Chapter 6 Behaviorist and Learning Aspects This multimedia

Chapter 6: Behaviorist and Learning Aspects This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law: (1) Any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network; (2) Preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or in part, of any images; (3) Any rental, lease, or lending of the program. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Classical Conditioning of Personality o Ivan Pavlov o Studying dogs Copyright © 2012

® ® The Classical Conditioning of Personality Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All

The Classical Conditioning of Personality Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Classical Conditioning Generalization ◦ Conditioned responses can occur in response to stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus Discrimination ◦ Learning to tell the difference between different stimuli, responding only to the conditioned stimulus and not to similar stimuli Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Classical Conditioning Extinction ◦ When the pairing of the conditioned and unconditioned stimulus stops ◦ Gradual decrease in the response to the conditioned stimulus Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Classical Conditioning Classical conditioning can be used to explain emotional aspects of personality ◦ neurotic behavior ◦ phobias ◦ superstitious behavior ◦ etc. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Origins of a Behaviorist Approach John B. Watson ◦ Founded behaviorism ◦ Applied conditioning principles to humans ◦ Rejection of introspection ◦ Tabula rasa approach John Locke Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Example of Baby Albert Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

® ® The Example of Baby Albert Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All

The Radical Behaviorism of B. F. Skinner Personality IS a group of responses to the environment Radical determinism ◦ All behavior is caused Operant Conditioning ◦ Behavior is changed by its consequences ◦ “Skinner box” (operant chamber) Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Operant Conditioning The status of a consequence as reinforcement or punishment is empirically determined ◦ If the preceding response increases after the consequence occurs, it is a reinforcement ◦ If the preceding response decreases after the consequence occurs, it is a punishment Reinforcement or punishment can occur through adding or removing a stimulus ◦ For rats: food, noise, electric shock ◦ For humans: money, praise, hugs, candy, chores, spanking, prison Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Operant Conditioning What happens after the response occurs? What happens Stimulus is is Added Removed Response Positive Negative Increases Reinforcement to the response? Response Positive Negative Decreases Punishment Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Skinner’s Walden Two Applied the principles of operant conditioning to design a society Sets up a controlling environment by using positive reinforcement Several communities were founded on behaviorist principles Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Applying Behaviorism: An Example Modifying Type A personality ◦ By using operant conditioning people are able to learn to reduce their negative behaviors Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Other Learning Approaches to Personality �Clark Hull �Role of drive alleviation �Habits ◦ Associations between a stimulus and a response �Emphasized both internal states and the environment ◦ Describes how distant goals can be learned Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Dollard and Miller �Combined psychoanalytic theory with behaviorism �Social �Habit Learning Theory hierarchy ◦ Personality is the probability that particular responses will occur Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Dollard and Miller �Secondary drives ◦ The drives that are learned by association with the satisfaction of primary drives �Aggression ◦ Occurs as a result of blocking efforts to attain a goal Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Dollard and Miller Mental illness explanations Internal conflicts ◦ Approach-avoidance conflict ◦ Approach-approach conflict ◦ Avoidance-avoidance conflict Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Modern Behaviorist Approaches to Personality Behaviorism’s limitation to observable behavior is inconsistent with the focus of most personality approaches Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory connects individual differences in the nervous system to the response to reward versus punishment ◦ Reward works through Behavioral Activation System (Behavioral Approach System) ◦ Punishment works through Behavioral Inhibition System Act Frequency Approach as a way to connect observable actions to traits Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Timeline: The Behaviorist and Learning Approach Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights

The Behaviorist and Learning Approach Analogy ◦ Humans as intelligent rats learning life mazes

The Behaviorist and Learning Approach Advantages ◦ Requires rigorous empirical study ◦ Looks for general laws that apply to all organisms ◦ Forces attention to the environmental influences on behavior Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Behaviorist and Learning Approach Limits ◦ Ignores insights and advances from cognitive and social psychology ◦ May tend to dehumanize unique human potentials ◦ Explains all differences between individuals as a consequence of their reinforcement histories ◦ Views humans as objects to be trained Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Behaviorist and Learning Approach View of free will ◦ Behavior is determined by

The Behaviorist and Learning Approach Common assessment technique ◦ Experimental analysis of learning (often

The Behaviorist and Learning Approach Implications for therapy ◦ Since personality is conditioned and learned, therapy is based on teaching desirable habits and behaviors, and on extinguishing undesirable ones Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.