Learning Personality Paper
Tyra Bailey, Edward Oliver, Jr.
Psychology 405
April 10, 2012
Dr. Bruce Peterson

Learning Personality Paper
Several men such as Albert Bandura, B.F Skinner in 20th century studied learning personally behaviors to change the learning mindset of people in the world. In this learning personality paper Team D, will analyze the strengths and limitations of learning theories when explaining individual leaning behaviors. An assessment of how learning theories affect individual personalities will also be included. Interpersonal relationships and how learning theories may or may not affect the individual will be examined. The learning theories propose that behavior is learned through your environment and what you see around you. The theory believes individuals are born as tabula rasa, which means a blank slate. Although born a “blank slate” the response to stimuli which include pleasure or pain are evident. These theories do not believe in innate nature or automatic personality structure. The influences that the environment has on behavior can be studied and therefore the impact on the personalities can be measured. Theorists are able to control environmental influences which make it easier to manipulate the variables for laboratory testing. Laboratory testing is important when trying to change a psychological theory into a scientific method. The learning theorists believe an individual personality is affected by environmental influences and learned behaviors which are created.
Theorists believe that environmental influences impact individual personalities because it affects the way a person views themselves. Indications show the change in an individual because of the solutions the individual thinks of when trying to solve a problem in one’s life. According to "Merriam-Webster" (2012) the definition of personality is, “the complex of characteristics that distinguishes an individual or a nation or group; especially: the totality of an individual's behavioral and emotional characteristics.” Characteristics of individual personalities consist of the motivations, desires, and needs of an individual. The patterns of behavior are molded by a person’s experiences.
Essentially the way an individual views the world is directly related to how that person has grown up and what environment they have been in during their childhood. The personality of an individual can change depending on how their environment or experiences change. This is why learning theorist believe that behavior and cognition are intertwined when personality is developed. According to Albert Bandura and "Learning-Theories.com"(2012), “The theory has often been called a bridge between behaviorist and cognitive learning theories because it encompasses attention, memory, and motivation.“ Albert Bandura’s has several social cognitive theories that influence interpersonal relationships and they are triadic reciprocal, observational learning, modeling, enactive learning, and motivation. The social cognitive theory has quite a few basic assumptions according to (Feist & Feist, 2009) Bandura quoted, “Humans have a plasticity characteristic, and it allows individuals to learn in diverse situations.” Bandura and Skinner both agree people have a tendency to learn in direct situations. Triadic reciprocal influences the behavioral, environment, and individual factors in learning. People have the capacity to learn when an individual self-efficacy is high and the individual confidence to learn is motivating to others. For example, if a person’s self-efficacy is low and their taking a math class , when the teacher gives him or her confidence to solve math problems that not only motivates him or her it will also motivate others in the class. Observational learning is learning through the observation of people, plants, animals, etc. Bandura also believed people can achieve desired results in observational learning, when experiencing difficult circumstances. Observational learning works with children as well, for example when small children observe Sesame Street, the children repeat what is said and what is heard. A learning experience is created to educate these children in this specific age group. Modeling is when individuals learn through observing the behavior of others. Modeling also includes having the ability to store the information for upcoming events that will affect the learning of an individual. People have a tendency to model themselves after people of high-status rather than a lower status people. In observers mindset the high status people are successful and the people that are low in status are unsuccessful. Motivation is the core of observational learning that influences interpersonal relationships because it influences the learners (the observer) to perform the behaviors of the individuals observed. The observation of others often times motivates the learner to achieve goals to make him or her successful in life. Learning theories place great importance on social influences and their impact on interpersonal relationships. Theorists believe that personality consists of learned tendencies and social influences impact those tendencies. The learning theory that establishes the importance of interpersonal relationships best is humanism. According to Lara (2007), “Humanism is more an approach than a theory. It stresses mutual respect and trust with learning firmly anchored in interpersonal relationships.” Humanism focuses heavily on human nature and the concerns of a person versus other aspects of life that can occur as a factor in personality development. The Humanistic theory proposes that interpersonal relationships are a key factor in achieving healthy psychological growth and development. Humanism also states that interpersonal relationships are an important factor in developing healthy personality characteristics. Maslow included interpersonal relationships on his hierarchy of needs because he believed, “people are fulfilled in interpersonal relationships and have confidence in social affairs and experience loving reciprocity with those important to them,” (Feist & Feist, 2009). The learning theories give an explanation of human responses as they relate to the concept of learning. People identify with others because individuals either receive a reward or reinforcement for it. This is an intricate part of developing not only healthy interpersonal relationships, but also strong personality characteristics. Bandura believed that part of personality development is dependent on how one is viewed by others in their environment. Another essential part of personality development according to the learning theories is how one views their self. Learning theories define how the environment and human interaction culminate to explain personality development. The characteristics that humans possess are a direct reflection of how individuals live within a condition people view the world.

References:
Merriam-Webster. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.merriam- webster.com/dictionary/personality
Learning-Theories.com. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.learning-theories.com/social- learning-theory-bandura.html
Marshall, D. P. (n.d.). A Social Learning Theory Conceptualization of Interpersonal Relationships. Retrieved from http:// www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED183975&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED183975
Lara, Vicky. (2007). Professional Development Module: . Retrieved from http://www.texascollaborative.org/Learning_Theory.htm Feist, J. & Feist, G. J. (2009). Theories of personality (7th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.