They try to explain the behavior through argumentation of learning theories in such a way that it is sometimes difficult to separate the concepts of learning and motivation. Abnormal psychology it is the study of psychological problems and the best way to treat them. The behavioral model of abnormality says that psychological problems are learned behaviors. The behaviors They are learned in a process called conditioning, whereby a person associates one thing with another.
Concepts such as drive, incentive motivation, and learned motives are central factors in this type of approach.
Momentum
It is an energy existing in the body that drives it to act.
Need - Energy - Drive - Behavior - Satisfaction - Drive Reduction
According Hull (1943), the execution of the behavior (E), depends on the intensity of the learned response or habit (H) and the intensity of the impulse (D); if any of the factors is "zero", the behavior does not occur. Motivation is internal to the body that activates it to carry out a behavior:
E = H x D
In later works (1951-2), Hull also takes into consideration the motivation of the incentive (K) the characteristics of the target object also influence motivation. Motivation is seen as the result of internal and external factors.
E = H x D x K
How have these motives been acquired? This is the fundamental argument in learning-based theories of motivation.
Paulov (1960), tried to demonstrate how some unconditioned and therefore innate reflexes can be replaced by conditioned stimuli, that is, learned an unconditioned impulse can be considered as reinforcing the association between an initially neutral stimulus and a response particular. This idea is separated from mentalist approaches, considering observable responses as the basic nucleus of his research (defended by Watson).
Contributions from Razran (1961): focused on interoceptive conditioning:
- Intero-exteroceptive conditioning: the conditioned stimulus is applied internally; the externally unconditioned stimulus.
- Intero-interoceptive conditioning: the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned are applied internally.
- External-interoceptive conditioning: the conditioned stimulus is applied externally and the unconditioned internally.
Characteristics of interoceptive conditioning:
- 1. The subject is not aware that this type of conditioning occurs.
- 2. Usually it cannot be avoided.
- 3. More durable than typical external classical conditioning.
- 4. Important implications in psychosomatic medicine.
2. Operant conditioning:
Skinner rejects any approach that goes beyond specific relationships "If then" between stimuli and responses. He even avoids motivational labels to refer to situations that clearly focus on aspects of motivation.
Reinforcement acts as a motivator for future behaviors:
- According Bindra (1969), reinforcement and incentive motivation are two names for the same phenomenon.
- According Bolles (1978), one can dispense with hedonism and motivation, and study reinforcement fully, one must study the behavior from the point of view of what reinforces it and not from the point of view of what motivates it.
"Effect of amount of boost" and "effect of reinforcement quality": the motivation is greater the greater the reinforcement and / or the better the reinforcement adjusts to the needs of the subject.
3. Observational learning:
Bandura (1969): Much of motivated behavior is learned by observing the behaviors of others. The functioning of a subject is not the result only of internal forces, nor of the forces but of an interaction between particular behaviors and the conditions that control such behaviors.
In this way of learning motivated behaviors, attention processes are important, storage and retrieval, it should be noted in this regard that, to learn a behavior, it is not necessary reproduce it.
Bandura makes a distinction between:
- observational learning, learning a behavior by simply observing a model, regardless of the consequences that it receives for its behavior
- vicar reinforcement, includes observational learning plus the consequences of the model's behavior; These consequences alter the probability that the observed response will occur in the observing subject.
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
