DP WEEK 2

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Walden University *

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6110D

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Psychology

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Jan 9, 2024

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Discussion Post Week 2 A theory is a set of concepts and rational statements that organize scientific knowledge in a focused way. Theories typically have four purposes: describing, explaining, predicting, and controlling or changing phenomena (Burkholder et al). If a psychologist is interested in understanding why people behave the way they do, they would use the goal of description. If the psychologist wants to go one step further and explain why people behave the way they do, they would use explanation as the goal. Lastly, the goals of control are used by psychologists who want to predict future behavior or change current behavior. These four purposes are hierarchical, with each subsequent purpose including the previous one. Theories are used in research in two ways, as a guide for the research process including questions and interpreting findings, and to test the theory itself, by measuring the concepts and testing relationships to determine adequacy. We must be able to establish logical foundations for questions so that we can interpret findings, this is the essential interplay between theory and research, each integral to the other for advancing knowledge. Disciplinary perspective is each discipline's unique view of reality, each has distinct perspectives and worldviews that distinguish one discipline from another (Miller, 1982). A disciplines "perspective" is the lens through which it views reality filtering out certain phenomena in order to focus on the phenomena that it is interested in. The elements that define a discipline are the phenomena it studies, its epistemology and the rules that constitute evidence, the assumptions it makes about the natural world, concepts, theories about causes and behaviors of phenomena, and its methods (Klein, 2005). While social learning theory comes from psychology, its tenets are very applicable to the study of social work. Social learning theory suggests that social behavior is learned by observing and imitating the behavior of others. Psychologist Albert Bandura developed the social learning theory as an alternative to the earlier work of B.F. Skinner. While behavioral psychology focused on how the environment and reinforcement affect behavior, Bandura added that individuals can learn behavior through observation. There are four processes in social learning theory; Attention , the degree to which we notice behavior. A behavior must grab our attention before it can be imitated. Retention , how well we remember the behavior. We cannot perform the behavior if we do not remember it. While a behavior may be noticed, unless memory is formed, the observer will not perform the behavior. Reproduction or the ability to perform the behavior, and Motivation , the will to emulate the behavior. This involves learning through observing the consequences of actions for other people, rather than through direct experiences. Social learning theory is grounded by several key assumptions; people learn through observation, reinforcement and

punishment have indirect effects on behavior and learning, mediational processes influence our behavior (cognitive factors), and learning does not necessarily lead to change (Lind & Ghirlanda). Examples of social learning theory in everyday life are most evident in the behaviors of children as they imitate family members, friends, and television characters. What do I have to believe about the world in order for me to accept of use this theory? - Drs. Burkholder and Burbank Burkholder, Cox, Crawford, and Hitchcock (2020) describe the post positivism-social constructivist view as an approach to gain understanding with a subjective truth and knowledge gained by interactions. The constructivist theory is aligned with the epistemological and ontological assumptions; the constructivist theorist aims to develop a theory through observations that are not set as one truth. According to Babbie (2017), "social scientists begin constructing a theory through the inductive method by observing aspects of social life then seeking to discover patterns that may point to relatively universal principles." The ontology assumption is subjective and will lean the research in a qualitative direction. The epistemological approach is from a stance of collaborating with others, to gain knowledge and make changes as information is obtained. References Burkholder, G.J., Cox, K., Crawford, L., Hitchcock, J., (2020). Research Design and Methods. an Applied guide for the Scholar Practitioner. SAGE Publications. Miller, R., (1982). Varieties of Interdisciplinary Approaches in the Social Sciences. Association for Integrative Studies. 1-37. Klein, p. (2005). Epistemology . Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Lind, J., Ghirlanda, S., (2019). Social Learning Through Associative Processes. Royal Society Open Science. 6(3). Babbie, E., (2017). Basics of Social Research. (7th ed). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

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