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Ibraheem Mehdi Khan


AP Psychology- 25 Eminent Psychologists
3/28/2014
Assignment: List and describe at least one theory from each psychologist:
B.F. Skinner
Jean Piaget
Sigmund Freud
Albert Bandura
Leon Festinger
Carl Rogers
Stanley Schacter
Neal Miller
Edward Thorndike
Abraham Maslow
Gordon Allport
Erik Erikson
William Kames
David MC Celland
Raymond Cattell
John. B. Watson
Kurt Lewin
Donald o` Hobb
George A. Miller
Clark A. Hull
Jerome Kogam
Carl Jung
Ivan Pavlov
Walter Mischel


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Psychologist #1: B.F. Skinner
Influenced by Watson and Pavlov on their studies of classical conditioning(discussed
later), B.F. Skinner set out to research conditioning producing works on Operant Conditioning,
Reinforcement Schedules, and inventing the Skinner box, which was used countless times in
his experimentation. These works began to envelop and explain how people learn and are
conditioned, in a behavioristic( a perspective of psychology that states we should only study
behavior) manner.
To start off with, B.F. skinner began experimenting to uncover the realities of
conditioning. His work involved using a cumulative recorder, which recorded responses over
time on a sloped line, revealing that unlike what Watson and Pavlov suggested (that conditioning
depends on the preceding stimulus), conditioning depends on what happens afterwards and in
essence, the consequence of the individuals actions. He named this Operant Conditioning. The
idea behind it essentially states that people learn through a method of receiving rewards and
punishments by associating an action with that reward or punishment. He developed a method of
reinforcements and punishments that differentiated in their secondary definitions.
The first of these major definitions are reinforcements. There are two types of
reinforcements: positive and negative. Positive reinforcement involves the addition of a
favorable or likeable outcome or event after being presented with a certain action or response
that conditions the individual to do the response more often or at the right times to receive the
reward. Negative reinforcement involves the removal of an unfavorable outcome or event after
the presentation of the response that strengthens the specific behavior by stopping the bad
outcome. The second of these major definitions are punishments and like reinforcements have
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two sub-categories: positive and negative punishment. Positive punishment is the most
commonly used type of punishment that involves the addition of an unfavorable event or
outcome that is used to decrease the behavior. Negative punishment on the other hand, is the
removal of a favorable outcome or event, conditioning the individual to stop the behavior to
continue receiving rewards. In this way, operant conditioning can be thought of as instinctive.
The next thing B.F. Skinner worked on was the introduction to world on his ideas on
reinforcement and their effective use on proper scheduling time-wise, hence Reinforcement
Schedules. Table 1 describes each schedule below.
Continuous Reinforcement In this schedule, the behavior is reinforced every time the
stimulus is presented. After reinforcement, without partial
reinforcement (listed below), it wll eventually lead to
extinction- the stoppage of responding to a learned stimulus-
response connection although spontaneous recovery is
possible.
Fixed-Ratio Schedules A response is only reinforced after a specific number of times.
A high, steady number of responses is shown, though with a
pause after each reinforcement.
Variable-Ratio Schedules A response is only reinforced after a random number of times.
The rate is the same as above, although there is no pause. This
is usually the most resistant to extinction.
Fixed-Interval Schedules A response is only reinforced after a certain amount of time. Its
rate is slow in the beginning but gradually gets higher near the
end.
Variable-Interval Schedules A response is only reinforced after a random amount of time.
Its rate is steadily slow.

In most of these experiments, B.F. skinner used the skinner box- a box-like device with a lever
that can be pulled or manipulated to cause something and so was used in studying conditioning.

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Psychologist #2: J ean Piaget
Jean Piaget is best known as the father of cognitive development theory. He described
the cognitive development of humans as being within four stages and four processes/concepts.
Although he underestimated the ability of children by classifying children into different age
groups coinciding with different cognitive stages, his theory remains well in the foundations of
educational psychology. The table below explains each stage.
Sensorimotor Stage 0-2 In this stage, children begin to explore the work using
their senses and motor ability. It is also the first time,
they begin to manipulate objects. It is in this stage, that
children learn that objects exist when they cannot see
them- object permanence. In the 1
st
month babies use
reflexes like sucking or looking, within the next 3
months they use primary circular reactions by
combining sensory coordination and schemas
accidentally to achieve pleasure, then in four more
months babies begin to use secondary circular
reactions by intentionally combining sensory
coordination and schemas, the next four months involve
coordination of reactions to intentionally trigger an
event and explore the environment, in the next four
months toddlers use tertiary circular reactions to learn
using trial-and-error, and finally in the next four months
toddlers begin to use mental operations and symbolism
in early representational thought.
Preoperational Stage 2-7 In this stage, children learn through logic but struggle to
understand the thoughts of others and display
egocentrism- that they are they are the center of
everything including thought and the lack of
understanding conservation- that children understand
the equality of things in different settings and situations.
Concrete Operational Stage 7-11 Children begin to fully use logic but struggle with
abstract and hypothetical thinking. Children become
sociocentric instead of egocentric and understand the
reversibility of mental and physical operations in their
orders.
Formal Operational Stage 11+ In this final stage children gain the abilities of logic,
abstract thinking, and learn problem-solving skills.

The four processes/concepts are mentioned and explained below.
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Schemas Learned concepts and ideas.
Assimilation Taking new information to fit previously learned schemas.
Accommodation Taking new information to create new schemas.
Equilibrium The balance of learning through assimilation and accommodation.


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Psychologist #3: Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud is most notably the most famous psychologist there ever was. His major
theories included his views on the conscious and unconscious mind, psychosexual stages, the Id,
Ego, and Superego, defense mechanisms, life and death instincts, psychoanalysis, and the
famous Freudian slip. Although largely criticized, Freudianism remains as strong as ever creating
neo-Freudians and entire branches of not only psychology, but psychiatry.
Firstly, Freud began writing on his views on the conscious mind and the unconscious
mind explaining that each were totally separate but could influence each other. The conscious
mind is the predominant one and is the one being used while the unconscious mind contains
repressed memories and other information the conscious mind does not need or want. It is the
epitome and lair of the Id and primal desires.
And as the writer, Ibraheem knows full well that all of humanity wants to know Freuds
divisions of mental thought: the Id, Ego, and Superego. The Id is the most primal of the three
and holds all instinctive desires of food, reproduction, safety, survival, etc. The Id works on the
pleasure principle- and so abides all things that invoke pleasure. It also works on the life and
death instincts- Eros and Thanatos, respectively. Eros is the instincts of survival, reproduction,
and pleasure and its energy is known as libido. The Thanatos on the other hand, is the
unconscious belief that all people wish to die after reproduction and especially after traumatic
experiences that lead to reenactment. The ego on the other hand is learned and does not exist
directly after birth and so all babies, according to Freud, are Id-iots. The Superego contains all of
the learned morals, judgmental abilities, and learning convictions, goals, and desires of future or
gradual success. Both the Id and Superego can cause feelings of guilt, happiness, etc. that reward
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or punish the ego for disobeying them. The ego is thenceforth the intermediary between the two
and is the individuals self that holds the ultimate decision.
Since the conscious mind is so susceptible to pain and suffering (anxiety), the unconscious
mind has developed defense mechanisms to protect it. Freud identified three types of anxiety:
neurotic (lose control of the Ids desires), moral (violate ones own moral ideals), and realistic
(fear of real-world events). Usually, defense mechanisms are activated after traumatic events
accustoming one of these anxieties. There are several defense mechanisms: denial (disbelieving
reality), repression (moving a memory into the unconscious, sometimes resulting in amnesia;
suppression is the conscious forcing of the memory to come back), displacement (displacing
frustration and aggression on a safer target), sublimation (converting unacceptable urges to
acceptable ones), projection (ascribing our feelings to another person to them and reversing it),
intellectualization (the thinking of events in a cold, reasonable, cynical, unemotional manner
and converting feelings into intellectual works), rationalization (explaining unacceptable
behavior into logical reasons that were not intended), regression (turning back to a previous
stage of development, e.g. sucking thumbs after trauma), and reaction formation (using the
opposite feeling or thought, e.g. I love you to I hate you). Freudian slip is the stating of
unconscious feelings in replacement of the original wording in verbal conversation.
Freuds last work, was the psychosexual stages. Fixation or the retention of a single stage
throughout time can hinder psychosexual development. Each stage has its own erogenous zone
where it is focused. The oral stage (0-1) is the first stage and involves the active use of the
mouth as a habit formed through breastfeeding, and pleasure is gained through oral cavities such
as eating. The anal stage(1-3) is focused on the bowel and the anus as the major hill here is toilet
training. Pleasure is gained through defecation and urination. If toilet training is too strict or too
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early, the individual will develop an anal-retentive personality and will be orderly and if too
weak then the individual will gain an anal-expulsive personality and be messy and destructive.
Next, the phallic stage(3-6), has the erogenous zone at the genitals and individuals learn the
difference between genders. The Oedipus complex( the view that father is competition for
mother) and the Electra complex for girls (the view that mother is competition for father) occurs
at this time as well including the fears of castration anxiety (fatherly punishment) and penis
envy. Karen Horney rightfully blasted Freuds sexist statements and introduced womb envy.
After this stage a latency period occurs which both genders focus on schooling until age 6 to
puberty of which afterwards comes the genital stage where all sexual interests mature.
Freuds final work was psychoanalysis and psychotherapy which are now the most
commonly used psychotherapeutic method. It involves free association- listening to the patients
free-roaming thoughts. After analysis, the psychiatrists offers advice and explanation for the
problem as well as the route to combat it.

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Psychologist #4: Albert Bandura
Albert Bandura was a social psychologist involved in the Bobo doll study, observational
learning, and social learning theory. Banduras work traversed various sub-categories of
psychology including social and learning psychology. His studies led to an understanding of
child imitation and observation.
Albert Bandura proposed that people can learn through observation and in doing so present
imitation. This is especially found in his Bobo doll study, where adults were shown to children
acting aggressively to bobo dolls and so the children later imitated the act. This study later
influenced his work on observational learning, proposing that we can learn through observation.
This idea would carry on in his social learning theory which asserts three things: that people
can learn by observing, mental states affect learning (especially intrinsic motivation- motivation
built by the self as opposed to extrinsic motivation- motivation built by outside factors), and
that learning does not always lead to change. To model this Bandura stated that, students must
pay attention, retain information, reproduce the information, and be motivated.
Psychologist #5: Leon Festinger
Festinger developed two things: cognitive dissonance theory and social comparison theory.
Cognitive dissonance theory states that when a thought/belief and an action/perception conflict
with each other we must choose with one another as the conflict causes anxiety.
Festinger also developed social comparison theory which states that people learn by
socially comparing ourselves with others. This develops into attitudes. It also creates our beliefs
and competitive abilities.
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Psychologist #6: Carl Rogers
Carl Rogers is well-known for his work on client-centered therapy, humanistic psychology,
and the phenomenal field. Rogers first developed client-centered therapy in which he believes
the client is the best person to solve their problems. Client-centered therapy involves the
therapist restating the clients words instead of offering explanations. This is called active
listening as it involves the innovative use of his growth-promoting environments composed of
empathy, genuineness, self-acceptance, and unconditional positive regard- the regard to people
in which they are loved no matter what. As a humanistic psychologist, he worked in it actively
developing the notion that all people are all good but are pushed to evil and believed in free
will-that we are not predetermined by biology or psychology as seen in determinism.
As stated before, Rogers also developed the phenomenal field to explain thinking. The
phenomenal field is the merging of the individual and the environment to create the self which
incorporates objects, people, behaviors, thoughts, and images. The individual creates the self
through motivation and the environment connects with the self through learning.
Psychologist #7: Stanley Schacter
Schacter is most famous for his Two-Factor Theory of Emotion. It surmises that
emotions result from physiologically experiencing something and then cognitively labeling that
response to a specific emotion. The theory contrasts to the James-Lange theory as some emotions
are felt before physiological reactions. Although, it stands by its experiment in 1962 where
several males were injected with epinephrine to increase their heartbeat and physiological
reactions and then exposed to a euphoric or scared man. Those informed of the injections effects
reported being happier or more scared.
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Psychologist #8: Neal Miller
He co-authored many studies and wrote about Freuds work on the unconscious and
explained classical conditioning through operant conditioning. However, his most important
work was with Dollard on the frustration-aggression principle and scapegoat theory. Basically,
when people are frustrated they become aggressive and when unable to diffuse the aggression
they displace it onto a safer target- the scapegoat. In scapegoat theory, we ease our social
problems, aggression, and frustration by providing someone else to blame it all on.
Psychologist #9: Edward Thorndike
Edward Thorndike was involved in the creation of the Law of Effect, trial-and-error
learning, and educational psychology. His work in these fields was devoted and in turn he spent a
large portion of the later time of his life at Teachers College studying it. His work is still in
practice today and influenced Bandura.
His first and most famous work was the Law of Effect. While trying to answer the riddle
of how cats solve mazes and puzzles in his continuous animal research, Thorndike discovered
the responses resulting in a satisfactory outcome become strongly associated with the situation
and recurs again. Oppositely, it states that responses with negative results weaken with the
situation and are less likely to occur.
In the mid-section of his life, Thorndike became dedicated to pedagogy- the science of
teaching. He began to study learning and wrote his own trial-and-error theory of learning. It
states that people learn by being exposed to trials and error, plus combined with the Law of
Effect promote learning. With this and more, he founded educational psychology.
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Psychologist #10: Abraham Maslow
Abraham Maslow was a humanistic psychologist and believed in the concept of free will.
He was also the founder of humanism- the perspective of psychology that we control who we
are and that our lives are not predetermined due to our biology and inborn psychology- that in
quintessence, people can change. Maslow is commonly known for his hierarchy of needs and his
views on self-actualization.
Maslows hierarchy of needs proposes that we are influenced and motivated to achieve
need as we go along in life. The actual hierarchy is shown in a pyramid, but to avoid copying and
pasting a picture will have to be explained here in an uncreative manner of words. Maslow
categorized his needs into two types: deficiency needs- needs important to survival and growth
needs- ones that boost survival but are more important in social and intellectual life. His needs
are shown in five levels: physiological needs (basics: food, water, reproduction), security
needs( safety and being secure without threats), self-esteem needs (worth, accomplishments),
and the only growth need, self-actualization. Only after all the previous needs can self-
actualization be achieved and in order for all needs higher than others. Self-actualization is the
process and the state of being less concerned over pitiful and mundane matters, but more
concerned with achieving the full potential of their own selves and as Gandhi states, Be the
change in the world Maslow himself states that few people are self-actualized.
Psychologist #11: Gordon Allport
Gordon Allport focused on personality and developed the trait theory of personality. The
theory states that our traits determine our personality and that there are three types of traits.
Cardinal traits are those that dominate the whole personality, Central traits make up
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personalities, and Secondary traits only exist at certain conditions and times. According to this
theory (of which he created to reject Freudianism and behaviorism), our personalities are a
compilation of peoples traits that form cognitive thoughts.
Psychologist #12: Erik Erikson
Erik Erikson was a prominent psychologist who developed social development theory
which explains social development in stages. He also explained identity crisis. His work on
social development is criticized but is still in practice today.
Erikson explains that everyone has an ego identity- the conscious sense of self that
undergoes interaction in each stage. The ability of that identity to succeed each stage is known as
ego quality. Feelings of inadequacy develop if an individual fails to pass a stage. Conflict may
occur if thoughts differ during a stage of which may lead to identity crisis- not knowing who
one is.
His stages in order go as follows: trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame and doubt,
initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. confusion, intimacy vs. isolation,
generativity vs. stagnation, and integrity vs. despair. The first occurs during 0-1 and involves the
issue of who to trust and if they succeed they develop feelings of safety, security, and hope. If
they fail, they receive feelings of openness and danger. The second one takes place in the ages of
early childhood, and if they succeed, they develop feelings of confidence for the ability of self-
control and independence and if failed, then feelings of shame and inadequacy. The third stage
involves feelings of adequacy in learning and failure leads to guilt and lack of initiative. The
fourth stage is between the ages of 5 and 11 and heavily works on social interactions and
encouragement. Success leads to hard-working individuals- industry and failure leads to
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inferiority. The fifth stage is during the teenage years involves the maturation of ones identity,
and success leads to it. Failure may cause identity crisis and confusion. The firth stage is during
young adulthood and involves the ability to form intimate relationships. Success builds to
intimacy and a future, failure can lead to loneliness and depression. The sixth stage is during
adulthood and can lead to feelings of pride and personal growth while watching children grow.
Stagnation leads to depression, suffering, pain, and feelings of shame. The final stage is an
overview of life. Feeling that ones life was the best creates integrity, not meeting potential
ability leads to the inevitable despair.
Psychologist #13: Stanley Milgram
Milgram

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