Chapter 10: social learning approach: Dollard and Miller

-stress importance of: -learning -classical and operant conditioning -situational factors in the genesis and evolution of personality

-begins where radical-behaviour approach left off

-go several steps further -emphasize social aspects of the situation that influence personality: influence of learning, and changing one's behaviours by observing how other people behave

-the personality process -such as cognitions that influence how we act -cognition = mind, how we perceive things, thinking process

-developed by Neal Miller (1909-) and John Dollard (1900-1980) -they applied learning theory of Clark Hull to personality phenomena.

-(dollard and miller are hullians) -drive reduction theory of learning: stimulus that reduces drive is a reinforcer, and actual drive reduction is the reinforcement. -donald and miller theory of personality relies on 4 concepts from Hull's theory.

1. DRIVE = internal or external factors that motivates a behaviour. opposes the reinforcer (hunger/fear/pain) 2. CUES = stimulus that indicates how/when/where to respond to a drive. guide behaviour. (see dessert motivates eating) 3.

RESPONSE = happens due to drive and cue. satisfies the drive. 4. REINFORCEMENT = stimulus that reduces drive. ie) a mother because she reduces drives of newborn. reinforcement reduces drive for survival.

ie) after eat food, have energy again to continue your drive.. ??

-most human behaviour is LEARNED -to understand behaviour: 1. must know psychological principles involved in its learning and social conditions under which this learning took place 2.

must understand principles of learning.

-personality develops through resolving conflicts between goals: The famous Four Major Types of Conflict: 1. approach-approach 2. avoidance- avoidance 3.

approach-avoidance 4. double approach-avoidance

-conflict between two positive goals that are equally attractive at the same time goal 1 ----- person ---- goal 2 (+)------------0------------(+)

-you are both hungry and tired (sleep vs eat) solution: attain one goal, then the other (first eat then sleep) -or cannot decide between two goals. the person regrets until both opportunities are lost.??

-person must choose between two negative goals. Both lead to undesirable outcomes two types of behaviours arise: -1. indecision (wondering about which one to take the whole evening, miserable) -2. escape: two ways to escape: one is to leave the situation physically such as going to a movie. other is mental escape such as trying to forget about the class, do homework for another course

ie) child chooses between eating spinach or getting sent to room.

-person is both attracted to and repelled by the same goal Person Goal ----------------------> (+) 0 <---------------------- (-) person wants to go for the goal, and at same time afraid to go for it

-job attractive because make a lot of money but unattractive because boring. -whether you take this job or not will shape personality Person

-person has ambivalent (mixed) feelings about two goal objects -in other words, the person may not know what he/she wants or may not understand the goals very well Goal 1 Person Goal 2 (+)<-------------- -------------------->(+) (-)--------------> <--------------------(-) -person wants to go for the goal and at the same time afraid to go for it

Freudian theory -girl attracted to mother because mother satisfies her needs but repelled by mother because thought she denied her a penis.

-girl attracted to father because he has a valued organ, but repelled because envious of him.

-frustration-agression hypothesis M and D believed that frustration leads to aggression. -frustration comes from unfulfilled goals. -aggression is an act which goal is to cause harm to an organism.

D and M believed that neurosis is learned and can therefore be unlearned.

-psychotherapy allows for it to be unlearned by same combo of principles it was taught with -use free-association without reinforcement. -talks about frightening topics, and since not punished, fears go away.

1. Synthesis of Hullian Learning Theory and Pyschoanalysis Unsuccesful (D and M attempts did not work.

Bandura and SKinner claimed only learning principles to understand perssonality, not nebulous) 2. Overgeneralization from nonhuman animals to humans (irrelevant) 3. Simplicity (no complexity of human personality. theory does not address things like love, meaning of life, importance of future)

1. Synthesis of Hullian Learning theory and Psychoanalysis ( broadened theory of learning to array human phenomena, and made psychoanalytic concepts more testable) 2.

Respectable Approach to Personality Study (terms percisely defined, and theory is very testable) 3. Clear Discription of Therapuetic Process (parts of the process restated and better terminology)