations.
  • Organizational behavior studies the impact individuals, groups, and structures have on human behavior within organizations.
  • "Macro" strategic management and organizational theory studies whole organizations and industries, especially how they adapt, and the strategies, structures, and contingencies that guide them.
  • Organizational behavior also deals heavily in culture.
  • Understanding and defining these work cultures and the behavioral implications they embed organizationally is also a central topic in organizational behavior.