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Personality - Learning Theories (Y1) - Coggle Diagram
Personality - Learning Theories (Y1)
Why study personality?
To predict behaviour and understand it - behaviorism; all knowledge originates in experience and personality is learned as people are born tabula rasa
Environments and how we respond to them and shape our behaviour
Environment -> personality -> behaviour
John B Watson started the movement away from introspection and subjective psychology towards empirical study using rigiorous scientific methods in order to collate reliable evidence for behaviourist theories - father of Behaviourist school of thought
Learning theories demonstrated that mental health problems could be cured using behavioural intervention - in a clincial appproach, through testing, it has to be pro ven that behaviour can be learned and unlearned
Learning theories reject psychoanalytic theories of behaviour, coming from the unconscious - rejected the idea of not being able to empirically study the mental processes they theorised
Learning theorists instead suggested that psychopathology was a learnt maladaptive response to a situation that has been generalised to other stimuli and situation and can be unlearned - normal development was about learning adaptive responses in a variety of situations, while abnormal development comes from maladapted responses
Pavlov - experimental neuroses; classically conditioned a dog to salivate at the shape of a circle - he then learned to distinguish between ovals and circles
However, when distinctions between a circle and an oval became harder to distinguish, the dog became distressed and disorganized, showing neurotic symptoms
Barked in lab, shivered in harness and tried to bite his restraining straps
Pavlov suggested this showed the fod could no longer cop[e with what was being asked of him, he developed neurotic symptoms
Watson and Rayner - Little Albert - 1920
Classical conditioning
Pavlov's dogs - unconditioned response of salivation when seeing food as an unconditioned stimulus
Neutral stimulus of the bell elicits no response
During conditioning, the neutral stimulus of a bell is paired with the unconditioned stimulus of food, associating the two stimuli with the unconditioned reflex of salivation (response)
After conditioning and repeated pairings, the bell will become a conditioned stimulus which produces a conditioned (learned response) of salivation without needing to present food
Repeated pairing of neutral and unconditioned results in stimulating properties extending to the neutral stimulus - neutral stimulus becomes conditioned
Generalisation - stimulating properties are generalised to similar objects / sounds / stimuli
Discrimination - learning to differentiate a stimulus from a seemingly similar other one
Second order conditioning - learning to associate another neutral stimulus with the conditioned stimulus
Extinction - unlearning a learned response
In personality - we learn to generalise behaviours to environments, creating what appears to be a consistent response to a given situation
The Little Albert study (Watson and Rayner, 1920) - conditioning a fear of rats and it will generalise
Aimed to apply Pavlov's theories to humans; all that we are is traceable back to classical conditioning experiences
Watson suggested that he could take any child and teach them to be anything - our environments shape who we are down to our career choices based on positive and negative responses to this environment
Psychopathology - how classical conditioning can impact development; in this case, the acquirement of maladaptive associations causing fear / phobias
Repeated pairings of a neutral stimulus and a fear inducing stimulus can cause phobias (fear already learned, but tailors fear to a non-phobic stimulus)
Acquisition phase - rat (neutral stimulus) shows no response, loud noise when Albert reaches for rat is an unconditional stimulus and fear response
Repeated pairings cause a conditioned stimulus and fear response with the rat
Test of generalisation - rat (conditioned stimulus) causes conditioned response of fear
Watson in santa mask still causes a fear response, suggesting that there are generalised stimulus that cause the conditioned response of fear
Negative emotional responses persisted in Albert for one month, and was removed from hospital against Watson's wishes
No opportunity to test methods to extinguish learned fear response
Ethics - psychological harm, informed consent (no), generalizability and ecological validity, no debriefing or right to withdraw
Pavlov explained that classical conditioning explains many of our emotional reactions; suggests personality can be learned and unlearned
How desensitization works - conditioned stimulus causes conditioned fear response; conditioned stimulus is instead conditioned to be associated with relaxation
Reciprocal inhibition - the individual is shown their conditioned stimulus, and by enduring the anxiety it is eventually replaced by relaxation (cannot feel both at once) by using deep muscle relaxation and breathing techniques - after repeated pairings of the stimulus with relxation, the fear is unlearned
Use of anxiety hierarchies
People learn behaviours, emotions and and so personality through their environments
Simple pairings of environmental factors with instinctive 'unconditioned' positive or negative responses results in learning; anything we learn can be unlearned by counter conditioning, especially personalituy
Operant Conditioning and radical behaviourism - Skinner (1938)
Learning depends on consequences and reinforcements; animals like pleasure and dislike pain or discomfort -
Reinforcement - pleasurable outcome of behaviour (reward)
Positive reinforcement -make subsequent performance more likely e.g. congratulate extraversion makes people repeat it
Positive reinforces stimulus responding
Painful outcome of behaviour (punishment)
Negative reinforcement - makes subsequent behaviour less likely
Negative outcomes negatively reinforce stimulus responding (repeating to remove)
Any behaviour can learned or unlearned, including personality through responses to behaviour in the environment e.g. noisy trait is changed when it is negatively responded too by a teacher
Reinforcement in the real world - random reinforcement schedules
-> unpredictable positive reinforcement most conducive of a persistent response e.g. gambling
Reinforcement in the real world - phobias
-> dog (stimulus) creates fear (conditioned emotional response) leading them to avoid the dog as a behavioural response and this avoidance leads to a reduction of fear, positively reinforcing the behaviour leading to a maintenance of the phobia
Mowrer's maintenance phase
Avoidance of unpleasant stimulus leads to alleviation of unpleasant emotional state, acting as a positive reinforcer of this behaviour
Occam's Razor - a scientific principle that states that when multiple explanations are available, we should favour the simplest one
Parsimony principle
Razor - cutting away unecessary material
Attributed to William of Ockham
Skinner boxes - animals placed in a glass box, and when they perform a certain action they receive a reward of food and this leads to a subsequent increase in repetition of the reinforced action
Shaping of behaviour
Pressing of levers
Random or partial reinforcement schedule works best
When learning goes wrong - leads to superstitious beliefs; misattribution of positive or negative outcomes
Stimulus presented -> we respond -> negative/positive event occurs
But event is not outcome of behaviour
Shaping - Skinner observed that pigeons in the box took some time to find the lever and press it - to speed this up, he delivered a food reward when they faced the direction of the lever, another when they moved closer etc
Delivered another reward also when the pigeon actually achieved the desired response of pressing the lever
Shaping is applied to many aspects of behaviour in which an initial reward is given to a behaviour that approximates the desired goal is given, and once the behaviour is established they are rewarded only when behaviour close to the goal is displayed
E.g. star charts for children - as initial good behaviour becomes established, criteria for getting stars increases in order to operantly condition good behaviour
Eventually, the child's behaviour will become self reinforcing as their relationships will be better, and so the good behaviour is rewarding itself
Personality - a radical behaviourist view; all behaviour is conditioned by the environment:
As a result, all our behaviour and emotions are responses to the environment
Occam's razor - no need to complicate the causes of behaviour; personality is not one
Concept of personality as redundant and unscientific, and free will is an illusion
Behaviour leads to the labels of personality, but really personality does not actually exist - only our conditioned behaviour, with individual differences being due to individual conditioning
Environment -> behaviour (personality does not really exist) - environmental determinsm
Summary - we acquire behaviors and emotions trhough our environments and those positively reinforced by the environment are retained in our repetoire
Behaviours and emotions that are negatively reinforced are discarded
Radical behaviourist view - personality is a redundant, unscientific idea
Environment determines behaviour (and thus personality)
Learning theories provide an adequate explanation based on observable events - saw this as superior to ideas about unobservable mental processes causing behaviour
Felt it was unnecessary and unscientific to rely on unobservable mental processes to explain behaviour, although he did not deny their existence - inner thoughts do not cause behaviour, and personality is a false assignment of a typical behaviour or response we have to a situation
It is the emotion, that makes the response - an adverse conditioning experience could lead to anxiety, therefore causing the label of neuroticism - being neurotic does not cause anxiety
Change in behaviour and feelings have the same cause - an adverse emotional experience - located in development history of learning maladaptive responses
We often do not know the cause of our behaviour, such as what stimuli trigger certain behaviours and he entirely rejected the notion of behaviour being motivated by inner states - externally motivated
Did not accept concept of personality as he thought it was useless to focus on unobservable structures - accepted there was a genetic influence but that there is much more of a role for situational determinants in explaining the causes of behaviour
Darwinian ideas of natural selection - human beings have evolved particular characteristics to meet the demands of their particular environments creating some genetic individual differences
Heredity imposes behavioural limitations, with learning history and environmental demands dictating behaviour
the more you use a skill, the greater reinforcement it has - the same is true of behaviour
Classical conditioning has applications but is limited as what happens after certain behaviours occur is also important (stimulus-response explanation too simplistic)
Theory of motivation - all humans aim to produce pleasant events and avoid painful events, and all emotional states are explainable through analysing behavioural events
Some behaviour is private, but it does not cause our emotions - only the environment can stimulate / cause behaviour
Dismissed Freud as unscientific - however, did agree that early childhood experiences have long lasting impacts into adulthood - suggested it was early conditioning processes rather than intra-psychic conflict or defence mechanisms
Demanding individual are not governed by their id, but have instead been rewarded for this in the past and so it is reinforced
Personality trait names do convey useful information in describing the individual, but it does not explain how they came to be that way empirically
Human beings are purposeful - label intentions as responses to internal stimuli; things in the environment trigger a memory, leading to a desire to do something
Radical behaviourism - environment -> behaviour, no influence on personality
Observational learning - Albert Bandura and the cognitive revolution of the 50/60s; emergence of social learning theory
Social learning theory - behaviour and personality comes from the interaction between person, behaviour and environment
Learning is influenced by experience and expectations, forethought and mediational processes
Observational learning - we learn by watching other's behaviour and the responses to it
Vicarious learning and imitation - you copy what is rewarded to get same rewards
Bobo Doll Study - Bandura (1961) - adult model plays with a bobo doll, a mallet an toy blocks
Non-aggressive condition - adults play with toy blocks for 5 mins
Aggressive condition - adult plays with toy blocks for 1 min, then physical and verbal aggression towards doll for 4 mins
Control condition - no adult present
Child subjected to mild aggression arousal - allowed to play with attractive toy, but then experimenter takes toys from them to frustrate them, and then leads them to a separate room with new toys including the mallet, bobo doll and toy blocks (mixture of aggressive and non aggressive toys)
More imitative respnonses (physical and verbal aggression) in aggressive groups vs non aggresive or control
Child imitated what they had wacthed
More partial imitation in aggressive groups
Greater imitation in males than females - and participants more responsive to same sex role model
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1w4fZrLbE4b2M3aggKmZwmeKAbB2P2y_8WAWtTsnBRBY/edit
Factors in determining observational learning occurring:
characteristics of model (age, gender etc)
characteristics of observer (how much they match model)
Consequence of imitation
Based on cognitive appraisal (attention, retention, motivation and reproduction)
We learn behaviours vicariously through observing others behaviours and its consequences
We imitate behaviours that bring positive outcomes
Learning requires cognitive appraisal
Personality is a result of the people around us - not genetic similarity, but simply that the parents will transmit personality and behaviour to children through how they act in their environments
Evaluating learning theories - explanation of personality:
Accounts for environmental influences
Simplistic - does not account for genes, internal / unconscious motives, unrewarded behaviour and complex learning
Some approaches are deterministic - deny free will and individual uniqueness
Empirical validity - rigorous empirical studies, which are testable and based on evidence
Most evidence based on animals and simple forced choice paradigms
Legacy - hugely influential
Although learning theory may not fully explain personality, all three learning processes are accepted as valid and credible
Attempts to apply learning theory approaches to personality - Dollard and Miller (synoptic approach between psychodynamic and learning theory
Studied animals through Skinner boxes etc but also allowed for inner causation in behaviour as well as environmental stimuli
Shared view that animal behaviour was generalisable to humans
Because of higher mental processes in humans, our behaviour does not consist merely of responding to environmental stimuli - we also respond to inner stimuli and thoughts can act as a reinforcer
First use of cognitive processing in a learning theory model
Thoughts and memories could cue behaviour, allowing humans to plan and anticipate events - superior mental processes
Role of unconscious also included - Dollard and Miller suggested we are unaware of some processes as we acquired the drives and cues before we learned to talk, and so they are not labelled because of this
Love and social contact for example are secondary drives learned from infant hood attachments - we associate smell with good feelings, but are unconscious of it
Exposure to this smell unconsciously affects behaviour, and other cues may not be labelled by society, so may be conscious but we do not notice them
The availability of labels also affects our perception of cues - this accounts for material being unconscious because they have been repressed - defence mechanisms are learned responses to protect us from pain
For Dollard and Miller - repression is about a failure to label an upsetting thought or memories so that they are not easy to recall and you do not think about it
When you recall unpleasant events, it reinforces the negative experience you originally had, and repression avoids this and not labelling it makes recall harder
Accepted the importance of the effects of unconscious motivation and Freudian defence mechanisms on behaviour, but expressed it through learning theory
Stimulus response model of personality
Habit - label for the association between stimulus and response, where the person is composed of learned habits
Infant is born with primary drives; physiological drives which ensure survival e.g. hunger, thirst and fatigue
Reduction of these drives is the most powerful reinforcement for the individual
Claim that the reinforcement occurs automatically and unconsciously and to be effective should immediately follow the response
E.g. a baby who makes a fuss and is then fed will learn this as their main method of drive reduction, and this reward will lead to a creation of habit, leading to a label of a fussy child
If a child's drive needs are quickly met, they will not develop a habit of over reaction and develop normal response levels
In the West, primary drives are not directly observed apart from at infant feeding, as societies have found a way to reduce them before they become pressing
Process for doing this involves the acquisition of secondary drives - learned to help us cope with the primary drives
e.g. regular mealtimes prevents drive of hunger and therefore causing distress
For innate primary drives, primary reinforcers are food, water, sleep wtc
For secondary drives, secondary reinforcers are items or events that were neutral but have acquired value as a reinforcer through being associated with primary drive reduction - mother smiling at child is a secondary reinforcer as it is associated with physical wellbeing (and baby associates her as source of drive reduction and therefore pleasure, sparking attachment)
Learning of habits consists of 4 steps -
Initial drive, in which the drive stimulates the individual to act (no guide for behaviour, but lets person know they want something)
Cue to act - provide guidance on how to act according to S-R terminology
Response - action you take
Reinforcement of response - effect a response has; you will repeat it if the drive was reduced and thus this forms a habit (inadequate response leads to repetition) and if a response does not satisfy a drive, it will undergo extinction
Habits can be positive or negative - simply associations between stimuli and responses
What happens when we become frustrated by attempts to satisfy our drives - 4 types of conflict situation arise which are caused by our tendencies to obtain goals or objects
Approach approach conflict - this describes a situation where there are two equally desirable goals, but they are incompatible; positive goals but cannot have both
Avoidance-avoidance conflict - faced with two equally undesirable alternatives - both goals are undesirable and incompatible
Approach-avoidance conflict - one goal which has attractive and unattractive elements
Double approach-avoidance conflict - multiple goals, some desirable and some undesirable
Most situations in which there are a variety of factors, positive and negative goals exist that have to be taken into consideration in order to make a decision.
For Dollard and Miller, behaviour is motivated by the need to reduce primary and secondary drives and we learn new behaviours in the process - deterministic as human behaviour is more complex than this
More complex than early learning theory models as it allows for the inner influence of human cognitive processes and this is a forerunner of the cognitive models of personality
One aspect of this model subject to criticism is its approach to psychopathology - behaviourists do not see it as radical enough
One other major contribution made was their recognition and outline of the process of observational learning - demonstrated how performance on a novel task can be improved be seeing someone else do it, increasing the speed of the learning process
Suggested observational learning as important part of development in children as they learn from adults and peers in novel situations
this can explain how both maladaptive and adaptive habits are learned
See psychopathology as a collection of unproductive and unhelpful habits or responses, and they suggest the aim of treatment is to replace these with useful habits
Used talking phase of psychoanalysis to identify habits and then a performance phase in which they apply new effective habits
Felt emotional issues of the past to not be relevant - can be resolved by using it as an information source for problem, but main focus is on current problems and strategies for the future