Behaviourism & Humanism

Question 1

Who was the father of behaviourism?

Answer 1

• John Watson –> the founder of the ‘Second Force’

Question 2

What was Watson’s main premise?

Answer 2

• that it is ‘behaviour’ rather than ‘personality’

Question 3

What is behaviourism?

Answer 3

• the study of what ppl do

Question 4

What did Watson describe as ‘personality’?

Answer 4

• learned habit systems

Question 5

How did Watson differ from Pavlov?

Answer 5

• he proposed that behaviour and emotions can be conditioned

Question 6

What did the Little Albert Study show?

Answer 6

• after 7 pairings of a rat and loud noise, Albert reacted with crying when the rat was presented without the loud noise.

Question 7

What are some limitations of Watson’s ‘Little Albert B’ study?

Answer 7

• reliance on only one subject
• lack of followup
• insufficient experimental stimuli to test for generalisation effects
• technology that did not permit a reliable assessment of emotional responses.

Question 8

What are some problems with behaviourism?

Answer 8

• we have shown strong genetic components
• we aren’t just a ‘blank slate’
• biological limits, species -specific behaviour

Question 9

What was Skinner’s contemporary behaviourism?

Answer 9

• ## the learning of new behaviours, or personality is almost independent of the learner - it is environmentally driven

Question 10

What was a distinct difference between Skinner and Watson?

Answer 10

• Skinner considered the possibility of THOUGHT but it was secondary to the fundamental importance of the environment
• Skinner believed that human behaviours are VOLUNTARY
• voluntary behaviour must occur BEFORE the reinforcement for it to be reinforcing
• the key features of a reinforcement is that it must be contingent on the response
• introduced ‘private events’- remembering etc. that are not observable

Question 11

What were the differences between Watson and Skinner’s take on environmental impacts?

Answer 11

WATSON: the environmental stimulus causes automatic or involuntary behaviour (CLASSICAL CONDITIONING)
SKINNER: the consequences of the behaviours affect the frequency of that VOLUNTARY behaviour (OPERANT CONDITIONING)

Question 12

What is the basis of human psychology?

Answer 12

• any person contains within him or herself the potentialities for healthy and creative growth
• humans make free choices
• the person or the self are active determiners

Question 13

How do humanists argue against psychoanalysis?

Answer 13

• individual’s personality develops due to a pulling towards goals rather than a pushing by instinctual drives

Question 14

What did Maslow say about the hierarchy of needs?

Answer 14

• the before a person can fn in response to B needs/beings/Growth needs, they must satisfy lower-level or deficit/D needs.
• if you have a deficit need, you are motivated to achieve that need, deficit needs stop being motivating once they have been satisfied.

Question 15

What are some assumptions of Maslow’s hierarchy?

Answer 15

• only a few ppl ever reach Self actualisation but many embark on the journey
• the more a lower level need is satisfied, the greater the emergence of the next-level need.
• occasionally, the satisfaction of needs is reversed
• lack of satisfaction of any of the levels of needs leads to some kind of pathology
• satisfaction of needs leads us to psychological health

Question 16

what is some empirical support for Maslow’s theory?

Answer 16

-Personal Orientation Index has been found to be negatively correlated for those highly self actualised vs. those less self- actualised (providing discriminant validity)

Question 17

What did Rowan (1998) suggest for 3 emendations to Maslow’s hierarchy?

Answer 17

• clear distinction btw need for self esteem from others and need for ‘self-esteem’
• include the ‘need for competence’ btw safety needs and need for love
• eradicate the triangle or pyramid

Question 18

What was Carl Rogers’s approach to humanism?

Answer 18

• client- centred therapy
• believed the individual has within themselves vast resources for self-understanding- can be tapped if only a definable climate of facilatative psychological attitudes can be provided

Question 19

What are the six conditions of personality change?

Answer 19

• the client and therapist
• client in state of incongruence, vulnerable
• therapist congruent and genuine
• therapist give unconditional positive regard
• therapist has empathic understanding and attempts to communicate this to their client
• the communication to the client of the therapist’s empathic understanding must be minimally achieved.

Question 20

What are the three necessary and sufficient qualities needed for an effective therapist?

Answer 20

• congruence
• empathy
• unconditioned positive regard

Question 21

What are the basic assumptions of person centred therapy?

Answer 21

FULLY FUNCTIONING PERSON: lives life in an existential way, increased trust in themselves.
FORMATIVE TENDENCY: simpler to more complex forms
ACTUALISING TENDENCY: individuals have within themselves the power to become increasingly self-directed

Question 22

What are Rogers’s constituent of the self?

Answer 22

• ‘self’ emerges at infancy (becomes personalised as ‘i’ or ‘me’ experiences
• ‘self-concept’: all those needs that are in awareness e.g. hard-working, honest
• ‘ideal- self’: one’s view of self as one wihes to be containing all attributes

Question 23

How do Rogers’s and Maslow’s theory differ from one another?

Answer 23

• Maslow goes beyond Rogers in that ppl can beyond self-actualisation and pursue B-values
• Rogers’ clinical work produced empirically testable strategies
• Maslow’s SA person appears more autonomous, doesn’t need the help of the psychologist so much
• Rogers based his theory on his experience in psychotherapy

Question 24

What were some similarities between Rogers’ and Maslow’s theories?

Answer 24

• self actualisation as the driving force in personality
• a lack of self-work was what guided their theories
• both argued that maladjustment occurs when the inner self is blocked
• both saw human agency as about the uniqueness of the individual