Personality Theories Exam 3

George Kelley’s Personal construct theory

• believed each person creates cognitive constructs about the world

• cohesive patterns → predictions about self + others + events

• patterns → personality

• humans can take charge of our own lives

george kelley believed

that people propel themselbves forward and we are not just passive respondents to the environment or our unconscious

george kelley rejected

psychoanalysis and behaviorism

behaviorism

people are passive responders to stimuli in their environment

psychoanalysis

people are passive responders to unconscious forces

kelley believed that humans

are like scientists: capable of rational thought and predict → control pathways

kelley in context

clinical psychologist: studied through this lens and strayed away from the emerging cognitive movement which was more experimental

cognitive psychologists

more experimental than clinical, less focus on personality

how did kelley develop his theory?

student clients, influenced by Maslow and Rogers

key to personal construct theory

• people interpret life events

• each person has a unique way of looking at and organizing the world

• several people can see or experience the same event and interpret it differently

constructive alternativism

the idea that we are not permanently “stuck” with constructs, but we can revise them or replace them

adapting to the world comes from

updating, altering, or discarding constructs as we have new experiences and meet new people

examples of discarding or replacing constructs

• disregarding binary constructs about others (not always this or that)

• changing assumptions about self and abilities

Pavlov studied

digestion and saliva in dogs → conditioning

before conditioning in Pavlov’s studies

1. unconditioned stimulus + unconditioned response (normal food triggers normal salivation)

2. neutral stimulus + no response (normal whistle triggers no response)

during conditioning in Pavlov’s studies

neutral stimulus + unconditioned stimulus (whistle + food) → unconditioned response (salivation)

after conditioning in Pavlov’s studies

conditioned stimulus → conditioned response (whistle → salivation)

John Watson (little albert)

1. no fear of animals

2. animals + fearful noise

3. fear of animals even w/o noise

edward thorndike - law effect

you are likely to repeat a given behavior if you perform it and something positive happens after or less likely if something negative happens after

conditioned stimulus

whistle (that produces salivation)

unconditioned stimulus

normal food that produces normal salivation

conditioned response

salivation to the whistle

unconditioned response

salivation to normal food

Skinner and personality

• would have denied the existence of personality

• emphasis on parsimony (simple = better)

• disregard consciousness and regard observable behavior only (reinforced behaviors, etc)

respondent behavior (skinner)

reflexive behavior that can be easily conditioned

operant conditions (skinner)

whatever follows a behavior strengthens or weakens it (shaping) - can be unconscious

reinforcement (skinner)

stimulus follow behavior and increases likelihood of response

primary reinforcers

innately reinforcing like food and water

secondary reinforcers

neutral initially but we learn them, like money

skinner’s research

skinner box with the rats, believed animal studies could predict human behavior as well

skinners beliefs were

opposite to kelley’s beliefs in that he disregarded the need for internal, conscious constructs

Walden two (skinner)

fictional blueprint for society built using behaviorist principles, idea that we can control env to shape a better society

token economy

often used with kids or institutional facilities: good behavior → ‘tokens’ → prizes

fixed ratio reinforcement

reward after a set number of responses

fixed interval reinforcement

reward after a set amount of time, regardless of responses

variable ratio reinforcement

reward after a random number of responses

variable interval reinforcement

reward after a random amount of time

gambling is a

kind of variable ratio reinforcement

behavior modification

• most use positive reinforcement

• structured programs where operant conditioning and reinforcement learning is used

does punishment work?

• lacks long term results

• may have negative psychological outcomes

• effects depend on personality

negative reinforcement

taking away an unpleasant stimulus to encourage behavior to occur again (removing homework bc of chores done)

negative reinforcement vs punishment

• negative reinforcement = removing something negative, reinforcing good

• punishment = adding something negative, discouraging bad

stimulus avoidance

removing oneself from external variable

self-administered satiation

overdoing undesired behavior to become sick of it

aversive stimulation

making negative consequences for doing undesired behavior

self-reinforcement

rewarding oneself for avoiding undesired behavior

positive reinforcement

add something pleasant to encourage more desired behavior

what would skinner say about free will

it is an explanatory fiction - a label used when we don’t see the forces behind our actions (reinforcement and env, etc)

criticisms of skinner’s view

• oversimplifies learning and need for reinforcement

• ignores choice and free will / consciousness

• relies too much on env factors

how were skinner and bandura alike?

agreed that behavior is learning

how were skinner and bandura different?

bandura didn’t think we needed reinforcement to learn, proposed that we can learn mostly through observation

social learning theory

we learn from our interactions with others

observational learning

we watch others’ behavior in order to learn

vicarious reinforcement

we observe the consequences of others’ behavior and infer how it would apply to us

in bandura’s perspective, learning comes through

observation, not always by direct reinforcement

bandura viewed people as

agents, or originators of experience

humans have the ability to act and make things happen

agency entails

1. intentionality

2. forethought

3. self-reactiveness (predict rxn and control behavior before it happens)

4. self-reflectiveness (observe rxn and change for next time)

observational learning

learning through the process of following a model, either intentionally or accidentally

why don’t we automatically imitate what we see?

cognitive processes influence observational learning

disinhibition

if ppl observe someone getting away with something, they are more likely to also do it

what inspired bandura’s research

thought that if humans relied only on operant conditioning they would not survive (swimming example)

impact of bandura’s research

children who observed aggressive behavior were more likely to exhibit aggressive behavior

disinhibition because of video games causes

moral disengagement over time

imitation

mimicking a model

modeling

matching the structure or style of behavior

cooperation, caring, and helping behaviors

can also be learned through observation

humans learn from each other

families, workplace, educational settings, health behaviors, etc

influences on modeling situations

1. characteristics of model

2. characteristics of observer

3. consequences associated with the behaviors

characteristics of the model

• similar to us?

• close to us in time and distance?

• high status?

• attractive?

more complex behaviors are

less likely to be copied

characteristics of observer

• age and cognitive capacity

• motivations

• self esteem

people with low self esteem are

more likely to imitate others

processes of observational learning

• attentional processes

• retention processes

• production processes

• incentive and motivational processes

julian rotter + marvin zuckerman + martin seligman

• how ppl differ in their expectations, motivations, and responses to env

• personality = cognitive + behavioral

• personality psych → scientific + research driven

locus of control (Rotter)q

belief that reinforcement is either external or internal - do things happen bc of you or bc of the environment

internal locus of control

belief that events are under the control of ones own behaviors and abilities

external locus of control

belief that other people, fate, or luck control the events of one’s life

LOC development

• learned in childhood and reinforced by parents’ behavior

• internal locus peaks in middle adulthood

health and locus of control

people with high internal LoC have better physical and mental health

culture x LoC

collectivist cultures = more externally oriented

gender x LoC

differs by location, may interact with culture

sensation seeking (zuckerman)

a desire for “varied, novel, complex, or intense sensations or experiences and a willingness to take physical, social, legal, and financial risks for the sake of the experience

thrill and adventure seeking

physical activities involving speed, danger, novelty, or defiance of gravity

experience seeking

new experiences through travel, music, art, etc. non-conforming element

disinhibition

needs to find release through uninhibited social activities like risky s-x, impulsiveness, aggressiveness, and antisocial behaviors

boredom susceptibility

avoiding repetitive experiences, routine work, or predictable behavior

sensation seeking can be

good or bad, maladaptive or prosocial

seligman’s work with learned helplessness

found that some dogs wouldn’t avoid an aversive stimuli if they didn’t think they could. Simply stopped trying

Albert Ellis

• REBTC

• transforming negative emotions

positive psychology

making normal life more fulfilling, not just treating a disease model

the pursuit of meaning has

great contributions to life satisfaction

with increased learned helplessness, one is

less likely to act on own behalf/own attitude

explanatory style

optimism vs pessimism

• how we explain what happens to us

optimistic explanatory style

do i expect positive thing? decreased helplessless

pessimistic explanatory style

do i expect negative thing? increase helplessness

explanatory style is

learned and modifiable

explanatory style influences…

1. motivation and persistance

2. emotional responses to failure

3. academic and professional performance

4. mental health outcomes

dimensions of explanatory style

• internal vs external

• stable vs unstable

• global vs specific

evolutionary perspective

personality traits are adaptations shaped by natural selection

twins studies show that

personality has moderate heritability but is also influenced by env