|
|
Active vocabulary
environmental cues [In"va(q)rqn'mentl] подразники середовища
to interact взаємодіяти
acquisition ["xkwI'zIS(q)n] придбання
modification зміна
generalization узагальнення
intervening variable впливова змінна
by-product побічний продукт
essential необхідний
socialization process процес соціалізації
work habits навички роботи
study habits навички навчання
social habits суспільні
навички concentration концентрація
memorization процес запам'ятовування
efficiency [I'fIS(q)ns] ефективність
neatness акуратність, охайність
verbal skills вербальні (словесні) навички
virtually automatic responses практично автоматичні реакції
to memorize запам'ятовувати
effort зусилля
reinforcement ["ri:In'f:smqnt] посилення
extinguishing що гасить
pairing спарювання, асоціація
external cues зовнішні подразники
set of stimuli набір, безліч стимулів
salient ['seIlIqnt] яскравий, видатний
school counselors консультант по роботі з учнями (завуч)
probability імовірність
to arise виникати
weak слабкий
incompatible ["Inkqm'pxtqb(q)l] несумісний
overeating переїдання
unsafe work practices небезпечні навички роботи
to deprive позбавляти
join a weight-control group to provide external punishment приєднатися до групи контрольної ваги для забезпечення покарання ззовні
refrain утримуватися
individually tailored індивідуально спроектований
inappropriate ["Inq'prqVprIIt] недоречний, невідповідний
Text.
Habit
Habit is any instrumentally learned response that occurs with regularity and in response to specific environmental cues.
The concept of habit has a long history in experimental psychology. In the learning theories of Clark Hull and Kenneth Spence, for example, it played a central role as an established response tendency. Interacting with drive to produce behavior, habit was the know-how and drive the motivation. Learning was viewed as the accumulation and organization of response habits.
This concept of habit has received less attention in recent years because it has been recognized that habits can better be understood by means of a more operational analysis. This emphasizes their acquisition, modification, and generalization.
Although habit became less and less central to theories of human and animal learning as an intervening variable, it has remained an important aspect of all behavior theory. The questions that researchers put about habit have changed, with modern interest focused on the factors that influence habit, especially the role of environmental cues in the establishment of habit.
One by-product of this change in emphasis has been a growing understanding of habitual behaviors.
An important aspect of this change in focus is a growing concern about how behavior patterns became habits and how habits can be eliminated or modified.
Building good habits is an essential part of the socialization process. Parents, teachers, and others have as one of their goals the teaching of good work habits, study habits, manners (which are social habits), and avariety of other habits that are valued by the culture. This can be expressed in slightly more technical terms by saying that parents and teachers are concerned with establishing a set of relatively permanent work behaviors, study behaviors, and social behaviors. Typical study habit behaviors would include concentration, memorization, efficiency, neatness, and verbal skills. The goal is to establish these behaviors as virtually automatic responses to a set of stimuli associated with studying.
Acquiring these behaviors is essentially a two-part process. First the behavior in question must be learned. The individual must learn to concentrate, memorize, and attend to his or her work. These responses must become so well established, in fact, that they require little or no effort. In terms of operant conditioning, the establishment of a habit is entirely dependent upon the reinforcement of appropriate behaviors and the extinguishing or punishment of inappropriate behaviors. But this acqu-isitory stage may not be as obvious as it first appears.
The second aspect of habit acquisition is the pairing of the appropriate response with specific environmental cues. All of us have thousands of well-learned responses that cannot be considered habits because they are not tied to any specific external cues. To be considered a habit, such a response must occur when and only when a particular stimulus or set of stimuli are present. In this stage of habit building, the previously learned response is said to be brought under discriminative control of environmental cues; the habit becomes tied to events in the environment that determine when the response will occur. In building the study habit, for example, the responses of concentration, memorization, and so on, become conditioned to a set of discriminative stimuli, such as a study hall, library, desk, open notebook, and so on.
The most common problem in establishing a habit is that the environmental cues often are not strong enough or salient enough to elicit the habit behaviors. Thus, school counselors often suggest that a student should have a room or small area that serves as a cue exclusively for studying. If the environment becomes a cue for only one habit, the probability that the desired behavior will occur is increased.
An even greater problem in the establishment of a habit may arise when the behaviors to be cued by the environmental stimuli are not sufficiently strong to be consistently emitted. The response may be so weak, in fact, that the environmental cues elicit an entirely different or even incompatible habit. Many otherwise good programs to build useful habits have failed because an inadequate amount of attention was given to strengthening the desired behaviors before getting them under strict control.
The elimination of habits can be more of a problem than their acquisition. Old habits such as smoking, overeating, and unsafe work practices are difficult to eliminate, but they can be extinguished by applying the same principles used to build habits.
First, the responses that the habit comprises may be weakened through punishment or extinction. In the case of overeating, the individual may deprive himself of some reward when he overeats, or he may join a weight-control group to provide external punishment.
Important environmental cues must also be eliminated, so that the habit will no longer be elicited by external factors. Smoking or eating cues, for example, can be catalogued by an individual and then systematically eliminated. Usually the weakest cues are eliminated first, followed by the more difficult. In one experimental program individuals learned to refrain from smoking in a variety of situations; the final step in the program was attendance at several no-smoking cocktail parties. Since cocktail parties serve as very strong smoking elicitors, this cue was an important one to eliminate. Such programs must be individually tailored to fit individual environmental hierarchies.
As with the building of habits, both the behavior and the environmental cues controlling the behavior must be effectively dealt with. Successful habit elimination ideally should also provide an alternative response for the old cues. The foreman concerned with unsafe work practices, for example, will be more successful if he trains the correct response at the same time that he tries to eliminate an inappropriate old habit.
Answer the following questions based on the texts
1. What is the definition of habit?
2. What concept of habit has received less attention in recent years?
3. Why did habit become less and less central to theories of human and animal learning?
4. What is essential part of the socialization process?
5. What do typical study habit behaviors include?
6. What are the aspect of habit acquisition?
7. What response can be considered a habit?
8. What are the stages of habit building?
9. What is the most common problems inestablishing a habit?
|