Government Learning: An Overview

by Lloyd S. Etheredge

[Originally published in Samuel L. Long (Ed.), The Handbook of Political Behavior (NY: Plenum Press, 1981), vol. 2, pp. 73-161.]

• Introduction (pp. 1-5).
  • A Model for Theory Development: Medical Diagnosis Capability
  • Overview and a Preliminary Caution
• Defining Learning (pp. 6-18).
  • Types of Individual Learning
  • Organizational Learning
  • Learning Agendas
• Normative Issues (pp. 19-21).
• Trends (pp. 22-24).
• Motivation and Cognition - Individual Bases (pp. 25-64).
  • Three Images of Individual Learning
    • Fixed Behavior and Thought Patterns
      • Fixed Emotional Drives
      • Limited and Fixed Abilities and Intelligence
      • Fixed Personality Structure and Dynamics
      • General Observations
    • Passive Reactive Models of Human Learning
      • The Theory of Context Embeddedness
      • "Will This Be on an Exam?"
      • The Necessity for Leadership
      • Imitation of High-Status People
      • Avoiding Unpleasantness
      • Cross Reward System Interference
      • General Observations
    • Active Learning-Developmental Theories
      • The Prediction of Semiconfused Thinking
      • The Prediction of Massively Underutilized Capacity
      • The Need for Optimum Conflict
      • The Need for Outside Perspectives
      • Usable Memory as a Basis for Autonomy
      • General Observations
  • Selected Additional Issues
    • Induced Blockages and Aversions
      • Stress
      • Aversive Motivations
      • Resistances to Rethinking after Personal and Public Commitment
    • General Emotional Issues
      • Unconscious Motivation
      • Action Mood Theories
    • Cognitive Process Modeling
    • Physiology of Knowledge and Learning
• Organizational Structure and Dynamics (pp. 65-77).
  • "Smart" Organization theory
  • Organizational Memory
  • Qualitative Differences of Public Bureaucracies
  • Intelligence Functions and Decision-Making Processes
• The Washington Political Environment (pp. 78-84).
  • The Structure of Time in Washington
  • Lobbying
  • Accountability and Review Systems: Legitimacy Trade-Offs
  • News Media Effects
  • Uniqueness and Self-Transforming Capacity
• Societal, World, and Historical Contexts (pp. 85-88).
  • Truth Theory
  • Secularization and Orthodoxy Theories
  • Government Learning: A Dependent Variable?
• Problem Types (pp. 89-94).
  • No Problem
  • Technology- Dependent Problems
  • Resource-Dependent Problems
  • Known-Answer Problems
  • Unproductively Conceptualized Problems
  • Problems Amenable to Full Scientific Method
  • Strong-Norm-System Problems
  • Pluralist, Low-Norm-Salience or Rapid-Change Problems
  • Forecasting with Uncertain Precedents
  • Problems Unanswerable or Unposable from Brain Constraints
  • Secrecy Penetration Problems
  • Different People and Different Cultures Problems
  • Time-Constraint Problems
  • Incoherent-Policy Problems
• Diagnostic Repertoires (pp. 95-96).
  • Overview
  • Illustrative Individual Diagnoses
• Concluding Observations (pp. 97-102).
  • The Design of Institutional-Memory Capabilities
  • Increasing Effective Transitions and Competence of Political Appointees
  • Quality of Watchdog and Critic Systems
  • Dependency Theory of Motivational Blockage
  • Good Judgment
  • Overload and How to Cope
  • The Critique of Ideology and Overconfidence
• References (pp. 103-125).

This page was last updated on March 17, 2001.