Upward social comparison is the tendency to compare ourselves with those perceived to be better off than us. For example, when we see a colleague working hard and managing all their tasks effectively, we might be inspired to do the same. Social comparison is a universal phenomenon that is primarily done for self-evaluation, and the […]
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Downward social comparison occurs when people compare themselves with those (seemingly) worse off than them. For example, when a student performs poorly on a test, he may compare himself to someone who has failed, finding some relief. Downward social comparison can help us enhance our self-esteem and boost our confidence in various scenarios. However, it
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When someone says they have “family values”, they typically mean that they put their family above all else. Sometimes, family values also refers to the idea that they uphold certain moral and ethical principles that were instilled in them through their childhood by their parents or other family members. These principles ostensibly guide their behavior,
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Essay conclusions are not just extra filler. They are important because they tie together your arguments, then give you the chance to forcefully drive your point home. I created the 5 Cs conclusion method to help you write essay conclusions: I’ve previously produced the video below on how to write a conclusion that goes over
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A fixed interval schedule of reinforcement rewards behaviors after set periods of time. The interval of time between rewards is “fixed” and does not change, unlike other types of partial reinforcements like fixed variable schedules. Strictly speaking, after the interval has elapsed, the very next occurrence of the goal behavior is rewarded. However, in practice,
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Acquisition refers to the initial stage of learning when a behavior is first being acquired. The term is used in both classical and operant conditioning. In classical conditioning, a stimulus that naturally triggers a response (e.g., food that makes a dog salivate), is presented along with a second stimulus that is neutral (e.g., the sound
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Escape learning is when a person or animal learns to terminate an aversive stimulus by engaging in a specific behavior. Escape learning can range from an individual simply leaving a noisy room to evade the sound, to children engaging in disruptive classroom behavior to escape instruction. Escape Learning Definition and Origins Escape learning was originally
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Stimulus generalization occurs when a person or animal starts responding to one stimulus, then multiple stimuli, in a similar manner. They have ‘generalized‘ their response to stimuli. For example, a dog may identify a whistle as a stimulus indicating ‘food’. Over time, it may also notice footsteps and tapping a can as stimuli that also
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Response generalization refers to situations where one stimulus can lead to a range of different responses upon each exposure. An example is when we use varying synonyms of ‘good’ in response to “how are you today?”, so the response is different each time (great, doing well, awesome), but still gets the same point across. Pierce
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Secondary appraisal refers to the analysis of one’s available resources to overcome a potentially stressful situation. The analysis will either conclude that sufficient resources do, or do not exist. It is a term contrasted to primary appraisal, referring to the evaluation of the harm or benefit to be gained from a situation: If a person’s
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