Theories

Front 1

Dollard and Miller: what is the motivator for personality?

Back 1

Drive

Front 2

Dollard + Miller: Conflict

Back 2

2 or more incompatible response types exist for 1 stimulus

Front 3

Dollard and Miller: approach-approach conflict______

Back 3

2 equally attractive options exist
-can be accomplished by doing 1 and then the other one after
ex: do i eat and then go to bed? or go to bed and eat?

Front 4

Dollard and Miller: Avoidance avoidance conflict

Back 4

person must choose between 2 negative goals
ex: eat spinach or be spanked
they can either...
1. be indecisive
2. escape

Front 5

Dollard and Miller: Approach-Avoidance Conflict

Back 5

person is both attracted to and repelled by the goal
ex: boring job brings in big paycheck
1. tendency to approach a goal is stronger when person is closer to it.
2. the tendency to avoid a feared stimulus is stronger the closer you are to it (gradiant of avoidance)
3. gradient of avoidance is stronger than gradient of approach

Front 6

gradient of approach

Back 6

the closer a person is to a goal, the more likely they are to approach it

Front 7

BEHAVIORISM KEY POINTS #1-
Behaviorism is primarily concerned with observable behavior

Back 7

This is as opposed to internal events like thinking and emotion. Observable (i.e. external) behavior can be objectively and scientifically measured. Internal events, such as thinking should be explained through behavioral terms (or eliminated altogether).

Hint 7

Watson stated that “psychology as a behaviorist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science. Its theoretical goal is … prediction and control” (1913

Front 8

BEHAVIORISM KEY POINTS #2
People have no free will...

Back 8

This means that a person’s environment determines their behavior.

Front 9

BEHAVIORISM Key Points #3
When born our mind is 'tabula rasa'

Back 9

Our mind is a blank slate

Front 10

BEHAVIORISM Key Points #4
There is little difference between the learning that takes place in humans and that in other animals.

Back 10

Therefore research can be carried out on animals as well as humans.

Front 11

BEHAVIORISM Key Points #5
Behavior is the result of stimulus- response

Back 11

This means that all behavior, no matter how complex, can be reduced to a simple stimulus – response association

Hint 11

Watson described the purpose of psychology as: “To predict, given the stimulus, what reaction will take place; or, given the reaction, state what the situation or stimulus is that has caused the reaction

Front 12

BEHAVIORISM Key Points #6
All behavior is learned from the environment.

Back 12

How? We learn new behavior through classical or operant conditioning.

Front 13

BEHAVIORISM STRENGTHS:

Back 13

*Scientific
*Highly applicable (e.g. therapy)
*Emphasizes objective measurement
*Many experiments to support theories
*Identified comparisons between animals (Pavlov) and humans (Watson & Rayner - Little Albert)

Front 14

BEHAVIORISM LIMITATIONS:

Back 14

*Ignores mediational processes
*Ignores biology (e.g. testosterone)
*Too deterministic (little free-will)
*Experiments – low ecological validity
*Humanism – can’t compare animals to humans
*Reductionist

Hint 14

What are Mediational Processes?
They are another name for our cognitions, or information processes, of perception, attention, language, memory, and thinking. They are mediational because they come between stimulus and response.

Front 15

BEHAVIORISM LIMITATIONS:

Back 15

*Ignores mediational processes
*Ignores biology (e.g. testosterone)
*Too deterministic (little free-will)
*Experiments – low ecological validity
*Humanism – can’t compare animals to humans
*Reductionist

Hint 15

What are Mediational Processes?
They are another name for our cognitions, or information processes, of perception, attention, language, memory, and thinking. They are mediational because they come between stimulus and response.

Front 16

BEHAVIORISM LIMITATIONS:

Back 16

*Ignores mediational processes
*Ignores biology (e.g. testosterone)
*Too deterministic (little free-will)
*Experiments – low ecological validity
*Humanism – can’t compare animals to humans
*Reductionist

Hint 16

What are Mediational Processes?
They are another name for our cognitions, or information processes, of perception, attention, language, memory, and thinking. They are mediational because they come between stimulus and response.

Front 17

BEHAVIORISM LIMITATIONS:

Back 17

*Ignores mediational processes
*Ignores biology (e.g. testosterone)
*Too deterministic (little free-will)
*Experiments – low ecological validity
*Humanism – can’t compare animals to humans
*Reductionist

Hint 17

What are Mediational Processes?
They are another name for our cognitions, or information processes, of perception, attention, language, memory, and thinking. They are mediational because they come between stimulus and response.

Front 18

BEHAVIORISM LIMITATIONS:

Back 18

*Ignores mediational processes
*Ignores biology (e.g. testosterone)
*Too deterministic (little free-will)
*Experiments – low ecological validity
*Humanism – can’t compare animals to humans
*Reductionist

Hint 18

What are Mediational Processes?
They are another name for our cognitions, or information processes, of perception, attention, language, memory, and thinking. They are mediational because they come between stimulus and response.

Front 19

BEHAVIORISM LIMITATIONS:

Back 19

*Ignores mediational processes
*Ignores biology (e.g. testosterone)
*Too deterministic (little free-will)
*Experiments – low ecological validity
*Humanism – can’t compare animals to humans
*Reductionist

Hint 19

What are Mediational Processes?
They are another name for our cognitions, or information processes, of perception, attention, language, memory, and thinking. They are mediational because they come between stimulus and response.

Front 20

BEHAVIORISM LIMITATIONS:

Back 20

*Ignores mediational processes
*Ignores biology (e.g. testosterone)
*Too deterministic (little free-will)
*Experiments – low ecological validity
*Humanism – can’t compare animals to humans
*Reductionist

Hint 20

What are Mediational Processes?
They are another name for our cognitions, or information processes, of perception, attention, language, memory, and thinking. They are mediational because they come between stimulus and response.

Front 21

BEHAVIORISM HISTORY:

Back 21

Pavlov (1897) published the results of an experiment on conditioning after originally studying digestion in dogs.

* Watson (1913) launches the behavioral school of psychology (classical conditioning), publishing an article, "Psychology as the behaviorist Views It".

* Watson and Rayner (1920) conditioned an orphan called Albert B (aka Little Albert) to fear a white rat.

* Thorndike (1905) formalized the "Law of Effect".

* Skinner (1936) wrote "The behavior of Organisms" and introduced the concepts of operant conditioning and shaping.

* Clark Hull’s (1943) Principles of behavior was published.

* B.F. Skinner (1948) published Walden Two in which he described a utopian society founded upon behaviorist principles.

* Bandura (1963) publishes a book called the "Social leaning theory and personality development" which combines both cognitive and behavioral frameworks.

* Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (begun in 1958)

* B.F. Skinner (1971) published his book Beyond Freedom and Dignity, where he argues that free will is an illusion.

Front 22

BEHAVIORISM: Thorndike

Back 22

*His work on learning theory lead to the development of operant conditioning within behaviorism.
*Whereas classical conditioning depends on developing associations between events, operant conditioning involves learning from the consequences of our behavior. Skinner wasn’t the first psychologist to study learning by consequences. Indeed, Skinner's theory of operant conditioning is built on the ideas of Thorndike.
*Puzzle boxes. He placed a cat in the puzzle box, which was encourage to escape to reach a scrap of fish placed outside. The cats stumbled upon the lever to open the door.
*the cats would learn that pressing the lever would have favorable consequences and they would adopt this behavior, becoming increasingly quick at pressing the lever.
*Led to “Law of effect” which stated that any behavior that is followed by pleasant consequences is likely to be repeated, and any behavior followed by unpleasant consequences is likely to be stopped.

Front 23

BEHAVIORISM: PAVLOV

Back 23

*Pavlov first showed the existence of the unconditioned response by presenting a dog with a bowl of food and then measuring its salivary secretions. Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) leads to an Unconditioned Response(UCR)
*Somehow, the dogs in his lab had learned to associate food with his lab assistant. This must have been learned, because at one point the dogs did not do it, and there came a point where they started, so their behavior had changed. A change in behavior of this type must be the result of learning.
*What had happened was that the neutral stimulus (the lab assistant) had become associated with an unconditioned stimulus (food):
*Pavlov used a bell as his neutral stimulus. Whenever he gave food to his dogs, he also rang a bell. After a number of repeats of this procedure, he tried the bell on its own. As you might expect, the bell on its own now caused an increase in salivation.
*Pavlov used a bell as his neutral stimulus. Whenever he gave food to his dogs, he also rang a bell. After a number of repeats of this procedure, he tried the bell on its own. As you might expect, the bell on its own now caused an increase in salivation.
*So the dog had learned an ASSOCIATION between the bell and the food and a new behavior had been learnt. Because this response was learned (or conditioned), it is called a conditioned response. The neutral stimulus has become a conditioned stimulus.
*To summarize, classical conditioning (later developed by John Watson) involves learning to associate an unconditioned stimulus that already brings about a particular response (i.e. a reflex) with a new (conditioned) stimulus, so that the new stimulus brings about the same response.
*Pavlov developed some rather unfriendly technical terms to describe this process. The unconditioned stimulus (or UCS) is the object or event that originally produces the reflexive / natural response.

*The response to this is called the unconditioned response (or UCR). The neutral stimulus (NS) is a new stimulus that does not produce a response.

*Once the neutral stimulus has become associated with the unconditioned stimulus, it becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS).
*The conditioned response (CR) is the response to the conditioned stimulus.

Front 24

BEHAVIORISM: WATSON

Back 24

proposed that the process of classical conditioning (based on Pavlov’s observations) was able to explain all aspects of human psychology.

Everything from speech to emotional responses were simply patterns of stimulus and response. Watson denied completely the existence of the mind or consciousness.

Front 25

BEHAVIORISM: WATSON & Little Albert
Note: Watson believed that all individual differences in behavior were due to different experiences of learning and that he could take healthy infants and mold them into whatever he chose.

Back 25

Watson and Raynor had shown that classical conditioning could be used to create a phobia.

Front 26

WUNDT

Back 26

Wundt can be regarded as the founder of experimental psychology.
*analyzed the workings of the mind in a more structured way, with the emphasis being on objective measurement and control; Called STRUCTURALISM
*Wundt argued that conscious mental states could be scientifically studied using INTROSPECTION

Front 27

SHERIF (1935) Autokinetic Effect Experiment

Back 27

Sherif used a lab experiment to study conformity. He used the autokinetic effect – this is where a small spot of light (projected onto a screen) in a dark room will appear to move, even though it is still. Asked people to tell how far it moved.
*EXPERIMENT: Sherif used a lab experiment to study CONFORMITY.
Over time, the group converged to a common estimate and person whose estimate differed most, conformed to view of the others.
*CONCLUSION: The results show that when in an ambiguous situation (such as the autokinetic effect), a person will look to others (who know more / better) for guidance (i.e. adopt the group norm). They want to do the right thing but may lack the appropriate information. Observing others can provide this information. This is known as informational conformity.

Front 28

ASCH

Back 28

Aim: Solomon Asch (1951) conducted an experiment to investigate the extent to which social pressure from a majority group could affect a person to conform.
*most of them said that they did not really believe their conforming answers, but had gone along with the group for fear of being ridiculed or thought "peculiar"

Front 29

ASCH problems with experiment

Back 29

BIASED SAMPLE: All participants were male students who all belonged to the same age group
*LOW ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY:task (judging line lengths) was artificial and not likely to happen in real life.

Front 30

ZIMBARDO PRISON EXPERIMENT

Back 30

*Conclusion: People will readily conform to the social roles they are expected to play, especially if the roles are as strongly stereotyped as those of the prison guards
*“prison” environment was an important factor in creating the guards’ brutal behavior
*roles that people play can shape their behavior and attitudes (none previously showed mean behavior)

Front 31

SELF CONCEPT: ROGER

Back 31

*The view you have of yourself (Self image)
*How much value you place on yourself (Self esteem or self-worth)
*What you wish you were really like (Ideal self)

Front 32

MILGRAM (1963) Obedience Experiment

Back 32

*Aim: Milgram was interested in researching how far people would go in obeying an instruction if it involved harming another person. Stanley Milgram was interested in how easily ordinary people could be influenced into committing atrocities for example, Germans in WWII.
*RESULTS: 65% (two-thirds) of participants (i.e. teachers) continued to the highest level of 450 volts. All the participants continued to 300 volts
*CONCLUSION: Ordinary people are likely to follow orders given by an authority figure, even to the extent of killing an innocent human being. Obedience to authority is ingrained in us all from the way we are brought up. Obey parents, teachers, anyone in authority etc.

Front 33

MILGRAM'S factors that affect obedience

Back 33

LOCATION: Yale. Obedience high, inner city office, low. So, PRESTIGE affects obedience
*PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY:When there is less personal responsibility obedience increases as in making assistant pull switch.
*LEGITIMACY of AUTHORITY FIGURE: tend to obey if view authority as morally/legally legit
STATUS OF AUTHORITY: increased if white coat was worn
*PEER SUPPORT: Peer support – if a person has the social support of their friend(s) then obedience is less likely.
Also the presence of others who are seen to disobey the authority figure reduces the level of obedience. This happened in Milgram’s experiment when there was a “disobedient model”.
*PROX. OF AUTHORITY FIGURE: When the authority figure is close by then obedience is more likely.