1. To what extent do you feel arguments, even wars, result because people construe events with different construct systems? Use Kelly's Personal Construct Theory as a basis for answering this question. On the other hand, what does Kelly's theory say about reducing conflict between people?
2. Read about Kelly's "fixed role therapy" (either in the book or online). How is this type of therapy supposed to help you? In other words, if you go through this type of therapy, how is it supposed to change your personality? Would you want to get this type of therapy? Why or why not?
3. A radical behaviorist says, "Any animal or person can be trained to do anything with operant conditioning." Is this true? Can operant conditioning, expertly applied, change any behavior? Would you want someone to "train" you to be different with operant conditioning?
4. Punishment is frequently used as a form of parenting. Another form of parenting could be the use of positive reinforcement. Discuss which of these forms of parenting would have the greatest immediate and long-term positive and/or negative effect on the child.
5. Does Bandura say that we only learn to do bad things from models or do we learn to do good things too? Give an example from your life (or a friend or family member's life) where you have learned how to do something good from just observing a model and where you have learned how to do something bad just through observation. If we could have more peaceful models in our lives, would we have a more peaceful society?
6. Bandura is very concerned with the issue of modeled violence--we learn to be violent from watching violent role models. Can you think of examples where this is true (ie, tv programs, cartoons, video games) or where this is untrue? What do you think about the idea that if we had less exposure to violence, we could have a more peaceful society?