Preview

Behavioral and Social Learning Approaches to Personality

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1007 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Behavioral and Social Learning Approaches to Personality
Behavioral and Social Learning Approaches to Personality.
Alyssa Banks
University of Phoenix Online
PSY/250
David Dakroub
October 01, 2010

Behavioral and Social Learning Approaches to Personality
Psychologists have created a variety of theories to help explain and understand what act and behave the way they do. Among the psychologists a few of the most famous are psychologist B.F. Skinner and psychologist Ivan Pavlov. The two of them are best known for their conditioned reflex experiment which focuses on other traits of behaviorism. The social learning theory looks at how a person acts when controlled by their environment rather than be influenced by innate forces and conditioned reflexes.

Compare and contrast the behavioral and social learning approaches to personality
The thought behind the behavioral approach is that the environment we are in causes us to react differently, explaining behavior through observation. The behavioral approach is contradicted by the social approach which believes in learning through the observation of others.
The observation of behavioral responses of an individual is often influenced by certain stimuli. Positive stimulus prompts the repetition of the behavior that leads to a favorable outcome. For example, a student who studies hard for a test and receives a 100% a test the first time, that student is likely to repeat the same process in preparation for the next test in hope of receiving another 100% (Friedman & Schustack,(2009).
The psychologist also hypothesize in behaviorism also that we are born as “a Blank Slate”. Therefore concluding that out behavior is determined by environmental factors rather than genetic or biological predispositions. Some social learning theorists claim that the way that people think, plan, perceive and believe is an important part of learning. These social learning theorists argue that we learn through imitation, modeling, and observation of other people behavior. If we observe a



References: Friedman, H. S. & Schustack, M. W. (2009). Personality: Classic theories and modern research (4th ed.). Boston: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon. Psychologist World. (2010). Behavioral Approach. Retrieved from http://www.psychologistworld.com/issues/behavioralapproach.php

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The social learning theory also supports that the personality is shaped by observing what happens to other people around an individual. The social learning theory is assessed through…

    • 473 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In Psychology learning is seen as a change in behaviour caused by an experience. Behaviorism, is seen as a learning theory; an attempt to explain how people or animals learn by studying their behaviour. The Behaviourists Approach has two theories to help explain how we learn, Classical conditioning and operant conditioning. In this task I will attempt to describe and evaluate this approach.…

    • 1263 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    According to this theory, personality is determined by a combination of environmental (social norms, influence of others) and cognitive…

    • 326 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Behaviourist perspective also known as learning perspective explains all the human behaviours are differently affected by the rewards and consequences of their actions. For instance, behaviourist believe that people have to learn to make and maintain relationship and that the way we cope with stress and pressure is also result of what we have to learnt from others. There are two key thinkers associated with this perspective are Pavlov Classical conditioning also Skinner Operant conditioning.…

    • 5769 Words
    • 18 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Unit 8 Assignment 2

    • 4190 Words
    • 12 Pages

    Firstly behaviourist theories within psychology, generally believe that all behaviour is learnt and can be shaped through principles of conditioning, which was suggested by two different psychologists, ‘Skinner’ and ‘Pavlov’. This approach is to be able to understand different aspects of human behaviour, this is sometimes referred to as the learning theory. These can result from either classical conditioning or operant conditioning.…

    • 4190 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Unit 8 p1

    • 2879 Words
    • 12 Pages

    Behaviourism is a psychological perspective, it focuses on observing behaviour. ‘ Learning theory’ is when an individual learns from observing some one else’s behaviour. The way they learn can also have an effect on their behaviour and relationships with others. A behaviourist believes that the way we cope with stress and deal with certain situations is influenced by how we learnt to cope with these from other people.…

    • 2879 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Unit 8 P1 M2

    • 3137 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Behaviourism is the train of through that all humans behaviour is a result of social learning from their environment. Behaviourist make there principle based on external behaviour for example body language. Another one of their beliefs is that we learn through social cues and through our environment and that’s what shapes the person we grow up to be.…

    • 3137 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    References: Friedman, H. S., & Schustack, M. W. (2011). Personality. Classic Theories and Modern Research (5th ed.). Retrieved from University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.…

    • 1122 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Friedman, H. S., & Schuustack, M. W. (2009). Personality: Classic Theories and Modern Research (4th ed.). : Pearson Education, Inc..…

    • 1642 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Learning Theories  Some behaviorists believe that psychology needs to focus more on observable and quantifiable behaviors as a way to become a more scientific discipline. The behavioral perspective implies that all human behavior can be defined in terms of environmental influences. Other behaviorists, such as John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner, claimed that learning occurs simply through processes of association and reinforcement. Early Research on the Function of the Brain Aristotle 384-322 bc •Aristotle alleged that the mind was located in the heart.…

    • 882 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    References: Friedman, H. S., & Schustack, M. W. (2009). Personality: Classic Theories and Modern Research. (4 ed.). Pearson.…

    • 2192 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    miss

    • 457 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The behaviourist approach as explained in P1, suggests that learning is what changes an individual’s behaviour. Therefore, any changes in behaviour of an individual are the result of events that have taken place within the environment.…

    • 457 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Behaviourism can also be seen as the learning theory. This was introduced by John Watson in the early 1900’s. This was mainly his thoughts and ideas. When it comes to behaviourism there are three assumptions that are attached and are developed within behaviourism. These are; behaviour is learnt and also humans and animals learn the same way, this can be seen that the mind is irrelevant. Behaviourists would conclude…

    • 2895 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    References: Friedman, H. & Schustack, M. (2009) Personality: Classic Theories and Modern Research. 4th Edition.…

    • 1081 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Social Learning Theory

    • 710 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Social learning theory, also known as Social Cognitive Theory, involves the idea of people learning by observing the actions of others and that thought processes in the human brain are of utmost importance to understanding personality. Social learning theory first evolved out of the work and research by N.E. Miller and J. Dollard in 1941. Their beliefs rested on the idea that if humans were motivated to learn a particular behavior, it would be done so by clear observations. By imitating these observed actions the individual observer would establish that learned action would be rewarded through positive reinforcement (Miller & Dollard, 1941). The main principles of the social learning theory were later expanded on by Albert Bandura (1962 to…

    • 710 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays