The limitations of person centered theory are also noteworthy;
1. The approach may be too simplistic, optimistic, leisurely and unfocused for client in crisis or who need more structure and direction (Seligman 2006).
2. The approach depends on bright, insightful, hard working clients for best results. It has limited applicability and is seldom employed with the severely disabled or young children (Thompson & Henderson 2007).
3. The approach ignores diagnosis, the unconscious, developmental theories and innately generated sexual and aggressive drives. Many critics think it is overly optimistic.
4. The approach deals only with surface issues and does not challenges the client to explore deeper areas. Because person centered counseling is short term, it may not make a permanent impact on the person.
5. The approach is more attitudinal than a technique based. It is void of specific techniques to bring about client change (Moon 2007).
Showing posts with label personality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label personality. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Strengths and Contributions of Person centered counseling
Person centered counseling’s unique aspects include the following;
1. The approach revolutionized the counseling profession by linking counseling with psychotherapy and demystifying it by making audiotapes of actual sessions and publishing actual transcripts of counseling sessions (Goodyear 1987).
2. The person centered approach to counseling is applicable to a wide range of human problems, including institutional changes, labor-management relationships, leadership development, career decision making and international diplomacy. For instance, Cornelius-White 2005 has found the person centered approach can be effective in promoting multicultural counseling. Likewise Lemoire and Chen 2005, have argued that the person centered approach seems to have the potential to create the necessary conditions that counteract stigmatization, allowing adolescents who are associated with a stigmatized sexual minority group to cope with their sexual identity in a manner that is more constructive for them.
3. The approach has generated extensive research (Tursi &Cochran 2006). It initially set the standard for doing research on counseling variables, especially those that Rogers 1957 deemed necessary and sufficient to being about therapeutic change.
4. The approach is effective in a number of settings, person centered counseling helps improve psychological adjustment, learning and frustration tolerance and decrease defensiveness. It is appropriate in treating mild to moderate anxiety states, adjustment disorders, and conditions not attributable to mental disorders, such as uncomplicated bereavement or interpersonal relations (Seligman 1997)
5. The person centered approach may be especially helpful in working with clients who have experienced tragedies since it allows them to struggle though emotion and actually become less affected in time by fully realizing feelings related to tragedies (Tursi & Cochran 2006).
6. The approach focuses on the open and accepting relationship established by counselors and clients and the short term nature of the helping process.
7. The basics of the approach take a relatively short time to learn. With its emphasis on mastering listening skills, person centered counseling is foundation for training many paraprofessional helpers. Furthermore it is the basis for several new and emerging approaches to treatment and it is frequently combined with other theoretical orientations to counseling such as cognitive and behavioral (Prochaska & Norcross 2007.
8. The approach has positive view of human nature and continues to evolve.
1. The approach revolutionized the counseling profession by linking counseling with psychotherapy and demystifying it by making audiotapes of actual sessions and publishing actual transcripts of counseling sessions (Goodyear 1987).
2. The person centered approach to counseling is applicable to a wide range of human problems, including institutional changes, labor-management relationships, leadership development, career decision making and international diplomacy. For instance, Cornelius-White 2005 has found the person centered approach can be effective in promoting multicultural counseling. Likewise Lemoire and Chen 2005, have argued that the person centered approach seems to have the potential to create the necessary conditions that counteract stigmatization, allowing adolescents who are associated with a stigmatized sexual minority group to cope with their sexual identity in a manner that is more constructive for them.
3. The approach has generated extensive research (Tursi &Cochran 2006). It initially set the standard for doing research on counseling variables, especially those that Rogers 1957 deemed necessary and sufficient to being about therapeutic change.
4. The approach is effective in a number of settings, person centered counseling helps improve psychological adjustment, learning and frustration tolerance and decrease defensiveness. It is appropriate in treating mild to moderate anxiety states, adjustment disorders, and conditions not attributable to mental disorders, such as uncomplicated bereavement or interpersonal relations (Seligman 1997)
5. The person centered approach may be especially helpful in working with clients who have experienced tragedies since it allows them to struggle though emotion and actually become less affected in time by fully realizing feelings related to tragedies (Tursi & Cochran 2006).
6. The approach focuses on the open and accepting relationship established by counselors and clients and the short term nature of the helping process.
7. The basics of the approach take a relatively short time to learn. With its emphasis on mastering listening skills, person centered counseling is foundation for training many paraprofessional helpers. Furthermore it is the basis for several new and emerging approaches to treatment and it is frequently combined with other theoretical orientations to counseling such as cognitive and behavioral (Prochaska & Norcross 2007.
8. The approach has positive view of human nature and continues to evolve.
Research in Allport’s Theory
Allport opposed the use of case studies and projective techniques with emotionally disturbed persons and opted for the study of emotionally healthy persons.
Allport favored the ideographic approach-the study of the individual case-as indicated by personal documents. However, Allport did apply the nomothetic method with his use of psychological tests like the Study of Values.
Allport conducted research on expressive behavior, which is described as behavior that expresses our personality traits (Allport & Vernon, 1933). With coping behavior, Allport identified a behavior orientation that has a specific purpose and is consciously planned and carried out. Expressive behavior is spontaneous, difficult to change, has no specific purpose, and is usually displayed without awareness (Keltner, 1997).
Considerable research and experimental work on expressive behavior has become popular today. This research has shown that personality can be assessed from audiotapes, films, and videotapes.
Reliable research has been done with expressive behaviors linked to specific traits. Studies have shown that observers can accurately assess personality factors such as anxiety from watching brief films of a person or form impressions of strangers by photographs.
In further research findings, Type A behavior patterns can be discerned from Type B behavior by their expressions of disgust, glaring, grimacing, and scowling (Heller & Haynal, 1997).
However, cultural differences have been found in the study of facial expressions and personality between Chinese infants who showed consistently less facial expression than American infants (Camras, 1998).
Allport favored the ideographic approach-the study of the individual case-as indicated by personal documents. However, Allport did apply the nomothetic method with his use of psychological tests like the Study of Values.
Allport conducted research on expressive behavior, which is described as behavior that expresses our personality traits (Allport & Vernon, 1933). With coping behavior, Allport identified a behavior orientation that has a specific purpose and is consciously planned and carried out. Expressive behavior is spontaneous, difficult to change, has no specific purpose, and is usually displayed without awareness (Keltner, 1997).
Considerable research and experimental work on expressive behavior has become popular today. This research has shown that personality can be assessed from audiotapes, films, and videotapes.
Reliable research has been done with expressive behaviors linked to specific traits. Studies have shown that observers can accurately assess personality factors such as anxiety from watching brief films of a person or form impressions of strangers by photographs.
In further research findings, Type A behavior patterns can be discerned from Type B behavior by their expressions of disgust, glaring, grimacing, and scowling (Heller & Haynal, 1997).
However, cultural differences have been found in the study of facial expressions and personality between Chinese infants who showed consistently less facial expression than American infants (Camras, 1998).
Assessment in Allport’s Theory
Allport wrote more about personality assessment techniques than most other theorists did. He listed eleven major methods for assessment and relied heavily on the personal-document technique and the Study of Values.
The Personal-Document Technique
The personal-document technique involves examining diaries, autobiographies, letters, literary compositions, and other samples of a person’s written or spoken records to determine the number and kinds of personality traits. Allport’s most famous case is an analysis of a collection of more than 300 letters written over a 12-year period by a middle-aged woman identified as Jenny (Allport, 1965, 1966). In the research with Jenny’s letters, 36 judges listed nearly 200 traits. Because many terms were synonymous,
Allport was able to reduce them to eight categories.
The Study of Values
Allport and two colleagues developed an objective self-report assessment test called the Study of Values (Allport, Vernon, & Lindzey, 1960). Allport believed that everyone possesses some degree of each type of value but one or two will be dominant in the personality. The categories of values are as follows.
1. Theoretical values are concerned with the discovery of truth and are characterized by an empirical, intellectual, and rational approach to life.
2. Economic values are concerned with the useful and practical.
3. Aesthetic values relate to artistic experiences and to form, harmony, and grace.
4. Social values reflect human relationships, altruism, and philanthropy.
5. Political values deal with personal power, influence, and prestige in all endeavors, not just in political activities.
6. Religious values are concerned with the mystical and with understanding the universe as a whole.
The Personal-Document Technique
The personal-document technique involves examining diaries, autobiographies, letters, literary compositions, and other samples of a person’s written or spoken records to determine the number and kinds of personality traits. Allport’s most famous case is an analysis of a collection of more than 300 letters written over a 12-year period by a middle-aged woman identified as Jenny (Allport, 1965, 1966). In the research with Jenny’s letters, 36 judges listed nearly 200 traits. Because many terms were synonymous,
Allport was able to reduce them to eight categories.
The Study of Values
Allport and two colleagues developed an objective self-report assessment test called the Study of Values (Allport, Vernon, & Lindzey, 1960). Allport believed that everyone possesses some degree of each type of value but one or two will be dominant in the personality. The categories of values are as follows.
1. Theoretical values are concerned with the discovery of truth and are characterized by an empirical, intellectual, and rational approach to life.
2. Economic values are concerned with the useful and practical.
3. Aesthetic values relate to artistic experiences and to form, harmony, and grace.
4. Social values reflect human relationships, altruism, and philanthropy.
5. Political values deal with personal power, influence, and prestige in all endeavors, not just in political activities.
6. Religious values are concerned with the mystical and with understanding the universe as a whole.
The Healthy Adult Personality
We change from a biologically dominated organism infancy to a mature psychological organism in adulthood. In adulthood, we are no longer dominated by childhood drives. Allport described six criteria for the normal, mature, emotionally healthy, adult personality:
1. The mature adult extends his or her sense of self to people and to activities beyond the self.
2. The mature adult relates warmly to other people, exhibiting intimacy, compassion, and tolerance.
3. The mature adult’s self-acceptance helps him or her achieve emotional security.
4. The mature adult holds a realistic perception of life, develops personal skills, and makes a commitment to some type of work.
5. The mature adult has a sense of humor and self-objectification (an understanding of or insight into the self).
6. The mature adult subscribes to a unifying philosophy of life, which is responsible for directing the personality toward future goals.
By meeting these six criteria, adults can be described as emotionally healthy and functionally autonomous, independent of childhood motives. As a result, they cope with the present and plan for the future without being victimized by the experiences of their early years.
1. The mature adult extends his or her sense of self to people and to activities beyond the self.
2. The mature adult relates warmly to other people, exhibiting intimacy, compassion, and tolerance.
3. The mature adult’s self-acceptance helps him or her achieve emotional security.
4. The mature adult holds a realistic perception of life, develops personal skills, and makes a commitment to some type of work.
5. The mature adult has a sense of humor and self-objectification (an understanding of or insight into the self).
6. The mature adult subscribes to a unifying philosophy of life, which is responsible for directing the personality toward future goals.
By meeting these six criteria, adults can be described as emotionally healthy and functionally autonomous, independent of childhood motives. As a result, they cope with the present and plan for the future without being victimized by the experiences of their early years.
Personality Development in Childhood: The Unique Self
Allport chose the term proprium for the self or ego. He rejected the words self and ego because of the diversity of meanings ascribed to them by other theorists.
Stages of Development
Allport proposed seven stages of the nature and development of the proprium from infancy through adolescence.
1. Bodily self; In this stage, infants become aware of their own existence and distinguish their own bodies from objects in the environment.
2. Self-identity; Children realize that their identity remains intact despite the many changes that are taking place.
3. Self-esteem; Children learn to take pride in their accomplishments.
4. Extension of self; In this stage, children come to recognize the objects and people that are part of their own world.
5. Self-image Children develop actual and idealized images of themselves and their behavior and become aware of satisfying parental expectations.
6. Self as a rational coper; Children begin to apply reason and logic to the solution of everyday problems.
7. Propriate striving; Young people begin to formulate long-range goals and plans.
The infant begins to emerge, without the proprium; with no awareness of self. Allport described infants as pleasure seeking, destructive, selfish, impatient, and dependent. They are simply driven by reflexes to reduce tension and maximize pleasure. During the first three stages from infancy to age four, Allport referred to as a “bodily me.”
Children gain self-identity when they learn their name and self-esteem develops when they discover that they can accomplish things on their own. The extension-of-self stage involves the growing awareness of objects and people in the environment and the identification of them as belonging to the child. The self-extension and self-image stage typically occur between the ages of 4 and 6. The self as rational stage occurs between ages 6 and 12 and the propriate striving stage follows, when adolescents begin to formulate plans and goals for the future.
Parent–Child Interactions
Parent-child interaction is vitally important throughout the stages of development of the proprium. As the proprium will not mature properly, the child becomes insecure, aggressive, demanding, jealous, and self-centered. Psychological growth is stunted. The result is a neurotic adult who functions at the level of childhood drives. Adult motives do not become functionally autonomous but remain tied to their original conditions. Traits and personal dispositions do not develop and the personality remains undifferentiated, as it was in infancy.
Stages of Development
Allport proposed seven stages of the nature and development of the proprium from infancy through adolescence.
1. Bodily self; In this stage, infants become aware of their own existence and distinguish their own bodies from objects in the environment.
2. Self-identity; Children realize that their identity remains intact despite the many changes that are taking place.
3. Self-esteem; Children learn to take pride in their accomplishments.
4. Extension of self; In this stage, children come to recognize the objects and people that are part of their own world.
5. Self-image Children develop actual and idealized images of themselves and their behavior and become aware of satisfying parental expectations.
6. Self as a rational coper; Children begin to apply reason and logic to the solution of everyday problems.
7. Propriate striving; Young people begin to formulate long-range goals and plans.
The infant begins to emerge, without the proprium; with no awareness of self. Allport described infants as pleasure seeking, destructive, selfish, impatient, and dependent. They are simply driven by reflexes to reduce tension and maximize pleasure. During the first three stages from infancy to age four, Allport referred to as a “bodily me.”
Children gain self-identity when they learn their name and self-esteem develops when they discover that they can accomplish things on their own. The extension-of-self stage involves the growing awareness of objects and people in the environment and the identification of them as belonging to the child. The self-extension and self-image stage typically occur between the ages of 4 and 6. The self as rational stage occurs between ages 6 and 12 and the propriate striving stage follows, when adolescents begin to formulate plans and goals for the future.
Parent–Child Interactions
Parent-child interaction is vitally important throughout the stages of development of the proprium. As the proprium will not mature properly, the child becomes insecure, aggressive, demanding, jealous, and self-centered. Psychological growth is stunted. The result is a neurotic adult who functions at the level of childhood drives. Adult motives do not become functionally autonomous but remain tied to their original conditions. Traits and personal dispositions do not develop and the personality remains undifferentiated, as it was in infancy.
Motivation: The Functional Autonomy of Motives
Allport believed that whatever happened in the past such as during toilet training, schooling, or some other childhood crisis; this no longer current and does not explain adult behavior unless it exists as a current motivating force.
Functional autonomy of motives
Allport’s concept of functional autonomy proposes that the motives of mature, emotionally healthy adults are not functionally connected to the prior experiences in which they initially appeared. Forces that motivated us early in life become autonomous, or independent, of their original circumstances. Allport proposed two levels of functional autonomy: preservative functional autonomy and propriety functional autonomy.
Preservative functional autonomy
Preservative functional autonomy is concerned with such behaviors as addictions and repetitive physical actions such as habitual ways of performing some everyday task. The behaviors continue or persevere on their own without any external reward. For example; When a rat that has been trained to run a maze for food is given more than enough food, it may still run the maze, but obviously for some purpose other than the food.
Propriety functional autonomy
Propriety functional autonomy is the level of functional autonomy that relates to our values, self-image, and lifestyle. Allport considered propriety functional autonomy more important than perseverative functional autonomy and is essential to the understanding of adult motivation. Out propriate functioning is an organizing process that maintains our sense of self. This determines how we perceive our world, what we remember from our experiences, and how our thoughts are directed. This is an organizing process that includes organizing, mastery and competence, and patterning which describes a striving for consistency and integration of the personality.
Functional autonomy of motives
Allport’s concept of functional autonomy proposes that the motives of mature, emotionally healthy adults are not functionally connected to the prior experiences in which they initially appeared. Forces that motivated us early in life become autonomous, or independent, of their original circumstances. Allport proposed two levels of functional autonomy: preservative functional autonomy and propriety functional autonomy.
Preservative functional autonomy
Preservative functional autonomy is concerned with such behaviors as addictions and repetitive physical actions such as habitual ways of performing some everyday task. The behaviors continue or persevere on their own without any external reward. For example; When a rat that has been trained to run a maze for food is given more than enough food, it may still run the maze, but obviously for some purpose other than the food.
Propriety functional autonomy
Propriety functional autonomy is the level of functional autonomy that relates to our values, self-image, and lifestyle. Allport considered propriety functional autonomy more important than perseverative functional autonomy and is essential to the understanding of adult motivation. Out propriate functioning is an organizing process that maintains our sense of self. This determines how we perceive our world, what we remember from our experiences, and how our thoughts are directed. This is an organizing process that includes organizing, mastery and competence, and patterning which describes a striving for consistency and integration of the personality.
Personality Traits
According to Allport, traits are consistent enduring ways of reacting to our environment. He summarized the characteristics of traits as follows (Allport, 1937)-
1. Personality traits are real and exist within each of us. They are not theoretical constructs or labels made up to account for behavior.
2. Traits determine or cause behavior. They do not arise only in response to certain stimuli. They motivate us to seek appropriate stimuli, and they interact with the environment to produce behavior.
3. Traits can be demonstrated empirically. By observing behavior over time, we can infer the existence of traits in the consistency of a person’s responses to the same or similar stimuli.
4. Traits are interrelated; they may overlap, even though they represent different characteristics. For example, aggressiveness and hostility are distinct but related traits and are frequently observed to occur together in a person’s behavior.
5. Traits vary with the situation. For example, a person may display the trait of neatness in one situation and the trait of disorderliness in another situation.
Types of traits
Initially, Allport proposed two types of traits: individual and common.
Individual traits are unique to a person and define his or her character.
Common traits are shared by a number of people, such as the members of a culture.
Latter he proposed traits in to categories- Personal Dispositions and Habits and Attitudes.
Personal Dispositions;
Allport was to re-lable traits as personal dispositions in three categories.
Cardinal trait; A cardinal trait was described by Allport as a “ruling passion.”
Central traits; everyone may possess central traits such as, aggressiveness, self-pity, and cynicism.
Secondary traits; the least influential individual traits are secondary traits, such as preferences for a particular food or for certain kinds of music.
Habits and Attitudes
Allport argued that traits and personal dispositions are distinct from other characteristics, such as habits and attitudes.
Habits; Habits have a more limited impact than traits and personal dispositions because they are relatively inflexible and involve a specific response to a specific stimuli. Attitudes; Sometimes the concepts of attitudes and traits can be closely related. However an attitude has some specific object of reference and can be positive or negative. An attitude involves a judgment or evaluation.
1. Personality traits are real and exist within each of us. They are not theoretical constructs or labels made up to account for behavior.
2. Traits determine or cause behavior. They do not arise only in response to certain stimuli. They motivate us to seek appropriate stimuli, and they interact with the environment to produce behavior.
3. Traits can be demonstrated empirically. By observing behavior over time, we can infer the existence of traits in the consistency of a person’s responses to the same or similar stimuli.
4. Traits are interrelated; they may overlap, even though they represent different characteristics. For example, aggressiveness and hostility are distinct but related traits and are frequently observed to occur together in a person’s behavior.
5. Traits vary with the situation. For example, a person may display the trait of neatness in one situation and the trait of disorderliness in another situation.
Types of traits
Initially, Allport proposed two types of traits: individual and common.
Individual traits are unique to a person and define his or her character.
Common traits are shared by a number of people, such as the members of a culture.
Latter he proposed traits in to categories- Personal Dispositions and Habits and Attitudes.
Personal Dispositions;
Allport was to re-lable traits as personal dispositions in three categories.
Cardinal trait; A cardinal trait was described by Allport as a “ruling passion.”
Central traits; everyone may possess central traits such as, aggressiveness, self-pity, and cynicism.
Secondary traits; the least influential individual traits are secondary traits, such as preferences for a particular food or for certain kinds of music.
Habits and Attitudes
Allport argued that traits and personal dispositions are distinct from other characteristics, such as habits and attitudes.
Habits; Habits have a more limited impact than traits and personal dispositions because they are relatively inflexible and involve a specific response to a specific stimuli. Attitudes; Sometimes the concepts of attitudes and traits can be closely related. However an attitude has some specific object of reference and can be positive or negative. An attitude involves a judgment or evaluation.
The Nature of Personality
Allport gave this definition of personality, “Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine…characteristic behavior and thought,” according to the text.
Heredity and Environment
Allport believed that heredity provides the personality with physique, intelligence and temperament; which can be shaped, expanded, or limited by the conditions of our environment. Our genetic endowment then works with our social environment, where no two people are exactly alike.
Two Distinct Personalities
Allport concluded that to study personality, psychology must deal with the individual. Allport found no continuum of personality between childhood and adulthood, so the adult personality is not restrained by childhood experiences.
He emphasized the conscious rather than the unconscious, the present and future rather than the past. He recognized the uniqueness of personality rather than proposing generalities or similarities for large groups of people. And he chose to study the normal rather than the abnormal personality.
Heredity and Environment
Allport believed that heredity provides the personality with physique, intelligence and temperament; which can be shaped, expanded, or limited by the conditions of our environment. Our genetic endowment then works with our social environment, where no two people are exactly alike.
Two Distinct Personalities
Allport concluded that to study personality, psychology must deal with the individual. Allport found no continuum of personality between childhood and adulthood, so the adult personality is not restrained by childhood experiences.
He emphasized the conscious rather than the unconscious, the present and future rather than the past. He recognized the uniqueness of personality rather than proposing generalities or similarities for large groups of people. And he chose to study the normal rather than the abnormal personality.
The Life of Allport
Gordon Allport reports being isolated from children and did not fit in with his older three brothers as a child. However, little more is revealed by him about his childhood besides having a father who was a physician and a mother who had rigid spiritual beliefs. Allport was later to believe that childhood events do not affect normally healthy adults. Gordon Allport felt inferior to others on into adulthood, even when he became a noted psychologist. Allport attended Harvard and was active as a volunteer for a boy’s club, a group of factory workers, and a contingent of foreign students.
Allport met Freud in Vienna while visiting one of his brothers. Freud took the meeting as an opportunity to offer Allport a quick analysis for Allport. Allport resented this intrusion by Freud and later believed that psychoanalysis probed too deeply into the unconscious. Allport’s theory would reflect this opinion in his own theory of personality which he believed we should pay more attention to conscious or visible motivations.
Allport completed his Ph.D. at Harvard in 1922 and studied further in Germany and England. Gordon Allport spent forty years teaching at Harvard and received many distinguished honors for his contributions to the field of psychology.
Allport met Freud in Vienna while visiting one of his brothers. Freud took the meeting as an opportunity to offer Allport a quick analysis for Allport. Allport resented this intrusion by Freud and later believed that psychoanalysis probed too deeply into the unconscious. Allport’s theory would reflect this opinion in his own theory of personality which he believed we should pay more attention to conscious or visible motivations.
Allport completed his Ph.D. at Harvard in 1922 and studied further in Germany and England. Gordon Allport spent forty years teaching at Harvard and received many distinguished honors for his contributions to the field of psychology.
Limitations of Kurt Lewin’s theory
The limitations of Lewin’s theory are simple stated, it only works backwards. It can explain behavior after the event, but neither the topographical analogy nor the mathematical formulation can predict anything. Field theory lacks predictive power because it provides no methods for measuring valences, vectors and barriers. Forces in the field can only be inferred when they cause an action, which renders the theory entirely circular.
Strength of Kurt Lewin approach
Lewin maintained that his topological and dynamic theories have much in common with psychoanalysis. Ho noted, for example that-
1. both are concerned with emotional problems and development of personality
2. both peace major emphasis on the psychological meaning that people situation and things have for the person
3. both are involved with such concepts as need, will, and personality
4. Both are unwilling to remain at the superficial level of description; the attempt to discover deeper meaning by uncovering casual interrelationships.
1. both are concerned with emotional problems and development of personality
2. both peace major emphasis on the psychological meaning that people situation and things have for the person
3. both are involved with such concepts as need, will, and personality
4. Both are unwilling to remain at the superficial level of description; the attempt to discover deeper meaning by uncovering casual interrelationships.
Dynamic concepts
Lewin used the term “dynamic” to refer to conditions of change, especially to forces,. A primary dynamic concept in the person system is the need, which was Lewin’s chief motivational construct. A need arouses tension, which is then reduced or equalized as the need is met through either action or ideation. Regardless of the method used to restore the person’s equilibrium, Lewin identified three stages through which needs typically proceed; hunger, satiation and oversatiation. Those sates are associated with another dynamic concept, that of valence. A valence was defined as the value with which a person invests a particular environmental region in terms of its potential for need satisfaction. A positive valence is associated with the hunger stage of need arousal, a neutral valence with satiation and a negative valence with oversatiation. For example, hungry person are likely to be strongly attracted to a restaurant, the investment lessening as their hunger is satisfied. Should they eat too much, they are apt to react to the restaurant with actual aversion.
In Lewinian terms, then and unsatisfied need arouses tension, tension induces disequilibrium, and person react to restore their equilibrium through either realistic or unrealistic means. The actual motive power for making the restoration is reserved in Lewin’s system for the concept of force, a dynamic construct diagrammatically represented by a vector. The need arises in the person, but the force exists in the environment. A force of sufficient strength pressures persons toward tension reduction, and they select a path into the environment by which to accomplish the reduction. They may also respond by restructuring the environment or simply by changing their perception of the situation, so that it no longer arouses tension in them. Their reactions are largely influenced be what Lewin called his level of aspiration, the degree of difficulty presented by the goal toward which they are striving. Their levels of aspiration establish the goals they invest with the highest positive valence or perceived reward and those goals, in turn, are influence by a number of subjectively determined factors, as well as by social pressures and group evaluations.
The concept of level of aspiration has probably promoted more research than any other single Lewinin construct, and its implications are of continuing importance. Much of the current works in achievement motivation, for example, is based on Lewin’s finding that difficult goals carry greater positive valence that do easier ones.
In Lewinian terms, then and unsatisfied need arouses tension, tension induces disequilibrium, and person react to restore their equilibrium through either realistic or unrealistic means. The actual motive power for making the restoration is reserved in Lewin’s system for the concept of force, a dynamic construct diagrammatically represented by a vector. The need arises in the person, but the force exists in the environment. A force of sufficient strength pressures persons toward tension reduction, and they select a path into the environment by which to accomplish the reduction. They may also respond by restructuring the environment or simply by changing their perception of the situation, so that it no longer arouses tension in them. Their reactions are largely influenced be what Lewin called his level of aspiration, the degree of difficulty presented by the goal toward which they are striving. Their levels of aspiration establish the goals they invest with the highest positive valence or perceived reward and those goals, in turn, are influence by a number of subjectively determined factors, as well as by social pressures and group evaluations.
The concept of level of aspiration has probably promoted more research than any other single Lewinin construct, and its implications are of continuing importance. Much of the current works in achievement motivation, for example, is based on Lewin’s finding that difficult goals carry greater positive valence that do easier ones.
Topological concept
Lewin use topology, a nonmetric branch of mathematics, both of present his structural field concepts in mathematical terns and to depict them in diagrammatic form. He attempted though that approach to clarify the interconnections of the different regions of the field at a particular moment and to show the nature of the boundaries separating them from each other. Person and environment together make up what Lewin called the “life space” within that space, which represents a field in constant flux, Lewin placed everything that influence behavior at a given time. In his topological diagrams, person and environment are depicted as two separated areas that together constitute the life space and that are enclosed within it. The whole area is bounded off from the nonpsychological environment or foreign hull, much as the person and the environment are separated from each other by a boundary within it. The environment, as Lewin regarded it, does not necessarily correspond to external reality. Rather, the term refers to the psychological environment, the environment as persons interpret it. People and their environment are the basic structural elements in Lewin’s concept of topological space. Group and individual behavior are thought of in terms of the interaction of regions within the life space, along with those interactions between the life space and adjacent areas of the nonpsychological environment that life outside. Within the life space, both the person and the environment are regarded as further subdivided into areas or cells be additional boundaries, the subdivided into areas or calls be additional boundaries, the subdivisions being represented be increasingly complex topological diagrams.
To predict behavior, one must identify all the environmental regions influencing the field as well as all those regions operating at the time within the person and in impinging segments of the foreign hull, and one must recognize and understand the quality of their interactions.
To predict behavior, one must identify all the environmental regions influencing the field as well as all those regions operating at the time within the person and in impinging segments of the foreign hull, and one must recognize and understand the quality of their interactions.
Field Theory
Lewin regarded the person and the environment as part or regions of the same psychological field. In field theory of personality, Lewin defined a field as the totality of coexisting facts which are conceived of as mutually interdependent.
Behavior thus becomes a function the person and the environment or in Lewin’s well known formula, B=F(P,E). Beginning with this firs single division of the field into the two regions of person and environment, Lewin attempted to word out a framework suitable for the scientific study of human behavior in general and the predication of its specific expressions. He preferred to use mathematics, the traditional language of science, rather that verbal descriptions, in representing the person environment field and the influences acting on it. He considered two general influences, which he called topological or structural and dynamic.
Behavior thus becomes a function the person and the environment or in Lewin’s well known formula, B=F(P,E). Beginning with this firs single division of the field into the two regions of person and environment, Lewin attempted to word out a framework suitable for the scientific study of human behavior in general and the predication of its specific expressions. He preferred to use mathematics, the traditional language of science, rather that verbal descriptions, in representing the person environment field and the influences acting on it. He considered two general influences, which he called topological or structural and dynamic.
Field theory of Kurt Lewin
Field theory of personality was particularly presented by Kurt Lewin. It is systematic point of view in personality theory. It is closely related to Gestalt psychology, However, in it motivational and social factors are emphasized. According to this theory personality works in the psychological field which includes the individual life space or the space containing his actions. From the psychological viewpoint, the environment is that which is perceived by the individual in relations to his needs, goals and purposes. Therefore environment is very much selective, while some objects and persons are ignored, some considered of little importance, other are given much importance. The important object will have positive valence, it will be attractive. Other objects may be repulsive and thus having negative valance. The individual personality is shown in the life space as directed towards or away from objects by means of vectors or directed lines. A vector tends to produce movement towards or away from objects or persons. Sometimes activities are impeded by a bearer. This is particularly in conflict situation. Vector analysis, as developed by Lewin, was brought into the system in order to represent needs and motives. Tensions are general in motivational stages. Lewin used the rudiments of topology for mapping the life space an showing the individual, his goals and routs. His work was particularly appreciated so far as level of aspirations, regressive behavior, democratic versus authoritation conflicts are concerned.
Research in Skinner’s Theory
Skinner’s research methods also diverged from mainstream experimental psychology. Skinner preferred the intensive study of a single subject. He believed that the data on the average performance of groups is of little value in dealing with a particular case. Skinner believed that valuable and replicable results could be obtained without as statistical analysis, as long as sufficient data were collected from a single subject under well controlled experimental conditions. Skinner favored the ideographic method rather than the nomothetic approach.
Skinner’s single-subject experiments follow the reversal experimental design. This design has four stages:
(A) the first stage establishes a baseline for the subject’s behavior (the dependent variable) which is observed to determine the normal rate of response before any modification
(B) Next is the conditioning or experimental stage where the independent variables are introduced.
(C) The third stage is (C) which is called reversal, which determines whether some factor other than the independent variable is responsible for the learned behavior. When the procedure is applied to behavior modification, a reconditioning stage is added.
Skinner and his followers conducted thousands of operant-conditioning experiments on topics such as reinforcement schedules, language acquisition, behavior shaping, superstitious behavior, and behavior modification. The results have been highly supportive of Skinner’s ideas.
Skinner’s single-subject experiments follow the reversal experimental design. This design has four stages:
(A) the first stage establishes a baseline for the subject’s behavior (the dependent variable) which is observed to determine the normal rate of response before any modification
(B) Next is the conditioning or experimental stage where the independent variables are introduced.
(C) The third stage is (C) which is called reversal, which determines whether some factor other than the independent variable is responsible for the learned behavior. When the procedure is applied to behavior modification, a reconditioning stage is added.
Skinner and his followers conducted thousands of operant-conditioning experiments on topics such as reinforcement schedules, language acquisition, behavior shaping, superstitious behavior, and behavior modification. The results have been highly supportive of Skinner’s ideas.
Assessment and Research in Skinner’s Theory
Skinner did not use the typical assessment techniques favored by other theorists. Skinner’s approach to assessing behavior is called functional analysis and it involves three aspects of behavior:
(A) the frequency of behavior,
(B) the situation in which the behavior occurs, and
(C) the reinforcement associated with the behavior.
Direct Observation of Behavior
Three approaches to assessing behavior are direct observation, self-reports, and physiological measurements. Observation has been used in a number of studies, while self-reports are carried out through interviews and questionnaires. Questionnaires for assessing behavior are similar in format to self-report inventories that assess personality. For example, in a classic report of a behavior modification situation, a woman sought treatment for her 4-year-old son whose behavior was considered unruly (Hawkins, Peterson, Schweid, & Bijou, 1966).
Self-Reports of Behavior
The difference lies in the way they are interpreted, as described by the sign-versus-sample approach. The sign approach is used to assess personality, while the sample approach is used to assess behavior. For example, if a person indicates that he or she is afraid of being in an elevator, this fear can be interpreted as a sign, or an indirect symptom, of some underlying motive or conflict.
Physiological Measurements of Behavior
Physiological measurements may include heart rate, muscle tension, and brain waves. For Skinner, whatever the technique, the ultimate goal is to modify behavior, not change personality. For example, a person who is too embarrassed to reveal in an interview or on a questionnaire a fear of being in an elevator might exhibit a change in heart rate or muscle tension when asked in general about elevators.
(A) the frequency of behavior,
(B) the situation in which the behavior occurs, and
(C) the reinforcement associated with the behavior.
Direct Observation of Behavior
Three approaches to assessing behavior are direct observation, self-reports, and physiological measurements. Observation has been used in a number of studies, while self-reports are carried out through interviews and questionnaires. Questionnaires for assessing behavior are similar in format to self-report inventories that assess personality. For example, in a classic report of a behavior modification situation, a woman sought treatment for her 4-year-old son whose behavior was considered unruly (Hawkins, Peterson, Schweid, & Bijou, 1966).
Self-Reports of Behavior
The difference lies in the way they are interpreted, as described by the sign-versus-sample approach. The sign approach is used to assess personality, while the sample approach is used to assess behavior. For example, if a person indicates that he or she is afraid of being in an elevator, this fear can be interpreted as a sign, or an indirect symptom, of some underlying motive or conflict.
Physiological Measurements of Behavior
Physiological measurements may include heart rate, muscle tension, and brain waves. For Skinner, whatever the technique, the ultimate goal is to modify behavior, not change personality. For example, a person who is too embarrassed to reveal in an interview or on a questionnaire a fear of being in an elevator might exhibit a change in heart rate or muscle tension when asked in general about elevators.
Applications of Operant Conditioning
Behavior modification has been successful with children and adults, with the mentally healthy and the mentally disturbed, and with individuals as well as group behavior.
Token Economy Programs
An application from behavior modification is the use of a token economy. In the pioneering study, a ward of more than 40 psychotic female patients in a state mental institution was treated as a giant Skinner box (Ayllon & Azrin, 1968). This is where tokens can be exchanged for valued objects or privileges as a reward for a desirable behavior. However, token economies have been found to be effective only within the setting in which they are implemented. In general, the modified behaviors do not carry over to life outside the setting in which they are used. When these tokens are no longer given, reinforced behaviors usually revert to their original state.
Behavior Modification Programs
Operant-conditioning techniques have been applied to problems in business and industry. Reinforcers for business may include pay, job security, recognition from supervisors, and perks and status within a company. The focus is on changing overt behavior, defining the nature of the appropriate reinforcers, and determining their optimal rate of presentation to modify behavior.
Punishment and Negative Reinforcement
Most operant-conditioning applications involve positive reinforcement rather than punishment. Skinner said that punishment, as a reinforcer; was ineffective in changing behavior from undesirable to desirable or from abnormal to normal. Skinner felt that positive reinforcement administered for desirable behaviors is much more effective than punishment. Negative reinforcement is an aversive or noxious stimulus, the removal of which is rewarding, such as a loud noise or an electric shock continues until the subject emits a desirable behavior. However, negative reinforcement does not always work whereas positive reinforcement is more consistently effective.
Token Economy Programs
An application from behavior modification is the use of a token economy. In the pioneering study, a ward of more than 40 psychotic female patients in a state mental institution was treated as a giant Skinner box (Ayllon & Azrin, 1968). This is where tokens can be exchanged for valued objects or privileges as a reward for a desirable behavior. However, token economies have been found to be effective only within the setting in which they are implemented. In general, the modified behaviors do not carry over to life outside the setting in which they are used. When these tokens are no longer given, reinforced behaviors usually revert to their original state.
Behavior Modification Programs
Operant-conditioning techniques have been applied to problems in business and industry. Reinforcers for business may include pay, job security, recognition from supervisors, and perks and status within a company. The focus is on changing overt behavior, defining the nature of the appropriate reinforcers, and determining their optimal rate of presentation to modify behavior.
Punishment and Negative Reinforcement
Most operant-conditioning applications involve positive reinforcement rather than punishment. Skinner said that punishment, as a reinforcer; was ineffective in changing behavior from undesirable to desirable or from abnormal to normal. Skinner felt that positive reinforcement administered for desirable behaviors is much more effective than punishment. Negative reinforcement is an aversive or noxious stimulus, the removal of which is rewarding, such as a loud noise or an electric shock continues until the subject emits a desirable behavior. However, negative reinforcement does not always work whereas positive reinforcement is more consistently effective.
Successive Approximation: The Shaping of Behavior
Conditioning a child or an animal, according to Skinner, to do desired complex responses, in which they would not normally do, is with the use of the method of successive approximations or shaping. The organism, as it goes through this process of shaping, is reinforced as its behavior comes in successive, or consecutive, stages to approximate the final behavior desired. This is called successive approximation. Skinner believed that this is how children learn the complex behavior of speaking. The parents continue to teach and encourage the child by pronouncing words correctly and having the child repeat the corrected word.
Superstitious Behavior
Skinner believed we sometimes are reinforced by accident after we have displayed a behavior. A baseball player who felt he had to wear his cap a certain way in order to hit the ball or having a certain routine that seems to be “lucky” would be called by Skinner as, superstitious behavior. A single reinforcer of this kind may be powerful enough for a person or an animal to repeat the accidentally reinforced behavior more frequently for a while. According to Skinner, in humans, such behaviors may persist throughout life and require only occasional reinforcement to sustain them.
The Self-Control of Behavior
To Skinner, self-control meant the ability to exert control over the variables that determines our behavior. In stimulus-avoidance, we control ourselves by removing our self from something that may be negative for us to do, such as an alcoholic removing liquor from their home to avoid the temptation of drinking. Through the technique of self-administered satiation, we exert control to cure ourselves of bad habits by overdoing the behavior. We may smoke until we get sick of smoking which may help eliminate the negative behavior. The aversive- stimulation technique of self-control involves unpleasant or repugnant consequences. In self-reinforcement, we reward ourselves for displaying good or desirable behaviors. To Skinner, then, the crucial point is that external variables shape and control behavior.
Superstitious Behavior
Skinner believed we sometimes are reinforced by accident after we have displayed a behavior. A baseball player who felt he had to wear his cap a certain way in order to hit the ball or having a certain routine that seems to be “lucky” would be called by Skinner as, superstitious behavior. A single reinforcer of this kind may be powerful enough for a person or an animal to repeat the accidentally reinforced behavior more frequently for a while. According to Skinner, in humans, such behaviors may persist throughout life and require only occasional reinforcement to sustain them.
The Self-Control of Behavior
To Skinner, self-control meant the ability to exert control over the variables that determines our behavior. In stimulus-avoidance, we control ourselves by removing our self from something that may be negative for us to do, such as an alcoholic removing liquor from their home to avoid the temptation of drinking. Through the technique of self-administered satiation, we exert control to cure ourselves of bad habits by overdoing the behavior. We may smoke until we get sick of smoking which may help eliminate the negative behavior. The aversive- stimulation technique of self-control involves unpleasant or repugnant consequences. In self-reinforcement, we reward ourselves for displaying good or desirable behaviors. To Skinner, then, the crucial point is that external variables shape and control behavior.
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