Week 4/5: Behaviourist, Humanist and Social Cognitive Approaches

Question 1

_____ emerged as a reaction to Freud, and is known as the second force of psychology

Answer 1

Behaviourism

Question 2

Watson and Skinner were responsible for which psychological school of thought?

Answer 2

Watson and Skinner were responsible for behaviourism.

Question 3

Evolutionary continuity, reductionism, determinism and empiricism are 4 common assumptions of classical behaviourism. Elaborate the meaning of each assumption.

Answer 3

Evolutionary continuity represents the lineage between humans and other animals- there is no difference in kind of behaviour, only in degree of behavioural complexity.

Reductionism represents the workings of an animals’ behaviour- driven only the functions of the organisms nervous system.

Determinism: Something has happened in the past to cause this behaviour. The cause of all behaviours can be traced to a connection between environmental stimuli and the biochemical basis of the behaviour.

Empiricism: The basis of application of the scientific method onto psychology. Only that which is measurable and able to be manipulated are fit subjects.

Question 4

A determinist view was shared by behaviourists and ____

Answer 4

Freud

Question 5

Watson (known as the ‘founder’ of behaviourism) claimed that consciousness, introspection, instincts, sensation, perception, motivation and mental states were all immeasurable. This is an example of which of the 4 assumptions of behaviourism?

Answer 5

Empiricism

Question 6

How did the Watson summarise personality?

Answer 6

The behaviourists believed that personality is a learned habit system.

Question 7

I was born in 1903 and received my PhD at the ripe age of 25 years. In 1915 I was elected president of the APA but my career was cut short in 1920 due to my controversial relationship with my student Rosalie Rayner. Who am I?

Answer 7

John B. Watson, ‘founder of behaviourism’

Question 8

Name the UCR, UCS, CR and CS in the famous little Albert study (Watson and Rayner, 1920).

At 9 months Albert showed no fear towards a white rat but he did show fear towards a loud noise.

After six pairings of a rat and loud noise (in two sessions, one week apart), Albert reacted with crying when the rat was presented without the loud noise.

Answer 8

The UCR is the fear little Albert showed towards the loud noise.

The UCS is the loud noise.

The CR is crying when the rat was paired with the loud noise.

The CS is the white rat; shown after the pairing, it now illicits the CR (crying) without the paired stimulus of the noise being present.

Question 9

What’s one major difference between Watson and Skinner’s behaviourist approaches?

What phrase did Skinner create to reinforce this?

Answer 9

Skinner did consider the role of thought (due to the cognitive revolution at the time), but it was secondary environmental importance.

Skinner created the phrase ‘private events’ referring to emotional reactions that are unobservable

Question 10

In regards to voluntary behaviour, how did Watson and Skinner’s attitudes differ?

Answer 10

Skinner believed most human behaviours are voluntary, and that that voluntary behaviour must occur BEFORE a reinforcing stimulus can be reinforcing

Question 11

What is the condition of a reinforcer effectively shaping voluntary behaviour in Skinner’s behavioural conditioning theory?

Answer 11

The key feature of a reinforcer effectively shaping voluntary behaviour is that the reinforcing stimuli be contingent on the response.

Question 12

Name an important difference in how Skinner and Watson viewed the environment

Answer 12

For Watson, the environment is the ultimate cause of behaviour, whereas for Skinner, the environment offers the occasion for a behaviour

Question 13

For Watson, an environmental stimulus triggers involuntary, automatic behaviour. How does this differ from Skinner’s views about the re-occurrence of a behaviour?

Answer 13

For Skinner, the consequences of a behaviour affect the frequency of the re-occurrence of that behaviour. He also believes the behaviour is voluntary rather than automatic.

Question 14

Between Watson and Skinnner, who is the classical and who is the operant conditioning theorist?

Answer 14

Watson is classical (Little Albert was a Pavlovian experiement) and Skinner is operant.

Question 15

Limitations of the Skinnerian paradigm:

Answer 15

1. Reinforcing stimulus could vary between subjects
2. The behaviour being reinforced is now in the past
3. Where does the original voluntary response come from? Reinforcing helps repetition, but where does it originate?

Question 16

What is the difference between nomothetic and idiographic theory? Why does Fiona believe that behaviourists represent both (although mostly nomothetic)?

Answer 16

Nomothetic theory represents a theory that applies to everyone, whereas idiographic theory focuses on individuals.

Behaviourism is more nomothetic in that it’s prescriptive, however, since we all have difference reinforcers, there’s an idiographic element also

Question 17

What is the difference between causality and teleology?

Answer 17

Causality if a focus on what caused something, whereas teleology is a focus on the outcome; the purpose it serves.

Question 18

For humanists, what defines a persons reality?

Answer 18

For humanists, a persons reality if defined by what they are striving for

Question 19

Bandura stated that people are capable of ‘metacognition’. What is this?

Answer 19

Meta-cognition is thinking about thinking

Question 20

Eyesenck and Seligman criticised the behaviourists on what basis?

Answer 20

Eyesenck and Sligman criticised the evolutionary assumption that animal behaviour can be used as a model for human behaviour.

Question 21

What did Rogers and Freud have in common?

Answer 21

They both created theory from therapy

Question 22

Which movement was more focused on teleogy, psychoanalysis, the behaviourists or the humanists?

Answer 22

Humanists are focused on teleology rather than causality; what are the outcomes and future directions of events?

Question 23

Who is the parent of humanistic psychology, for healthy people striving for goals, later inspiring the positive psychology movement (Seligman)?

Answer 23

Maslowis the parent of humanistic psychology.

Question 24

What are D needs and B needs in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?

Answer 24

D needs are defecit needs eg if love and belongingness is in deficit one will not reach for B needs. B needs are the 2 at the top: Self-actualisation and truth/justice

Question 25

What are the 3 fundamental principles of Rogers’ therapeutic technique?

Answer 25

1. Congruence (the therapist w the client)
2. Empathy
3. Unconditional positive regard

Question 26

There are 3 basic assumptions of Person Centered theory:

1. The fully functional person
2. Formative tendency
3. Actualising tendency

Elaborate on these.

Answer 26

1. The fully functional person: Someone who is fully open to experience, transcends life’s boundaries and has increased trust in themselves
2. Formative tendency: Primitive unconsciousness –> highly organised awareness. All matter evolves from simpler to more complex forms.
3. Actualising tendency: Tendency to move forward towards goals with increasing self-direction

Question 27

Who is responsible for the most widely accepted theory, social cognitive theory?

Answer 27

Albert Bandura is responsible for social cognitive theory.

Question 28

“Personality is moulded by an interaction of behaviour, personal factors (especially cognition), and the environment”.

Who’s definition of personality is this?

Answer 28

This is Bandura’s definition of personality. He merged and clarified previous theories.

Question 29

A thought such as “I shouldn’t be judging….” is an example of what type of thought, according to Bandura?

Answer 29

A thought such as “i shouldn’t be judging..” is a metacognition (thought about a thought).

Question 30

How did Bandura deal with the impossibility of measuring unconscious thoughts, yet agreeing with Freud’s view “we all unconsciously identify with our parents”?

Answer 30

Bandura decided that all thought was conscious.

Question 31

What did Bandura add to Skinnerian theory about Contingent rewards and punishments?

Answer 31

Bandura added that the contingent rewards and punishments should be cognitively reinforced

Question 32

Bandura combined theories of behaviour, cognition and environment. This makes him what type of theorist (along with Freud- and how so for Freud)?

Answer 32

Combining environment, behaviour and cognition makes Bandura an interactionist.

Freud was an interactionist because he believed in the interaction between biological and psychological events.

Question 33

What was the most important element that Bandura distinctively brought to personality theory?

Answer 33

Cognition

Question 34

What is teleology?

Answer 34

Teleology is opposed to causality; it focuses on the repercussions of events going forward (could be positive aftermath).

Question 35

Was Bandura more teleological or environment -focused?

Answer 35

Bandura was more teleological.

Question 36

Bandura’s 4 step model of observational learning dictated what outcome?

1. Attend
2. Remember
3. Reproduce
4. Motivation because of reinforcement

Answer 36

Bandura’s 4-step model of observational learning were the conditions that determine the success of a model for our learning

Question 37

How did Bandura believe that aggression, and higher order forms such as moral judgements, were learnt?

Is there empirical evidence to back this up?

Answer 37

Bandura believed that aggression was socially learnt. There is empirical evidence to back this up.

Question 38

What did Bandura do for Freud’s description of the identification process and the importance of parental authority?

Answer 38

Bandura made Freud’s description of the identification process and the importance of parental authority testable

Question 39

How did Bandura make the effects of contingent rewards and punishments more readily acceptable as a theory of personality? What did he add?

Answer 39

Bandura added that the effects of contingent rewards and punishments are cognitively mediated (eg the person’s perception/ appraisal of the contingent rewards/ punishments).

Question 40

There are 3 assumptions to Bandura’s model of Social Cognitive Theory.

1. Vicarious learning
2. The importance of cognition
3. Reciprocal determinism.

What does each mean?

Hint: Reciprocal Determinism encapsulates the grand trifecta

Answer 40

1. Vicarious learning: Much of our behaviour is shaped by observing others (this is in opposition to Skinner, who believed learning could only take place with direct reinforcement).
2. The importance of cognition: People form beliefs about what they do, anticipate consequences and set goals.
3. Reciprocal determinism: Behaviour / personality is molded by the reciprocal INTERACTION of personal factors (esp cognition), environmental events and our behaviour.

Question 41

What is reciprocal determinism (1994)?

Name the P factor, the B factor and the E factor.

Answer 41

Reciprocal determinism is the interaction between the personal (esp cognition), the environment and behaviour.

Question 42

An exam outcome will depend on an interaction between a person’s cognitive ability, the amount of study they do and the difficulty of the exam. What is this an example of, and how does it apply to the theory?

Answer 42

This is an example of Bandura’s reciprocal determinism theory.

The cognitive ability of the person is the P (person), the amount they study is the B (behaviour), and the difficulty of the exam is the E (environment).

Question 43

Finish the sentence for each of Bandura’s 4-step model of learning (w Fiona’s 5th step):

1. Attend to …..
2. Remember ….
3. Reproduce
4. Motivation because of Reinforcement
5. To demonstrate that observational learning has occurred….

Answer 43

1. Attend to the model
2. Remember what is seen and heard
3. Reproduce the memory during imitation
4. Motivation because of Reinforcement of accurate performance of the observed behaviour
5. To demonstrate that observational learning has occurred, the imitated action must consist of a newly organised pattern of behavioural responses not previously in the observer’s repertoire.

Question 44

After viewing an adult behaving aggressively towards a doll, children behaved in the same way. What does this demonstrate?

Answer 44

This demonstrates that aggression is socially learnt.

Question 45

Bandura and Mc Donald (1969) found amongst 5-to-11-year children at high and low levels of moral judgment exposed to adult models showed a substantial change in their moral judgement level. This change in moral judgement persisted (2 weeks later) when the adult model was no longer present.

However, there is a cogent (clear, logical and convincing) argument against higher moral judgement being socially learned. What is it, and how did Bandura refute (while agreeing) with it?

Answer 45

Lower levels of moral judgement predominate at earlier ages, there’s a ceiling effect with their learning because they’re not capable of understanding higher order moral judgements.

Bandura agreed that young children couldn’t learn in this instance, and pointed out that the Cognitive variable in the reciprocal determinism triad is prevailing; if the child doesn’t have the cognitive ability to learn at that age, that reinforces the triad of social cognitive theory.