Psychology Terms and Concepts

PSYCH 2750/H D 2600 Prelim 3 Study Notes

Behaviorism's Core Assumptions

  • Learning comes only from experience and observation.
  • Behavior is learned (not innate).
  • Learning processes are innate: humans are born with brain mechanisms that guide learning.

Attachment Behavioral System (ABS)

  • Developed by Bowlby, emphasizes the early formation of a bond between an infant and caregiver (typically the mother).
  • ABS is activated by perceived threats, leading to attachment behavior.

Working Models

  • Mental representations of relationships with primary caregivers.
  • These models serve as templates for future relationships, enabling prediction, control, and manipulation of the environment.

ABS Function

  • Normative: General strategy leading to secure attachment style.
  • Individual: Variations leading to insecure attachment style.

Secondary Strategies of Individual ABS Activation

  • Insecure individuals unable to meet attachment needs may engage in:
    • Deactivation of ABS: Often leads to avoidant behavior.
    • Hyperactivation of ABS: Resulting in anxious behavior.

Empiricism

  • Knowledge and behavior originate from experience.

Types of Empiricism

  1. Domain-general (content-independent):

    • The brain guides learning broadly; skills in one area can apply to new content.
    • Knowledge accumulates and is internalized from experience.
    • Various contents are processed similarly within the same areas of the brain.

  2. Domain-specific (modular):

    • Learning is guided differently across various content areas; distinct processes within the brain.

Determinants of Human Behavior (According to Behaviorists)

Determinants:

  • Psychology is represented by behavior, indicating that behavior results from external situational factors.

Not Determinants:

  • Psychology does not arise from mental or internal events.

Methods Used by Behaviorists to Study Behavior

  1. Focus on Directly Observable and Measurable Behavior:

    • Examines external and observable behaviors and situations.
    • Avoids unconscious internal processes.

  2. Objectivity of Measurement:

    • Measurements must be verifiable by different observers, ensuring control.
    • Avoids subjective interpretations such as in case studies.

  3. Experimentation:

    • Behaviors are measured by controlling and manipulating conditions.
    • Avoids case studies due to lack of experimental control.

Two Principles of Behaviorism Learning

1. Classical Conditioning

  • Definition: Involuntary behaviors; establishing associations through stimuli.
  • Example: Ivan Pavlov's experiment where dogs salivate at the sound of a bell when it’s paired with food.

2. Operant Conditioning

  • Definition: Voluntary behavior shaped by consequences.
  • Example: B.F. Skinner’s experiments using rats in boxes where they learn to press levers for food.

Important Elements of Classical Conditioning

  • Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS): Reward (e.g., food).
  • Unconditioned Response (UCR): Pre-existing reflex (e.g., salivating).
  • Neutral Stimulus (NS): An unassociated stimulus (e.g., a bell without food).
  • Conditioned Stimulus (CS): A neutral stimulus that becomes associated (e.g., bell with food).
  • Conditioned Response (CR): The reflex response elicited by the CS (e.g., salivating at the sound of the bell).

Comparison of UC and CS, UR and CR

  • Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) vs. Conditioned Stimulus (CS): UCS - the natural reward; CS - the learned association.
  • Unconditioned Response (UCR) vs. Conditioned Response (CR): UCR - natural reflex; CR - learned reflex in response to CS.

Classical Conditioning Related to Attachment

  • The Attachment Figure (e.g., mother) functions similarly to a CS.
  • This relationship can extend into adult relationships.

Higher Order Conditioning

  • Involves pairing an already established CS (e.g., mother) with a new NS.

Benefits of Associative Learning

  • Enhances understanding and content recall.

Factors Affecting the Strength of Association in Classical Conditioning

  • Asserts that behavior is caused by external experiences.

Conditioning Examples

  • Conditioned Responses: Eating, studying, doing homework, etc.

B.F. Skinner and Operant Conditioning

  • Studied the ABCs of operant conditioning, including reinforcement and punishment.

Key Components of Operant Conditioning

  • Operants: Include reinforcers, punishers, and neutral operants.
  • Antecedents, Behaviors, Consequences: Understanding how behaviors result from stimuli.
  • Reinforcement Schedules: Differences between continuous and partial/intermittent reinforcement include response rates and extinction rates.
  • Shaping: Involves reinforcing successive approximations to achieve desired behavior.

Reinforcers and Their Types

  • Reinforcers: Increase behavior.
    • Positive Reinforcer (+): Adds a positive stimulus (e.g., treat).
    • Negative Reinforcer (-): Removes a negative stimulus (e.g., chores).

Punishment and Its Types

  • Punishment: Decreases or extinguishes behavior.
    • Positive Punisher (+): Adds a negative stimulus (e.g., time-out).
    • Negative Punisher (-): Removes a positive stimulus (e.g., toys taken away).

Shaping or Successive Approximation

  • Refers to reinforcing gradual steps to achieve a desired behavior.
  • Example: Gradually increasing difficulty in learning skills, such as learning times tables.

Types of Reinforcement Schedules and Examples

  1. Continuous Reinforcement:

    • Reward for every completed behavior.
    • Response Rate: Slow; Extinction Rate: Fast.
    • Example: Treat for going to the bathroom outside.

  2. Fixed Ratio:

    • Reward after a set number of behaviors.
    • Response Rate: Fast; Extinction Rate: Medium.
    • Example: Payment after every 10 sales.

  3. Fixed Interval:

    • Reward after a set period contingent on behavior.
    • Response Rate: Medium; Extinction Rate: Medium.
    • Example: Studying to get a good grade at the end of a set study period.

  4. Variable Ratio:

    • Reward after an unpredictable number of behaviors.
    • Response Rate: Fast; Extinction Rate: Slow.
    • Example: Gambling - the most effective tactic for teaching reinforcement.

  5. Variable Interval:

    • Reward after an unpredictable amount of time for fulfilling a behavior.
    • Response Rate: Fast; Extinction Rate: Slow.
    • Example: A pop quiz or an artist being paid on an unknown schedule.

Learning Theorists and Personality Conceptualization

  • Personalities emerge from observed or learned experiences; behavior is a result of situational factors.
  • Empiricism suggests behavior is learned, not innate, although learning processes may be instinctual.

Formation of Phobias through Classical Conditioning

  • Involves neural cues and trauma, leading to an anxiety response.

Generalization and Discrimination in Phobias

  • Generalization: Applying a response to similar stimuli.
  • Discrimination: Distinguishing between different stimuli.
  • Example: Assuming all dogs are scary following a traumatic experience with one dog.

Learning According to Behaviorists

  • Learning entails acquiring an effect on the environment, rather than merely accumulating knowledge.

Treatment for Personality Disorders

  • Focuses on behavior modification through learning principles rather than traditional psychotherapy.

Behavior Change and Classical Conditioning

  • Behavior modification occurs, emphasizing conditioning techniques instead of psychotherapy for treatments.

Extinction in Learning Behavior

  • Extinction occurs when a CS is no longer paired with a UCS, reducing the CR over time.
  • Spontaneous Recovery: The re-emergence of the CR after a rest period.
  • Example: The sound of a bell no longer elicits salivation in dogs if not paired with food.

Counter Conditioning

  • Involves forming new, incompatible associations to replace existing ones.
  • Example: Using relaxation techniques in aversion therapy to pair a phobia stimulus with a relaxation cue.

Counter Conditioning Function in Aversion Therapy

  • To eliminate an addiction, one must create an aversion to the positive stimulus. Pairing the positive stimulus with a negative one eventually leads to a negative reaction to the previously positive stimulus.

Applications of Classical and Operant Conditioning

  • Classical conditioning effective for PTSD and fear responses, while operant conditioning aids in managing ADHD and depression.

BeanFest Study

  • Used to study learning and generalization by assessing respondents' attitudes towards new "friends" (beans) and how they perceive positive and negative effects.
  • Learning Phase: Tests participants' capacity to identify which beans are good or bad.
  • Testing Phase: Assesses recall accuracy.

Treatment Interventions for Behavioral Change

  1. Extinction
  2. Counter Conditioning (e.g., aversion therapy)

Broader Contributions of Behaviorism

  • Successful application in therapies, including aversion therapy for conditions like depression and psychopathy.

Limitations of Behaviorism

  • Lacks consideration for genetic predispositions, individual differences, and internal cognitive processes.
  • Fails to account for the active role individuals play in shaping their environments, referred to as a transactional model.

Individual Differences in Learning

  • Different subjective realities determine behavior—concepts like reward-sensitivity play significant roles in learning styles.
  • Individuals may exhibit high sensitivity to rewards (BAS) or to punishments (BIS).

Transactional Models in Learning

  • Emphasizes interactions between individuals and their environments—example: parent-child relationships act as mutual influencers of behavior.

Habituation as a Learning Principle

  • Habituation: Behavioral change through repeated exposure to stimuli.
  • Example: The desensitizing effect of violent video games on personality traits such as aggression.

Affective Forecasting

  • People tend to overestimate the emotional impacts of both positive and negative future events.
  • Persistent exposure leads to emotional numbness, whether through punishment or reward.

Learned Helplessness and Learning Principles

  • A behavioral pattern leading to depression caused by unpredictable rewards/punishments.
  • The "why bother" syndrome illustrates the paralyzing effects of past outcomes on present motivation.

Three Forces Within Psychology

  • 1. First Force: Behaviorism
  • 2. Second Force: Psychodynamic Perspectives
  • 3. Third Force: Humanism

The Phenomenological-Humanistic Paradigm

Motivation for New Branch

  • Scholars such as Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow sought to emphasize personal growth and subjective human experience.

Three Perspectives in the Paradigm

  1. Existential Perspective: Focus on individual experience and freedom.
  2. Humanistic Perspective: Emphasizes self-actualization and positive human qualities.
  3. Phenomenological Perspective: Concerned with one’s conscious experience of reality.

Core Themes Shared by Perspectives

  • Interpersonal relationships, personal growth, self-awareness.

Consequences of Awareness and Reflection

  • Enhanced capacity for self-understanding and clarity of personal existence.
  • Empowerment through recognition of free will.

Free Will in Comparisons with Other Paradigms

  • The humanistic approach differs by emphasizing individual agency and potential for growth as opposed to mechanistic or deterministic views.

Existentialism Overview

  • A philosophical movement emphasizing individual existence, freedom, and choice. Origin emerging in response to loss of connection with the human experience due to rationalism and industrialization.

Existentia l Attitude and Just-World Belief

  • Consists of three experiential dimensions:
    • Umwelt: Bodily sensations.
    • Mitwelt: Emotional and social relations.
    • Eigenwelt: Inner self-awareness and introspection.

Big 5 Existential Concerns

  • 1. Meaning
  • 2. Freedom
  • 3. Isolation
  • 4. Death
  • 5. Responsibility
  • Existential Guilt: Awareness of failing to act authentically.
  • Existential Regret: Reflection on choices that led to less than desired outcomes.

Terror Management Theory

Death-Related Anxiety

  • Individuals respond to thoughts of their mortality through cultural worldviews.
  • Symbolic Transcendence: The measures individuals take to persist beyond mortality.
  • Examples: Religious beliefs, legacies, creation of art.

Cultural World View (CWV) and Coping Mechanisms

  • CWV defense mechanisms can enhance security and self-esteem by bolstering group identity and diminishing out-group perceptions.

Mortality Salience Hypothesis (MS)

  • The premise that people will defend their cultural beliefs more vigorously when confronted with mortality.
  • Researchers manipulate mortality salience through reflections on death and risks, observing resultant behaviors.

Empirical Support for Mortality Salience Hypothesis

  • Individuals are more likely to reinforce in-group beliefs and discriminate against opposing views under mortality salience conditions, indicating an aggressive response against criticism.

Identity Crisis Types

  1. Personal Identity Crisis: Pertaining to one's self-concept.
  2. Cultural Identity Crisis: Relation to cultural affiliation and expression.

Perception of Choice

  • Internally motivated choices enhance perceptions of personal freedom, while externally motivated choices can constrict that sense of freedom.

Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation

  • Intrinsic Motivation: Driven by internal satisfaction.
  • Extrinsic Motivation: Driven by external rewards.

Overjustification Hypothesis

  • Suggests that extrinsic rewards can undermine intrinsic motivation.
  • Study: Examined children’s enthusiasm for activities when not rewarded, revealing decreased interest when rewards were added.

Responses to Lack of Freedom

  • Feelings of oppression can lead to resistance or disengagement.
  • Paradoxically, excessive choice can also lead to stress and indecision.

Autobiographical Memory and Meaning

  • Autobiographical memories help convey meaning through narrative and context in life experiences.

Traumatic Experiences and Sense of Meaning

  • Traumas can shift worldviews; coping mechanisms often involve re-evaluating past experiences and finding new significance in them.

Elements of Humanistic Psychology

  • 7 Elements: 1) Holistic 2) Historic 3) Phenomenological 4) Real-life focus 5) Positivity 6) Will 7) Value-oriented.

Roger's Self-Actualization Theory

  • Aspires for individuals to reach their innate potential for positive growth and fulfillment.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

  • Organized from specific human needs to more basic animalistic needs:
  1. Self-Actualization
  2. Esteem Needs
  3. Love and Belonging
  4. Safety and Security
  5. Physiological Needs
  • Needs classified as growth-oriented (wants) versus deficiency-oriented (needs).

8 Elements of Humanistic Psychology

  • Emphasizes humanity's unique attributes, focusing on holistic assessments rather than isolated behaviors.