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Section
1: Introduction to Learning Theory and Behavioral
Psychology
Section
2: Classical and Operant Conditioning
Section
3: Reinforcement and Reinforcement Schedules
Section
4: Social Learning Theory
Section
5: Social-Cognitive Theory
Introduction
to Learning Theory and Behavioral Psychology
Learning
can be defined as the process leading to relatively
permanent behavioral change or potential behavioral
change. In other words, as we learn, we alter the
way we perceive our environment, the way we
interpret the incoming stimuli, and therefore the
way we interact or behave. John
B. Watson (1878-1958) was the first to study how
the process of learning affects our behavior, and he
formed the school of thought known as Behaviorism,
now considered a sub-camps of learning theory.
The central idea behind behaviorism is that only
observable behaviors are worthy of research since
other abstraction such as a persons mood or
thoughts are too subjective. This belief was
dominant in psychological research in the United
Stated for a good 50 years.
Perhaps
the most well known Behaviorist is B.
F. Skinner (1904-1990). Skinner followed much of
Watsons research and findings, but believed that
internal states could influence behavior just as
external stimuli. He is considered to be a Radical
Behaviorist because of this belief, although
nowadays it is believed that both internal and
external stimuli influence our behavior.
Behavioral
Psychology is basically interested in how our
behavior results from the stimuli both in the
environment and within ourselves. They study, often
in minute detail, the behaviors we exhibit while
controlling for as many other variables as possible.
Often a grueling process, but results have helped us
learn a great deal about our behaviors, the effect
our environment has on us, how we learn new
behaviors, and what motivates us to change or remain
the same.
Other
sub-camps of learning theory include Social
Learning. or the idea that we learn through our
interactions with society. In social learning
theory, society plays a much larger role in the way
we think about ourselves and the world and therefore
how we interact or behave in the larger context of
society.
Still
others see our thoughts as playing an important role
in the development of personality. While this
concept is negated or denied by some strict
behaviorists, many argue that the world is not made
up of factual information but rather information
that is always open to interpretation. The way
we perceive the world is much more important than
the way the world really is. Social-Cognitive
theories of personality represents a combination of
behaviorist, social learning theory, and cognitive
theory and could be termed cognitive-behavioral in
nature.
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