PSYCHOSOCIAL ISSUES ON HUMAN

BEHAVIOR

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Attachment Theory

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 Phases of Attachment

1. Preattachment Stage
>Birth to 8 or 12 weeks.
>Babies orient to their mothers.
>They follow their mothers with their eyes.
>They turn toward and move rhythmically with their
mother’s voices.
2. Attachment in the making
>8-12 weeks to 6 months.
>Infants become attached to 1 or more people in the
environment.
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 Phases of Attachment

3. Clear-cut Attachment
>6-24 months.
>Infants cry and show other signs of distress when
separated from the caregiver.
>On being returned to the caregiver, the infant stops
crying and clings, as if to gain further assurance of
the mother’s return.
4. Fourth Phase
>25 months and beyond.
>More complex relationship of mother and child develops

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>Separation anxiety is the response of a child who is isolated or
separated from its caregiver manifested as tearfulness or
irritability. It is common at 10 to 18 months of age and
disappears by the end of the third year.
>Set and sequence of behavior patterns in children who are
separated from their caregivers for long periods:
1. Protest-child protests against the separation by crying, calling out
and searching for the lost person.
2. Despair-child appears to lose hope that caregiver will return.
3. Detachment-child emotionally separates himself from the cargiver.
>Stranger anxiety is an anxiety response to someone other than the
caregiver. It is common at about 8 months.

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>Attachment behaviors persists throughout life, from the
cradle to the grave.
>At various stages in life, attachments are made to
others such as older siblings, relatives, teachers and
friends especially when parental attachments are poor
or inadequate. Thus, new attachment figures promote
corrective emotional experiences.
>Bonding is not synonymous with attachment. It
concerns the mother’s feelings for her infant. This
occurs when there is skin to skin contact and other
types of contact such as voice and eye contact.
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Learning Theory

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>Concepts of Learning
1. Practice or past experience
2. Changes in behavior which are relatively permanent
3. Reinforcement
>It is a lifetime process.
>For long as we live, we keep on interacting with the
environmental forces and we are driven by varied
motivations.

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 I. Conditioning

A. Classical or Respondent or Stimulus Substitution-

method of substituting or replacing another stimulus
for an original one to elicit a response.
>A stimulus that had no capacity to evoke a particular
response before training did so after consistent
association with another stimulus.
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)-original stimulus.
Unconditioned response (UCR)-original response.
Conditioned stimulus (CS)-substituted stimulus.
Conditioned response (CR)-substituted response.

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 I. Conditioning

>Food naturally produces salivation(UCS).

>Salivation is the response elicited by food(UCR).
>So, before conditioning:
Food(UCS)→Salivation(UCR)
>Bell(CS)
>Salivation elicited by the bell(CR)
>So, after conditioning:
Bell(CS)→Salivation(CR)

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 I. Conditioning

>Classical conditioning is most often applied to responses mediated

by the nervous system.
>Subjects respond to stimuli similar to original responses.
-this is called the stimulus generalization whereby a conditioned
response is transferred from 1 stimulus to another.
-this is sometimes used to explain similarities.
>Extinction occurs when the conditioned stimulus is constantly
repeated without the unconditioned stimulus thereby weakening
the response and eventually disappears.
>Discrimination is the process of recognizing and responding to
differences between similar stimuli.

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 I. Conditioning

B. Operant or Instrumental Conditioning-learning where

the individual must do something or “operate on” to
the environment in order to produce a result. The
result is a reward as a consequence of the action.
1. Skinner box-rat must press (operate on) the lever to
receive food (result or reward).
2. Thorndike puzzle box or the trial-error learning-
individual or animal attempts to solve a problem by
trying different actions until one proves successful.
-cat inside the box must learn to lift a latch to escape
from the box.

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 I. Conditioning

>4 Kinds of Operant or Instrumental Conditioning

1. Primary reward conditioning-the simplest kind of conditioning
wherein the learned response is instrumental in obtaining a
biologically significant reward.
2. Escape conditioning-get away from or eliminate an unpleasant
situation or place.
3. Avoidance conditioning-learning to avoid or to prevent an
unpleasant situation before it occurs.
4. Secondary reward conditioning-learning in which the instrumental
behavior to get at a stimulus has no biological usefulness itself
but has in the past been associated with a biologically significant
stimulus.

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 II. Cognitive Learning

>Learning which involves perception and knowledge.

>Cognitive learning theories focus on the role of
understanding.
III. Social Learning
>Relies on role modeling, identification and human
interactions.
>A person can learn by imitating the behavior of another
person.
>People learn by observing others intentionally termed as
modeling or learning through imitation.

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Aggression

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 Aggression

>Any form of behavior directed toward a goal of

harming or injuring another person who is motivated
to avoid such treatment. It also implies the intent to
do harm.
>Provokes fear and 2 kinds of action:
1. Flight to avoid the source of aggression.
2. Fight to avoid the source of aggression.
>Aggressive behaviors can be:
1. Physical
2. Verbal
3. Coercion
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 Aggression

4. Intimidation
5. Managerial styles resulting in harmful psychological
consequences to others.
6. Premeditated social ostracism of others
>Why Persons Engage in Assaults Against Others:
1. Acquired aggressive responses through past
experience
2. Receive or anticipate various forms of reward for
performing such actions.
3. Directly instigated to aggression by speciific social or
environmental conditions.

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 Aggression

>Etiology
1. Psychological factors
a) Instinctive behavior-a fighting instinct that humans
share with other organisms.
b) Learned behavior-learned form of social behavior that
is acquired and maintained like the other forms of
activity.
2. Social factors
a) Frustration-single most potent means of inciting
human beings to aggression.

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 Aggression

-when frustration is intense, it enhances aggression.

-frustration perceived as arbitrary or illegitimate.
b) Direct provocation-physical abuse and verbal taunts.
c) Television violence-exposure to televised violence.
3. Environmental factors
a) Air pollution-exposure to noxious odors.
b) Noise-loud, irritating noise.
c) Crowding-due to negative typical reactions

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 Aggression

4. Situational factors
a) Heightened physiological arousal-participation in
competitive activities, vigorous exercise and exposure
to provocative films.
b) Sexual arousal-depends on the erotic materials.
c) Pain-physical pain
5. Biological factors
a) Neuroanatomical damage-brain injury
b) Neurotransmitters-cholinergic and catecholaminergic
mechanisms-enhances aggression.
-serotonergic systems and GABA-inhibits aggression.
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 Aggression

6. Genetic factors
a) Twin studies
b) Pedigree studies-family history of mental disorders are
more prone.
c) Chromosomal influences-abnormal in X and Y
chromosomes particularly the 47 chromosome XYY.
7. Stimulus configiration
a) Predatory aggression-drug seeking behavior
b) Fear induced aggression-presence of a threatening
agent in a situation where there is no escape.

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 Aggression

c) Territorial aggression-giving up of territory to others.

d) Parental aggression-threat to safety of their young
ones.
e) Inter-male aggression-presence of an unfamiliar male
provoking a conflict for dominance or regain a lost
position.
f) Sex related aggression
g) Irritable aggression
>Predictors of Dangerousness to others (Table 4.4-2
page 151).

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 Aggression

>Characteristics of Groups With Increased Risks for Violent Behavior

1. Male sex
2. 15-25 years old
3. Poverty
4. Low educational level
5. Few employment skills
6. Absent roots
>Characteristics of Violence
1. Suddenness
2. Aggressiveness
3. Destructiveness

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 Aggression

>Prevention and Control

1. Punishment-sometimes an effective deterrent to overt
aggression.
2. Catharsis hypothesis-engaging in expressive but non-
injurious behaviors to reduce tension or arousal.
3. Training in social skills
4. Induction of incompatible responses
a) Empathy
b) Humor
c) Other factors-guilt feelings about the performance and
cognitive tasks.
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 Differences

>A non-assertive behavior entails inhibition of action and

denial of feelings so they do not get what they want.
>An aggressive behavior may get what they want but at
the expense of others.
>An assertive behavior does not necessarily entail a (+)
outcome but they express themselves honestly and
stand up for what they want, and at the same time,
respects the wishes of others.

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Emotional Intelligence

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 Components of Emotional Intelligence

1. Self-awareness-being aware of one’s emotions makes one more

confident when making important personal decisions.
2. Managing emotions-those who lack emotional self regulation are
continually beseiged by feelings of distress.
3. Motivating one self-being able to focus on a goal is essential for a
range of success.
4. Recognizing emotions in others-empathy is fundamental to
interpersonal effectiveness.
5. Handling relationships-social competence underlies popularity,
leadership and interpersonal effectiveness.

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 Characteristics of Emotionally Intelligent Individuals

1. Superior self-control.
2. Have the ability to motivate themselves.
3. They are principled and responsible.
4. Manage and express emotions appropriately.
5. Though assertive, they are sympathetic and caring in relationships.
6. Rich but balanced emotional life.
7. They are comfortable with themselves, other and the social
universe they live in.
8. Manage stress without undue worry or rumination.
9. Tend to be gregarious, spontaneous, playful and open to sensual
experience.

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