Behavior And Social Learning Case Study
analytical Essay
1175 words
Behavior and social learning are two theories that are inherently intertwined. Behavior to some extent is taught for social reasons, and social learning can very much shape and create behaviors. While behavior is something intentionally taught, social learning can teach and reinforce many unintentional behaviors, such as dishonesty or aggression. In order to adequately discuss these two interrelated topics, theory exploration is in order.
The behaviorism theory, as summarized from module three, builds upon the concept of tabula rasa, which was conceived by philosopher John Locke. The theory in conjunction with this philosophy states that all animals are born with the basic ability to respond to stimuli. The responses to the stimuli are reward
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In this essay, the author
- Explains that behavior and social learning are two theories that are inherently intertwined. while behavior is intentionally taught, it can teach and reinforce unintentional behaviors, such as dishonesty or aggression.
- Summarizes the behaviorism theory, as summarized from module three, which builds upon the concept of tabula rasa, conceived by philosopher john locke.
- Explains that the social environment exerts great influence upon the development of humans. the social learning theory introduces the concept of vicarious learning.
- Analyzes how a 16-year-old male suffering from bdd displayed both classical and operant conditioning, and how to help him unlearn and reshape behaviors.
- Explains that chris may have developed body dimorphism disorder due to the long-term modeling of family that went unnoticed. the praising of physical appearance reinforced these behaviors and exacerbated the disorder when perceived appearance changed.
- Explains that consumerism is surprising social in action, and that social learning can program certain buying behaviors, such as buying the same brand that parents and grandparents bought.
- Explains that social learning theory and behaviorism theory have far reaching implications other than just child development.
- Analyzes how social learning and behaviorism have shaped the viewpoints of education, but rarely are the ramifications discussed in a different context.
A case study found that Chris, a sixteen year old male, suffering from BDD displayed both classical and operant conditioning. He grew up in a family that stressed physical appearance, which was a modeled behavior. At sixteen, Chris broke his nose playing and after the following surgery, he became very anxious about his nose and its appearance. This eventually caused him to retreat from society (Neziroglu & Mancusi, 2012). This study explored both the classical and operant conditioning involved with the development of Chris’s BDD, and later how to help Chris unlearn the behaviors. Neziroglu and Mancusi (2012) report that, “After Chris’s surgery, he began to feel differently about his appearance. The change in his appearance (broken nose), the pain and discomfort from the surgery became associated with disgust and anxiety. His nose then became associated with these negative mood states” (p. 152). The authors explain that this is a form of classical conditioning, in which over time the associations that Chris made from his appearance and pain from the surgery became linked with disgust. This behavior was created by long term emphasis placed on appearance; therefore, when that appearance changed the disorder developed in response to this new stimuli. Chris also experienced operant conditioning via negative reinforcement due to feelings of shame …show more content…
The successful application of these theories have been very interdisciplinary in their use, being applicable in the development of disorders and even calculating spending patterns across social groups. Behaviorism and social learning have evolved beyond the original use of solely educational purposes. However, the effectiveness of the behaviorism theory has come into question as an educational approach., L’Ecuyer (2014) explains that the behaviorism approach, “emphasizes the accumulation of information (knowledge), on external behaviors (skills and mechanical habits) and their emotional and physical reactions in given situations, rather than on the person’s internal mental states, such as intentionality, which are much more complex (p.2). The article questions the modern effectiveness of the behaviorism approach on children. I have found that the theory of social learning when paired with the behaviorism theory is still very useful in education, even with the influx of modern technologies. At the very core, behaviorism, both classical and, seeks to explain why humans react to certain stimuli. Operant is more used in socially especially in child rearing, how to effectively discipline and child via reinforcement of positive behaviors or corporal punishment for negative behaviors is still a highly debated topic. Social learning can also heavily influence
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- Theories of Crimeanalytical essayAlbert Bandura in 1977, published his proposed Social Learning Theory, to which end he was of the opinion that human learning is as a matter of fact a continuous reciprocal collaboration of three factors, namely; cognitive, behavioral, and lastly environmental. This has in some quarters been referred to as observational learning. This so called social learning theory as was discussed by Wiesner, Capaldi, Patterson (2003, p. 318) was focused on behavior modeling, to which end it proposed that a child first observes and later imitates the observed behavior of the adults or of the other children that are around him or her.
In this essay, the author
- Opines that the best way to address juvenile delinquency is through the understanding of the causation mechanism that has led to the situation.
- Explains albert bandura's proposed social learning theory, which was based on observational learning and focused on behavior modeling.
- Explains that three theories have been proposed that reflect the biological, sociological, and psychological to try and understand this concept.
- Explains that william h. sheldon proposed a classification that proposed that the human physique was directly linked to crime, which he referred to as somatotyping.
- Explains hans eysenck's support for neurophysiological characteristics that show a relationship with criminals. extroverts need stimulation, change, and excitement to be impulsive as well as thrill-seeking individuals.
- Analyzes how factors like sex, race, age, socioeconomic status, values, friends, poor education, environmental and situational factors contribute to sociological theories. merton came up with a social strain theory with regards to criminal involvement.
- Analyzes merton's opinion that the lower social classes were more vulnerable to the depredations of anomie since they had higher affinity to having their aspirations frustrated as they attempted to contribute in the economic benefits of the general society.
- Explains that there are many factors that do and might contribute to a child’s delinquency, which are diverse by all factors; in most cases, they are complexly interwoven within any single case.
- Cites bartol, c. r., & a.m. (2006). criminal behavior: a psychosocial approach. pearsoneducation, inc. upper saddle river, new jersey.
919 wordsRead More - The Social Learning Theory And Social Cognitive Theorycomparative essayIntroduction: Theories play a vital part in our life. Thus, the Social Learning Theory and Social Cognitive Theory has a significant impact on our lives. Both of these theories emphasis on the developmental aspect of life. Social learning theory focuses on learning come from observation. Whereas, Social Cognitive Theory is more comprehensive and emphasizes on the process of triangulate reciprocal determinism: behavior, personal factors and environment.
In this essay, the author
- Recommends the social cognitive theory to healthcare managers, healthcare practitioners, and healthcare researchers as the much expanded theory captures a variety of dimensions.
- Concludes that social learning and social cognitive theories accept and grows on conditioning values. they emphasize the power of learning through social rewards and punishments, together with indirect reinforcements and modeling.
- Explains that social learning theory and social cognitive theory have a significant impact on our lives.
- Explains that sociological and psychological theories are grounded on different assumptions. sociology emphases on the effect of society on individual outcomes, social change, and social behavior, while sociology emphasizes the influence of the broader society.
- Explains the difference between the social learning theory and social cognitive theory. the social environment plays a more active role in shaping people's behavior.
968 wordsRead More - Albert Desando Social Learning Theoryanalytical essayAlbert Henry Desalvo was born on September 3, 1931 in Chelsea, Massachusetts, to Frank Desalvo and Charlotte. Desalvo was the third of six children. Desalvo father was an aggressive, violent, alcoholic fisherman from Newfoundland, Canada. Desalvo father would brutally beat up his wife and children with fists, belts, and pipes. When Charlotte was out of the house, Desalvo father brought prostitutes home and had sexual intercourse with them in front of the children. He was arrested repeatedly for refusing to support his wife and children. At a young age, Desalvo father taught Albert how to shoplift and encouraged him to steal.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that the model and the learner play an important role in whether social learning is successful.
- Describes albert henry desalvo as an aggressive, violent, alcoholic fisherman from newfoundland, who brutally beat up his wife and children with fists, belts and pipes.
- Explains that the social learning theory analyzes behavior through direct experience or by observing the behavior of others.
- Analyzes how bandura proposed the social learning theory with the belief that direct support cannot account for all types of learning.
2043 wordsRead More - Social Learning Theorycomparative essayAkers and Sellers (2013) has stated that social learning theory is an expanded theory of differential association processes and improves it with differential reinforcement and other principles of the behavior theory. They added classical conditioning (the sharpening of involuntary reflex behavior); discriminative stimuli (internal stimuli that lead to signals for behavior); schedules of reinforcement (rewards and punishment ratio following behavioral feedback); and other theories of behavior (Akers & Sellers, 2013).
In this essay, the author
- Explains that the results of the regression analyses exhibited solid support for social learning theory on alcohol and drug use.
- Concludes that social learning theory warrants consideration as a general theory for criminal deviance. future tests should focus on more hardcore drugs and include longitudinal studies.
- Describes the research design used to test their hypothesis of the social structure and social learning model (sssl) using lisrel data from the boys town study of adolescent substance use.
- Explains the results of the model estimation: (1) a positive relationship between age and substance abuse (marijuana and alcohol); (2) gender, family, and community size were significantly weak relationships; (3) substance use to socioeconomic status was only shown in marijuana.
- Explains that social learning theory is an expanded theory of differential association processes and improves it with differential reinforcement and other principles of behavior theory.
- Explains that social learning theory has been incorporated into modern behaviorism on criminology. the dependent variables were abstinence in the use of alcohol and marijuana.
- Explains the research method used for this study. the questionnaire was distributed as a self-report questionnaire to 3,065 male and female adolescents attending grades 7 through 12 in three midwestern states.
- Explains lee, akers, and borg's thesis that social structural factors and effects on criminal behavior are moderated by variables in social learning theory.
- Explains that social learning variables include gender, class, age, family structure, and community size, as well as adolescent alcohol and marijuana behavior.
- Concludes that the study supports theoretical expectations, but cautions and limitations warrant future research to test the theory more fully.
- Introduces akers, r. l., krohn, m. d, lanza-kaduce, l, and radosevich. social learning and structural factors in adolescent substance use.
1734 wordsRead More - Behaviorismanalytical essayThere are many intriguing branches of psychology, but behaviorism captured many aspiring psychologists and young minds in the 1920s and 1930, and has been the dominant orientation since the mid 30s. Behaviorism was the radical revision of the method of psychological research. Consciousness was not accepted at the time and behaviorism called for the ban of introspection. Behaviorism is a branch of psychology that started with John B. Watson’s “Psychology as the Behaviorist Views it.” Even though considered innate, researching this topic will show behavior is learned more by environmental factors through modeling and observing. The founder, Watson, created classical conditioning, and later B.F. Skinner contributed with operant conditioning. Watson’s evidence was his most famous experiment, the “Little Albert Experiment.”
In this essay, the author
- Explains that behaviorism was the radical revision of the method of psychological research. it started with john b. watson's "psychology as the behaviorist views it."
- Analyzes how john b. watson wrote "psychology as the behaviorist views it" in 1913 for a meeting at the new york branch of the american psychology association.
- Explains that classical conditioning was another division of behaviorism development by watson. behaviorists place neutral signals before a naturally occurring reflex. pavlov did this with many of his dogs.
- Explains that an experiment like pavlov's involves many factors, including an unconditioned response, a neutral stimulus, and the conditioned stimulus.
- Explains that operant conditioning was developed by b.f. skinner in 1937 and deals with modification of voluntary behavior.
- Describes john watson and rosaline raynor's "little albert experiment," which displayed classical conditioning. little albert was exposed to a rat, rabbit, monkey, masks, and burning newspapers.
- Analyzes how the "little albert experiment" shows how conditioning can lead to lasting phobias and even help treat them. teachers also use conditioning to treat anxiety in the classroom.
- Concludes that you do not need to use introspection when studying behaviors. both operant conditioning and classical conditioning are a part of many organisms' everyday life, even if they don't realize or acknowledge it.
- Cites wikipedia's "behaviorism." kendra cherry, "behavioral psychology basics." about.com psychology, 2013. robert h. wozniak.
- Explains that "behaviourism." encyclopdia britannica online academic edition.
943 wordsRead More - Domestic Violence Theory Essaycomparative essayThe social learning theory states, that an individual learn behavior through observing their environment as a child. “Without the process of reasoning observational learning cannot happen. Children witness the people around them behaving and acting in numerous ways. People that are being observed are best known as the “model”. In todays’ society children are surrounded by countless influential models, such as their mother and father within the family, characters on television, friends that they associate with and teachers at school. These people provide behavior examples that children watch closely and later imitate. Ki...
In this essay, the author
- Explains the social learning theory, biological theory and individual psychopathology theories for domestic violence.
- Explains that the social learning theory states that an individual learn behavior through observing their environment as a child.
- Explains that biological theories of anger and violence concentrate on the genetic, inborn or organic backgrounds of behavior. damage to the skull of a male can or could make them overly aggressive to family members.
- Explains that the individual psychopathology theory relates to domestic violence because the family is the framework of a child's behavior, emotions and morals.
- Concludes that domestic violence is the act of an individual using physical or emotional abuse in order to control another person.
814 wordsRead More - Behaviorism Essayexplanatory essayBehaviorism is defined as a school of psychology that takes the objective evidence of behavior (as measured responses to stimuli) as the only concern of its research and the only basis of its theory without reference to conscious experience (Merriam-Webster). B.F skinner, Ivan Pavlov and John B. Watson are known as the fathers’ of behaviorism. They all had a different prospective on what makes someone learn, the one thing they had in common is reinforcement methods. Their experiments did have enough true findings to spark others to want to explore how behaviorism affects learning. Behaviorists often look at learning as a characteristic of conditioning and will promote a system of prizes and targets in education.
In this essay, the author
- Defines behaviorism as a school of psychology that takes objective evidence of behavior as the only concern of its research. b.f. skinner, ivan pavlov, and john b watson are the fathers’
- Explains skinner's concept of operant conditioning, wherein behavior that is reinforced tends to be repeated and the ones not reinforced fade away. teachers now focus on positive reinforcement rather than punishment.
- Explains pavlov's famous experiment with the dogs that proved the theory of classical conditioning works as well.
- Explains that behaviorism is directly related to learning as many different theories which in one way or the other true. the pavlov theory would be true if the human mind was not made with such complexity.
- Explains that john b. watson's experiments focused on external behavior rather than mental status or internal factors. he believed that even with environmental or social factors, behaviors can still be molded.
- Explains that constructivism believes that a learner's ability to learn relies on what he already knows and understands, and that the gaining of knowledge should be an individually designed process.
658 wordsRead More - Behaviorism: John B. Skinner's Approach To Psychologyexplanatory essayBehaviorism is an approach to psychology based on the proposition that behavior can be researched scientifically without recourse to inner mental states. It is a form of materialism, denying any independent significance for mind. Its significance for psychological treatment has been profound, making it one of the pillars of pharmacological therapy. One of the assumptions of behaviorist thought is that free will is illusory, and that all behavior is determined by the environment either through association or reinforcement.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that behaviorist techniques have long been employed in education to promote behavior that is desirable and discourage that which is not.
- Explains that negative reinforcement increases the probability of a response that removes or prevents an adverse condition.
- Explains that psychologist b f skinner was interested in learning and behavior. he believes that people learn to avoid negative things and strive for positive things.
- Explains that behaviorism is a form of materialism, denying any independent significance for mind. it runs concurrently with the psychoanalysis movement in psychology in the 20th century.
- Explains that simple contracts can be effective in helping children focus on behavior change. teachers and parents work together to ensure that the contract is being fulfilled.
- Explains that punishment is effective in quickly eliminating undesirable behaviors. failure to do homework results in after-school detention.
- Explains skinner's view that classical conditioning was too simplistic to explain complex human behaviour.
- Explains that punishment is the opposite of reinforcement since it is designed to weaken or eliminate a response rather than increase it.
1800 wordsRead More - Behaviorism Essayopinion essayAccording to the video entitled Behaviorism: A general overview of behaviorist learning theory, this approach to learning rejects the emphasis on the conscious and unconscious mind and focuses on the observable behavior of the subject. The principle of the behaviorism theory is that there is a direct association between a stimulus and the response an individual makes, the change in an individual’s behavior indicates that learning has occurred, and that individuals are not born with disposition to act in particular ways (Ormrod, 2012). In classrooms where the behavioral technique is used, there are often behavior modification and token reward systems in place (Campana, 2011).
In this essay, the author
- Explains that behaviorism rejects the emphasis on the conscious and unconscious mind and focuses on observable behavior of the subject.
- Explains the advantages of using behaviorist techniques in the classroom, including breaking down tasks into smaller and easier steps, modeling by the instructor, repetition and review, and structured/systematic planning.
- Explains that breaking down tasks into smaller, easier steps can be an effective way to teach a classroom of students with different skills and needs.
- Explains that modeling is another example of direct learning. it starts in the earliest stages of life.
- Explains that repetition is a common system of learning inside and outside of the classroom. flashcards are used for remembering sight words and math problems.
- Explains that learning information primarily through repetition is sometimes called rote learning. there's little or no attempt to make the information meaningful or to understand it interms of things one already knows.
- Opines that any learning theory or practice should be applied with this notion of achieving a sensible balance of use, especially when applied to classroom learning.
- Concludes that implementing only one theory of learning can be limiting to the success of students in a classroom setting. they suggest drawing from two or more theoretical perspectives to better capture the complex nature of human thinking and learning.
833 wordsRead More - Buddy Boys: Social Learning Theoryanalytical essaySocial Learning Theory was an applied in the book Buddy Boys a few different ways. This theory shows the significance of observing and modeling the effects of others. There are three basic concepts, which are observational learning, modeling, and imitation. Observational learning is a type of learning that occurs as a function of observing, retaining and replicating behavior executed by others.
In this essay, the author
- Explains social learning theory, which shows the significance of observing and modeling the effects of others. there are three basic concepts, observational learning, modeling, and imitation.
- Analyzes how henry was trying to understand why the poor man in the ghetto killed someone over ten dollars. henry saw it as a mean to survive and that's the only way he knew how.
- Explains that social learning theory says that you can learn by observing other people. observational learning shows that when young children watch what people do around them, they begin to imitate what they have observed.
- Explains that social learning involves attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation. reward and punishment come in to play.
- Analyzes how the social learning theory states people may become a product of their environment social and nonsocial alike. in buddy boys, the 77th precinct was poverty-stricken with people doing whatever they had to do in order to survive.
- Explains that imitation model is also a product of behavior of those around us because all individuals have someone that they look up to and admire.
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