Individual Differences And Developmental Psychology Flashcards
How can classical conditioning explain our tastes?
-our tastes in everything from music to chocolate can be partially explained by the associations we form during development. E.g if we come to associate a particular song or style of music with happy parties in our teens that may form part of our long term behavioural repertoire
How does operant conditioning explain our behaviour fitting social conventions
It is important in our social development as people around us constantly reinforce and punish our behaviour, often in order to make our behaviour more conventional. The school system uses a blend of reinforcers e.g stickers and house points to make our behaviour more conventional, and detentions and punishment to shape behaviour, continuing into adulthood where the legal system uses the threat of punishment to regulate us
Explain how schedules of reinforcement can explain behavioural addiction
Some abnormal behaviours can be explained by reinforcement schedules experienced by some people rather than others. E.g one person might develop an alcohol or gambling addiction because they’re exposed to the variable ratio reinforcement schedule, whereas someone else may not have this reinforcement
How can personality explain differences in learning
One aspect of personality is aggressiveness. Social learning theory is a powerful explanation for individual differences in social behaviour like aggressiveness because it is at least partly the result of imitating models. For example domestic violence tends to run in families because children imitate the aggression of the adults in the family.
Explain how individual differences affect the treatment of individuals
There is evidence to support the general idea that client individual differences are important in understanding effective treatment for mental health problems. Most clients are given the choice of flooding or desensitisation. An understanding of the individual differences underlying choice and perseverance in flooding would help psychologists target the best treatment for the individual. It may be that some clients are more motivated and therefore more willing to tolerate the trauma of flooding, or may be more resilient to the trauma of flooding as a function of their personality
