Chapter 6: Behaviorist and Learning Aspects

The Classical Conditioning of Personality Ivan Pavlov Studying dogs

The Classical Conditioning of Personality ® ®

The Classical Conditioning of Personality

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

Classical Conditioning Extinction When the pairing of the conditioned and unconditioned stimulus stops Gradual decrease in the response to the conditioned stimulus

Classical Conditioning Classical conditioning can be used to explain emotional aspects of personality neurotic behavior phobias superstitious behavior etc.

Origins of a Behaviorist Approach John B. Watson Founded behaviorism Applied conditioning principles to humans Rejection of introspection Tabula rasa approach John Locke

The Example of Baby Albert

The Example of Baby Albert ® ®

The Example of Baby Albert

The Radical Behaviorism of B. F. Skinner** The term personality is meaningless! Rejection of any mental internal component like personality as known up to that date Personality IS a group of responses to the environment Talks about superstitious behavior in order to dispute against the need to assign ‘personalities’ to people Radical determinism All behavior is caused Operant Conditioning Behavior is changed by its consequences “Skinner box” (operant chamber)

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

Operant Conditioning What happens after the response occurs? What Stimulus is Added Stimulus is Removed What happens to the response? Positive Reinforcement Negative Punishment Response Increases Response Decreases

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

Applying Behaviorism: An Example Modifying Type A personality By using operant conditioning people are able to learn to reduce their negative behaviors

Other Learning Approaches to Personality Clark Hull ‘PRINCIPLES OF BEHAVIOR’ 1943 Role of drive alleviation Habits Associations between a stimulus and a response Emphasized both internal states and the environment The role of internal drives: Innate or Primary (hunger, thirst, sex, avoidance of pain) Describes how distant goals can be learned

Dollard and Miller – Social Learning Theory Combined psychoanalytic theory with behaviorism Habit hierarchy Personality is the probability that particular responses will occur Secondary drives

Dollard and Miller Secondary drives Frustration-aggression hypothesis The drives that are learned by association with the satisfaction of primary drives HARLOW’S STUDIES** – shows the difficulty of understanding primary needs associated with social needs Frustration-aggression hypothesis Occurs as a result of blocking efforts to attain a goal

Dollard and Miller Mental illness explanations – DRIVE CONFLICT Internal conflicts Approach-avoidance conflict Approach-approach conflict Avoidance-avoidance conflict

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

Timeline: The Behaviorist and Learning Approach

Timeline: The Behaviorist and Learning Approach

Timeline: The Behaviorist and Learning Approach

Timeline: The Behaviorist and Learning Approach

Timeline: The Behaviorist and Learning Approach

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

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

The Behaviorist and Learning Approach View of free will Behavior is determined by environmental contingencies Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Behaviorist and Learning Approach Common assessment technique Experimental analysis of learning (often in non-human animals) Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

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.