BEHAVIORAL AND SOCIAL LEARNING THEORIES

BEHAVIORAL AND SOCIAL LEARNING THEORIES

1. their approach is known as behaviourism because they believed that it was not possible to study conscious experience scientifically. instead, the behaviorist studied the adaptive value of learning from experience

   • a third group of scientists working in the late 1890s
   • they contributed to the founding of psychology in different ways
   • this group also was influenced by Charles Darwin to study psychological processes that are useful in survival
   • they were not interested in the adaptive functions of consciousness

2. behaviorism

   • 1. IVAN PAVLOV
     • Ivan Pavlov and his coworkers conducted a research on digestion in
     • they had surgically implanted tubes in the checks of the dogs
       • to study the reflexive secretion of saliva during eating
     • Pavlov noticed that the reflexive secretion of saliva when the dongs saw food being brought to them, not just when the food was placed in their mouths
     • he recognised that the dogs had learned to associate the sight of food by salivating
     • he demonstarted that this interpretation was correct by conducting experiments using a clicking metronome instead of the sight of food and a small quantities of powdered meat
     • when the metronome and the meat powder were presented together, the dogs quickly learned to salivate to the metronome alone
     • his accidental discovery from the dog's experiment was of tremendous importance to the new field of psychology
     • he had identified as a simple form of learning of conditioning
       • an inherited reflex (salivating) comes to be triggered by a stimulus that has noting to do with that reflex (the metronome)
     • pavlov had shown that even inherited relexes could be influenced dramatically by learning experiences
     • pavlov thought that conditioning was so important to the survival of species
   • 2. JOHN B. WATSON & MARGARET FLOY WASHBURN
     • Pavlov's research and theories were not immediately accepted in the United States
     • but , in the 1910s and 1920s the concepts were taken up in the writing of behaviorists John B. watson and margaret floy washburn
     • they agreed with Pavlov that the importance of conditioning went far beyond salivating dogs
     • most human behavior was learned through classical conditioning
     • until his death in 1990s, B.F. Skinner was the leading exponent of behaviorism

3. 3. social learning theory

   • ALBERT BANDURA
     • the leading spokesperson for the most contemporary behavioral psychologists endorse a broader version of behaviorism that integrates the study of behavior with the study of cognition
     • this broader viewpoint is referred as social learning theory
       • the most important aspects of our behavior are learned from other persons in society. we learn to be who we are from our family, friends and culture
     • personality
       • the social learning view of personality is vastly different from that of the psychoanalysts
       • social learning theorists focus on a psychological processes that is learning
       • this theory has its origins in the behavioral writings of Ivon Pavlov, John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner
       • ach of these theorists argued that personality is no more than learned behavior and that the way to understand personality is simply to understand the process of learning
       • social learning theorists
         • the key concepts in the study of personality are not id, ego and superego but classical conditioning, operant conditioning and modelling
         • personality is simply something that is learned ; it's the sum total of all the ways we have learned to act , think and fell. because personality is learned from other people in society
   • role of learning in personality
     • in social learning view: a person develops an adequate personality if he or she is exposed to good models and is reinforced for appropriate behavior
     • an inadequate learning environment
       • in inadequate personality development
     • the leading figure in social learning theory today is Albert Bandura
     • he agrees with the view of other behaviourists (Watson & Skinner)
       • personality is the sum of total of learned behavior
     • bandura broke with traditional behaviorism in two main ways
       • he sees people as playing an active role in determining their own actions, rather than being passively acted on by the learning environment
       • he emphasizes the importance of cognition in personality
     • bandura 1977 potrays us as playing an active role in our own lives by stating that social learning is an example of reciprocal determination
       • reciprocal determination
         • not only is a person's behaviour learned but the social learning environment is altered by the person's behaviour
         • the environment that we learn from, after all is made up of people
         • if we behave toward them in a timid way, or a friendly way, or a hostile way, those people will react in very different ways to us
           • will hence be teaching us very different things about social relationship
         • the aggressive, overconfident person will learn that the world is a cold, rejecting place
         • the friendly person will learn that the world is warm and loving
     • personality is learned behaviour, but it is also behaviour that influences future learning experiences
   • role of cognition in personality
     • our learned cognitions are the prime determinant of our behaviour
     • people who believe that helping others only makes them less self-reliant will be stingy toward people in need
     • people who think that other people find them boring will act quiet and shy
     • Bandura places particular emphasis on the role of our cognitions play about our ability to handle the demands of life
     • self - efficacy
       • the perception that one is capable of doing what is necessary to reach one's goals
         • both in the sense of knowing what to do and being emotionally able to do it
       • people who perceive themselves as self-efficacious accept greater challenges, expand more effort and may be more successful in reaching their goals
       • a person with a poor sense of self-efficacy about social poise may not accept a promotion at work because it would involve giving many speeches and having to negotiate with dignitaries
       • although our perceptions of self-efficacy are learned from
         • these cognitions continue to influence our behaviour from the inside out
         • what others say about us
         • our direct experiences of success and failure
         • other sources
     • bandura also emphasizes the importance of values and personality standards in personality
       • we learn personal standards for our behaviour from:
         • observing the personal standards that other people model
         • the standards that others use when rewarding or punishing us
     • when we adopt those standards for ourselves and use them to evaluate our own behaviour, we developed self regulation
       • self regulation
         • when we behave in ways that meet our personal standards, we cognitively pat ourselves on the back - we reinforce ourselves
     • we generally do not actually say to ourselves, "good going, you did okay!"
     • rather we feel a self-reinforcing sense of pride or happiness when we have met our standards
     • we punish ourselves (feel guilty, disappointed)
       • fail to meet our personal standards
   • situationism and interactionism
     • some situations tend to make us cheerful and some make us gloomy
     • B. F. Skinner (1953) argued that behaviour is determined by the situations in which people find themselves, not traits inside the person
       • this is known as situationism
         • it suggests that our behaviour is consistent only as long as our situations remain consistent
         • a woman might be friendly most of the time when she is with her family, but cold and distant when she is with her gossipy co-workers, and stiff and formal with her boss
         • people behave in ways that suit their situations - because situations are apt to change - behaviour cannot be consistent enough to be adequately described in terms of personality traits
     • social learning theorists suggested a constructive compromise between the trait and situationism positions
     • the solution known as person x situation interactionism
       • it suggests that our behaviour is influenced by a combination of characteristics of the person and the situations
       • For example: one person might be relatively calm and relaxed when not frustrated or threatened. if this person encounters a stressful situation (interviewing for a new job)
         • he/she might react with intense anxiety and irritability
         • another person, in contrast, might be calm and relaxed in both stressful and nonstressful situations
     • the concept means
       • different people react to the same situation differently
       • the same person often behaves quite differently in different situations
     • the essential point of interactionism
       • the only way to fully describe a person's personality is in terms of "if...then" statements
       • "if he feels liked by others, then he is cheerful and kind. if he thinks other people don't like him, then he is gloomy and sarcastic"
       • such if ... then statements provide a description of our personalities that allows a prediction of future behaviour in a variety of situations
     • to social learning theorists: the "person variables" in person X situationinteraction are
       • the cognitive (beliefs)
       • motivational (goals)
       • emotional tendencies that we have acquired through social learning and that determine how we respond to different situations
     • people play an active role in choosing and even creating the situations that they experience
       • a very shy person may avoid social situations, whereas an aggressive person would tend to seek out challenging situations and might even provoke hostile encounters with others
       • this situations that interact with our personal characteristics do not just happen to us at random
         • we play an important role in selecting and creating many of the situations in which we live

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