The Behavioral/Social Learning Approach

Question 1

Do behaviorists deny the influence of genetics?

Answer 1

No. Simply downplay its importance relative to the power of conditioning.

Question 2

According to John B. Watson, what was the appropriate subject matter for psychology?

Answer 2

Overt behavior: which can be observed, predicted, and eventually controlled by scientists.
-> If psychology is to be a science, psychologists must stop examining mental states.

Question 3

Work on conditioning convinced Watson that a few key conditioning principles would suffice to explain _________________.

Answer 3

almost any human behavior
-> Personality was “the end product of our habit systems.”

Question 4

What type of conditioning did Pavlov work on?

Answer 4

Classical conditioning

Question 5

By demonstrating what?

Answer 5

That animals could be made to respond to stimuli in their environment by pairing these stimuli with events that already elicited a response

Question 6

What type of conditioning did Thorndike work on?

Answer 6

Operant conditioning

Question 7

By demonstrating what?

Answer 7

That animals were less likely to repeat behaviors that met with negative consequences than were animals given no punishment.

Question 8

E.g. You’re uncomfortable at social events and there’s this big party where you don’t know anyone. You’re very anxious and decide to stay home.
Most pple would say that you skipped the party because you felt anxious.
But what would a Radical behaviourist say?

Answer 8

Behavior does not change because you feel anxious. The decision to skip the party and the anxiety are both conditioned reactions to the situation.

Question 9

Radical behaviorism def

Answer 9

What people think or feel, or how they act is the result of their experiences and environments.
Challenged the extent to which we can observe the inner causes of our behavior.

Question 10

By who was the notion of Radical behaviorism developed?

Answer 10

B.F. Skinner

Question 11

How do Skinner explain happiness?

Answer 11

Happiness is a by-product of operant reinforcement.

Question 12

What are the common points between Freud & Skinner’s view?

Answer 12

Both maintained that people simply do not know the reason for many of their behaviors, although we often think we do.

Question 13

Explain Classical conditioning

Answer 13

US->UR
CS->CR

Question 14

What’s a limitation of classical conditioning?

Answer 14

Extinction

Question 15

Extinction def

Answer 15

Gradual disappearance of the conditioned S-R association.
-> For a new S-R association to persist, the unconditioned and conditioned stimuli must be paired occasionally or otherwise reinforced.

Question 16

Law of effect def

Answer 16

Behaviors are more likely to be repeated if they lead to satisfying consequences and less likely to be repeated if they lead to unsatisfying consequences.

Question 17

Who developed this law of effect?

Answer 17

Edward Thorndike

Question 18

What was Thorndike’s experiment to develop the law of effect?

Answer 18

Put stray cats into “puzzle boxes.”
To escape from the box and obtain a piece of fish, the hungry cats had to engage in a particular combination of actions.
Before long, the cats learned what they had to do to receive their reward.

Question 19

Operant conditioning begins with behaviors the organism (human or lower animal) emits _______.

Answer 19

spontaneously

Question 20

Reinforcement def

Answer 20

Consequence that increases the frequency of a behavior that precedes it.

Question 21

Punishment def

Answer 21

Consequence that decreases the frequency of a behavior that precedes it.

Question 22

2 basic reinforcement strategies for increasing the frequency of a behavior:

Answer 22

Positive & Negative reinforcement

Question 23

Positive reinforcement def

Answer 23

Adding something good

Question 24

Negative reinforcement

Answer 24

Removing something bad

Question 24

2 methods for decreasing undesired behaviors:

Answer 24

Extinction & Punishment

Question 25

Extinction

Answer 25

Do not reward behavior

Question 26

Punishment decreases the frequency of undesired behavior BUT it does not ________________

Answer 26

Teach appropriate behaviors

Question 26

Punishment

Answer 26

Give something bad

Question 27

To be effective, punishment must be delivered _________ and ___________.

Answer 27

immediately, consistently

Question 28

Punishment can have negative side effects (4)

Answer 28

(1) The person might associate other behaviors with the punishment.
(2) Undesirable behaviors may be learned through modeling (e.g. if children is spanked - spanked is okay)
(3) Create negative emotions strong enough to interfere with learning appropriate responses
(4) Aversive feelings accompanying the punishment may be associated with the person doing the punishing

Question 29

Taken together, these factors make punishment one of the ____________ for changing problem behaviors.

Answer 29

least desirable choices

Question 30

What’s a problem with operant conditioning?

Answer 30

A behavior can be reinforced only after it is emitted.

Question 31

When we can’t use operant conditioning (bc pple didn’t engage in the behavior) what technique can we use?

Answer 31

Shaping

Question 32

Shaping def

Answer 32

Successive approximations of the desired behavior are reinforced.

Question 33

Shaping is particularly useful when teaching ____________________________

Answer 33

complex behaviors,
E.g. Reading
If learning the alphabet, letter sounds, and short words is unpleasant, it will be difficult to get the child to move on to reading sentences and stories.

Question 34

Operant conditioning would be rather ______ if every situation required that we learn a new response. Fortunately, because of ___________, this is not the case.

Answer 34

limited, generalization

Question 35

Stimulus generalization helps explain ___________________________________________________.

Answer 35

why personality characteristics generalize across situations
E.g. A child rewarded for acting politely around relatives will probably act politely around new acquaintances.

Question 36

As long as the generalized response is met with _________, the behavior is likely to continue.

Answer 36

reinforcement.
E.g. The polite child may come into contact with adults who respond to friendly behaviour with harshness. Soon the child will learn to discriminate between people who are friendly and people who aren’t.

Question 37

Conclusion - Operant conditioning allows for _______ and _______

Answer 37

Generalization, Discrimination

Question 38

Among the concepts introduced by social learning theorists is ______________________________ interactions.

Answer 38

behavior-environment- behavior

Question 39

Behavior-environment- behavior interaction def

Answer 39

The way people treat you (environment) is partly the result of how you act (behavior). And how you act is partly a result of how people treat you.

Question 40

Rotter argued that the causes of human behaviors are far more ______ than those of lower animals, and he introduced several ____________ to account for human behavior and personality.

Answer 40

complex, “unobservable” concepts

Question 41

Other social learning theorists point out that people often provide their own _______.

Answer 41

reinforcers
i.e. It is rewarding to live up to your internal standards or to reach a personal goal even if no one else knows about it.

Question 42

Behavior potential def

Answer 42

Responses that have a likelihood of occurring.

Question 43

What determines the strength of the behavior potential? (2)

Answer 43

Expectancies and Reinforcement values.
BP (Behavior potential) = E (Expectancy) + RV (Reinforcement value)

Question 44

Expectancies def

Answer 44

What we believe will happen if we act a certain way.

Question 45

Generalized expectancies def

Answer 45

Beliefs we hold about how often our actions typically lead to reinforcements and punishments.

Question 46

Reinforcement values def

Answer 46

How much we think we will like each of the possible consequences we expect.

Question 47

Rotter (1966) proposed that each of us can be placed along a continuum called ____________.

Answer 47

locus of control

Question 48

Locus of control: At one end of this dimension, we find people with an extreme ______ orientation. They believe that most of the time what happens to them is the result of ________________.
On the other end, we find people who hold an extreme ________ orientation. They maintain that much of what happens to them is the result of _________________.

Answer 48

internal, their own actions or attributes
external, forces outside their control, including chance

Question 49

Who revolutionized traditional behavioral views of personality to more cognitive approaches?

Answer 49

Albert Bendura
-> Bandura rejects the behaviorist’s depiction of human beings as passive recipients of whatever stimuli life throws their way.
-> People possess other capacities that are distinctly human.

Question 50

(Bandura) Reciprocal Determinism def

Answer 50

External determinants of behavior (e.g. reward), and internal determinants (e.g. beliefs) are part of a system of interacting influences that affect not only behavior but the various parts of the system as well.
-> Each part of the system—behaviors, external factors, and internal factors—influences each of the other parts.

Question 51

Whether one part of the reciprocal determinism model influences another part depends on the _____ of each.

Answer 51

strength
-> At times, environmental forces are most powerful; at other times, internal forces dominate.

Question 52

Bandura identifies several features unique to humans that must be considered to fully understand personality. (2)

Answer 52

Imagination & Self regulation

Question 53

What is meant by imagination? Give 2 examples.

Answer 53

(1) Humans use symbols and forethought as guides for future action.
(2) Instead of working our way through rewards and punishments in a trial-and-error fashion every time we face a new problem, we imagine possible outcomes, calculate probabilities, set goals, and develop strategies.

Question 54

What is meant by self-regulation?

Answer 54

Most behavior is performed in the absence of external reinforcements and punishments.
-> Although we often strive to obtain external rewards, we also work toward self-imposed goals with internal rewards.

Question 55

Self-regulation also includes self-________.

Answer 55

punishment
-> When we fail to maintain personal standards, we often degrade and feel bad about ourselves.

Question 56

Bandura challenged the idea that all behaviors are learnt through reinforcement & punishment. Why?

Answer 56

Many behaviors are too complex to be learned through the slow process of reinforcement and punishment.
-> In addition to classical and operant conditioning, we can learn by observing people’s actions.

Question 57

Bandura draws an important distinction between learning and _________.

Answer 57

performance
-> Behaviors learned through observation need not be performed.

Question 58

This idea again clashes with traditional behaviorists, who maintain that we cannot learn something until __________________________________________________.

Answer 58

we have actually engaged in that behavior

Question 59

Why do we perform some of the behaviors we learn through observation but not others?

Answer 59

The answer lies in our expectations about the consequences.
-> Do you believe the action will be rewarded or punished?

Question 60

Explain the 3 conditions of the Bobo doll study

Answer 60

(1) Saw a second adult reward the aggressive model
(2) Saw the model spanked
(3) Given no information about the consequences of the aggressive behavior.

Question 61

What are the results of the Bobo doll study? (2)

Answer 61

(1) Nearly all the children in all three groups could perform the behaviors when asked.
(2) The ones who had seen the model rewarded were significantly more likely to perform the behaviors

Question 62

______________ was the first to demonstrate how seemingly “abnormal” behaviors are created through normal conditioning procedures.

Answer 62

John B. Watson

Question 63

Little Albert experiment

Answer 63

S-R association between a loud noise white rat. Watson.

Question 64

Why, then, do phobias not just become extinct on their own without psychological intervention?

Answer 64

Operant conditioning may take over.
E.g. 3-year-old girl who falls off a tall slide. The pain and fear she experiences are paired with the slide, and those feelings re-emerge the next time she approaches the playground.

Question 65

Sometimes ________ can protect us from developing phobias.
This explain why some people develop fears after a traumatic experience whereas others do not.

Answer 65

previous learning

Question 66

Behaviorists explain other problem behaviors in terms of _________________________________ OR _________________________

Answer 66

reinforcing the wrong behavior - too little reinforcement
E.g., if the socially anxious woman’s efforts to initiate conversations with others are never rewarded, she’ll probably stop trying.

Question 67

Aside from using classical conditioning to eliminate or replace S-R associations, psychologists find that ____________________ can also be classically conditioned.

Answer 67

mental images

Question 68

One treatment for phobias pairs images of the feared object with a _______________________

Answer 68

relaxation response.

Question 69

What are two psychotherapies using classical conditioning principles?

Answer 69

Systematic desensitization & Aversion therapy

Question 70

How does Systematic desensitization work?

Answer 70

The old association between the feared stimulus and the fear response is replaced with a new association between the stimulus and relaxation.

Question 71

How does Aversion therapy work?

Answer 71

Therapists try to rid clients of undesirable behaviors by pairing aversive images with the behavior.
E.g. For a client trying to quit smoking, the image of a cigarette might be paired with images of becoming nauseated and vomiting.

Question 72

What are the two things the therapist needs to do in order to apply operant conditioning to therapy?

Answer 72

1) Defining target behavior in operational terms.
E.g., what would you reinforce or punish when a child’s problem is “acting immature”?
2) Determine a baseline of behavior frequency

Question 73

How does Group contingency intervention work?

Answer 73

Offers rewards to all members of a group when the entire group meets the behavior goal.

Question 74

Cite 2 treatment using operant conditioning.

Answer 74

Biofeedback & Group contingency intervention

Question 75

Biofeedback def

Answer 75

Requires special equipment that provides information about somatic processes.
-> woman was reinforced for producing the response that lowered her muscle tension

Question 76

About pple quitting smoking: What is it about these few successful cases that separate them from the others?

Answer 76

Self-efficacy: People stop smoking when they convince themselves they can do it.

Question 77

What are the 2 types of expectation?

Answer 77

Outcome vs Efficacy expectation

Question 78

Efficacy expectation def

Answer 78

Extent to which people believe they can perform the actions that will bring about the particular outcome.

Question 79

Bandura argues that ______ expectations are better predictors of behavior than ______ expectations.

Answer 79

efficacy, outcome

Question 80

Outcome expectation def

Answer 80

Extent to which people believe actions will lead to a certain outcome.

Question 81

4 sources of Efficacy expectations
-> Successful treatment programs often require changing a client’s efficacy expectation through one or more of these means.

Answer 81

(1) Enactive mastery experiences (Successful attempts to achieve the outcome in the past)
(2) Vicarious experiences (If she can do it, so can I - not as powerful as ACTUAL experiences)
(3) Verbal persuasion (You can do it - less effective)
(4) Physiological and affective states (notice your reactions and associate it w things - see ex)

Question 82

Guided mastery def

Answer 82

Therapist arranges the situation so that the client is almost guaranteed a successful experience.
-> The treatment is broken down into small steps that can be accomplished with only a slight increase in the client’s effort.

Question 83

What’s the downside of guided mastery?

Answer 83

Failure to instill a sense of efficacy in a client might very well doom therapeutic efforts.

Question 84

What is required to have good behavioral assessments?

Answer 84

Define the behavior, Define how often the behavior is performed

Question 85

Having a precise estimate of how much the patient do this or that is a crucial component in therapy. What’s are ways to assess that?

Answer 85

(1) Analogue behavioral observation
(2) Self-Monitoring
(3) Observation by Others

Question 86

Analogue behavioral observation procedure

Answer 86

The therapist creates a situation that resembles the real-world setting in which the problem behaviour is likely to occur.
Occasionally role-play is involved.

Question 87

One way to improve the accuracy of behavior observation is to have ______________________________________________________.

Answer 87

two or more observers independently code the same behaviors

Question 88

What’s the con of Analogue behavioral observation (direct observation)?

Answer 88

It is often too costly and time consuming to be useful.

Question 89

Self monitoring procedure

Answer 89

Clients observing themselves.

Question 90

Self monitoring problems to be resolved (2)

Answer 90

(1) Clients frequently have a distorted idea about how often a behavior occurs.
(2) Few clients can provide accurate information about the behavior from memory.

Question 91

How are the pbs of self monitoring resolved?

Answer 91

Therapists often ask clients to keep records of when and where they engage in certain behaviors.

Question 92

What measure often provides the most accurate assessment of a client’s behavior?

Answer 92

Observation by Others

Question 93

Strengths of Behavioral/ Social Learning Approach

Answer 93

(1) Solid foundation in empirical research.
(2) Development of some useful therapeutic procedures
(3) Treatments based on conditioning principles often have several advantages over other interventions.
(4) The basic methods can be taught to parents, teachers, and hospital personnel, who can carry out the therapy without the therapist present. (lower cost)

Question 94

Criticisms of Behavioral/ Social Learning Approach

Answer 94

(1) It is too narrow in its description of human personality
(2) Human beings are more complex than the laboratory animals used in behavioral research
(3) Despite the success of behavior therapists in dealing with many problem behaviors, some critics argue that these treatments sometimes distort the real therapy issues by reducing everything to observable behaviors

Question 95

Gender roles def

Answer 95

Different expectations our culture has for the way men and women are.

Question 96

What’s the difference between Agency & Communion?

Answer 96

Male-Agency (assertiveness, control…) vs Female-Communion (attachment, cooperation…)

Question 97

What’s the difference between the early vs later models of Masculinity and Femininity

Answer 97

Initial models: Masculinity and femininity as two extreme positions on a single continuum.
Later models: Masculinity and femininity as two independent traits. People can be high on both traits, on only one trait, or on neither.

Question 98

What are the 4 gender-type categories (high vs low on either femininity or masculinity)

Answer 98

High fem-High masc = Androgynous
Low fem-High masc = Masculine
High fem-Low masc = Feminine
Low fem-Low masc = Undifferentiated

Question 99

Early vs Later researchers had different views on whether it was good or not to score very high on either masculinity of femininity. Except those differences

Answer 99

Early researchers: Scoring too far for one’s gender was indicative of psychological disturbances.
Later researchers: People experience the highest level of well-being when they are both masculine and feminine.

Question 100

According to later models, what’s the problem when people are ONLY masculine or feminine?

Answer 100

They lack the ability to engage in appropriate or adaptive behavior.

Question 101

Androgynous individuals also have an advantage when dealing with everyday stressors. Being high in masculinity allows them to use effective __________________________ coping strategies when needed & Being high in femininity also makes it easier for these people to __________________ and __________________ when this coping strategy is required.

Answer 101

problem-focused
seek out others
share emotions

Question 102

Congruence model def

Answer 102

States that masculine men and feminine women are the most well-adjusted.

Question 103

Masculinity model def

Answer 103

Maintains that being masculine is the key to mental health.

Question 104

Androgyny model def

Answer 104

People whose behavioral repertoires lack either masculine or feminine behaviors are ill-prepared to respond to many situations they encounter.

Question 105

Study: created 4 types of male-female pairs: (all combination w androgynous/fem/masc). The couples, who did not know each other before the study, were left alone in a room for 5 minutes. Participants also were asked to rate afterward how much they had enjoyed the interaction. What were the results?

Answer 105

Masculine man-feminine woman dyads enjoyed their interactions the least.
Highest level of relationship satisfaction among people who are married to either an androgynous or a feminine spouse.

Question 106

Between expressiveness & sensitivity, which one is feminine and which one is masculine?

Answer 106

Expressiveness = Masculine
Sensitivity = Feminine

Question 107

Unmitigated def

Answer 107

People who are not only extremely high in either communion or agency but are also low on the other dimension.

Question 108

Why do individuals sometimes imitate aggression when most of the time they do not? To answer this question, Bandura developed 4 interrelated processes. People must go through each of four steps before exposure to aggression leads them to act aggressively. What are those steps?

Answer 108

(1) They must attend to the aggressive action
(2) Remember the information
(3) Enact what they have seen
(4) Expect that rewards will be forthcoming.

Question 109

Findings often associate psychological disorders (e.g. depression) with external locus of control. Though, there is some caution to have when interpreting the results (3)

Answer 109

(1) Vast majority of people scoring on the external end of locus of control scales are happy.
(2) Because the relationship is correlational, it is difficult to make strong statements about external locus of control causing the disorder.
(3) The strength of the relationship between locus of control and depression may vary from culture to culture (e.g. weaker in collectivistic cultures)