Behaviorism - Lecture

Question 1

What does John Watson think ?

Answer 1

psychology needs to be a purely objective experimental science. diff from psychoanalysis bc thinks you need experiments that include quantification

Question 2

John Watson, what does he say the goal of psych is ?

Answer 2

prediction and control of behavior

Question 3

Main difference between psychoanalysis and behaviorism

Answer 3

psychoanalysis wants to alleviate mental suffering ( make happier ) behaviorism doesn’t say a lot about emotion at all.

Question 4

what do behaviorists focus on

Answer 4

changing a behavior instead of healing your mind.

Question 5

why can it be considered a surface level approach ?

Answer 5

Because behaviorism is based on some sort of reward/punishment system. it does not care for the real reason for the behavior ( depression etc )

Question 6

BF skinner says what ?

Answer 6

the events appealed to in psychoanalytic explanations are beyond the reach of observation ( its not scientific enough )

Question 7

why can BF skinner contradict himself ?

Answer 7

he ignores the fact that in hard sciences there are unobservable consistencies ( physics, string theory, both theoretically postulated entities) but says that you cant directly observe internal struggles so we cant comment on it.

Question 8

What do behaviorists reject ?

Answer 8

mentalism ( trying to explain a person based on what is going on inside a persons head ). behaviorists try to build theories of behavior that do not reference things going on in their head but observable behaviors.

Question 9

instead of mentalism behaviorists focus on what ?

Answer 9

observable behavior. Easy to quantify behaviors ( how many people did they interrupt today ) and behaviros that are shaped by outside events, ( how it is shaped by objectively observable external events.

Question 10

principle of behaviorism

Answer 10

behavioral propensities solely determined by learning history

Question 11

learning

Answer 11

enduring change in behavior caused by experience ( so a behavior less than you used to, i have learned to be less aggressive or get out of bed at the right time )

Question 12

Tabula rosa

Answer 12

( JOHN LOCKE ) blank slate. you are not born with any tendencies for behavior. with experience of learning you learn behaviors implanted in you by learning.

Question 13

what does john locke think ?

Answer 13

he can train behavior of anyone based on tabula rosa, “ give me a dozen healthy infants….”