Personality of Psychology Exam III Ch.8-10

Vocab Words + Practice Questions

Behaviorism

a branch of psychology that focuses on (relatively) simple explanations for outward behavior and is concerned with the inner workings of the mind

Social learning

learning how to behave from watching other people’s behavior

Operant conditioning

shaping behavior through rewards and punishments

Positive reinforcement

rewards or incentives for good behavior

Shaping

gradual training that rewards behavior progressively closer to the desired one

Negative reinforcement

rewards desired behavior by taking away an unpleasant stimulus

Positive punishment

administrating something bad after misbehavior

• (what people usually mean when they refer to punishment)

Natural consequences

punishments enacted naturally as a consequence of the negative behavior

Negative punishment

stopping bad behavior by taking away something good; also known as a “timeout”

Reinforcement schedule

giving out rewards for good behavior at certain times

Continuous reinforcement schedule

always giving out a reward for good behavior

Partial reinforcement

only sometimes giving out a reward for good behavior

Fixed-ratio reinforcement

giving out a reward after a certain number of behaviors

Variable-ratio reinforcement

giving out a reward after a random number of behaviors

Fixed-interval reinforcement

giving out a reward after a certain amount of time has passed

Variable-interval reinforcement

giving out a reward after a random amount of time has passed

Socialization

how children slowly learn how to become mature members of society and learn their cultures’ rules

Reciprocal determinism

Bandura’s theory that a person’s behavior causes the environment as well as the environment causing behavior

Behavior modifcation

using conditioning to improve behavior

Token economy

a program in which good behavior is rewarded with tokens that can be exchanged for privileges

Expectancies

what someone expects to happen based on past experiences of what was rewarding

Reinforcement value

how enticing a particular reward is

Generalized expectancies

beliefs about how often actions lead to rewards versus punishment

External locus of control

believing events are more of a matter of luck and the arbitrary decisions of powerful people

Internal locus of control

believing that your actions have an effect on events

Classical conditioning

associating two things not normally associated with each other

Unconditioned stimulus

the stimulus normally producing the unconditioned response

• Ex: food producing salivation

Unconditioned response

the response normally produced by the unconditioned stimulus

• Ex: salivation being produced by food

Conditioned stimulus

the stimulus that produces the conditioned response after classical conditioning

• Ex: a bell causing a dog to salivate

Conditioned response

the response produced by the conditioned stimulus after classical conditioning

• Ex: salvation following the sound of the bell

Generalization

when a conditioned response is triggered in response to things similar to the conditioned stimulus

Deconditioning

reversing conditioning to eliminate the conditioned response

Discrimination

narrowing the conditions that produces the conditioned response

Extinction

eliminating the conditioned response

Spontaneous recovery

relearning a conditioned response

Habituation

getting used to something in the environment and not responding as strongly anymore

Phobia

an intense fear of a specific thing

Systematic desensitization

a treatment for phobias that attempts to reduce fear in many small steps by associating the feared thing with calmness

Progressive relaxation

learning how to systematically relax your body so your mind calms

Flooding

confronting your worst hear head-on all at once

Longitudinal study

a study following a group of people as they age

Cross-sectional study

data collected at one time that compares people of different ages

Temperament

genetically based behavioral tendencies seen in young children

Replicated

when another study finds the same result

Mean-level changes

shifts in population’s average scores with age

Rank-order consistency

comparing someone to the average person their age

Quantum change

Radical personality change

• Happens very infrequently; such as a person with chronic alcoholism gets sober

Social investment theory

the idea that personalities mature as people enter important adult social roles such as establishing a career and starting a family

Maturation of personality

growth in traits consistent with being more mature and grown-up, s