Final Exam Flashcards
The Learning Perspective
Personality is shaped through learning
- learning: the change of behaviour as a function of experience
Two varieties of the learning perspective
- behaviourist theories
- social learning theories
Behaviourism
the theoretical view of personality that focuses on overt behaviour and the ways in which it can be affected by rewards and punishments in the environment
Habituation
the decrease in response to a stimulus on repeated applications
The simplest kind of learning
habituation
Generalization
responding in a similar way to somewhat different stimuli
Discrimination
responding in a different manner to different stimuli
Extinction
the reduction of a conditioned response by repeating the conditioned stimulus without the unconditioned stimulus
Emotional conditioning
classical conditioning in which the conditioned response is an emotional reaction
Higher order conditioning
an event in which a former conditioned stimulus now acts as an unconditioned stimulus in a new instance of conditioning
Skinner’s term for the process of learning in which an organism’s behaviour is shaped by the effect of the behaviour on the environment
Operant or Instrumental conditioning
T or F. Continuous rf leads to slower learning
F! Continuous = faster! Partial = more persistent learning!
Vicarious conditioning
- seeing someone else getting punished; associate punishment with behaviour (ex: cheating and getting expelled)
- basic conditioning responses; happening vicariously through someone else but also tends to be stubborn
Social Learning Theory
- the general view that learning is largely or wholly due to modelling, imitation, and other social interactions
- we learn a lot through our social interactions
- aspects of some social learning theories reinterpret ideas rooted in more classic behaviourism
- two perspectives: Rotter and Bandura
Expectancy Value Theory
behavioural decisions are determined not just by the presence or size of rf, but also by beliefs about the likely results of behaviour
Classic behaviourism focuses on the actual rewards/punishments, whereas Rotter…
focuses on the beliefs about reward/punishment
Specific expectancies
the belief that a certain behaviour at a certain time and place will lead to a specific outcome
Generalized expectancies
general beliefs about whether anything you do is likely to make a difference
Two subsets of generalized expectancies
- internal locus of control: those with high generalized expectancies and thus tend to think that what they do affects what happens to them
- external locus of control: those with low generalized expectancies and tend to think that what they do will not make much difference
MAY VARY ACROSS DOMAINS
Efficacy expectations should be the key target for therapeutic interventions
Bandura’s Model of Social Learning
- efficacies can create capacities
Observational learning
- learning a behaviour vicariously. by seeing someone else do it
- other animals also do this
- humans can learn nearly everything from observational learning
- more observational learning shortly right after birth = within hours - newborns can mimic faces ; even if doesn’t mean anything, see someone do it then u will too
- ages 3 -5 = mimicking gender identity; same sex parent
Observational learning requires: (4)
- attention
- retention
- production
- performance
Does engaging with violent media cause violence?
Learning perspective says yes!
- acquiring potential violent behaviours
- rewards for violent behaviours (war hero, etc.)
- desensitization
- BUT other factors need to be considered too so “yes” would be an oversimplification
Problems of Learning Approach
- Oversimplification of situations
- Artificiality of experimental control
- Theories about determinants of behaviour, not personality