The Behavioral/Social Learning Approach Flashcards
1
Q
Do behaviorists deny the influence of genetics?
A
No. Simply downplay its importance relative to the power of conditioning.
2
Q
According to John B. Watson, what was the appropriate subject matter for psychology?
A
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.
3
Q
Work on conditioning convinced Watson that a few key conditioning principles would suffice to explain _________________.
A
almost any human behavior
-> Personality was “the end product of our habit systems.”
4
Q
What type of conditioning did Pavlov work on?
A
Classical conditioning
5
Q
By demonstrating what?
A
That animals could be made to respond to stimuli in their environment by pairing these stimuli with events that already elicited a response
6
Q
What type of conditioning did Thorndike work on?
A
Operant conditioning
7
Q
By demonstrating what?
A
That animals were less likely to repeat behaviors that met with negative consequences than were animals given no punishment.
8
Q
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?
A
Behavior does not change because you feel anxious. The decision to skip the party and the anxiety are both conditioned reactions to the situation.
9
Q
Radical behaviorism def
A
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.
10
Q
By who was the notion of Radical behaviorism developed?
A
B.F. Skinner
11
Q
How do Skinner explain happiness?
A
Happiness is a by-product of operant reinforcement.
12
Q
What are the common points between Freud & Skinner’s view?
A
Both maintained that people simply do not know the reason for many of their behaviors, although we often think we do.
13
Q
Explain Classical conditioning
A
US->UR
CS->CR
14
Q
What’s a limitation of classical conditioning?
A
Extinction
15
Q
Extinction def
A
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.
16
Q
Law of effect def
A
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.
17
Q
Who developed this law of effect?
A
Edward Thorndike
18
Q
What was Thorndike’s experiment to develop the law of effect?
A
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.
19
Q
Operant conditioning begins with behaviors the organism (human or lower animal) emits _______.
A
spontaneously
20
Q
Reinforcement def
A
Consequence that increases the frequency of a behavior that precedes it.
21
Q
Punishment def
A
Consequence that decreases the frequency of a behavior that precedes it.
22
Q
2 basic reinforcement strategies for increasing the frequency of a behavior:
A
Positive & Negative reinforcement
23
Q
Positive reinforcement def
A
Adding something good
24
Q
Negative reinforcement
A
Removing something bad
24
2 methods for decreasing undesired behaviors:
Extinction & Punishment
25
Extinction
Do not reward behavior
26
Punishment decreases the frequency of undesired behavior BUT it does not ________________
Teach appropriate behaviors
26
Punishment
Give something bad
27
To be effective, punishment must be delivered _________ and ___________.
immediately, consistently
28
Punishment can have negative side effects (4)
(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
29
Taken together, these factors make punishment one of the ____________ for changing problem behaviors.
least desirable choices
30
What's a problem with operant conditioning?
A behavior can be reinforced only after it is emitted.
31
When we can't use operant conditioning (bc pple didn't engage in the behavior) what technique can we use?
Shaping
32
Shaping def
Successive approximations of the desired behavior are reinforced.
33
Shaping is particularly useful when teaching ____________________________
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.
34
Operant conditioning would be rather ______ if every situation required that we learn a new response. Fortunately, because of ___________, this is not the case.
limited, generalization
35
Stimulus generalization helps explain ___________________________________________________.
why personality characteristics generalize across situations
E.g. A child rewarded for acting politely around relatives will probably act politely around new acquaintances.
36
As long as the generalized response is met with _________, the behavior is likely to continue.
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.
37
Conclusion - Operant conditioning allows for _______ and _______
Generalization, Discrimination
38
Among the concepts introduced by social learning theorists is ______________________________ interactions.
behavior-environment- behavior
39
Behavior-environment- behavior interaction def
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.
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.
complex, "unobservable" concepts
41
Other social learning theorists point out that people often provide their own _______.
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.
42
Behavior potential def
Responses that have a likelihood of occurring.
43
What determines the strength of the behavior potential? (2)
Expectancies and Reinforcement values.
BP (Behavior potential) = E (Expectancy) + RV (Reinforcement value)
44
Expectancies def
What we believe will happen if we act a certain way.
45
Generalized expectancies def
Beliefs we hold about how often our actions typically lead to reinforcements and punishments.
46
Reinforcement values def
How much we think we will like each of the possible consequences we expect.
47
Rotter (1966) proposed that each of us can be placed along a continuum called ____________.
locus of control
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 _________________.
internal, their own actions or attributes
external, forces outside their control, including chance
49
Who revolutionized traditional behavioral views of personality to more cognitive approaches?
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.
50
(Bandura) Reciprocal Determinism def
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.
51
Whether one part of the reciprocal determinism model influences another part depends on the _____ of each.
strength
-> At times, environmental forces are most powerful; at other times, internal forces dominate.
52
Bandura identifies several features unique to humans that must be considered to fully understand personality. (2)
Imagination & Self regulation
53
What is meant by imagination? Give 2 examples.
(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.
54
What is meant by self-regulation?
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.
55
Self-regulation also includes self-________.
punishment
-> When we fail to maintain personal standards, we often degrade and feel bad about ourselves.
56
Bandura challenged the idea that all behaviors are learnt through reinforcement & punishment. Why?
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.
57
Bandura draws an important distinction between learning and _________.
performance
-> Behaviors learned through observation need not be performed.
58
This idea again clashes with traditional behaviorists, who maintain that we cannot learn something until __________________________________________________.
we have actually engaged in that behavior
59
Why do we perform some of the behaviors we learn through observation but not others?
The answer lies in our expectations about the consequences.
-> Do you believe the action will be rewarded or punished?
60
Explain the 3 conditions of the Bobo doll study
(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.
61
What are the results of the Bobo doll study? (2)
(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
62
______________ was the first to demonstrate how seemingly "abnormal" behaviors are created through normal conditioning procedures.
John B. Watson
63
Little Albert experiment
S-R association between a loud noise white rat. Watson.
64
Why, then, do phobias not just become extinct on their own without psychological intervention?
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.
65
Sometimes ________ can protect us from developing phobias.
This explain why some people develop fears after a traumatic experience whereas others do not.
previous learning
66
Behaviorists explain other problem behaviors in terms of _________________________________ OR _________________________
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.
67
Aside from using classical conditioning to eliminate or replace S-R associations, psychologists find that ____________________ can also be classically conditioned.
mental images
68
One treatment for phobias pairs images of the feared object with a _______________________
relaxation response.
69
What are two psychotherapies using classical conditioning principles?
Systematic desensitization & Aversion therapy
70
How does Systematic desensitization work?
The old association between the feared stimulus and the fear response is replaced with a new association between the stimulus and relaxation.
71
How does Aversion therapy work?
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.
72
What are the two things the therapist needs to do in order to apply operant conditioning to therapy?
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
73
How does Group contingency intervention work?
Offers rewards to all members of a group when the entire group meets the behavior goal.
74
Cite 2 treatment using operant conditioning.
Biofeedback & Group contingency intervention
75
Biofeedback def
Requires special equipment that provides information about somatic processes.
-> woman was reinforced for producing the response that lowered her muscle tension
76
About pple quitting smoking: What is it about these few successful cases that separate them from the others?
Self-efficacy: People stop smoking when they convince themselves they can do it.
77
What are the 2 types of expectation?
Outcome vs Efficacy expectation
78
Efficacy expectation def
Extent to which people believe they can perform the actions that will bring about the particular outcome.
79
Bandura argues that ______ expectations are better predictors of behavior than ______ expectations.
efficacy, outcome
80
Outcome expectation def
Extent to which people believe actions will lead to a certain outcome.
81
4 sources of Efficacy expectations
-> Successful treatment programs often require changing a client's efficacy expectation through one or more of these means.
(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)
82
Guided mastery def
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.
83
What's the downside of guided mastery?
Failure to instill a sense of efficacy in a client might very well doom therapeutic efforts.
84
What is required to have good behavioral assessments?
Define the behavior, Define how often the behavior is performed
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?
(1) Analogue behavioral observation
(2) Self-Monitoring
(3) Observation by Others
86
Analogue behavioral observation procedure
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.
87
One way to improve the accuracy of behavior observation is to have ______________________________________________________.
two or more observers independently code the same behaviors
88
What's the con of Analogue behavioral observation (direct observation)?
It is often too costly and time consuming to be useful.
89
Self monitoring procedure
Clients observing themselves.
90
Self monitoring problems to be resolved (2)
(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.
91
How are the pbs of self monitoring resolved?
Therapists often ask clients to keep records of when and where they engage in certain behaviors.
92
What measure often provides the most accurate assessment of a client's behavior?
Observation by Others
93
Strengths of Behavioral/ Social Learning Approach
(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)
94
Criticisms of Behavioral/ Social Learning Approach
(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
95
Gender roles def
Different expectations our culture has for the way men and women are.
96
What's the difference between Agency & Communion?
Male-Agency (assertiveness, control...) vs Female-Communion (attachment, cooperation...)
97
What's the difference between the early vs later models of Masculinity and Femininity
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.
98
What are the 4 gender-type categories (high vs low on either femininity or masculinity)
High fem-High masc = Androgynous
Low fem-High masc = Masculine
High fem-Low masc = Feminine
Low fem-Low masc = Undifferentiated
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
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.
100
According to later models, what's the problem when people are ONLY masculine or feminine?
They lack the ability to engage in appropriate or adaptive behavior.
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.
problem-focused
seek out others
share emotions
102
Congruence model def
States that masculine men and feminine women are the most well-adjusted.
103
Masculinity model def
Maintains that being masculine is the key to mental health.
104
Androgyny model def
People whose behavioral repertoires lack either masculine or feminine behaviors are ill-prepared to respond to many situations they encounter.
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?
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.
106
Between expressiveness & sensitivity, which one is feminine and which one is masculine?
Expressiveness = Masculine
Sensitivity = Feminine
107
Unmitigated def
People who are not only extremely high in either communion or agency but are also low on the other dimension.
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?
(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.
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)
(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)
