BPY 1023 Psychology of Personality

Chapter 8
 Topic and Structure of the lesson

• The Behavioral/Social Learning Approach

Classical and operant conditionings

Operant conditioning Procedures
Social learning theory
Julian Rotter’s Expectancy-Reinforcement Value Model
Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive theory
Assessments used in behavioral approach
Strengths and weaknesses of behavioral approach
Behaviorism
◉ In 1913 - John B. Watson published an article titled “Psychology as the
Behaviorist Views it.” - behaviorism.
◉ Psychology – science - must stop examining mental states.
◉ Only observable behaviors - science.

◉ Our subjective inner feelings cannot be observed in accurate manner -

no place in science.
Behaviorism
◉ behavior- that which can be observed,
predicted, and eventually controlled by
scientists.
◉ Behaviour patterns are acquired through
experience.
◉ Therefore, if you can control a person’s
experiences, you can create any type of
person you wish.
Behaviorism
◉ Watson’s following statements of this belief is one of the most
famous statements ever made by a psychologist:
Basic principles of conditioning
◉ If we want to understand the processes that shape our
personalities and procedures for changing problem behaviours,
we must examine basic conditioning principles.
◉ most of our behaviour is learned through a process called
conditioning.
◉ It can be divided into 2 categories:
◎ classical conditioning
◎ operant conditioning.
Classical conditioning
◉ Why do we salivate when we smell food
although we may not have tasted it yet?

◉ Why do we become afraid when we see a snake,

even if we may never have been bitten by one
before?

◉ Why do we feel happy when we see a clown

even though we may not know him personally?

7
Classical conditioning
◉ According to classical conditioning, we do all these because our
behaviour has been conditioned by:
◎ past experiences or
◎ events.
Classical conditioning
◉ The famous experiment by Ivan Pavlov with the dog has often
been used to explain classical conditioning.
Classical conditioning
◉ Pavlov gave the dog food, the dog salivated.
◉ The food salivate association was automatic and
was not learnt by the dog.

Unconditioned stimulus Unconditioned

(UCS) response (UCR)
(Salivation)
◉ Later, aFood
neutral stimulus, the sound of the bell
was introduced. Initially, the bell was a neutral
stimulus (NS), evoking not response.

Neutral stimulus (NS) No conditioned

Bell response (NCR)
◉ After a number of repeats
(trials) of this
(No salivation)
procedure he presented the bell on its own.
Classical conditioning

◉ the dog had learned an association between

the bell and the food and a new behavior
had been learned.
◉ Because this response was learned (or
conditioned), it is called a conditioned
response (CR). The neutral stimulus has
become a conditioned stimulus (CS).

Conditioned stimulus Conditioned

(NS) response (CR)
Bell Salivation
Operant conditioning
◉ Edward Thorndike, experimented with stray cats and “puzzle boxes”.
In the experiment, Thorndike placed a cat in a box. The cat was
contented to remain in it without any fuss. In order to evoke a response
from it, Thorndike placed a fish in front of the cat.
Operant conditioning
◉ To escape from the box and thereby obtain a piece of fish, hungry
cats had to engage in a particular combination of actions.
◉ Thorndike’s cats repeated the required behaviour because they led
to the satisfying consequences of escape and food.
◉ Based in the findings of this experiment, Thorndike formulated
the law of effect.
Operant conditioning
This law states that certain behaviours are more likely to be repeated if
they lead to satisfying consequences, and less likely to be repeated if they
lead to negative consequences.

Behaviour Positive
increase if
consequences

Behaviour Negative
if
decrease consequences
Operant conditioning
◉ Although we may not be conscious of it, we are constantly being affected by the
law of effect in our daily life.
◉ Let us say, for example, you decide to wake up at 5.00am daily to study because
you feel this might help you do well in your exams. If it turns out that waking up
very early to study obtains good marks, then you are more likely to repeat this
behaviour for the next exam.

◉ However, if you sense that waking up early in the morning makes no difference to
your marks, you are more likely not to repeat the behaviour but seek another
option to do well in your exams.
Operant conditioning
◉ The consequence that increases the frequency of a behaviour that comes before it
is called a reinforcement.

Increase the frequency of Increase the positive by Reinforcement

if the behaviour consequences

◉ One that decreases the frequency of the behaviour is called a punishment.

decrease the Descrese the

if positive by Punishment
frequency of the
behaviour consequences or
increase negative
consequences
Operant conditioning
◉ However, consequences are reinforcement or punishment depends
on the individual and the situation concerned.
◉ For example, if you are hungry, strawberry ice cream is probably
a reinforcement. But if you don’t like strawberry ice cream or if
you are cold, the ice cream may serve as a punishment.
Operant conditioning Procedures

◉ Psychologists have discovered strategies for increasing/decreasing the

frequency of a behaviour -Operant conditioning procedures:
Operant conditioning
Punishment
◉ We can use punishment to eliminate unwanted behaviours.
◉ However, research shows the effectiveness of punishment is
limited for several reasons.
1. does not teach appropriate behaviours, it can only decrease
the frequency of undesired ones.
○ Eg: Rather than simply punish a child for hitting another
student, it’s better to help the child learn alternative ways
to deal with the situations.
Punishment
2. must be delivered immediately and consistently.
◎ Eg: A parent needs to punish the behaviours as soon as possible,
not “when you father gets home.” the punishment must also fairly
intense and should be administered after every instance of the
undesired behaviour.

◎ Parents who sometimes let their children use bad language but
other times decide that to punish such talk will probably have little
success in changing their children’s vocabulary.
Punishment
3. can have negative side effects.
◎ A child who is punished for hitting a toy against a window may
stop playing with toys altogether.
◎ Children who are spanked by their parents may associate the
parent with the pain of the spanking.
◎ Another side effect is that undesirable behaviours may be learned
though modeling. Children who are spanked may learn that
physical aggression is okay as long as you are bigger and
stronger.
Operant conditioning
4. Punishment can also create negative emotions, such as fear and
anxiety.

4. Punishment can temporarily suppress an undesirable responses.

Thank you

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