Dollard & Miller Flashcards
Dollard and Miller’s basic assumptions
-accepted Freud’s CONTENT theory of pathology (i.e., pathology comes from forces in opposition - conflict; e.g., neurotic types and central role of anxiety)
-rejected Freud’s PROCESS theory and motivation, including instincts, psychosexual stages, libido, unconscious –> NOT scientific enough to be discussed
-substituted Hull’s drive theory of conditioning to explain motivation
-explained Freudian theory of people’s behavior with a new set of constructs (content theory = Freud’s, process theory = Hull’s)
Hull’s drive theory
-motivation for behavior is to maintain homeostasis (neutral feeling of no discomfort)
-deprivation leads to increased intensity of the drive and therefore disturbs the equilibrium/homeostasis (feeling of comfort)
–> puts people in a drive state in which a strong drive feels uncomfortable
–> we are motivated to reduce drives (drive-reduction theory) and return to homeostasis
–> all drives have direction (some object that individuals are motivated to obtain that will satisfy the drive and lead to homeostasis)
primary drives
biological, unconditioned/unlearned drives that have a cyclical pattern of expression
e.g., hunger: feel hungry –> eat –> drive reduced –> deprivation –> cycle continues
secondary drives
drives that are learned from experience and are contradicting-ly not cyclical in expression –> a neutral stimulus is presented when the primary drive is reduced and becomes associated with the primary drive
e.g., drive for affection develops because the infant is being held by the mother when fed; primary drive is food, but eventually, the mother takes on her own value to the infant, independent of the food - hence, the mother becomes the desired goal because she was present when the other goal was satisfied
strength of drives
the intensity of the person’s desire to reduce it; the more you are motivated to reduce the drive, the stronger the drive is
PROBLEM: can only measure drives post-hoc (cannot measure drives directly therefore you cannot predict drives because you cannot measure their strength until you have observed the person’s behavior)
general property of drives: drives become stronger as one gets closer to reducing drive (could be either in terms of physical distance or time) - e.g., get hungrier as you get closer to eating
drive gradient
graphs the relationship between drive strength/intensity and distance from goal/object of drive
cue
stimulus in the environment that guides behavior when in drive state; it determines what you do with your heightened state or arousal, thereby giving direction to your behavior
e.g., if you are hungry, you need __ related to food, such as the smell of food
reinforcement
anything that reduces the strength of the drive
e.g., food is __________ when hungry
Dollard & Miller’s view of psychopathology
-fear = primary drive (we are naturally afraid of certain things and we are motivated to reduce fear)
-anxiety = secondary drive (anxiety is learned; a natural fear of something becomes associated with a neutral object that did not provoke fear)
-symptoms of mental disorders are learned avoidance behaviors that are done to reduce anxiety and get away from the things we are afraid of (the reason they are pathological is that they are limiting - the less you are able to do, the more constrained your life becomes)
Approach-Avoidance Conflict
-occurs when a goal or outcome has both good and bad aspects, thus we have ambivalent feelings about the goal since we both desire and fear it.
-when we are farther away from the goal, we want to approach it, but when we are closer to the goal, we want to avoid it
-e.g., running a marathon - know it will be good for you and want to do it to feel accomplished, but are afraid of being unprepared
-e.g., bungee jumping but afraid of heights
point of conflict
where the gradients cross; the drives are pushing us in opposite directions, and since we cannot reduce both drives, we become paralyzed/stuck. This leads us to experience intense anxiety and we develop pathological avoidance symptoms because it is uncomfortable to be stuck there.
Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict
occurs when two negative stimuli are in opposition; we dislike both outcomes, but we can’t avoid both, and avoiding one outcome leads to getting closer to the other outcome
e.g., studying and actually completing an exam - don’t like studying and don’t want to do the exam –> avoiding both will put you in a state of being trapped/anxiety –> if you delay the studying, probably do poorly because you did not resolve conflict on your own
e.g., not wanting to go to the dentist but also not wanting your teeth to fall out
Double Approach-Avoidance
have two outcomes that are in opposition to one another, and we are ambivalent about both. This results in us being stuck somewhere in the middle, we don’t make a decision, and a decision gets made for us. As we get closer to one goal, the negative features of outcome A begin to become more apparent and outcome B begins to appear more attractive.
e.g., choosing between 2 careers (teaching & therapy)
Dollard & Miler’s approach to psychotherapy
—want to extinguish avoidance by reducing connection of secondary drives to primary drives; disconnecting anxiety from fear means no longer need symptoms to avoid anxiety
—(insight) knowing connection between primary and secondary drives weakens connection between cues and responses
Limitations of Dollard & Miller’s approach
1) applied learning theory to Freudian psych, rather than to ppl - not their own separate, novel theory
2) Overall behavior of ppl is not well described by drive theory - we do not strive to reach homeostasis, we are not content in feeling nothing
