Social Learning Approach Case Study

Behavioral/Social Learning Approach The Behavioral/Social Learning Approach was brought to light with the help of three key theorists. Those key theorists are John Watson, E. L. Thorndike, and B. F. Skinner. To sum up the thoughts between these three key theorists, they all believed in the theory that a person’s personality is sculpted through life lessons. Meaning that the Behavioral/Social Learning Approach denotes all behavior as a learned experience. This approach contains multiple key concepts, which allow for all psychologists to use as a guide when psychoanalyzing a person. In this case I will be using these concepts to understand Steve. Steve’s physical background is of Italian-American descent and he is a 38 year old unattached
male who takes great pride in his appearance. These concepts reflect on a person’s personality traits, such as whether or not a person possesses a more masculine, or feminine persona. Which we know reflects back upon a person’s childhood and upbringing, to see how they were conditioned/raised. The neurotic scale on the other hand can be somewhat challenging for some. In some situations, it is difficult to categorize whether or not a person ranks high or low with neuroticism. Purely meaning that it is difficult to discriminate environmental cues from reinforcement. Observational learning can be used to determine a person’s aggression levels, and what makes a person react to certain stimuli. The self-efficacy concept is based upon a person’s previous experiences with success. A person will more likely than not fixate on their success, reminiscing on past experiences, allowing their perception of self-worth to be based off of the success which they have had. While analyzing Steve in this particular case study, I was able to uncover his core personality while using the Behavioral/Social Learning Approach. When determining whether Steve has more of a masculine or feminine personality, I reflected on his romantic relationships. It seems that Steve has a more masculine personality. Along with a more masculine personality, Steve ranks high on the locus of control scale. Steve believes he is in control of the events which would take place which take place with each woman. He makes a woman fall in love with him, just so he can feel strong about his personality and appearance. However he would just use these women for sex, as a physical need, and discard of them before he got attached. Allowing himself to be vulnerable to the idea that a woman had a chance to be in-control of his emotions. I consider that he broke up with them before they got the chance too, because he wants to appear macho. When in reality I believe him to have a lot of male insecurities. For I believe he thinks that, reflecting on when his friends talked about his childhood relationship with his mother, how could any women love him when his own mother was never openly affectionate.
Therefore she never gave him the loving exchanges he yearned for as a child; or needed to become a fully functioning human being. His mother only gave him what he physically needed as a child, so now he sees that as all he needs from a woman. Granted Steve’s Physical needs have changed over the years, but because we was conditioned to believe all a woman can contribute to his life is physical, all he wants from a woman is a physical relationship. Hence his tendencies to break up with women before they had the chance to hurt him emotionally. Steve has generalized his stimuli to what a woman is meant to do in his life Steve has processed all these scenarios by reacting in a similar response to the way his mother showed affection towards him. .He does this, allowing himself not to feel his raw emotions. Instead he is covering up this true feelings and intentions. Taking all of this into consideration, I have come to the conclusion that Steve has a masculine persona. It appears that Steve is unable to generate emotional stability, therefore do to how emotionally unavailable Steve is neurotic. The only true emotion that Steve has portrayed in this case study is anger. He was angry when an accusation came about at work relating to sexual harassment. He followed his masculine instincts, complaining that he couldn’t be himself in a work place without fear of losing his job. Blaming the woman for being too soft and not understanding his objectives. In the beginning of the case study, Steve says that he is happy bachelor by his choice and no one else’s. He appears to be happy when he makes grand romantic gestures towards women, for he knows that the end goal with them would be a night filled with sex. It seems that Steve is only happy when he is in the presence of a woman who makes him feel masculine, attractive, funny and charming. I believe this to be his only sources of emotions because he cannot generate them himself. Steve was never given positive reinforcements of love, so according to all three key theorists, Steve was not conditioned as to whether or not love gave him the reward of feeling good about it. We can also conclude his neurosis because of Steve’s obsessive disorder for a woman’s approval of his appearances and desire to sleep with him. Since Steve is neurotic, the anger which he feels cannot be controlled once it surfaces. This information can be gathered by the use of Observational Learning. However in this particular case study on Steve we are not given multiple signs of aggression. What is seen is his aggressive thoughts towards his coworkers when rumors of sexual harassment arose. We can also gather the inner thoughts Steve might possess when he hears of his friends settling down and staying committed to one female. The study says that Steve is astonished and that he cannot believe that his friends would do that to him, by letting a woman control them. Which makes him angry in a sense, because I believe that deep down he knows he will never be able to accomplish that. One can assume that this is why he proclaims himself as a bachelor by choice.
It appears that the stimuli to his anger would be whenever somebody threatens his romantic life style. When analyzing this case study, it is noticed that his father is never mentioned in the story. Assumptions can be made that his father may have passed early in his life, and that is why his mother was never emotionally available. Creating a lot of built up anger and aggression which he has channeled into his appearance which leaves room for vulnerability. Or we can assume that his father was never in the picture, or he left early on in Steve’s life. Which we can guess would have made his mother emotionally unavailable, and Steve insecure about people in his life never being there for him. The aggression that Steve possesses can stem from either one of these sources. Bandura would believe Steve to have observed this aggressive behaviors from his past, and neither be rewarded or punished, the consequence in itself was the way he was raised. Steve’s case study is full of examples of self-efficacy.
The first and main example we are given of this, is when he is on a date with a woman he has just met. Steve has taken her to a very romantic candle lit dinner. He is using all the charm he has to woo this woman into believing in this false ego he has. Steve has done all this in the belief that if he executes all of his behaviors properly, he will be rewarded with sex at the end of the night. He believes that because of his actions, he is in control of the outcome. So he has taken her to this restaurant to be in-control of the set atmosphere and mood that he is trying to set with this particular women. He has done so, for he believes that these types of restaurants play in his favor towards women for, we can assume, that in the past he has been rewarded with sex. Another belief he has is that he can get any woman he desires, treating them how he does every other woman he has slept with. Psychologists would also refer to this as the power of expectancy. Steve thinks that he is in control of the situational outcome by setting the environment and charming the
girls. He likes a challenge, so when he was with Diane, he couldn’t leave her until he had slept with her. All the gimmicks he has used on other woman where not working with her. So in order to complete his desired intentions, he had to make her fall in love with him, letting her believe he reciprocated those feelings. However he did not, and was only playing her. Steve left her once he was able to sleep with her multiple times. I believe this to be his way of proving himself to his friends and others that he is lovable, desirable and still has the flirtatious game he had when he was young. Therefore basing his self-worth on his egocentric lifestyle which he has created for himself. I believe that the overall theme across Steve’s life span is the absence reinforcement and discriminating environmental cues.
He was raised without a father, or a masculine role model in his life. So he had to create his own persona of how a man is supposed to act and how to properly treat a woman. Steve was never given the proper conditioning a child is supposed to receive from either/both parents. Therefor he has learned by observation that a strained relationship, which is only physical was the way in which he should live his life. His mother only cared for his physical needs, so throughout his teenage, young adult years, and to the adult he is now all he needs to satisfy him is physical needs. So overall, Steve ranks high on the neurotic and aggression scales. He is also a man who has a false idea of masculinity, which he also ranks high in. His self-efficacy seems to be working for him, however it is not the proper lifestyle which a fully functioning human should be living. In conclusion I believe that if Steve does not realize the repercussions of his actions soon, he will live a long and lonely life that will in the end not give him the proper emotionally stability which he desperately
needs.