The Behavioral/Social Learning Approach

Skinner’s Radical Behaviorism explains that:

An observer cannot measure the behavior, determine specific thoughts and feelings, and do not have any means to directly change private behavior

Dog food is the ____ because it evokes a response without previous conditioning. The salivating is a ____ because it is an natural reaction to the US. The bell ring is the ____ because through conditioning, it is able to evoke response. Salivating to the bell ring is the ____ because it is the learned reaction to the CR.

US, UR, CS, CR

Behaviors influenced by consequences is called

operant or instrumental conditioning

This law states that the extent to which consequences of a behavior are

Thorndike’s Law of Effect

Stimulus is presented and response increases

Positive Reinforcement

Stimulus is removed and response increases

Negative Reinforcement

Negative stimulus is presented and response decreases

Positive punishment

A child’s fav toy is taken away because of bad behavior, so the bad behavior decreases

Negative punishment

Skinner said operant conditioning ____ behavior as a sculptor.

shapes (reinforcing gradual steps toward a behavior)

Kayla learns to say dog then starts to call all four-legged animals dog. This is an example of

generalization

The ability to differentiate between similar stimuli and respond appropriately to each

discrimination

Seeking positive reinforcement and avoiding unpleasant stimulation

Rotter’s Law of Effect

The main idea in Rotter’s social learning theory is that personality represents an interaction of the individual with his or her _________

environment

Briefly describe Rotter’s SL Theory Components

Expectancy (E) + Reinforcement Value = Behavior Potential (BP)

Behavior potential- possibility of engaging in particular behavior in a specific situation

Expectancy- Likelihood of behavior leading to a certain outcome

Reinforcement Value- Desirability of behavior outcomes (want to avoid? or increase behavior to get outcome?)

Psychological situation- an individual’s personal experience with the environment

What can lead to the vicious cycle?

Decreased expectancy of behavior being reinforced or setting unrealistic reinforcers (results in frequent failure)

Benjamin was up for a promotion in comparison with another coworker, Tom. Tom got the promotion after both of them participated in interviews. Benjamin believed the desirable outcome did not pan out because of something he lacked. Benjamin has an ______ locus of control

internal

Belief that reinforcers in life are controlled by luck and chance

extern locus of control

Opposite of Skinner’s radical behaviorism, Bandura believed that internal events strongly _______ behavior

influenced

Rewards, punishments (both external) and thoughts, beliefs (both internal) influence behavior

reciprocal determinism

Self-regulation operates through 3 major stages

1) self-monitoring

2) self-evaluation

3) self-reactions

self-efficacy vs. self-esteem

efficacy- belief in how well one can achieve in specific areas of life

esteem- how much one believes they are a good person

This form of therapy uses behavioral goals to improve one’s psychological symptoms.

CBT Cognitive Behavior Therapy

A child has a fear of vacuums and runs away every time it is around. Their mom is anxious that she will not be able to clean her home in peace because of her child screaming. The counselor tells the mother to encourage the child to push the vacuum while it is turn off and assist with exploring how it works. After during this for 5 days in a row, the child’s fear reduced. What type of therapy is this? *Extension of CBT

exposure therapy

Briefly describe the 2 behavior observation methods

direct observation- situations are created to induce problem behavior and is recorded by 2 or more observers

self-monitoring- Clients keep records of when they engage in certain behaviors

Strengths of Behavioral/Social learning approach

Solid foundation in empirical research

Development of useful therapeutic procedures

Good treatment outcomes

Criticisms of B/SL Approach

Narrow description of personality

Doesn’t acknowledge heredity

“Human beings are more complex than lab animals”

Reduction to observable behaviors distorts the real issues of therapy

What traits are associated with masculinity and femininity?

Masc (Agency) - Independence, assertiveness, and control

Fem (Communion) - Attachment, cooperation, and interpersonal connection

The Androgyny Model views masculinity and femininity as

independent traits

If Annie is high in both masculinity and femininity, she would be considered:

androgynous

If Tom is low in femininity and high in masculinity, he would be considered:

masculine

States that masc. men and fem. women are the most well-adjusted

congruence model

4 steps before aggressive behavior (Bandura) AREE

1) Attending to aggressive action

2) Remembering the information

3) Enacting what is seen

4) Expecting that rewards will be forthcoming

Research indicates that children learn aggression by imitating aggressive models. T or F

true

Frequent exposure to aggressive models on television increases aggressive behavior over the short run. T or F

True

What makes people learn helplessness?

Being in a situation they cannot control

An example of learned helplessness is the _________ because they have most of their daily tasks done by someone else. This leads to problems with adjustment and health decline.

elderly

People with psych. disorders tend to have what kind of locus of control?

external