Chapter 13: The Behavioural/Social Learning Approach Flashcards
John Watson’s life
- Was a fighter and a builder
- Had a lack of enthusiasm for contemporary standards
- Studied psychology because he preferred working with rats instead of humans
- Was forced out of the discipline after marrying his research assistant
start of behaviourism
Behaviourism was started by John B. Watson’s 1913 article titled “Psychology as the Behaviourist Views It”
main argument of behaviourism
- Argued that only the observable was reasonable subject matter for a science
- Thus, psychologists should only study overt behaviour
Watson on conditioning
Believed that a few key conditioning principles would suffice to explain almost any human behaviour
Watson on personality
Argued that personality is the end result of one’s history of conditioning
Watson on shaping infants
Claimed that given a dozen healthy infants, he could train them into any type of specialist
B.F. Skinner’s life
- Initially wanted to become a novelist, but failed to produce anything after two years of writing
- Studied psychology at Harvard and emersed himself in his studies
- Was not always as anti-Freudian as he is often described
Similarities between Skinner and Freud
- Created a projective test based on the vague sounds emitted by a phonograph early in his career
- Sought out the opportunity to go to psychoanalysis
- Agreed with Freud that people simply do not know the reason for many of their behaviours, even though they think they do
what did Skinner call his approach?
radical behaviourism
radical behaviourism
- a less extreme version of the position Watson advocated for
- argued that people do not know the reason for their behaviour
Skinner on inner thoughts and experiences
- Acknowledged the presence of thoughts and inner experiences
- Rejected the use of inner states as explanations of behaviour in favour of observable external events
Skinner on the causes of behaviour
- Challenged the extent to which we can observe the inner causes of behaviour
- Argued that we simply respond to environmental demands
Skinner on happiness
Described happiness as a byproduct of operant reinforcement
Skinner on dignity and morality
dignity and inner moral decisions are illusions because we simply respond to environmental demands
discovery of classical conditioning
Discovered by Ivan Pavlov in Russia
classical conditioning
Learning resulting from pairing a conditioned stimulus with a new, unconditioned stimulus
how does classical conditioning begin?
with an existing stimulus-response association called an unconditioned stimulus and an unconditioned response
example of an existing S-R association
salivating in the presence of food
how does a conditioned response develop?
when the unconditioned stimulus is paired with a conditioned stimulus
example of a conditioned S-R association
salivating in the presence of a bell, after it has been repeatedly paired with food
second-order conditioning
the process of building one conditioned S-R associated with another
example of second-order conditioning
pairing a green light with the bell to generate salivation
Pavlov on behaviour
We are unaware of many S-R associations that influence our behaviour
anxiety and classical conditioning study
participants were made to feel anxious and then asked to sit in a waiting room with a stranger. Although the two did not interact, participants reported unfavourable impressions of the other person
extinction
the gradual disappearance of the conditioned S-R association
limitations of classical conditioning
- The persistence of new S-R association requires occasional pairing or reinforcement of unconditioned and conditioned stimuli
- Extinction
- Impossible to create certain S-R bonds
discovery of operant conditioning
Discovered in the U.S. by Edward Thorndike
operant conditioning
Learning resulting from the response an organism receives following a behaviour
the law of effect
behaviours are more likely to be repeated if they lead to satisfying consequences and less likely to be repeated if they lead to unsatisfying consequences
how does operant conditioning begin?
Begins with the behaviours an organism emits spontaneously
reinforcement
a consequence that increases the frequency of a behaviour that precedes it
punishment
a consequence that decreases the frequency of the behaviour that precedes it
positive reinforcement
the presentation of a reward
effect of positive reinforcement
increases behaviour
negative reinforcement
the removal or lessening of an unpleasant stimulus
effect of negative reinforcement
increases behaviour
extinction
the removal of the reward
effect of extinction
Decreases behaviour
punishment
giving an aversive stimulus following behaviour or taking away a positive stimulus
effect of punishment
Decreases behaviour
is punishment effective?
it is often ineffective
why is punishment often ineffective?
- It does not teach appropriate behaviours
- It must be delivered immediately and consistently
- It can have negative side effects
negative side effects of punishment
- Aversive feelings toward the person administering the punishment
- undesirable behaviours may be learned through modelling
- they may associate other behaviours with punishment
shaping
successive approximations of the desired behaviour are reinforced
examples of shaping
rewarding a withdrawn patient for getting out of bed in an attempt to get them to partake in therapy
generalization
generalizing a response of a specific stimulus to another stimulus
example of stimulus generalization
rewarding a child for behaving politely around relatives and the child behaving politely towards other non-relatives
discrimination
distinguishing between the rewarded and nonrewarded stimuli and thus, actions that lead to reinforcement, and those that don’t
example of discrimination
behaving politely toward friendly adults but not toward rude adults
Julian Rotter’s life
- Majored in chemistry because he wanted to make money, despite his love for psychology
- Attended Alfred Adler’s lectures and was eventually invited by Adler to attend meetings of the Society of Individual Psychology
- Studied with the famous Gestalt psychologist Kurt Lewin
what led to the start of the learning theory?
- In the 1950s and 60s, the enthusiasm for behaviourism started to wane
- This marked a transition from traditional behaviourism to social learning theory
Behaviour-environment-behaviour interactions
the environment influences people’s behaviour which in turn determines the environment people like to be a part of
what approaches does the social learning theory encompass?
behaviourism and the cognitive approach
Rotter on the complexity of behaviour
the causes of human behaviours are far more complex than those of lower animal
Rotter on the probability of engaging in behaviour
Argues that the probability of engaging in behaviour changes after rewards and punishments because our expectancies change.
behaviour potential
each of the possible responses to a situation
what two variables influence the strength of behaviour potential?
expectancies & reinforcement value
expectancies
what we believe will happen if we act in a certain way
reinforcement values
how much we think we will like each of the possible consequences we expect
generalized expectations
beliefs we hold about how often our actions typically lead to reinforcements and punishments
locus of control
a continuum ranging from people with extreme internal to external orientations
Rotter on values
What we value tends to be relatively consistent
Albert Bandura’s life
- Intended to major in biological science, but became enamoured with psychology after enrolling in an introductory course
- Was influenced by learning theorist Kenneth Spence
- Received numerous honours, including the presidency of the American Psychological Association in 1974
what did Rotter call his approach?
learning theory
what did Bandura call his approach?
social-cognitive theory
social-cognitive approach on behaviourism
Rejects the behaviourist’s depiction of human beings as passive recipients of whatever stimuli life throws their way
reciprocal determinism
behaviours, external factors, and internal factors influence each other like parts
Bandura on the distinction between humans and other animals
People use symbols and forethought as guides for future action, unlike lower animals
Bandura on reinforcements
- Most behaviour is performed in the absence of external reinforcements and punishments
- Our daily actions are largely controlled by self-regulation
- We engage in purposeful, future-oriented thinking
- Challenges the assertion that people will perform any action if the environmental contingencies are altered appropriately
observational learning
learning behaviours by observing and reading other peoples’ actions
behaviourism vs. social learning theory on learning behaviours
- Social learning theorists argue that we learn behaviours through observation, but whether we perform the behaviours we learn depends on our expectancies for reward or punishment
- This clashes with behaviourists, who argue that we can’t learn something until we’ve engaged in that behaviour
learning-performance distinction
We perform some of the behaviours we learn but not others because of our expectations of the consequences
bandura on consequences
Our expectations of the consequences come from observing others
bobo dolls study method
nursery school children watched a TV program in which an adult performed 4 novel aggressive acts on an adult-sized plastic Bobo doll. The adult was either rewarded, punished, or had no consequences for their behaviour (3 conditions).
bobo dolls study findings
nearly all the children in the three groups could perform the behaviours when asked. The children who had seen the model rewarded were significantly more likely to perform the behaviours than those who had seen the model punished.
what does the bobo dolls study demonstrate?
the learning-performance distinction
strengths of behaviourism
- Solid foundation in empirical research
- Development of useful therapeutic procedures, which involve baseline data and objective criteria
- Social learning theories and Bandura’s cognitive theory added cognitive variables to the behavioural approach, expanding the behaviourist perspective
criticisms of behaviourism
- It is too narrow in its description of human personality (inappropriate attention to important causes of behaviour)
- Human beings are much more complex than the laboratory animals used in behavioural research
- Treatments sometimes distort the real therapy issues by reducing everything to observable behaviour
overt behaviour
that which can be observed, predicted, and controlled by scientists
principles that explain human behaviour
- Classical conditioning
- Operant conditioning
Ivan Pavlov
a physiologist who studied digestive processes
what does an unconditioned stimulus evoke?
an unconditioned response
what does operant conditioning investigate?
the effect certain kinds of consequences have on the frequency of behaviour
consequence
a reinforcement or punishment depending on the person and the situation
what kind of reinforcement is drug addiction?
Drug addiction starts with positive reinforcement because it feels good but eventually becomes a form of negative reinforcement because it removes the withdrawal symptoms
what is shaping useful for?
teaching complex behaviours
when does generalization lead to a certain behaviour?
as long as a generalized response is met with reinforcement, the behaviour is likely to continue
how do social learning theorists determine reinforcers?
they are provided by the individuals being studied
what does social learning theory rely on?
generalized expectancies
who proposed the locus of control dimension?
Rotter
self-regulation
controls behaviour in the absence of external reinforcements and punishments according to social-cognitive theory
do behaviours learned by observation need to be performed?
no
what determines if someone will perform an observed behaviour?
their expectations about the consequences
Watson on abnormal behaviours
- Problematic behaviours are explained in terms of reinforcing the wrong behaviour
- He demonstrated the creation of abnormal behaviours through normal conditioning procedures
when does operant conditioning dominate?
Operant conditioning takes over once the pairing of classical conditioning is removed
applications of classical conditioning
- To eliminate or replace stimulus-response associations that cause clients problems
- Systematic desensitization
- Biofeedback
systematic desensitization
replacing the old association of feared stimulus and response with a new association of the stimulus
aversion therapy
altering problem behaviours by pairing aversive images with undesirable behaviours
applications of operant conditioning
- The therapist identifies the target behaviour and defines it in specific operational terms
- Biofeedback
biofeedback
requires specific equipment that provides information about somatic processes
