Dollard and Miller

Dollard and Miller • Prominent researchers in 40’s, 50’s • Wanted to extend Behaviorism • Tried to meld psychoanalytic and behavior theory • Criticized Skinnerian Behaviorism Cited four shortcomings

Skinner Model Shortcomings • Ignores motivation/thinking • Based on animal studies • Ignores social dimension of learning • Treats organism as passive

Stagesetters • People like Dollard and Miller and others (e.g., Julian Rotter), unlike Skinner, accepted importance of cognitive processes in influencing behavior

D and M’s Habit Heirarchy • What is this concept? • How is it a deviation from Skinner? Dollard and Miller opened the door for interactional learning models- environment, thinking (internal processes) and behavior

Bandura’s Social Learning Theory Albert Bandura (1925 -) ‘The prospects for survival would be slim indeed if one could learn only from the consequences of trial and error.’

Bandura’s Social LearningTheory • Behaviorism with an increased interest in internal states • Building upon Staats (1975, 1981), who • suggested internal states (attitudes, self-concept)

Bandura’s Social LearningTheory Main elements of the theory: • Reciprocal Determinism (i) The individual, (ii) the environment, and (iii) the mental structures that mediate the two will interact with one another in complex ways • Observational learning- models • Behaviors need not be performed to be learned (vicarious learning)

Elements of Bandura’s Theory • People tend to have consistent goals (e.g. a good exam grade for a person whose goal is to succeed academically will reinforce them to a greater extent than it would a person who cares less about their academic performance)

Bandura’s Social LearningTheory • Bobo doll study (Bandura, 1965) Nursery school children watched an adult on TV who performed four novel, aggressive acts on a plastic ‘Bobo doll’. The adult was then either rewarded, punished, or received no consequences Later: • all children could perform the behavior if asked • but those who had seen the adult rewarded were more likely to behave aggressively when alone • This is sometimes called ‘vicarious conditioning’

Bobo Experiment

Bandura’s Social LearningTheory: Cognitive Elements • Self-efficacy- another aspect of Bandura’s theory An efficacy expectation is the extent of the belief that one’s actions can bring about a certain • outcome – i.e. Is it within my power to do so? • “I can get an A on the exam if I try.” • An outcome expectation is the extent of the belief that one’s actions will bring about a certain • outcome – i.e. Is it likely to happen?

Motivation and Efficacy • A strong sense of efficacy enhances human accomplishment and well-being. • People with high assurance in their capabilities approach difficult tasks as challenges to be mastered rather than as threats to be avoided. • Such an efficacious outlook fosters intrinsic interest and deep engrossment in activities.

Creating Efficacy-Sucesses • The most effective way of creating a strong sense of efficacy is through mastery experiences. • If people experience only easy successes however they come to expect quick results and are easily discouraged by failure. • A resilient sense of efficacy requires experience in overcoming obstacles through perseverant effort.

Creating Efficacy-Social Models • The second way of creating and strengthening self-beliefs of efficacy is through the vicarious experiences provided by social models.

Creating Efficacy-Persuasion • Social persuasion is a third way of strengthening people's beliefs that they have what it takes to succeed. • People who are persuaded verbally that they possess the capabilities to master given activities are likely to mobilize greater effort and sustain it

Creating Efficacy-Reduce Stress • The fourth way of modifying self-beliefs of efficacy is to reduce people's stress reactions. • One way to do it-- alter their negative emotional proclivities and misinterpretations of their physical states.

Cognitive Processes • SLT stresses the importance of cognitive processes • Triadic reciprocal determinism • Example Belief- People are untrustworthy Behavior event- shortchanged by cashier; get hostile Environment- Feedback- cashier gets hostile

Internal Processes • Notice this man’s beliefs are internal mediators of behavior and behavior influences the environment. • Internal processes important again

Passivity/Activity • People are not passive but can impact environment • I arrive at a party and liven it up- I am affecting/ shaping environment

Other SLT Principles • Phenomenological perspective • Imaginal Representation • Observational learning

Dollard and Miller