Behaviorism Flashcards
Epistemology
Philosophy: the theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope. Epistemology is the investigation of what distinguishes justified belief from opinion.
Objectivism
Philosophy:the belief that certain things, especially moral truths, exist independently of human knowledge or perception of them.
Empiricism
Philosophy: the theory that all knowledge is derived from sense-experience. Stimulated by the rise of experimental science, it developed in the 17th and 18th centuries, expounded in particular by John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume.
Pragmatism
Philosophy: an approach that assesses the truth of meaning of theories or beliefs in terms of the success of their practical application.
Interpretivism
A sociological approach that emphasizes the need to understand or interpret the beliefs, motives, and reasons of social actors in order to understand social reality.
Associationism
a theory in philosophy or psychology which regards the simple association or co-occurrence of ideas or sensations as the primary basis of meaning, thought, or learning.
Law of Effect
The law of effect is a psychology principle advanced by Edward Thorndike in 1898 on the matter of behavioral conditioning (not then formulated as such) which states that “responses that produce a satisfying effect in a particular situation become more likely to occur again in that situation, and responses that produce a discomforting effect become less likely to occur again in that situation
Classical conditioning
Psychology: a learning process that occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired: a response which is at first elicited by the second stimulus is eventually elicited by the first stimulus alone.
Gestalt Theory
Gestalt psychology, gestaltism or configurationism is a school of psychology that emerged in the early twentieth century in Austria and Germany as a theory of perception that was a rejection to the basic principles of Wilhelm Wundt’s and Edward Titchener’s elementalist and structuralist psychology.
Contingencies of reinforcement
Contingencies of reinforcement, in their simplest form, are comprised of antecedents (events that occur immediately before a behavior), responses or behaviors, and consequences (events that occur immediately after a behavior).
Primary, secondary, and social reinforcers
While a primary reinforcer is innate, a secondary reinforcer is a stimulus that becomes reinforcing after being paired with a primary reinforcer, such as praise, treats, or money. Responding to the secondary reinforcer is a learned behavior not a born reflex.
Positive & negative reinforcement vs. punishment
Instead, positive means you are adding something, and negative means you are taking something away. Reinforcement means you are increasing a behavior, and punishment means you are decreasing a behavior.
Respondent behavior
behavior that is evoked by a specific stimulus and that will consistently and predictably occur if the stimulus is presented. Also called elicited behavior.
Classical vs. Operant conditioning
Classical conditioning involves associating an involuntary response and a stimulus, while operant conditioning is about associating a voluntary behavior and a consequence. In operant conditioning, the learner is also rewarded with incentives,5 while classical conditioning involves no such enticements.
Neutral vs. Unconditioned stimulus
The Difference Between Unconditioned Stimulus and Neutral Stimulus. An unconditioned stimulus elicits a natural, reflexive response, called the unconditioned response (UCR). A stimulus that doesn’t naturally elicit a response is a neutral response. … The bell’s sound is hence a neutral stimulus.
