Psychology

How can classical conditioning be understood as an objectification of the philosopher's law of association by contiguity?

Aristotle's "law of association by contiguity" was one of the most influential theories about learning prior to Ivan Pavlov's studies on conditioning. The law of association by contiguity is as follows: "If a person experiences two environmental events (stimuli) at the same time or one right after the other (contiguously), those events will become associated in the person's mind, such that the thought of one will, in the future, tend to elicit the thought of the other" (Gray, 1999, p. 104).

Classical conditioning can be understood as an objectification of Aristotle's law of association by contiguity because it essentially proposes the same idea, that learning occurs when two stimuli are paired in a person's experience. However, there is an important difference between Pavlov's classical conditioning and Aristotle's law of association by contiguity. This difference is that according to Pavlov, one stimulus elicits a behavioral response that was previously elicited just by the other while in the philosopher's law of association by contiguity, one stimulus comes to elicit a thought that was previously elicited just by the other. According to Gray (1999), the advantage of Pavlov's classical conditioning over the philosopher's law is that a behavioral response is observable, while a thought is not. Thus, while one can observe the association of stimuli and responses of certain people or animals, one can only speculate about the association of thoughts.

References: Gray, P. (1999). "Psychology" (3rd ed.). NY: Worth Publishers

Describe the theories of adult development pertinent to your understanding of a 40 yr old female client.

For middle adult development, there are three main theories: Erikson, Levinson and Valliant.

Erikson's theory says that there are different -psychological conflicts at different stages of life. In middle age adults go through the conflict of generativity versus stagnation. During this time period adults can become more generative in that they have a greater commitment to the community and the integration of personal goals with the welfare of the larger social community. Generativity involves reaching out to others in ways that give to and guide the next generation. It involves any activities that outlive the self and ensure society's continuity and improvement including children, ideas, works of art, etc. Middle age adults feel a need to be needed, they want to make a contribution that will survive their death. On the less positive side, there can be stagnation. For some people when they have achieved certain life goals like marriage, children, vocation, they become self-centered and self-indulgent, place on security and comfort first and are self absorbed.

Generativity is a prominent concern for middle-age adults as it is part of an expanding identity that gives purpose and meaning to life and promotes psychological fulfillment.

According to Levinson, middle age is a time to reassess the relation to the external world. Around 40, people evaluate their success in meeting early adulthood goals. They experience confusion as they act to modify their life (marriage, family, work). Some make drastic changes or others smaller changes. Some may be disappointed into having fully realized their early adulthood dream and feel added pressure to find a more satisfying path before it is too late. Others who may have reached their goals may question their priorities in terms of what good their accomplishments are to others. Adults have to conform 4 developmental tasks, which require them to reconcile 2 opposing tendencies with self:

• Young-Old: The middle age person seeks new ways of being both young and old. This means giving up certain youthful qualities, retaining and transforming others, and finding positive meaning in being older.
• Destruction -Creation: Past hurtful and destructive acts towards others are countered by a strong desire to become more creative - making something of value to the self and others and participating in activities that advance human welfare. There is an awareness of mortality.
• Masculinity-Femininity: comes to term with both parts of self and creating a balance. For women this means becoming more autonomous, dominant and assertive.
• Engagement-Separateness: the middle-aged person must create a better balance between engagement with the external world and separateness. For Women who have devoted themselves to child rearing or who have unfulfilling jobs they move toward greater involvement in work and wider community. Men or career-oriented women, they typically pull back from ambition and achievement and become more in touch with self.

According to Levinson virtually all people experience considerable frustration and turmoil and can result in a mid life crisis. Due to the double standard of aging, women have more trouble than men accepting being older. Men adopt "feminine" traits of nurturance and caring, whereas women take on "masculine" trains of autonomy, dominance, and assertiveness.

Valliant says that in middle age adults become guardians of their culture, they carry peak responsibility for function in society. They are the guardians of their culture and they pass on the torch to the next generation. Unlike Levinson, Valliant did not find mid-life crisis to be very prevalent.

Therefore, these theories also see middle age as a time for re-adjustment of values and priorities. This must be taken into consideration when assessing a 40 year old client. Also all three theories suggest that activities involving the outside community are important. Erikson sees positive development at this time of life as engaging in activities that give to next generation and the community. Levinson's stresses the psychosocial changes of this time that can result in the turmoil of this time and mid-life crisis due to an awareness of the limited time ahead and reassessment of earlier goals which prompt people to change their life structure. Valliant's theory sees this as a time for a quieter life.