MIDTERM SCKWRK twelve zero two (seventy-two) NEAL E. MILLER (nineteen zero nine - two thousand two) and JOHN DOLLARD (nineteen hundred - nineteen eighty): Learning Theory

MIDTERM SCKWRK twelve zero two (seventy-two) NEAL E. MILLER (nineteen zero nine - two thousand two) and JOHN DOLLARD (nineteen hundred - nineteen eighty): Learning Theory

Neal Miller (nineteen zero nine - two thousand two) was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on August three, nineteen zero nine. He received his B.S. from the University of Washington, where he studied with the famous learning theorist Edwin Guthrie. He received his master's degree from Stanford University in nineteen thirty-two and his Ph.D. from Yale University in nineteen thirty-five. He studied psychoanalysis in Vienna; returned to Yale in nineteen forty-six, and became a James Rowland Professor of Psychology in nineteen fifty-two. He transferred to Rockefeller University as professor of psychology and head of the Laboratory of Physiological Psychology in nineteen sixty-six. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and became president of the American Psychological Association. He received the Warren Medal from the Society of Experimental Psychologists and the President's Medal of Science.

Miller is known for his theoretical works on the nature of reinforcement, the acquisition of drives, and the study of conflicts. His latter works centered on behavioral medicine (nineteen eighty-three) and neuroscience (nineteen ninety-five).

John Dollard was born in Menasha, Wisconsin, on August twenty-nine, nineteen hundred. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin in nineteen twenty-two; his master's degree from the University of Chicago in nineteen thirty; and his Ph.D. in sociology from the same university in nineteen thirty-one.

Dollard became an assistant professor of anthropology at Yale University in nineteen thirty-one. Not long after, he joined the Institute of Human Relations at Yale as an assistant professor of sociology. He continued working in both institutions until his retirement in nineteen sixty-nine. His contributions were recognized by the university, which granted him professor emeritus status in nineteen sixty-nine.

Dollard was trained in psychoanalysis at the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute. In Yale, he collaborated with Miller, and together, they authored several books, including: Frustration and Aggression, Social Learning and Imitation, Personality and Psychotherapy, and Thinking and Culture.

John Dollard died in nineteen eighty at the age of eighty.

VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE

Dollard and Miller's goal was to combine Freud's theory with equated reinforcement with drive reduction and defined a habit as a learning theory, mainly that of Hull's. Hull's theory of learning is a strong association of a stimulus and a response.

Drive, cue, response, and reinforcement Dollard and Miller's theory of personality relied heavily on four concepts borrowed from Hull.

A drive is any strong stimulus that impels an organism to action, and whose elimination or retention is reinforcing. Drives may be internal, such as hunger and thirst, or external, such as a loud noise or intense heat or cold. A drive may be primary, directly related to survival, like hunger and thirst; or secondary or learned, such as fear, anxiety, or the need to be successful and/or attractive. Primary drives are considered the building blocks of personality, and all acquired drives ultimately depend upon them. Secondary drives are usually culturally determined, while primary drives are not. Drives are the energizers of personality.

A cue is a stimulus that indicates the appropriate direction an activity should take. Drives energize behavior, while cues guide behavior. Cues determine when, where, and how a person will respond. An example is the traffic light that cues the driver on whether to step on the brake or the accelerator.