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Behaviorism - only the observable was reasonable subject matter for a science. Because our subjective
inner feelings can not be observed or measured in an agreed upon, accurate manner, they have no place in
an objective science.
Appropriate subject matter for psychology- overt behavior that which can be observed, predicted, and
eventually controlled by scientists.
Skinner challenged the extent to which we are able to observe the inner causes of our own behavior, he
described happiness as “a by-product of operant reinforcement”
The process of building one conditioned S-R association on another is called second-order conditioning
Law of effect (Thorndike) – that formulate that behaviors are more likely to be prepared if they lead to
satisfying consequences and less likely to be repeated if they lead to unsatisfying consequences.
Negative reinforcement – the removal or lessoning of an unpleasant stimulus when the behavior occurs.
Effectiveness of punishment is limited for several reasons:
1.) Punishment does not teach appropriate behaviors, it only decreases the frequency of undesired
ones.
2.) To be effective, punishment must be delivered immediately and consistently
3.) Punishment can have negative side effects
In addition, through classical conditioning, aversive feelings that accompany the punishment may
be associated with the person doing the punishing
Another side effect is that the undesirable behaviors may be learned through modeling.
Shaping – successive approximations of he desired behavior are reinforced, shaping is useful when
teaching complex behavior
Social learning Theory – Psychologists questioned the assertion that all human learning is the result of
classical or operant conditioning
The behavior potential is the likelihood of a given behavior occurring in a particular situation. Each
possible response to the insult has a different behavior potential.
Two variables needed to be considered expectancy and reinforcement value (Rotter)
Social – Cognitive Theory – Bandura rejects the behaviorists depiction of human beings as passive
recipients of whatever stimuli life throws their way
Reciprocal determinism- external determinates of behavior, such as rewards and punishments, and internal
determinants such as beliefs, thoughts, and expectations, are part of a system of interacting influences that
affect not only behaviors but the various parts of the system as well.
Bandura draws an important distinction between learning and performance, behaviors learned through
observation need not be performed. The idea again clashes with traditional behaviorists, who maintain that
we cannot learn something until we have actually engaged in that behavior.
Previous learning can protect us from developing phobias as well as cause them.
Behaviorists view other problem behaviors as the result of a learning history that somehow reinforced the
wrong behavior.
The focus is on changing a few well defined behaviors rather than changing the entire personality of the
client.
Systematic desensitization – The old association between the fear response is replaced with a new
association between the stimulus and relaxation.
Aversion Therapy – Therapists try to rid clients of undesirable behaviors by pairing aversive images with
the behavior.
Token economy- can be used to change the behavior of a large group and/or a number of behaviors all at
once.
Biofeedback- type of operant conditioning used to treat psychological problems, requires special
equipment that provides information about somatic processes.
Outcome expectation – is the extent to which people believe their actions will lead to a certain outcome.
Efficacy Expectation- he extent to which they believe they can bring about the particular outcome.
It is the difference between believing that something can happen and believing that you can make it happen
Bandura argued that efficacy expectations are better predictors of behavior than outcome expectations.
Efficacy expectations four sources :
1.) Enactive Mastery Experiences – most important; these are successful attempts to achieve the
outcome in the past.
2.) Vicarious experiences – seeing other people perform a behavior without adverse effects can
lead us to believe that we can do it too.
3.) Verbal persuasion
4.) Physiological and affective
Guided Mastery – The therapist arranges the situation so that the client is almost guaranteed a successful
experience, the treatment is broken down to smaller steps that can be accomplished with only a slight
increase in the clients effort.
Analogue Behavior Observation – The therapist creates a situation that resembles the real-world setting
in which the problem behavior is likely to occur.
One way to improve the accuracy of behavior observation is to have two or more observers independently
code the same behaviors.
Strengths and Criticisms of the Behavioral/Social Learning Approach – Strengths – one reason for the
endurance of the behavioral/social learning approach is its solid foundation in empirical research.
Another strength lies in the development of some useful therapeutic procedures.
Behavior modification procedures have several advantages over other therapy approaches. One advantage
is their use of baseline data and objective criteria for determining success or failure. May be the most useful
approach when working with certain populations, such as children or severely emotionally disturbed
patients, also relatively quick and easy to administer.
Criticisms – A persistent criticism is that it is too narrow in its description of human personality.
Critics are particularly concerned with the Skinnerian brand of behaviorism which rejects the usefulness of
examining inner feelings and intuition. Others criticize the approach for giving inadequate attention to the
role of hereditary. Research points to limits on how easily certain behaviors can be conditioned.
Behaviorists may need to recognize the limits of the conditioning principles they promote.
Another is that the approach is directed primarily at traditional behaviorism, is that human beings are more
complex than the laboratory animals used in behavioral research.
Chapter 14
Four Research topics review: First, many men and women today are concerned about how gender roles
shape and restrict their behavior. Second, in response to the ever-present issue of violence in our society,
many psychologists have focused their attention on the impact aggressive models have on aggressive
behavior. Third, applying animal research findings to human beings is a standard feature of the behavioral
approach to personality. Fourth, we’ll look at one aspect of Rotter’s social learning theory, Individual
differences in locus of control have been the focus of an enormous amount of personality research.
Children and adults acquire and maintain gender-appropriate behaviors largely through operant
conditioning and observational learning.
Impressions of what is appropriate for boys and girls are communicated to the child within a few years,
children are surrounded by adults and peers ready to reward gender-appropriate behaviors and punish
inappropriate ones.
Gender-role behaviors are also acquired through observational learning.
Agency – Refers to independence, assertiveness, and control and is roughly similar to masculinity.
Communication – refers to attachment, cooperation, and interpersonal connection and is similar to
femininity.
Congruence model - masculine men and feminine women are the most well adjusted.
Masculinity model – maintains that being masculine is the key to mental health.
Bandura’s Four Step Model – He explains that observational learning and performance consist of four
interrelated processes. People must go through each of these steps before exposure to aggression leads them
to act aggressively. They must attend to the aggressive action, remember the information, enact what they
have seen, and expect that rewards will be forthcoming.
Soon after the demonstrations of learning helplessness in humans, psychologists noticed some striking
parallels between research participants and people suffering from depression. Clinical psychologists have
long observed that depressed patients often act as it they are helpless to control what happens to them.
Locus of control – The key is not whether an individual’s health habits actually contribute to his or her
good health, but whether the person believes this to be true. Like other personality traits, scores from locus
of control scales are fairly stable over time. However, these scores are not immune to change.
People suffering from psychological disorders tent to be more external than internal