Behavioural/Social Learning/Social Cognitive Perspective

Basic principles of classical conditioning

• Organism must already respond predictably and automatically to a stimulus

  • unconditioned stimulus → unconditioned response

• A second stimulus is paired in time and space with unconditioned stimulus

  • conditioned stimulus → conditioned response

• For the CS-CR association to be maintained the CS and UCS must be paired together at times or otherwise reinforced

• or the behaviour will cease (extinction)

Core concepts of Rotter’s social learning thinking

• necessary to take people’s perceptions of any given situation, and their expectations and their values

• Expectancy value theory

• Basic formula to predict behaviour

• Expectancy value

• Reinforcement Value

• Locus of control

Core concepts of Bandura’s social-cognitive theory

• Competencies and skills

• Expectancies and beliefs

• Evaluative standards

• Personal goals

• Perceived self-efficacy

• Outcome expectations

• Efficacy expectations

• Reciprocal determinism

• Observational learning

Competencies and skills

• Context specificity and change

• competencies might be useful in particular situations

Evaluative standards

• engage in self evaluation

• standards we hold ourselves to can influence how we behave

Self-efficacy

belief in your ability to perform a particular behaviour to achieve a certain outcome

Personal goals

• can motivate behaviour

• self-regulation

• accept challenges

Self-regulation

the process by which individuals control and manage their own thoughts, feelings, and actions to achieve long-term goals

Higher self-efficacy

• positive health behaviour changes

• prosocial behaviour changes

• higher perceive behavioural control

• positive behaviour change therapy

Outcome expectations

• a person’s belief that a given behaviour or performance will lead to a specific consequence or result

• will the task lead to the desired result?

Efficacy expectations

• A person’s belief in their own capability to execute the specific actions or behaviours needed to achieve a goal

• better predictor of behaviour

• influenced by past experiences, social persuasion, modelling, feedback, mastery

Reciprocal determinism

Behaviour, internal factors and external factors all influence each other

Therapeutic application

Strengths

Weaknesses

Major Assumptions

• Highlights the role of the environment

• Environmental stimuli shape our personality

• NURTURE end

  • Environment vs fixed and biological factors

• The experiences of life change use and they do so in ways that are lawful and predictable

  • our personality can be moulded and shaped by our experiences

  • we can make prediction about how the environment will shape personality

Behaviourism

• Observation and study of phenomenon

• Scientific study of personality

Classical conditioning personality application

• Stimuli that are conditioned to lead to reflexive reactions

• emotional conditioning

  • conditioned responses to emotion

• predictable responses

Basic principles of operant conditioning

• pleasure principle

• Reinforcement → increase desired behaviour

• Punishment → decrease behaviour

Thorndike’s law of effect

• responses followed by satisfaction are strengthened

• Responses followed by discomfort are weakened

Reinforcement

• + = adding pleasurable

• - = removing something to increase desired behaviour

Punishment

• + = add aversive to decrease

• - = remove something good to decrease behaviour

Generalisation

• we can generalise the conditioned response to other situations

• if the generalised response is met with reinforcement, the behaviour is likely to persist

Discrimination

• knowing which behaviours will likely be rewarded and which behaviour will not be rewarded

• distinguish between reinforcement and absence of reinforcement

Shaping

rewarding behaviour which approximates the desired behaviour to try and achieve the desired goal

Observational learning

• Modelling

• learning behaviour through observation

Modelling

we learn to engage in a behaviour by observing others

Factors of observational learning

• Characteristics of the model

  • more similar the model is to the observer the more likely the observer will also engage in the behaviour

• Attributes of the observer

  • Individuals with lower levels of confidence are more likely to imitate the behaviour

• Consequences

  • If the observer sees that the model is rewarded for their behaviour, the observer is more likely to engage in the behaviour

Expectancy value theory

importance of beliefs about what the results of your behaviour are likely to be

Reinforcement value

How much do we prefer one reinforcement over another

Basic formula to predict behaviour

Behaviour potential = expectancy + reinforcement value

Behaviour potential

likelihood of the behaviour occurring

Expectancy value

Belief regarding what you expect to happen if you were to engage in a particular behaviour

Locus of control

Where you believe the cause and effect link between your behaviour and reinforcers (Internal or external)

Internal locus of control

• The cause and effect link is because of your behaviour and thoughts etc,

• is associated with positive outcomes

• better health and coping with stressors

• tends to increase with age

External locus of control

• outside of you is the cause

• luck/higher being is the cause

• advantageous when circumstance beyond one’s control

Internal locus of control response to a poor grade

personal attributes, didn’t put enough time into the assessment

External locus of control response to a poor grade

external factors, assessment criteria, marking rubric