Attitude Theories Term Paper

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cognitive psychology, learning theories are significant in both their variety and the different ways in which researchers approach "knowing." Within the sphere of cognitive psychology the cognitive learning theory is among the most popular areas of study. The cognitive learning theory suggests that learning is a behavioral change based on the acquisition of information about the environment. Bandura (1986) suggested that what individuals think and feel about themselves necessarily impacts subsequent individual behaviors. As a theory of learning, social cognitive theory is based on the notion that individual's learn by watching others perform and that the internal thought processes people have are critical for a proper understanding of the individual (Santrock, 2008).

The two theories I choose to research for this assignment are Albert Bandura's observational learning theory and B.F. Skinner's theory of operant conditioning. While both theories involve theories of learning, the differences between the two theories are significant. While Skinner's traditional behaviorist theory does not consider internal, cognitive processes, Skinner and other behaviorists conceived personality as completely caused and influenced by learned associations and, therefore, consider it a continuous, lifelong journey.

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Radical behaviorism seeks to understand behavior as a function of environmental histories of reinforcing consequences. Reinforcement processes were emphasized by Skinner, and were seen as primary in the shaping of behavior. A common misconception is that negative reinforcement is synonymous with punishment. This misconception is rather pervasive, and is commonly found in even scholarly accounts of Skinner and his contributions. To be clear, while positive reinforcement is the strengthening of behavior by the application of some event (e.g., praise after some behavior is performed), negative reinforcement is the strengthening of behavior by the removal or avoidance of some aversive event (e.g., opening and raising an umbrella over your head on a rainy day is reinforced by the cessation of rain falling on you).

Both types of reinforcement strengthen behavior, or increase the probability of a behavior reoccurring; the difference is in whether the reinforcing event is something applied (positive reinforcement) or something removed or avoided (negative reinforcement). Punishment and extinction have….....

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