Theories of Personality

Theories of Personality Observational Learning – Chapter 13The Humanistic Perspective – Chapter 14 April 25, 2003 Class # 12

Albert Bandura(1925-present) • Pioneering researcher in observational learning • Was born in the small town of Mundare in northern Alberta, Canada • He received his bachelors degree in Psychology from the University of British Columbia in 1949 • He went on to the University of Iowa, where he received his Ph.D. in 1952 • It was there that he came under the influence of the behaviorist tradition and learning theory

Bandura’s Background • In 1953, he started teaching at Stanford University… • While there, he collaborated with his first graduate student, Richard Walters, resulting in their first book, Adolescent Aggression, in 1959 • Bandura was president of the APA in 1973, and received the APA’s Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions in 1980 • He continues to work at Stanford to this day

Social Learning Theory • Also called observational learning, this is learning that occurs by observing and imitating others (the person being observed is referred to as the model) • Major components involved in observational learning • Attention • Retention • Reproduction • Motivation • Performance (Self-efficacy)

Major Components • Attention • If you are going to learn anything, you have to be paying attention. Likewise, anything that puts a damper on attention is going to decrease learning If, for example, you are sleepy, groggy, drugged, sick, nervous, etc you will learn less. Likewise, if you are being distracted by competing stimuli • Retention • Second, you must be able to retain -- remember -- what you have paid attention to • Imagery • Verbal coding (using language to help describe what was seen) • Mental rehearsal using both imagery and language • Production (Reproduction) • You have to have the ability to reproduce the behavior in the first place. • For example: Some people can watch Olympic ice skaters all day long, yet not be able to reproduce their jumps, because they can’t ice skate at all! On the other hand, if they could skate, their performance would in fact improve if they watch skaters who are better than they are

Major Components • Motivation • Bandura feels that even with all this you’re still not going to do anything unless you are motivated to imitate, i.e. until you have some reason for doing it • Bandura mentions a number of motives: • past reinforcement • past rewards • promised reinforcements • incentives that we can imagine • vicarious reinforcement • seeing and recalling the model being reinforced

Major Components • Performance • Should I repeat what I just saw? • What are the consequences to model and observer?

Bandura, Ross, and Ross (1963) The “Bobo" Doll Experiment • Note : Bandura did a large number of variations on the “Bobo doll” experiment…we’ll look at a few • Phase 1 • Pre-schoolers were divided into two groups and put into two separate rooms and allowed to play with "attractive" toys while “Bobo” an unattractive inflatable, adult-sized, egg-shaped balloon creature (the kind that bounces back after it's been knocked down) sat by itself at the far end of the rooms

Bandura, Ross, and Ross (1963) The “Bobo" Doll Experiment • Phase 2 • Group 1: While playing with the attractive toys the children witnessed adults enter the room and start beating the daylights out of the clown • Group2: While playing with the attractive toys the children witnessed adults enter the room and play nicely with Bobo • Phase 3 • The attractive toys were taken away from each group • Results: What happened next?

Bandura (1965) The “Bobo" Doll Experiment • In the 1965, version kids watched films of adults beating on Bobo – but each had different endings… • Film 1: • Adult praised and rewarded with candy and soda by another adult who was heard saying, “You’re a strong champion” • Film 2: • Adult is scolded by another adult, “You’re very bad” or “Hey there, you big bully, you quit picking on that clown” • Film 3: • Neutral ending – neither reward nor punishment

Who cares about what a kid does to a "Bobo" doll? • Well, that’s what the critics said…”those things are made to punched aren’t they?” • Responding to criticism that Bobo dolls were supposed to be hit, Bandura did a film of a young woman beating up a live clown • When the children went into the other room, what should they find there but -- the live clown! • They proceeded to punch him, kick him, hit him with little hammers, and so on…

Violence in Schools • 3M thefts and violent crimes (16000 per day) occur on school property each year (National Crime Survey, 2000) • 7% of teenagers have been victims of a violent crime (compare this to less than 3% of the population over 19) • Recent studies have found that 21% had seen weapons at their schools and 15% had actually taken a weapon into school • 22% report have been in a fight in the past year – mostly boys but girls are on the increase as well • 35% fear being attacked at school • 24% fear being attacked going to and from school • 13% avoid certain areas inside the school out of fear of being attacked • 82% of school's nationwide have reported an increase in violence over the past 7 years

Is Television To Blame? • Bandura feels his theory applies here • Hundreds of studies say yes! • Why? • they become immune to the horrors of violence (they are desensitized) • they gradually come to accept violence as a way to solve problems • they imitate the violence they observe on television • they identify with certain characters (ex: Bruce Willis, WWF, etc.)

The Social-Cognitive Perspective: Conceptualizing Behavioral Problems • Can depression be a result of learning from our environment? • Can negative expectations from this learning also contribute to this?

The Social-Cognitive Perspective: Conceptualizing Behavioral Problems • Learned helplessness (Seligman, 1970s) • Uncontrollable events • Explanatory style (Seligman, 1980s) • How we explain events • Locus of Control (Rotter, 1954)

Escape Escape Escape? Shock Shock Shock Learned Helplessness

Attributional/Explanatory Style Model of Depression • Extension of Learned Helplessness model • We make attributions about events that happen in our lives

The I.S.G. Formula • Attributions can be: • Internal/External Locus of Control • This is taken from Rotter (1954) • Related to affect and self esteem • Stable/Unstable • Consequences of the event? • (Long term? Short term?) • Global/Specific • Domain specificity?

Explanatory Style Illustration:Why did you fail that math test? Internal: “I’m stupid” External: “The test was unfair” --------------------------------------------------------------- Stable: “I always do poorly on tests” Unstable: “I’ll do better on the next one” --------------------------------------------------------------- Global: “I’ll never get my degree” Specific: “I’m not doing well in this particular class, but I’m doing well in my other classes”

Optimistic vs. Pessimistic Styles • Optimistic explanatory style • Good event: internal/stable/global • Bad event: external/unstable/specific • Pessimistic explanatory style • Good event: external/unstable/specific • Bad event: internal/stable/global

The Humanistic Perspective Theories of Personality Chapter 14

Carl Rogers(1902-1987) • The son of prosperous businesspeople • He was reared in a strict religious environment that placed great emphasis on the value of hard work, the sharing of responsibility, and education • Strict upbringing led to Rogers being quite isolated as a youth but also very self-disciplined • Started school in the second grade as even before kindergarten he could read at this level

Biography • Rogers enrolled in the University of Wisconsin with the intention of studying agriculture • However, he soon decided to prepare for the ministry • Leaving Wisconsin in 1924, he entered the Union Theological Seminary in New York

Biography • While at this famous religious institute he took a student organized seminar course called “Why am I entering the seminary?”… • Shortly after taking that course he left the seminary • What was religion’s loss however became psychology’s gain • Rogers became deeply involved in clinical work with disturbed children, and his interests shifted to clinical psychology • He received his doctorate from Columbia University in 1931 and went to work at a guidance clinic in Rochester, New York

Biography • He later taught at Ohio State University, the University of Chicago, and the University of Wisconsin, before settling at the Center for Studies of the Person in La Jolla, California • Throughout his career, Rogers continued to work extensively with delinquent and underprivileged children, gathering the experience that led to his theory of nondirective or person-centered therapy • He was a leader of the humanistic psychology movement until his death in 1987

Rogers’ views • His view of human behavior is that it is "exquisitely rational" (1961) • Furthermore, in his opinion: • "the core of man's nature is essentially positive" (1961) • man is a "trustworthy organism" (1977) • These beliefs are reflected in his theory of personality

Client-Centered non-directive therapy • Carl Rogers came to the conclusion that Freudian techniques did not work and that the less he tried to manipulate the therapy, the more likely was improvement in his patients • Out of this experience he developed his notion of client-centeredtherapy • He called it 'client-centered' because it is the intention that the patient should arrive at the insights rather than the therapist • It isnon-directive because the therapist does not try to direct the patient's attention to particular topics, such as early childhood experiences • Unlike Freud, who wanted his patients to talk about their feelings, Rogers wanted them to experience them

Changed the name… • Later, Rogers changed the name of his theory to “person-centered” • He felt this better described the process • Either name though suggests that the client or person has responsibility for his or her own improvement

The Phenomenal World • According to Rogers we enter the world with no self-concept and no self • All we have is sensory impressions, biological processes, motor activities • Rogers said every individual exists in a continually changing world of experience • He called this the phenomenal world

The Phenomenal World • As we grow, we learn to differentiate our self from the other parts of the phenomenal world and eventually come to see ourselves as an independent self • In Rogers' view, people came to him for counseling because, as a result of experiences as they had grown up, they had become someone they were not • As a result, they would be suffering from anxiety, stress, low self-esteem

Core of Personality • Core Tendency • The tendency to actualize one's inherent potentialities • This potential exists in all living organisms, even plants • Humans possess an additional form • The attempt to actualize the self • Referred to as self-actualization

Core Characteristics of Personality • Self • The person's conscious sense of who and what you are • Is available to awareness, although not always in awareness. • Gradually emerges through experiences with verbal labels such as "I" or "Me" • Phenomenological Reality • A person's private perception of reality (whether or not it agrees with objective reality). Experience is the highest authority. If you think you are not good-looking or smart, this is part of your self concept regardless of reality

Core Characteristics of Personality • Need for Positive Regard • The universal need for acceptance, love, and approval from others • Particularly important during infancy • Need for Positive Self-Regard • When acceptance and approval come from within the individual and forms part of the self-concept

Development • Rogers does not specify any developmental stages, but does make some comments concerning development in general… • Of basic importance is the fact that one's inherent potentialities are genetically determined, while the self-concept is socially determined • Thus, there is the possibility of a difference between the two

Development • The important influences are: • Conditional Positive Regard • Conditions of Worth • Incongruence • Unconditional Positive Regard • Congruence

Conditional Positive Regard • The granting of love and approval only when behaving in accordance with parent's wishes, or when parents withdraw love if the child misbehaves. • Leads to next influence (see next slide)

Conditions of Worth • The individual's belief that he/she is worthy of affection only when expressing desirable behaviors • Sounds similar to Freud’s superego???

Incongruence • When there is a split between experience and self-concept (disorganization) • Prevents self-actualization • Leads to defensive behavior • Major defenses • Preventing threatening experiences from reaching awareness at all • Distortion of experience • Sounds like Freud’s repression and rationalization???

Unconditional Positive Regard • The granting of love and approval regardless of individual's behavior… • Does not mean lack of restraint… • If a child runs out in front of a truck, stop him and tell him it is dangerous, but don't spank him and tell him he is a bad, evil boy • Note: • Rogers was totally against punishment as a means of controlling behavior

Congruence • When the self concept is in agreement with inherent potentialities and there are minimal conditions of worth • Leads to openness to experience and a fully functioning person

Periphery of Personality • Rogers discussed only two broad types… • One where the self-actualizing tendency is vigorously functioning • One where it is not

Fully Functioning Person • The ideal person • Has received unconditional positive regard, has few conditions of worth, and has congruence between self and potentialities

Fully Functioning Person • Characteristics • Openness to Experience • Existential Living • Organismic Trusting • Experiential Freedom • Creativity

Characteristics of a Fully Functioning Person • Openness to Experience • opposite of defensiveness • Is reflective and much emotional depth (for both pleasure and pain) • Existential Living • Living fully in each and every moment • The absence of rigidity, is flexible, adaptable, and spontaneous

Fully Functioning Person • Organismic Trusting • intuitive living • the ability to accept information from all bases • experience is the highest authority • if it feels right, it probably is… • very different from Freudian views • Experiential Freedom • the freedom to choose among alternatives • Creativity • the ability to produce new and effective ideas and things

Maladjusted Person • Has received conditional positive regard and developed conditions of worth • There is incongruence between self and potentialities

Maladjusted Person • Characteristics: • Defensive Living • Not open to experience • Live According to preconceived plan • generally laid down by parents • Disregards organism • not intuitive • Feels manipulated • not free to choose • Common and conforming • Conforms despite reservations

Criticisms • Common Carl we all have the capacity for evil… • Critics say Rogers didn’t appreciate this • His world wasn’t real • Critics also say: that there is a certain amount of selfishness in Roger's theory • One critic has called Humanistic Psychology "the narcissism of our culture" • that we are so lost in self love that we fail to relate to outside reality

Characteristics of successful therapists • Congruence • Empathy • Learn from Client • Unconditional Positive Regard • Rogers believed that these four characteristics of the person doing therapy were more important than the therapist's philosophy or technique

Successful Therapists • Congruence • Good therapists can't be phony • they must be able to relate to others honestly and sincerely • They don't have to be perfect, but can't be defensive when relating to others • Can't play games with clients

Theories of Personality