ABSTRACT
This chapter considers some of the basic processes through which social behaviors are learned and the manner in which they can be changed. It will become evident that the findings reported in the preceding chapters are consistent with the results and expectations from experimental studies of behavior reviewed here. Therefore the findings on the limited utility of responses as signs of underlying personality and on behavioral specificity should not be dismissed as resulting from the methodological inadequacies of a young science. Rather, their implications for behavior assessment and change will have to be explored seriously. In this chapter, first we shall present some basic concepts about behavior; then the data on the cross-situational specificity and consistency in behavior provided by trait-state research will be analyzed from the perspective of social behavior theory.
