John Dollard and Neal Miller

John Dollard and Neal Miller

BOIGRAPHY

Neal Miller - Studied with the famous learning theorist, Clark Hull. Well known for his work

with biofeedback and animal models of human behavior. He was also president of the APA.

John Dollard - was Prof. of anthropology at Yale. He wrote the classic 1937 book Caste and class in a southern town. With Miller and others, he also wrote an important book on

Frustration and Aggression.

THEORY AND CONCEPTSA good attempt to explain Freudian concepts such as repression and displacement in terms of learning (drive reduction) theory. A good attempt to reconcile psychoanalysis and behaviorism.

Four concepts of Clark Hulls drive reduction theory1. drive - stimulus that impels the organism to some behavior (hunger).

2. cue - "guides" or indicates the appropriate direction for behavior (time, restaurant,

going home).

3. response - behaviors directed at reducing drive (cooking food, ordering food).

4. reinforcement - anything that lowers drive (pleasant feelings of eating and being full).

reinforcement theory - for learning to occur, one must WANT something, NOTICE

something, DO something, and GET something.

hierarchy of responses - any drive and cue (hunger and restaurant) elicit many responses with some (order hamburger) being more likely than others (order liver).

dominant response - the most likely response (order a hamburger) for a given

drive and cue (restaurant).

the "learning dilemma" - in the absence of a dilemma (need) NO learning takes place.

Millers demonstration of fear conditioning in a rat:

1. a primary punisher (shock) is associated with a neutral stimulus (white compartment).

2. fear becomes a drive (CER or conditioned fear reaction)

3. any response that lowers fear is reinforcing so its "habit strength" increases

4. feared stimulus (white compartment) is avoided so the rat never learns that the danger is no longer present (basis of phobic avoidance).

Types of "conflict"

1. approach-approach - you are drawn to two equally attractive goals (date Mary or Jane).

2. avoidance-avoidance - you are repelled by two equally unattractive goals (working

overtime vs. not being able to pay bills).

3. approach-avoidance - you are equally attracted to AND repelled from one goal (might be drawn to graduate school for the degree but repelled by all the hard work).

4. double approach-avoidance - you are both drawn to AND repelled from two goals

[working overtime (good pay but, you're tired) and family dinner (you feel obligated but find these boring)].

factors that influence the probability of reaching of a goal (e.g., asking for a raise)

1. avoidance gradient is steeper than approach gradient (in an approach-avoidance conflict, as you get closer, drive to avoid increases more quickly than drive to approach).

2. vacillation (indecision) - occurs where the approach and avoidance gradients cross.

3. increased drive - (approach gradient gets "higher," NOT steeper) makes reaching goal more likely (e.g., financial demands worsen making a raise more imperative) (see fig. 10 -1).

Millers demonstration of displacement1. When two rats were placed in a cage with a doll and shocked, they attacked each other and ignored the doll.

2. When one rat was removed, the remaining rat attacked the doll. Aggression was displaced to a similar target.

Frustration-aggression hypothesis - Dollard and Miller suggest that aggression is the result of frustration. A correct but incomplete explanation.

The Unconscious Mind

1. Experiences that were "never verbalized" - Experiences during the first year or two of life may make a strong impression. But, because language has not yet been learned the experiences were never verbalized or "labeled" thus they remain "unconscious."

2. Suppression - anxiety is a drive and its reduction is reinforcing. Redirecting the mind from anxiety-provoking thoughts is reinforcing and becomes a habit.

3. Repression - the above process becomes "automatic" and anxiety can be totally avoided rather than just escaped from.

4. "STUPID" behaviors - Dollard and Miller used this term to indicate that repressed thoughts cannot be dealt with logically or rationally so behaviors related to them will appear stupid and unreasonable.

psychotherapy - a situation in which repressed thoughts (fears) can be expressed without being followed by the punishing consequences that initially made them anxiety provoking, leading to extinction of fears and neuroses.

Berkun and Murray experiment (psychotherapy for shocked rats)

1. rats were shocked in, and learned to fear. a white compartment.

2. they were then repeatedly placed in an apparatus with connecting white, gray,

and black runways each with a food goal.

3. at first they moved (displaced) quickly to the black runway (most dissimilar to the white).

4. with continued trials, they reached the food goal in the gray runway and eventually in

the white runway. The fear had extinguished.