Michael Scott Personality Psychology

Michael Scott, sometimes also known as Prison Mike or Ping, is the regional manager of the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. He is a lonely man, and is seen as using his employees as a substitute family. Due to this, Michael often acts inappropriately around them. Furthermore, because of a distinct lack of self awareness, his behavior is frequently offensive or rude. However, when outside a leadership position, Michael is quite competent. For example, he is an excellent salesman. He also has a wide range of behaviors, likes and dislikes, and fears, which the learning perspective is equipped to handle. The learning perspective of personality psychology is focused on how individuals learn new behavior and new knowledge. Due to the many ways in which an individual can learn, the learning perspective contains many facets. To start, there is classical conditioning. It is also known as “Pavlovian conditioning,” and is simply the action of passively associating one stimulus with another. There is also instrumental conditioning, also known as operant conditioning, which differs from classical conditioning in that it is active. …show more content…
Much like his loneliness concerning romantic partners, he also has a loneliness concerning friendships. In one episode, a young Michael Scott is seen on a television episode for children. When asked what he would wish for, he states friends. Throughout the series, Michael is often seen seeking out more friends, and awkwardly inserting himself in situations to make more. For example, he is not invited to his employee 's party, but attends anyway, as he wants to fit in. The unconditioned stimulus would be a lack of friends, and the unconditioned response would be a desire for friends. The conditioned stimulus is seeing other people 's friendships, and the conditioned response is to try to intrude on their