BEHAVIORAL & COGNITIVE

PSYCHOLOGY
 Behavioral Perspectives
• Skinner
– Behav learned through conditioning
• little interest in unobservable cognitive
processes
– Environmental determinism
• Behav fully determined by external
stimuli – NO FREE WILL!
• Personality based in response
tendencies tied to various stimulus
situations; acquired through learning
over course of lifespan
–People have some stable response
tendencies
 Staunch behaviorists devote little
attention to the structure of personality
because it is unobservable, but they
view personality as an individual’s
collection of response tendencies.

Figure 12.5 A behavioral view of personality

This is a possible hierarchy of response tendencies (varying in strength depending on past
conditioning) for a particular person in a specific stimulus situation (a large party).
According to
Skinner, people’s
characteristic
response
tendencies are
shaped by
reinforcers and
other
consequences
following behavior.
Ex: If your joking
at a party leads to
attention and
compliments, your
tendency to be
witty and
humorous will be
strengthened.
Figure 12.6 Personality development and operant conditioning
• Bandura Social Learning (Cognitive) Theory
• Cognitive processes & reciprocal
determinism
–internal mental events, environ & behav
all influence one another
• Observational learning
–behavior is shaped by exposure to
models (person whose behav is
observed)
• Self-efficacy
–belief about one’s ability to perform
behaviors that should lead to expected
outcomes
Reciprocal Determinism (Bandura)
Internal mental events, external environmental contingencies and overt
behavior all influence one another.

Figure 12.7 Bandura’s reciprocal determinism

 Reciprocal Influences

• For example: children’s TV viewing habits

(behavior) influence their viewing preferences
(internal factor), which influence how
television (environmental factor) affects their
current behavior. The influences are mutual.
• Mischel
– Advocate of Social Learning Theory
• Focus on extent situational factors govern
behav, instead of person variables Walter Mischel

–Person-situation controversy
» Found people are much less consistent
across situations
 Evaluating Behavioral Perspectives

• Pros
– Based on rigorous research
– Insights into effects of learning and
environmental factors
• Cons
– Over-dependence on animal research
– Fragmented view of personality
– Dehumanizing views-no free will