APPLICATIONS OF MODERATE BEHAVIORISM TO PERSONALITY

1. a few innate S-R connections (reflexes)

2. primary drives, e.g., hunger, thirst

3. drive reduction

The core tendency is to reduce drive. Drive reduction constitutes reinforcement and is necessary for learning (increasing habit strength).

DEVELOPMENT

1. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

2. INSTRUMENTAL CONDITIONING

PERIPHERY, habits and behavior. No character types.

_SE_R (EXCITATORY POTENTIAL) = _SH_R (HABIT STRENGTH) X

D (DRIVE).

_SE_R, EXCITATORY POTENTIAL, refers to the probability, strength or speed of a response;

_SH_R--HABIT STRENGTH, the learning portion of the theory (the acquired habit of emitting a certain response in a certain situation). Habit strength (measured in HABS) increases with each reinforced response. Drive reduction must occur before a response is reinforced; and

D--GENERALIZED DRIVE, the motivational portion of the theory.

There are many sources of D, including hunger, thirst, (i.e., food and water deprivation), the aversiveness of the environment, and individual differences in anxiety proneness.

There can also be more than one response associated with a stimulus situation. Different responses that have been conditioned to the same stimulus can be ranked in terms of their strength on the HABIT FAMILY HIERARCHY. The strength of a habit is measured in “habs”.

EXCITATORY POTENTIAL also has a ceiling, which can not be exceeded.

HULL-SPENCE theory had linked DRIVE with individual differences in a person’s anxiety level. Imagine that a high anxiety person has D= 10 while a low anxiety person has D=2.

Now imagine that a person has learned 3 different responses to one situation that differ in habit strength. S-R_a = 10 habs, S-R_b = 5 habs, S-R_c = 2 habs. There is research to support the above formula. This research suggests that when R_a is the correct response, people higher in anxiety will do better than people lower in anxiety; however, when R_c is the correct response, people high in anxiety will do worse than people low in anxiety.

Increases in DRIVE can also elevate the entire STIMULUS GENERALIZATION gradient so that all possible responses are at the _SE_Rceiling, potentially accounting for bizarre behaviors seen in psychosis.

Loose associations, such as those seen in schizophrenia, may also be related to excessive levels of D, which could multiply all possible associates (i.e., multiple _SH_Rs) to the _SE_Rceiling.

I. MOWRER’S TWO FACTOR THEORY, which uses simple behavioral learning procedures to account for complex human behaviors like the development of a phobia.

The first factor is CLASSICAL CONDITIONING. In Classical Conditioning a CONDITIONED STIMULUS (CS) is followed by an UNCONDITIONED STIMULUS (UCS), which produces an UNCONDITIONED RESPONSE (UCR). As a result of this association of the CS and UCS, future presentations of the CS produce a CONDITIONED RESPONSE (CR), which is similar to the UCR. For example, a car (CS) hits me (UCS) producing pain and fear (UCR). When I observe a car again anxiety (similar to pain and fear) occurs (the CR). Classical conditioning is used to account for the development of anxiety.

The second factor, INSTRUMENTAL CONDITIONING, is used to account for the development and maintenance of the car phobia. The CS (car) produces a CR (anxiety) which has additional Stimulus (S) components--my heart starts to pound and I begin to sweat. These stimulus components of anxiety are aversive. When I walk out of the house and see cars or hear them, it is aversive (an aversive drive state). If I make an escape response (R) of turning around and running back inside the house, it is negatively reinforced (S^r-) by the reduction in anxiety. Thus the person strengthens the habit of avoiding cars by negative reinforcement.

MOWRER claims that his two factor theory is not a new idea. It is simply a behavioral translation of FREUDIAN theory. Neuroses occur because of traumatic events experienced in childhood. Traumas are aversive UCSs. Even if traumas are repressed”, they still have an effect; and people use defense mechanisms to minimize anxiety. Anything that people do to reduce anxiety can be thought of as a process of negative reinforcement in behavioral terms.

II. MILLER AND DOLLARD’S CONFLICT THEORY.

There are three kinds of conflict, which involve learned tendencies or habits of approaching or avoiding certain goals. It is important to know that the closer one is to a goal the stronger the tendency to approach or avoid.

1. APPROACH-APPROACH CONFLICT.

In this conflict there are two desirable goals or outcomes. The goals are structured, however, such that approaching one goal means going further away from the other desired goal. Imaging that you wish to make a lot of money in your life (greed tendency) and you also wish to finish college (education tendency). Imaging that you have been going to school while working part-time. You are in the conflict zone when the strength of both the greed tendency and education tendency are similar.

An offer of a substantial raise and full-time employment would bring you closer to the $$$$ goal, where the strength of the greed tendency would be substantially greater than the education tendency, and you might not get your degree. If, however, you are very close to graduating (only 6 more credits), it would mean that the education tendency would be stronger than the greed tendency, and you would likely go to school rather than take the full-time job.

The approach-approach conflict is easier to resolve than the remaining two conflicts.

B. AVOIDANCE-AVOIDANCE CONFLICT.

Again there are two goals, but now you wish to avoid them because they are aversive outcomes. The goals, again, are structured so that avoiding one means that you have to approach the other goal. Imagine that you are failing all your classes, and the drop deadline is approaching. You wish to avoid the goal of 12 credits of F. Also imagine that your parents have been paying for your tuition, room, and board; and that they would be easily angered by wasting money by dropping classes. You also wish to avoid their anger.

You are in the conflict zone when the two avoidance tendencies are similar in strength. But now when you collect signatures on your drop forms, the prospects of your parents anger gets larger and larger, so you try to avoid the anger by making plans to not drop the classes and studying 22 hrs. per day for the rest of the semester. Vacillation occurs in the Avoidance-avoidance conflict.

C. APPROACH-AVOIDANCE CONFLICT

In this conflict there is only one goal, with simultaneous tendencies to approach and avoid it at the same time. Imaging a rat that is first food deprived and then trained to run down a straight-alley to consume food in the goal box. After this approach training, the rat receives an electric shock while in the goal box, so now the rat also has a tendency to avoid the goal box. Again, remember that the tendency to approach or avoid increases as one gets closer to the goal. In this conflict the avoidance gradient is steeper than the approach gradient.

What this means is that in the start box, the tendency to approach is stronger than the tendency to avoid, so the rat starts to walk toward the goal box. Half way down the alley, the avoidance tendency becomes equal to the approach tendency, and even closer to the goal the avoidance tendency is stronger than the approach tendency. What the rat does is vacillate, walking toward the goal until the avoidance tendency gets dominant, and then walking away and back towards the start box until the approach tendency becomes dominant. Then turning around and going toward the goal, then turning around again and going back toward the start, over and over again.

COGNITIVE BEHAVIORISM is somewhat different in that Cognitive Behaviorism has two assumptions not shared by other behavioral schools:

Awareness is essential for learning

Responses are not essential for learning

CORE CHARACTERISTICS emphasize:

The use of cognitive processes (e.g., IQ, memory, discrimination, perception, expectation, conceptualization, reasoning, etc.) to construe the events of experience and give them meaning. Cognitions determine A) which events will be experienced, and B) how they will be interpreted.

One needs to know not only the environmental event, but also the meaning of the event for the individual.

Bandura’s RECIPROCAL DETERMINISM can be contrasted with 3 other types of determinism:

1. Situational determinism, where the emphasis is on situational (S) causes of behavior (B). B = f [S].

2. Personal determinism, where the emphasis is on personal (P) causes of behavior. B = f [P].

3. One-sided interactionism, where the emphasis is on the interaction of situational and personal causes of behavior.

B = f [P X S].

1, 2, and 3 imply a unidirectional influence of personality variables and situational variables on behavior.

Triadic (Environment, Behavior, Personality) Reciprocal determinism involves multidirectional influences. This means that behavior can also affect both the environment and personality. Also, in a series of interchanges between people, it is hard to distinguish a stimulus from a response from a reinforcer; since any event might be conceptualized as any one of the three.

Behavior