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EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING (MPCL 007)
PRACTICAL REPORT
1: ACTIVITY
TITLE: Social Learning Theory and Social Cognitive Theory
AIM: To understand patterns of human behaviour with the help of Bobo Doll experiment by Albert Bandura.
INTRODUCTION:
What is learning?
Learning is a key process in human behaviour. It plays an important role in almost every activity we perform in our daily life. Learning may be defined as the “semi permanent or relatively permanent change in behaviour brought out by the knowledge or experience gained”. Some characteristics of learning can be derived from the definition given above. First, the term does not apply to temporary changes in behaviour such as those resulting from fatigue, drugs or illness. Second, it does not refer to changes resulting from maturation. Third, learning can result from Vicarious as well as from direct experiences. In other words, one can learn by observing events and behaviour in our environment as well as by practicing in them.
Forms Of Learning
Learning takes place in many ways. Few of the basic forms of learning are given below.
Classical conditioning: It is a form of learning in which two stimulus events are associated with each other in such a way that the occurrence of one event reliably predicts the occurrence of the other. Ivan P Pavlov, a Nobel Prize winning physiologist from Russia identified this form as an important behavioural process. Pavlov conducted his studies on physiology of digestion on dogs.
Operant conditioning: This type of conditioning was investigated by B F Skinner. Skinner studied occurrence of voluntary responses when an organism operates in the environment. He called these responses as operants. Operants are those behaviours or responses, which are let out by animals and human beings voluntarily and are under their control. In situations involving operant conditioning, the probability that a given behaviour would occur changes, depending upon the consequences that follow it. Skinner conducted his studies on rats and pigeons.
Observational learning: Acquiring new skills by observing the behaviour of the others is a common part of everyday life. This form of learning takes place by observing others. In this kind of learning, human beings learn social behaviour. Therefore, it is sometimes
called as social learning. In many situations we do not know how to behave. We observe others and try to copy their behaviour. Albert Bandura is the most eminent psychologist who investigated observational learning in detail.
His experimental studies in Social Learning Theory (SLT) and Social Cognitive Learning Theory (SCLT) have influenced many areas of inquiry like education, health sciences, social policy and psychotherapy etc.
Social Learning Theory: This theory is based on the idea that we learn from our interactions with other species present in the environment. By observing the behaviors of others, people develop similar behaviors. After observing the behavior of others, people absorb and imitate that behavior, especially if their observational experiences are positive ones or include rewards related to the observed behaviour.
Social learning theory has become the most influential theory of learning and development. It is a base of the many concepts of traditional learning theory. This theory has often been called a bridge between behaviorist learning theories and cognitive learning theories because it covers attention, memory, and motivation also.
Social Cognitive Learning Theory (SCLT): Albert Bandura has expanded his social learning theory by saying that, human beings are not passive learners. He said that we are not only the producers but we are the products of this social system. We can be active agents who can manipulate, can decide what experience (learning’s) we want to have or don’t want to have.
So, SCLT is a learning theory which has come out on the ideas that people learn by watching what others do, and also by that human thought processes are central to understanding personality. SCLT places a heavy focus on cognitive concepts. It is also focused on how children and adults operate cognitively on their social experiences and how these cognitions then influence behaviour and development.
DESCRIPTION OF THE EXPERIMENT: The description of the experiment is as given below.
Bobo Doll Experiment This is one of the most famous experiments which provided evidence for the existence of observational learning. These experiments have been conducted by Albert Bandura and his colleagues in 1963. In this, one group of nursery school children saw an adult engage in aggressive actions against a inflated bobo doll. This adult was serving as a model. That adult knocked down the doll, sat on it, insulted it verbally and repeatedly punched it on the face. Another group of children were exposed to a model who behaved in a quiet, non aggressive manner. Later, both groups of children were sent to the room with many toys in that room including a large inflated bubo doll. Their activities were observed carefully. It was noticed that, those children who had seen the aggressive adult model copied his behaviour. They too have punched the toy, sat on it, gave verbal comments. Similar
learning theory, the cognitive factors are only acknowledged to play a role in the acquisition of new behavior but not much or none at all in its production. Role of reinforcement In the social cognitive theory, reinforcement or environmental factors has an equal role with cognitive factors in the learning and production of behavior. In social learning theory, consequences and reinforcement play a major role in the acquisition and production of behavior. Scope Social cognitive theory has a broader theoretical scope as it includes a conceptualization of humans as agents capable of shaping their environment and of self-regulation. Social learning theory on the other hand is limited to tackling the learning process in the social context.
Applications Of Social Learning Theory
Two areas of application of social learning theory in social work include research and intervention. Researchers can use the theory to understand how aggressiveness and violence can be transferred through observational learning External link. The theory can further be used to investigate how positive role models can foster desirable behaviors and promote social change.
As an intervention tool, a social worker can implement social learning theory to influence positive new behaviors by altering the reinforcement External link, whether positive or negative, associated with the source of the issue. It is important to note that to effectively apply social learning theory principles as an intervention, it is essential a social worker includes the use of other methods of work such as symbolic coding, stress management and vicarious reinforcement.
Applications Of Social Cognitive Learning Theory
Media contents studies
Social cognitive theory is often applied as a theoretical framework of studies pertained to media representation regarding race, gender, age and beyond.
Media effects studies
Social cognitive theory is employed in studies examining attitude or behaviour changes triggered by the mass media. As Bandura suggested, people can learn how to perform behaviours through media modeling. SCLT has been widely applied in media studies pertained to sports, health, and education and beyond.
Public health Social cognitive theory can be helpful in identifying motivating factors that lead to increased physical activity across age and gender. SCT can be applied to public health campaigns in an attempt to foster a healthier public through exercise.
CONCLUSION:
Violence is contagious as it meets the definition of a contagious disease which spreads from one person to another. By taking results from bobo doll experiment into the consideration, I feel that Violence is contagious. In human beings most of the learning takes place by observing others. It is widely accepted that, there is a fair amount of influence on the development of individual by learned behaviour which results from the interaction with the environment in which one grows up. I personally seen the cases, where kids are exposed to the violent actions at their home or surrounding, they behave in the same way in their kids surrounding. So, in this way this circle of learned behaviour grows bigger and bigger with the time. Violence being contagious in nature have killed hundreds of millions people throughout the history as did by the many other infectious disease.
As human kind always won over the various infectious diseases in the history, we can always interrupt the spread of violence also by adopting some short term as well as some long term strategies.
Together, these two main factors in the figure above compose Spearman’s two-factor theory.
Thurstone’s theory of Intelligence:
L.L. Thurstone gave theory of intelligence (also known as Theory of Primary Mental Abilities) and challenged the concept of a g-factor. Thurstone found that intelligent behavior does not arise from a general factor, but rather emerges from seven independent factors that he called primary abilities : word fluency, verbal comprehension, spatial visualization, number facility, associative memory, reasoning, and perceptual speed. Although Thurstone did not reject Spearman’s idea of general intelligence altogether, he instead theorized that intelligence consists of both general ability and a number of specific abilities, paving the way for future research that examined the different forms of intelligence.
Cattell’s theory of Fluid & Crystallized intelligence:
In order to determine whether intelligence consists of one or several other components, psychologists in past decades made use of statistical technique known as factor analysis; Spearman, for instance. Somewhat different conclusions were reached by Cattell (1963), who concluded that two major clusters of mental abilities exist: what he termed as “ Fluid and Crystallized intelligence”. Fluid intelligence refers to our largely inherited abilities to think and reason – in a sense, the hardware of our brains that determines limits of our information processing capabilities. In contrast, Crystallized intelligence refers to accumulated knowledge – information we store over a lifetime of experience, plus the application of the skills and knowledge to solving specific problems. Then, Crystallized intelligence is the outcome of experience acting on our fluid intelligence.
Fluid intelligence seems to decrease slowly with age, but Crystallized intelligence stays level or even increases. This is why older, more experienced individuals can sometimes outperform younger ones on cognitive tasks ranging from scientific research to chess.
Gardener theory of multiple intelligence:
Following the work of Thurstone, American psychologist Howard Gardner built off the idea that there are multiple forms of intelligence. He proposed that there is no single intelligence, but rather distinct, independent multiple intelligences exist, each representing unique skills and talents relevant to a certain category. Gardner (1983,
- initially proposed seven multiple intelligences: linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal, and he has since added naturalist intelligence.
Gardner holds that most activities (such as dancing) will involve a combination of these multiple intelligences (such as spatial and bodily-kinesthetic intelligences). He also suggests that these multiple intelligences can help us understand concepts beyond intelligence, such as creativity and leadership.
And although this theory has widely captured the attention of the psychology community and greater public, it does have its faults. There have been few empirical studies that actually test this theory, and this theory does not account for other types of intelligence beyond the ones Gardner lists.
Sternberg Triarchic theory:
Just two years later, in 1985, Robert Sternberg proposed a three-category theory of intelligence, integrating components that were lacking in Gardner’s theory. This theory is based on the definition of intelligence as the ability to achieve success based on your personal standards and your socio-cultural context.
According to the triarchic theory, intelligence has three aspects: analytical, creative, and practical.
3: ACTIVITY
TITLE: Interview of an older adult
AIM: To understand the process of ageing by thematically analyzing the interview responses.
INTRODUCTION:
Ageing is a natural process. Everyone undergo this phase of life at his or her own time and pace. Ageing reflects all the changes taking place over the course of life. Middle age is the time when people notice the age-related changes like graying of hair, wrinkled skin and a fair amount of physical decline. Even the healthiest person cannot escape these changes.
DESCRIPTION: This is an activity based on an open ended interview with an old age person. The objective of the interview is to understand the ageing process. The interview was designed as semi structured in nature. The transcript of the interview for reference is attached as an Annexure to the report. The interview is totally dependent on whatever the person has told verbally and I had accepted that as true.
MATERIALS REQUIRED: Questionnaire, voice recorder, notebook, and pen/pencil.
PARTICIPANTS PROFILE: Detailed information about the participant is as given below. (a) Name: Lal bahadur singh (b) Age: 66 years (c) Gender: Male (d) Educational qualification: 10+ (e) Occupation: Retired from BSNL
PROCEDURE AND ADMINISTRATION: The procedure and administration before the interview followed is as given below. (The transcript of the interview is attached as Annexure at the end of the interview).
(a) PREPARATION: A proper sitting arrangement as per the participant comfort has been made. Before conducting the interview, a well informed consent has been taken from the subject.
(b) RAPPORT: In order to make subject comfortable before the interview, a friendly atmosphere needs to be established from the beginning of the interview session. Before the interview, a general talk carried out.
(c) INSTRUCTIONS: It is required to convince the participant that, whatever he is telling us is important for us and our interview. Interview should be in depth and
semi structured. The main focus should be on the answers they are giving. It is made clear to the subject that the interview is only for a practical purpose and all the contents of the interview would be kept confidential.
(d) PRECAUTIONS: There must be healthy rapport created with the participant before the interview to ensure that the subject is comfortable. There should be no interruption between the replies given by the subject.
DISCUSSION: The subject was comfortable during the interview. A semi structured interview carried out to understand the process of ageing. Based on the replies, it is understood that the subject was totally aware about the ageing process and well prepared for it. He was a single child to his parents. He belongs to a healthy family background and subject also felt proud being following that healthy schedule. He always kept his fitness regime above all. On asking upon the view on retirement, his answer shows that he had accepted and confident to go through the ageing process. His replies show that he understood that the ageing process is normal and every human being has to go through it. There were no major psychological changes observed in the subject as he was very active in his life and continued to make fine adjustments in his schedule to match the lifestyle according to increasing age. He told that earlier he used to run but now he used to do cycling to keep himself fit. This shows that he promoted his wellness. Till now he does not have any specific stereotypes neither he have internalize any stereotype about old age.
CONCLUSION: It is concluded from the responses given by the subject during interview that ageing is a normal process if you are aware and accepted it. One can live his/her old age life in a better way by keeping calm and accepting the obvious changes happens with the increasing age.
Annexure
Interview Transcript
Ques: Tell me your full name and when and where you were born. Reply: My name is xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Basically my ancestors were from Rajasthan but during the British movement they moved to Uttar Pradesh. So my birth place is district Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh.
Ques: Do you know why you were given that name? Reply: Yes (smiling), I was named on the name of the then famous leader Late Mr Lal bahadur shastri.
Ques: Tell me about your parents and siblings and some educational background. Reply: As I told my ancestors were basically from Rajasthan. I belong to a rajput family and my father was employed as a fitness coach at the royal family big house at
Reply: I start my day with the meditation followed by a quick aerobics for minimum 30 mins. I go for cycle expedition for Appx 30 km round the trip once a week.
Ques: Do you feel something lacking in life after retirement? Reply: I always believed in that ‘‘no one will ever get perfect’’ from the days of my earlier life. So is now. I always concentrate and focus on the things I got in my control. I never discuss or act on the situations which are out of my influence.
Ques: What are the most rewarding things about getting older? Reply: I still remember my days of childhood, where I always wondered that I just
want to grow up, so that i can do what i want. When I was working, there were times
when I imagined about the day I would finally retire. If i sit down and observe about the
very stage of life I am in, It feels good. The most rewarding thing I feel is like I’ve
become less emotional and more thoughtful about my decisions as compare to my
earlier life.
Thank you sir, for taking out time for this interview.
Reply: “Your welcome and good luck”.
Interview ends.
4: TEST
TITLE: Locus of Control
OBJECTIVE: To measure the locus of control of the subject, that is, to operationally measure the tendency of the subject to believe that, control resides internally within the subject or to believe that, control resides externally with others or with situations.
INTRODUCTION: Locus of control is a psychological concept that refers to, how strongly people believe that, they have control over the situations and experiences that affect their lives. Julian B Rotter defined locus of control as a ‘personality trait referring to a person’s stable beliefs about personal efficacy’. It is described as a degree to which individuals perceive that outcomes result from their own behaviors, or from forces that are external to themselves. There are two types of locus of control.
Internal locus of control: Internal locus of control is the belief that individual are “in charge of the events that occur in their life”. Individuals with an internal locus of control believe their behaviors are guided by their personal decisions and efforts and they have control over those things they can change.
External locus of control: External locus of control is the belief that “chance, fate, or outside forces determine life events that occur in an individual’s life”. People with an external locus of control see their behaviors and lives as being controlled by luck or fate. These individuals view themselves victims of life and bad luck. (Theories/studies)
For example, In education, locus of control typically refers to how students perceive the causes of their academic success or failure in school. Students with an internal locus of control might blame poor grades on their failure to study, whereas students with an external locus of control may blame an unfair teacher or test for their poor performance.
DESCRIPTION: This test is devised by Julian Rotter in 1966 to assess the extent to which an individual possesses internal or external reinforcement beliefs. The test used here is based on Rotter’s original idea and developed by Tarry Pettijohn. The basic purpose of this test is to give a general idea of where one individual stand on the locus of control in personality dimension. There are twenty items (20) in the form of true or false statements in the test. There is no specific time limit to complete as the test itself doesn’t require much time to complete. There will be 5 marks for each item as per the answer sheet. Reliability and validity of test is not known.
MATERIALS REQUIRED: Test booklet, Answer sheet, pencil, and eraser.
PARTICIPANTS PROFILE: Detailed information about the participant is as given below. (a) Name: xxxxxxxxxx
no
- 0-15 Very strong external locus of control.
- 20-35 External locus of control.
- 40-60 Both external and internal locus of control.
- 65-80 Internal locus of control.
- 85-100 Very strong internal locus of control.
DISCUSSION: Based on the responses given by participant in the test, score of the subject is 85. This score shows that subject has very strong internal locus of control. That means that, subject tends to believe that her behavior is guided by her personal decisions and efforts and she have control over those things she can change.
CONCLUSION: Subject has Very strong internal locus of control.
Annexure I Locus of control (Test carried out on Participant)
intentions and motivations of others: suspicious versus Trusting. 10 .
Abstractednes s
The amount of attention that someone pays to abstract rather than concrete observations: imaginative versus Practical.
- Privateness The extent to which someone wishes to keep personal information to themselves: discreet versus openness. 12 .
Apprehension A person’s tendency to self-criticism: self-critical versus self- assured. 13 .
Openness to change
The extent to which a person enjoys new situations and experiences: Flexible versus connected to the familiar. 14 .
Self Reliance The extent to which a person trusts in his own judgements and capacities and opts to work solo: self-reliant versus Dependant. 15 .
Perfectionism The need someone feels to trust in structure rather than leaving things to chance: controlled versus undisciplined. 16 .
Tension The extent to which a person may be frustrated by different situations: impatient versus relaxed.
Description: The test was first published in 1949 and thereafter revised by 5 times. Fifth edition of 16 P.F was released in 1993. This test uses a public domain scales from the Inter-nation Personality Item Pool (IPIP) to measure the same traits. This personality test consists of 164 multiple choice statements. The participant has to select one option. There is no right or wrong answer to the statements. Reliability and validity of the test in not known.
Materials Required: A computer with internet connection.
Participants profile: Detailed information about the participant is as given below. (a) Name: Rashmi Singh (b) Age: 29 years (c) Gender: Female (d) Educational qualification: Master in Arts (e) Occupation: House Wife
Procedure and Administration: This personality test consists of 164 statements about any individual, each required to indicate how accurate it is on the scale of (1) disagree (2) slightly disagree (3) neither agree nor disagree (4) slightly agree (5) agree. It will take most people around ten minutes to complete the test on computer. All the ethical guidelines about the test were followed in letter and spirit. The detailed procedure and administration during the test followed is as given below. (Test carried out on participant is attached as Annexure II at the end of the Test in total five pages).
(a) Preparation: A proper sitting arrangement as per the participant comfort has been made. At the very beginning of the test, a well informed consent has
been taken from the participant. After that, a brief about the test has been given. All doubts regarding the test has been cleared and a perfect environment for the test has been created.
(b) Rapport: In order to maximize the reliability and validity of test results, a friendly atmosphere needs to be established from the beginning of the testing session. Before the test, a general talk carried out on the personality subject. All doubts regarding the test has been cleared and all the general questions have been answered to make the subject comfortable.
(c) Instructions: For each statement, choose the option you believe to be the most accurate. There is no right or wrong answers. Try to give the very first response you get in your mind after reading the sentence. It is required to answers all the items to complete the test. Feel free to ask any doubts during the test.
(d) Precautions: All instructions must be precise and clear to the participant. There must be healthy rapport created with the participant before the test to ensure that the subject is comfortable. While scoring, utmost care needs to be taken. It should be ensured that the results of the test are kept confidential.
Introspective Report: In starting the subject felt that it was a boring task to answer 164 statements. After sometime when she proceeded she felt well and looked anxious in answering the statements. After completion she was very eager to know scores and tests final interpretation.
Scoring and Interpretation: After the completion of the test, it is required to press the submit button. After this on next page it asks the age, gender, accuracy of the answers given by the participant to match its statistical calculations.
(Interpretation of test is attached as Annexure III in total two pages)
Discussion: Based on the responses given by participant in the test, interpretation of the responses calculated on the basis of statistical calculations.
Conclusion: Subject has the personality traits as Attached in Annexure III.
