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PSYCH 332 - Personality > Behavioral Approach > Flashcards

Behavioral Approach Flashcards

1
Q

What is the definition of personality according to behaviorism?

A

The study of behaviors

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2
Q

Early behaviorism was limited too…?

A

Description of observable behaviors only

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3
Q

Later Behaviorism is also called? What does it include?

A

Social Learning theory, which includes unobservable concepts like thoughts, values and expectancies

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4
Q

What did Watson do? What did he argue?

A

He began the behaviorist movement. He argued that in order to be a real science, psychology needed to exclude mental states and focus on observable matter

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5
Q

According to Watson, what is the name of the behavior that is observed/controlled?

A

Overt behaviors

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6
Q

What was Pavlov’s contribution?

A

Classical Conditioning

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7
Q

What was Thorndike’s contribution?

A

Operant conditioning

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8
Q

What was Skinner’s contribution?

A

He was less radical than Watson, and he did not deny the existence of the mind, rather he doubted the extent to which we can observe inner causes of behaviors

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9
Q

How were Freud and Skinner similar?

A

Both believed that people don’t know the reason behind their actions, it is unconscious

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10
Q

According to skinner, what is happiness?

A

It is the by-product of operant reinforcement

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11
Q

What does classical conditioning start with?

A

A stimulus-response association (S-R)

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12
Q

What S-R did Pavlov used?

A

S = meat and R = salivation

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13
Q

What conditioned stimulus did Pavlov pair with the meat?

A

The sound of bells

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14
Q

What was the new S-R condition Pavlov created?

A

Salivation (UR -> CR) when sound of bell

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15
Q

What is second-order-conditioning?

A

Process of building one conditioned S-R on another

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16
Q

What is one limitation of classical conditioning?

A

Extinction: the new S-R must consistently persist, otherwise it is lost

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17
Q

What experiment did Thorndike do on operant conditioning?

A

He put cats in a puzzle box, where they had to engage in a particular combination of actions to escape. As a result, they learned for rewards

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18
Q

What is Thorndike’s Law of effect?

A

Behaviors are more likely to be repeated if they lead to satisfying consequences

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19
Q

What does Operant conditioning start with?

A

With natural and spontaneous responses

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20
Q

What are the four methods of operant conditioning? (just name(

A
  1. Positive reinforcement
  2. Negative reinforcement
  3. Punishment
  4. Extinction
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21
Q

What is positive reinforcement?

A

Increase of behavior through presentation of rewards

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22
Q

What is negative reinforcement?

A

Increase of behavior through removal of unpleasant stimulus

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23
Q

What is punishment?

A

Decrease of behavior through aversive stimuli/consequence

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24
Q

What is extinction?

A

Decrease in behavior by not rewarding it

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25
Q

In what ways (3) is punishment not good?

A
  1. Do not teach appropriate behaviors (only what not to do)
  2. Must be delivered immediately and consistently
  3. It can have negative effects (associate punishment with person giving it)
26
Q

What is shaping?

A

Successive approximations of desired behaviors reinforced. Used on reluctant patients or for complex situations

27
Q

What is stimulus generalization? What does it explain?

A

Generalization of a response from a specific stimulus to another specific. Explains why personality characteristics are generalized across situations

28
Q

What is discrimination?

A

The differentiation between rewarding and non-rewarding stimuli

29
Q

What is Social-Learning Theory?

A

Psychologists began to question why internal events couldn’t also be reinforced and conditioned in the same way.

30
Q

What is behavior-environment-behavior interactions?

A

Environment influences behaviors and behaviors determines what kind of environment we are in

31
Q

Social learning theory is closest to which 2 theories?

A

Behaviorist and cognitive theory

32
Q

For what reason did Rotters disagree with behaviorist views?

A

He believed that the causes of human behaviors are more complex than that of lower lab animals

33
Q

What is Rotter’s equation?

A

Expectancy + reinforcement value = behavioral potential

34
Q

What is expectancy?

A

What we believe will happen if we act a certain way

35
Q

What is generalized expectancies? What did Rotter also call this dimension?

A

Beliefs we hold about how often our actions typically lead to reinforcements and punishments. Also called locus of control

36
Q

What is reinforcement values?

A

How much we think we will like each of the possible consequences we expect

37
Q

Are reinforcement values stable?

A

Yep

38
Q

What is behavioral potential?

A

All the different possibles responses one could have to a situation

39
Q

Who is Bandura? What did create?

A

Bandura rejected behaviorist depiction of humans as passive recipients of stimulus, he believed humans have other capacities and that behaviorists overlook important causes of human behaviors.

40
Q

What is the name of Bandura’s theory?

A

Social-cognitive theory

41
Q

What are Bandura’s two causes of behaviors overlooked by behaviorist?

A
  1. Symbols/forethought: we imagine possible outcomes
  2. Self-regulation: many behaviors performed in absence of external reinforcement, but rather self-imposed goals with internal rewards (e.g. losing weight)
42
Q

What is reciprocal determinism?

A

Bandura acknowledged both internal and external determinants of behaviors, which together control behaviors.

43
Q

What is external determinant of behavior according to Bandura?

A

Rewards and punishment

44
Q

What is the internal determinant of behavior according to Bandura?

A

Beliefs, thoughts and expectations

45
Q

What is observational learning?

A

Ability to learn through observation of other’s action

46
Q

What is the distinction between learning and performance?

A

Some behaviors learned through observation need not be performed. If we believed an action will be rewarded/punished, it will be learned simply through observation

47
Q

What was Bandura’s learning performance study (bobo dolls)

A

Infants who watched adults performed violent acts on bobo dolls also saw 3 different endings (reward, punishment and neutral). As a result, infants from reward groups performed the most aggressively, but all infants performed aggressively if asked.

48
Q

According to Watson, what is the explanation of psychological disorders?

A

They are created through reinforcement of wrong behaviors (baby Albert and rat/loud noise = fear)

49
Q

What is one limitation of Watson’s explanation of psychological disorder?

A

New associations formed through classical conditioning become extinct if the pairing is removed, so then why don’t phobias cease on their own?

50
Q

What are the two applications of classical conditioning?

A
  1. Systematic desensitization: old association between feared stimulus and fear response is replaced with new associations between feared stimulus and relaxation.
  2. Aversion therapy: attempt to get rid of client’s undesirable behaviors by pairing aversive images with behaviors
51
Q

What are the two applications of operant conditioning?

A
  1. Group contingency intervention: offer rewards to all members of a group when the entire group meets a behavioral goal.
  2. Biofeedback: requires equipment that provides information about somatic processes (e.g. muscle tightening). Learn to reduce tension on your own to reduce anxiety
52
Q

What is self-efficacy?

A

A person’s expectancy that they can successfully perform a given behavior (Bandura)

53
Q

What the outcome expectations of self-efficacy?

A

The extent to which people believe actions will lead to a certain outcome (believing something can happen)

54
Q

What is the efficacy expectation in self-efficacy?

A

The extent to which people believe they can perform the action that will bring about particular outcomes (believing you can make something happen)

55
Q

Is outcome expectation or efficacy expectation the better predictors of behaviors?

A

Efficacy expectation

56
Q

What are four sources of efficacy expectation?

A
  1. Enactive mastery experience: successful attempts in the past
  2. Vicarious experience: seeing other succeed
  3. Verbal persuasion: other’s encouragement
  4. Physiological and affective state: interpretation of physical response
57
Q

What is enactive mastery or guided mastery?

A

It is the most successful approach to alter efficacy expectation. The therapist would arrange a situation where the client is guaranteed success.

58
Q

Self-efficacy can influence…?

A

Childhood depression, PTSD, test anxiety, phobias, drunk driving, job performance, academic performance, exercise program, weight loss, romantic relationships, etc.

59
Q

What are three ways behaviorists therapists can observe their clients?

A
  1. Direct observation: through analogue behavioral observation
  2. Self-monitoring: not very useful, distorted idea of ourselves
  3. Observation by others: needed with children or mental ill patients
60
Q

What are 2 strengths of behaviorism?

A
  1. Solid empirical foundation
  2. Useful therapeutic procedures
61
Q

What are 3 criticisms of behaviorism?

A
  1. Too narrow description of personality
  2. Humans are more complex than lab animals
  3. Behavioral treatment does not fix the issue, just the observable behaviors
62
Q

What was the name of Skinner’s approach?

A

Environmental determinism: Behaviors are shaped by environmental contingencies, not free will

PSYCH 332 - Personality (11 decks)

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