Lecture 4 Learning, Cognitive & Humanist Approaches

Question 1

Pavlov and Skinner

Answer 1

Classical conditioning Pavlov
UCS -> UCR
CS -> CR
Operant conditioning Skinner
Consequences of behaviour important: reinforcement, reward, punishment
Friendly person has been reinforced for being friendly

Question 2

Stimulus-Response Model (Dollard and Miller, 1941, 1950)

Answer 2

-Integrates learning principles with Freudian theory
-Acknowledges impact of unconscious-comprised of ‘unlabelled’ drives/cues
-Personality composed largely of learned habits-associations between S-R
-Primary drives
-Secondary drives-Learnt (coping with primary drives) e.g. regular mealtimes

Question 3

Social Learning Theory Overview (Bandura, 1978/1989)

Answer 3

-Do internal or external forces control our behaviour?
-Interacting factors in reciprocal determinism
Person Factors
Environmental Factors
Behavioural Factors

Question 4

Bobo doll study (1963)

Answer 4

Learn to become us and behave as we do via observational learning and modelling
Simple, similar, type of behaviour
*Attributes of the observer
*Consequences of imitation

Question 5

Social Learning Theory Explained

Answer 5

Internal self-regulatory processes
Self-efficacy as a self-regulatory
process
– Belief in ability to obtain a desired outcome
(Bandura, 1989; 1994)
– High self-efficacy and success (Bandura, 1977)
Increasing self-efficacy ratings – Personal experience
– Vicarious experience
– Participant modelling

Question 6

Locus of control (Rotter, 1966)

Answer 6

-Behavioural prediction in specific situations
(Behaviour Potential = Reinforcement value X Expectancy)
-Summary: to predict behaviour in a particular situation, we need to know the
options & the possible outcomes the individual sees related to each option
-Novel situations lead to generalised
expectancies
– External (locus of control)
– Internal (locus of control)

Question 7

Internal and External LOC

Answer 7

Stable personality characteristic
Internal locus of control
– Feel in control, empowered to change
External locus of control
– Feel powerless, helpless to change things
and dependent on others
Locus of control correlates with
anxiety
– More externals than internals among individuals
with MHPs (Lefcourt, 1992)

Question 8

Mischel’s ‘Concerns’

Answer 8

• Stability of traits across contexts
• e.g. confidence in one situation, but…
• Interpretation of scores
  from self-report measures
• low relatedness; low predictive value
• Dynamic personality “system”
• Cognitive Affective Processing System (CAPS)
• Composed of Cognitive Affective Units (CAUs)
• e.g. representation of self, others, expectations beliefs

Question 9

What is Mischel and Shoda’s (1995) model called?

Answer 9

Cognitive-Affective Processing System (CAPS)

Question 10

Theory of personal constructs (Kelly, 1955)

Answer 10

Views on human nature
– ‘Scientists’, generating hypotheses from subjective data
– Each person’s ‘…processes are psychologically channelized by the ways in which he anticipates events’ (1955, p.46)

Personal constructs
Superordinate/subordinate constructs
– Constructive alternativism
– 11 corollaries
– Operation of the interpretative processes
creating our personal constructs

Question 11

What is constructive alternativitism?

Answer 11

individuals perceive the world through their own unique set of cognitive constructs or mental representations, which they use to interpret and make sense of their experiences.

Question 12

Kelly’s 11 Corollaries

Answer 12

Range of convenience
Communality
Organisation
Individuality - Personal constructions - aggressive vs assertive
Dichotomy - nature of personal constructs 0 good and not bad, allows for constructive alternativitism
Construction
Modulation
Choice
Fragmentation
Experience
Sociality

Question 13

Rational-Emotive Behaviour Theory/Therapy (Ellis, 1958)

Answer 13

Central to Ellis’s theory (1976)
– Humankind is innately rational/irrational
– Two goals: i) To stay alive ii) To be happy

Rational Behaviour
– Helps individuals to achieve basic goals

Irrational Behaviour
– Prevents individuals achieving basic goals

Question 14

Rational-Emotive Behaviour Theory/Therapy 2

Answer 14

Stresses subjective nature of
experience

Underlying concept
– ‘Men are disturbed not by things,
but by their view of things’
(Epictetus)

Human beings have free will
(Ellis, 1958; 1978)

Question 15

The Basic REBT Model (Ellis, 1979)

Answer 15

A represents the activating event
B represents the clients’ belief system
C represents the emotional and behavioural
consequences that occur as a result
D for disputation
E for education

Question 16

Maslow and Self-Actualisation

Answer 16

Human nature & human motivation
(1954, 1965, 1968, 1970 )
– Basically good
– Innate tendencies towards
growth & development
– Weak; easily overcome by
negative environmental influences

Hierarchy of needs (1970)
– Emerged from early work on animal needs

Question 17

Hierarchy of needs (Maslow, 1970)

Answer 17

Self-actualisation -> maximizing talents, finding meaning, achieving peace with self

Esteem needs -> self-perception, perception of others…

Belongingness needs -> acceptance, being needed…

Safety needs -> routine, boundaries, personal safety…

Physiological needs -> hunger, sex, sleep…

Question 18

Roger’s Theory of Personality

Answer 18

Basic principles
– Individuals play an active shaping role
– Dignity & worth of human beings (1959)
– Phenomenological “nature” of reality
– Function within a perceptual or subjective
frame of reference (1956)

Self-actualisation
– Natural tendency, present from birth
*positive growth & development
* if SAT is not blocked (1959/1977)

Question 19

Rogers’ 2

Answer 19

Organismic valuing (1959)
Positive regard/Positive self-regard
Conditional PR/ PSR
– Conditions of worth
Self-concept;
– Real self/Ideal self
Incongruity
Defence Mechanisms

Question 20

Rogers’ Person-Centred Therapy

Answer 20

• The aim of person-centred counselling
• Core conditions (1959)

Question 21

Core conditions of Rogers’ therapy

Answer 21

1. Both the client and the therapist must be in psychological contact
2. The client is in a state of incongruence and feels anxious about it
3. The counsellor is congruent in the relationship
4. The therapist experiences unconditional positive regard for the client
5. The therapist experiences an empathic understanding of the client’s internal
   frame of reference
6. The client perceives the counsellor’s unconditional positive regard for him/her
   and the counsellor’s empathic understanding of his/her difficulties

Question 22

Q-Sort Measurement of Self-Concept (Stephenson, 1953)

Answer 22

-A list of around 100 adjectives/short
statements describing personality attributes
-Sort into 9 categories (most and least like me)
-In relation to real self, then ideal self