Behavioral Approach Flashcards
What is the definition of personality according to behaviorism?
The study of behaviors
Early behaviorism was limited too…?
Description of observable behaviors only
Later Behaviorism is also called? What does it include?
Social Learning theory, which includes unobservable concepts like thoughts, values and expectancies
What did Watson do? What did he argue?
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
According to Watson, what is the name of the behavior that is observed/controlled?
Overt behaviors
What was Pavlov’s contribution?
Classical Conditioning
What was Thorndike’s contribution?
Operant conditioning
What was Skinner’s contribution?
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
How were Freud and Skinner similar?
Both believed that people don’t know the reason behind their actions, it is unconscious
According to skinner, what is happiness?
It is the by-product of operant reinforcement
What does classical conditioning start with?
A stimulus-response association (S-R)
What S-R did Pavlov used?
S = meat and R = salivation
What conditioned stimulus did Pavlov pair with the meat?
The sound of bells
What was the new S-R condition Pavlov created?
Salivation (UR -> CR) when sound of bell
What is second-order-conditioning?
Process of building one conditioned S-R on another
What is one limitation of classical conditioning?
Extinction: the new S-R must consistently persist, otherwise it is lost
What experiment did Thorndike do on operant conditioning?
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
What is Thorndike’s Law of effect?
Behaviors are more likely to be repeated if they lead to satisfying consequences
What does Operant conditioning start with?
With natural and spontaneous responses
What are the four methods of operant conditioning? (just name(
- Positive reinforcement
- Negative reinforcement
- Punishment
- Extinction
What is positive reinforcement?
Increase of behavior through presentation of rewards
What is negative reinforcement?
Increase of behavior through removal of unpleasant stimulus
What is punishment?
Decrease of behavior through aversive stimuli/consequence
What is extinction?
Decrease in behavior by not rewarding it
In what ways (3) is punishment not good?
- Do not teach appropriate behaviors (only what not to do)
- Must be delivered immediately and consistently
- It can have negative effects (associate punishment with person giving it)
What is shaping?
Successive approximations of desired behaviors reinforced. Used on reluctant patients or for complex situations
What is stimulus generalization? What does it explain?
Generalization of a response from a specific stimulus to another specific. Explains why personality characteristics are generalized across situations
What is discrimination?
The differentiation between rewarding and non-rewarding stimuli
What is Social-Learning Theory?
Psychologists began to question why internal events couldn’t also be reinforced and conditioned in the same way.
What is behavior-environment-behavior interactions?
Environment influences behaviors and behaviors determines what kind of environment we are in
Social learning theory is closest to which 2 theories?
Behaviorist and cognitive theory
For what reason did Rotters disagree with behaviorist views?
He believed that the causes of human behaviors are more complex than that of lower lab animals
What is Rotter’s equation?
Expectancy + reinforcement value = behavioral potential
What is expectancy?
What we believe will happen if we act a certain way
What is generalized expectancies? What did Rotter also call this dimension?
Beliefs we hold about how often our actions typically lead to reinforcements and punishments. Also called locus of control
What is reinforcement values?
How much we think we will like each of the possible consequences we expect
Are reinforcement values stable?
Yep
What is behavioral potential?
All the different possibles responses one could have to a situation
Who is Bandura? What did create?
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.
What is the name of Bandura’s theory?
Social-cognitive theory
What are Bandura’s two causes of behaviors overlooked by behaviorist?
- Symbols/forethought: we imagine possible outcomes
- Self-regulation: many behaviors performed in absence of external reinforcement, but rather self-imposed goals with internal rewards (e.g. losing weight)
What is reciprocal determinism?
Bandura acknowledged both internal and external determinants of behaviors, which together control behaviors.
What is external determinant of behavior according to Bandura?
Rewards and punishment
What is the internal determinant of behavior according to Bandura?
Beliefs, thoughts and expectations
What is observational learning?
Ability to learn through observation of other’s action
What is the distinction between learning and performance?
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
What was Bandura’s learning performance study (bobo dolls)
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.
According to Watson, what is the explanation of psychological disorders?
They are created through reinforcement of wrong behaviors (baby Albert and rat/loud noise = fear)
What is one limitation of Watson’s explanation of psychological disorder?
New associations formed through classical conditioning become extinct if the pairing is removed, so then why don’t phobias cease on their own?
What are the two applications of classical conditioning?
- Systematic desensitization: old association between feared stimulus and fear response is replaced with new associations between feared stimulus and relaxation.
- Aversion therapy: attempt to get rid of client’s undesirable behaviors by pairing aversive images with behaviors
What are the two applications of operant conditioning?
- Group contingency intervention: offer rewards to all members of a group when the entire group meets a behavioral goal.
- Biofeedback: requires equipment that provides information about somatic processes (e.g. muscle tightening). Learn to reduce tension on your own to reduce anxiety
What is self-efficacy?
A person’s expectancy that they can successfully perform a given behavior (Bandura)
What the outcome expectations of self-efficacy?
The extent to which people believe actions will lead to a certain outcome (believing something can happen)
What is the efficacy expectation in self-efficacy?
The extent to which people believe they can perform the action that will bring about particular outcomes (believing you can make something happen)
Is outcome expectation or efficacy expectation the better predictors of behaviors?
Efficacy expectation
What are four sources of efficacy expectation?
- Enactive mastery experience: successful attempts in the past
- Vicarious experience: seeing other succeed
- Verbal persuasion: other’s encouragement
- Physiological and affective state: interpretation of physical response
What is enactive mastery or guided mastery?
It is the most successful approach to alter efficacy expectation. The therapist would arrange a situation where the client is guaranteed success.
Self-efficacy can influence…?
Childhood depression, PTSD, test anxiety, phobias, drunk driving, job performance, academic performance, exercise program, weight loss, romantic relationships, etc.
What are three ways behaviorists therapists can observe their clients?
- Direct observation: through analogue behavioral observation
- Self-monitoring: not very useful, distorted idea of ourselves
- Observation by others: needed with children or mental ill patients
What are 2 strengths of behaviorism?
- Solid empirical foundation
- Useful therapeutic procedures
What are 3 criticisms of behaviorism?
- Too narrow description of personality
- Humans are more complex than lab animals
- Behavioral treatment does not fix the issue, just the observable behaviors
What was the name of Skinner’s approach?
Environmental determinism: Behaviors are shaped by environmental contingencies, not free will
