p. 85
General Principles
Basic postulates for a social learning theory of personality
Definitions of general terms
An event is anything that has a locus in space and time.
Behavior refers to an event in which a living organism is one of the referents (experiences).
A construct is a term that represents an attempt to abstract the nature of an event or events. It is dependent upon the orientation, point of view, or problem of the observer as well as upon the "real" nature of the event, it never corresponds exactly to the event. Constructs may be evaluated only in pragmatic terms (i.e., usefulness in prediction).
Postulate 1 - The unit of investigation for the study of personality is the interaction of the individual and his meaningful environment.
* In field theory the emphasis is on the individual person interacting with or reacting to the environment that has meaning for him. This meaningful world must be differentiated from the real or objective world.
p. 86 The term meaningful environment as used here refers to the acquired significance or meaning of the environment to the individual. Clarification of the importance of meaningful environment leads to the formulation of Corollary 1.
Corollary 1 - The study of personality is the study of learned behavior. Learned behavior is behavior that is modifiable, that changes with experience.
Learned behavior may be distinguished from what may be called "physiological adaptation" in that, in learning, the acquired changed may be described in terms of a new relationship association, or connection.
(...)
Postulate 5 - A person's experiences (or his interactions with his meaningful environment) influence each other. Otherwise states, personality has unity. New experiences are a partial function of acquired meanings, and old acquired meanings or learnings are changed by new experience. Perfect prediction of acquired behavior would ideally required a complete knowledge of previous experience.
Corollary 1 - One cannot truly speak of the "cause" or "etiology" of behavior as described by personality constructs but only of the conditions, present and antecedent, necessary for the occurrence of the behavior. Such descriptions are never "ultimate" or final.
Postulate 6 - Behavior as described by personality constructs has a directional aspect. It may be said to be goal-directed. The directional aspect of behavior is inferred from the effect of reinforcing conditions.
p. 218
Language as a cue or reinforcement
A person learns to associate words, ideas, and statements, like any other stimuli, with future events. Words spoken, written, or conveyed through gesture are signals for future occurrences. Not only may they serve as major cue but they may direct attention to specific cues in a complex situation.
p. 361
Relationship and transference
Under the headings of acceptance, reassurance, and transference we shall discuss how the patient develops his expectations for direct reinforcement from the therapist.
Acceptance
(...) If the therapist is able to accept the patient's problems as real, as problems that do not call for scorn or criticism but require understanding and help, the patient not only finds a comfort and satisfaction in the therapy situation but tends to generalize his expectations that the therapist will not react with criticsm or punishment for his other behaviors.
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