PSYCH 2B03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Kenneth Spence, Determinism, Clark L. Hull
28 May 2018
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Cognitive Social Learning Theory – Bandura & Mischel
Lecture 6
History of Behaviourism
• Psychological was a branch off philosophy, like all sciences
• Radical behaviourism – by John B. Watson
o Believed ideas of consciousness should be dropped. Internal mental states do not
exist; we should focus on observable, external behaviours
o These are things that others can see or behaviours that others can repeat
o Introspection shouldn’t be used anymore b/c we can never know anything about
mental content
o He believed thoughts were subvocal speech (speech that doesn’t make sounds)
• Instrumental learning – by E.L. Thorndike
o Frequency of behaviour is controlled by the consequences
o Positive consequences → more frequent behaviours
• General learning theory – by Clark Hull and Kenneth Spence
o A grand theory that encompassed the learning theory. Developed grand formulas
to explain all behaviours (ignores the mind) and believed learning mechanisms
could be represented by formulas
• Positive reinforcement schedules – by B.F. Skinner
o Theories aren’t important. The relationship b/w stimuli and response is important
o Frequency of behaviour is related to reinforcement of the behaviour through
positive reinforcement schedules
History of Cognitivism
• Digital computer – by Alan Turing
o Computers were used as a metaphor for the mind
• Selective attention – by Donald Broadbent
o People are able to pay attention to some things but not others (cocktail party
effect) the mind is able to filter out contents
o Created the multistore model of memory (short-term, long-term, everything that
connects it)
Mischel’s Critique of Traits
• Wrote the book “Personality and Assessments” (1968)
• Critical of the trait approach b/c he didn’t believe consistent traits were the reason for
consistent behaviours since this ignores the role of the environment and the situation
o Behaviours would be the same for all situations but this is only true 30% of the
time
• Correlation b/w traits and behaviours is low
Reciprocal Determinism
• Theory by Bandura & Mischel. There is a complex interaction between the person and
the situation. These 2 factors change each other and result in continuous changes in
behaviour
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