psych - behavioral perspective on psych

midterm 2

behaviourism

• movement which beleives that psychology should focus on observable behaviors instead of unconscious mind 

• started by John B Watson

who pioneered behavioirsm

John By Watson

to prove that psych is a science

how is personality formed

Personality results from a collection of response tendencies

Reinforced behaviors/tendencies form your personality

Children’s response tendencies are shaped through 3 ways: 

• classical conditioning,

• operant conditioning,

• and observational learning

classical conditionning (high-level overview not including terms )

• WHO: ivan pavlolv

• HIS experiment:

  • dog salivating at metronome before they even got the food

  • was studying digestion in dogs initially

• HOW: Things assoicated with an experience can become a trigger for the automatic responses that occur during that expeirnece

• MISC: we can extinguish the conditioned stimulus and response if we like as well

• WHAT: learning of autonomic ( automatic ) behaviors

 classical conditioning famous experiment

• WHAT:

  • they got a baby a little ALBERT to be phobic of white rats through classical conditionning 

  • they first showed him stuff he liked including the rat. he like the rat.

  • every time he tried to touch the rat ( they made a loud noise with a hammer )

• WHO:  John B Watson 

• CONCLUSION: 

  • he became afraid of the rat  

  • You can condition ANCXETY AND FEAR

unconditioned stimulus

stimulus that provokes a natural response. no learning is needed

(loud noise for little baby albert)

unconditioned response

response to unconditioned stimulus. natural response not learned.

(crying when hearing a loud noise for little baby albert)

operant conditioning

•  WHAT: learning which involves reward and punishment to modify voluntary behaviors

• WHO: Skinner

• WHY IT WORKS: organisms tend to repeat behaviors that benefit them, and stop behaviors that don’t help them

• EXPIREMENT: pigeons playing ping pong to get food 

shaping

• slowly acting out the desired behavior , and changing the bounds needed to get a reward

ex:

touch ball with peek → reward

touch ball with peek → ball rolls → reward

touch ball with peak → ball rools → off openents side → reward

reinforcement 

• anything that makes a behavior occur more

positive reinforcement

• encourages a behavior

• behavior is followed by a pleasant stimulus

• ex:candy after excercise

• type of oprant conditioning

negative reinforcement

• ENCOURAGES a behavio

• followed by a removal of an unpleasant stimulus

• ex: no anxiety after studying for an exam, more likely to study in the future

• type of operant conditioning

punishment 

• DISCOURAGES behavior 

• behavior is followed by an unpleasant stimulus 

• ex: no tv if you don’t do homework 

• type of oprant conditioning

social congitive theory

• ALT NAME: observational learning

• WHO: Created by Bandura

• WHAT:

  • we learn by imitation of others or models to get our desired behavior/outcome 

  • HAS A CONGITIVE COMPONENT

  • MUST NOT BE SEEN AS AS SEAPARATE FROM classical or operant conditioning it is an add o.

• EXPIREMENT:

  • kids hitting the boob doll cause an adult did 

classic social cognitive theory expirement

• every child who watched an adult beat up an inflatable clown, when left alone with the clown they would beat up the clown

• this experiement destroyed the catharsis theory by freud. anger causes anger.

• higher imitation when they watched an adult of the same sex!!!

process of observational learning

• attention to action

• memory of action

• ability to imitate

• motivation to imitate (ex: they think that the dolls are for punching)

when is observational learning more infleuntial

• subject is someone you likes or respect

• someone you consider attractive or powerful

• similarity between subject and you

• behavior leads to positive emotions

why is spanking bad ?

kids model your behavior, they will begin spanking other people

how has observational theory influenced parenting

model desirable behavior to your kids

self-efficacy 

• aspect of personality 

• confidence in one’s abilities 

• perception of self-efficacy influences the challenges you take on 

• high SE reduces anxiety, and depressions

behavioral persepective contribution to modern psych

• encouraged empiricism

• brought up situational differnece

criticisms of behavioral perspectives

• overly dependent on animal research that is generalized to humans

• negleted cognitive process ( tho social cognitive theory does do something - just not enough)

what are response tendencies

observable reactions in certain situations which develop from learning

neutral stimulus

→ stimulus that does not provoke a natural response 

(white rat for little albert )

conditioned stimulus

→ neutral stimulus that can now trigger a response due to conditionning

(white rat for little albert)

conditioned response

→ same as unconditioned response. but this time occurs due to conditionning

(crying for little albert )

why do behavior psychologist dislike voilent media/video games ?

monkey see, monkey do