2.2 Early Learning Theory: Pavlov, Hull & Tolman Flashcards

1
Q

What are the 2 separate scientific traditions in the study of behaviour?

A

Natural History

Physiological

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2
Q

Describe natural history study of behaviour

A
Observational
Species differences 
Function 
Evolutionary theory 
Darwin, Romanes
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3
Q

Describe the physiological study of behaviour

A

Experimental
Looking at general mechanisms in animals and how this can be applied to everyday
Reflex theory
Thorndike, Watson, Pavlov

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4
Q

What is reflex theory?

A

The biological system works on a complicated mass of reflexes

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5
Q

What did Pavlov’s original research look into?

A

The digestive system of dogs

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6
Q

Discuss the classic setup of how the dog was studied

A

Fistulla - hole in the cheek where a tube comes out to collect the saliva that can then be measured

Smoked paper drum and needle - each time there was a drop of saliva the needle would jerk so there is a record on the paper drum of how many times the dog salivated

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7
Q

What did Pavlov observe while studying salivation in dogs?

A

Different foods elicited different kinds of saliva released

Found that when the student entered the room, the dog started to salivate even though they were yet to receive the food

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8
Q

What was a psychic reflex?

A

The dog salivating at the sight of the human rather than actual food

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9
Q

What did Wolfsohn find when conducting experiments looking at conditioned reflexes?

A

Different kinds of saliva produced depending on what the animal is presented with
eg. tin of sand = watery saliva, tin of meat = mucus thick saliva full of enzymes

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10
Q

What did the discovery of hormonal control of digestive processes do to Pavlov’s theory?

A

Undermined it because Pavlov believed that everything was controlled by the nervous system

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11
Q

What was a main limitation of Pavlov?

A

Working out how the brain works - his concept was outdated by 1910
His idea was that everything was interconnected and did not take on board that the brain is made of neurons connected by synapses

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12
Q

When was the Skinner box invented and what was it used to investigate?

A

1930

Used to investigate instrumental learning procedures - this is different to Pavlovian conditioning

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13
Q

How did Pavlov refer to conditioned reflexes?

A

A connection in the brain

Bell – food centre in the brain – salivation

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14
Q

What did the American theorists who took Thorndike’s view refer to conditioned reflexes as?

A

A direct link between bell and salivation
Argued that the arrival of food is like the Law of Effect
Arrival of food acts to reinforce and strengthen the connection
The bell automatically elicits salivation, not because the dog expects food

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15
Q

How did Sheffield prove the American behaviourists wrong?

A

Using omission procedures

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16
Q

What was Sheffield’s omission procedure experiment?

A

Food would only arrive only if the dog did not salivate - the food could not reinforce salivation because it never occurred together

Showed that the dog continues to salivate even though it hasn’t been reinforced

The dog salivates because it is expecting food

17
Q

What did Hull think about Watson’s theory?

A

Believed it was too simplistic but his basic approach was correct

18
Q

What was Hull’s mechanistic behaviourism theory?

A

Drive theory

It was a theory of learning and motivation based on the idea that motivation is determined by the reduction of drives

19
Q

Who was Hull’s main critique of mechanistic behaviourism?

A

Tolman with purposive behaviourism

20
Q

What did Tolman state about purposive behaviourism?

A

Behaviour is goal directed and purposeful
Learning can occur in the absence of reinforcers - the reinforcer just provides incentive
Distinguished between learning and performance
There are lots of diff kinds of learning