Shaping Behavior of a Person - Assignment Example

Psychology: Shaping Behavior Psychology: Shaping Behavior: For years, different psychologists have invested their time and resources in understanding aspects that shape the behavior of a person. Are they shaped by the different experiences we encounter in life or by other factors only controllable by the environment? Psychologists have invested in finding the answer to this question and still hope for a clear understanding of it sometime. According to many, it is claimed that behavior is shaped by experiences. Works of psychologists like Adorno et al factoring on the authoritarian personality combined with research conducted by Bob Altemeyer play a major role in developing content for the study in this area. On the contrary, Harry Harlow provides a differing opinion on behavior shaping based on experiences with his experiment on monkeys and their behavioral change. A combination of the works of Harry into the others introducing his thoughts into the study of humans provides a starting point to Mary Ainsworth’s works. Elke Geraerts et al (2008) provide more evidence to support the claim of experiences playing a role in determining behavior. The study of human behavior based on Adorno et al and their developments on anti-Semitism and the fascism that developed more during the World War 2 attempts to explain the actions of the Nazis during Hitler’s regime in which millions of European Jews suffered inhumane treatment. The study aimed at answering the question on what drives one to such acts. The study revealed the existence of anti-Semitism not only in Germans but in the Americans too giving a peculiar conduct hence its definition as authoritarian personality (McAvoy, 2012, p.26). For effective results, the study was conducted in two phases. The first phase-involved completion of a questionnaire measured with the aid of an either F-scale giving the level of authoritarian in participants a high or low. The second phase involved the interview approach through which the causes were established. The questions prompt the respondents to provide details on their family, childhood and other experiences (McAvoy, 2012, p.34). The study revealed that respondents raised in a strict environment filled with harsh penalties and discipline proved more authoritarian. Adorno et al indicated that during child development, a love or hate relationship develops between parent and child hence shaping adulthood behavior. Basing on the psychoanalytic theory developed by Sigmund Freud, Adorno et al provide that human behavior remain buried in the a person’s unconscious mind including their past experiences hence shaping their personality and way of behaving later in life (McAvoy, 2012, p.22). Bob Altemeyer 1981 too was interested in understanding authoritarian behavior. He established his own design of the right side of the concept on authoritarianism through an extension of the works done by Adorno and F-scale resulting into his own design of it labeled the Right Authoritarian Scale. This defined authoritarian in 3 different characteristics involving submission, aggression and conventional with participants having a high score indicating to harsh punishments, prejudice and a strict environment among other experiences. Altemeyer disapproved of the subconscious holding of control to behavior and considered it as a social learning experience (McAvoy, 2012, p.49). These relate with Adrono’s conclusion on behavior and indicated that the behavior only features in different social situations as developed and supported by Altemeyer. The two had differing views on how the behaviors of authoritarian nature surfaced agreeing that strict environments and disciplined families had an anti-Semitism effect coupled with fascism. On the contrary, Harry Harlow studied monkeys and the attachments between the mother and the infant with his first approach on comfort created by contact. Witnessing the behavior of the newborn monkeys in enclosure with their sanitary pads changed prompted Harry into studying the behavior further. In his experiment, he set up two different mothers. One made of a wood block covered with a toweling layer, a source of heat and a bottle for feeding attached in the middle of its body. The second was a mother made of the same material without the towel with a cylinder made of wire mesh (Custance, D. & Mayer, 2012, p.205). He then experimented with 8 newborn monkeys with results indicating to them preferring the mother in a terry cloth despite the ability of the other mother in wire mesh to provide milk. The terry cloth mother was considered safer as directed by the innate tendencies in newborns. Another experiment made the innate tendencies more clear. In this experiment, Harry provided partial isolation of the newborn monkeys allowing them to survive based on smell, ability to hear and occasional seeing of each other. He eventually isolated others totally. The isolated monkeys remained in isolation behind 4 walls where they lived. They were then raised from different ages with others from 3, 6, 12, or even 24 months. Each of the periods indicated strange behavior by the monkeys with some indicating rocking forwards and backwards, others sucking on their inner cheeks, tongues too while others stared into the space. When these monkeys were released into others, they proved more aggressive and less social compared to the others. The study proved that behavior may be inherited and that a 6 month old isolated monkey if introduced to a 3 month old infant reared by the mother may improve its behavior (Cunstance & Mayer, 2012, p.209). Another study conducted by Mary Ainsworth called the strange situation provided a detailed analysis of the attachment and bond to mother with baby. As described by her, strange situation refers to a way in which the assessing the security that the attachment creates through a laboratory setting. It was developed through the analysis of standard episodes between the child, their mother and a total stranger. The three reunited and separated in sequences (Custnace & Mayer, 2012, p.217). The study revealed that 70% of the subjects understudy proved comfortable in the presence of their mother and could freely play in their presence. The presence of a stranger created a feeling that led to a disorganized approach returning to comfort when the mother reunited with them. The remaining 30% were characterized as anxious-resistant or avoidant and still anxious. The children in this case become unsettled in the presence of the mother with no effort on play. They grew upset when the mother left the room but on reunion, they remained detached to them (Custance & Mayer, 2012, p.218). The experiment did not indicate some behaviors such as the mood of the child, uneasiness causing lack of sleep. Cultural differences too provide differences in results comparing different countries with each providing different results on the anxious-resistant and avoidant descriptions. Ainsworth concludes that the children’s behavior and their actions result from the mother. Another experience on false memory conducted by Elke Geraerts et al 2008 indicated that the insertion of a memory of a false experience in the mind of a person provided support that experiences play a role in shaping the behavior of people. 180 undergraduate students were considered for the study all from the University in Netherlands. The experience that the students understood to base on food and the personality was rather aimed at discovering the effect of inserting a bad memory in their minds through an egg salad to show the effect on their behavior towards food. The experiment was divide into 3 phases with the first phase the participants having to provide their experiences towards foods and their preferences. The questions included questions on egg salads whether they liked them and became sick when they consumed them prior to their tenth birthday. The second phase conducted after a week had participants give a false experience of them falling sick on the consumption of the egg salad. Four months later the third phase of the experiment was conducted with participants taking part in another study. The participants were to eat food meant for disposal including egg salads. They provided that the food consumed specifically the egg salad made them sick. These all were based on the false experience on the egg salad created in their minds. From these, Geraerts et al concluded that embedding false memories in a person’s mind created an influence to the eating habits even four months going hence having an impact on their behavior. It manipulates the way a person thinks and hence affecting their conduct. In conclusion, the different evidences provided from the studies indicated in the above essay indicate towards the behavior of people. The experiences that one has as they grow especially during childhood impact their behavior in adulthood. Despite the results on the experiment conducted by Harlow indicating an innate aspect of behavior, the experiment also indicated that changes in behavior are possible to shape through experiences. The authoritarian works too indicate towards support of experiences affecting behavior. Strict environments during growth and a family environment that considers disciplining a factor of shaping influences the children to imitate the same in their old age using it to display hatred to those they consider weaker. The false memory provides more evidence to the study aiding in answering the question raised earlier. Creation of a false memory in the minds of the people involved in the study provides for the conclusion that memory and past experiences play a major role in shaping the behavior of people. Inserting a positive or negative memory in the people influences their behavior. Bibliography: Custance, D. & Mayer, J. 2012, Empathic-like Responding by Domestic Dogs (Canis familiaris) to Distress in Humans: An Exploratory Study. Animal Cognition. Springer. Read More