Behaviourism Flashcards
what was Thorndike’s study?
put animals in various puzzle boxes with food outside the box
had to perform a task to get out such as pull a string
they soon learned the association
what is the law of effect?
(Thorndike)
association between a stimulus (cause) and a response (effect)
what was the process of Skinner’s rats?
rat got a treat if it pressed the lever when it was green, an electric shock of it was red
negative reinforcement was not recovering the shock
continuous reinforcement is developed where the rat presses the lever when it is green each time
what are the strength of Skinner?
conditions animals to show a desired behaviour
shows how the animals are more likely to pick up the behaviour when they are rewarded
what are the limitations of Skinner?
can’t be applied to humans and our thought processes
could vary between different animals
ethical issues
what is a primary reinforcer?
necessary for survival eg food
what is a secondary reinforcer?
one that provides the means to obtain a primary informer eg money
what is positive reinforcement?
anything pleasant given to you when the desired behaviour is performed
what is negative reinforcement?
when something unpleasant is removed/avoided after the desired behaviour is performed
what is classical conditioning?
stimulus response learning
what is the unconditioned stimulus?
something that makes a response naturally
what is the unconditioned response?
natural response to the stimulus
what is the neutral stimulus?
change in environment you have no response to yet
what is the conditioned stimulus?
something you’re taught to have a natural response to
what is the conditioned response?
response to the conditioned stimulus
what does tabula rasa mean?
humans are born as a blank slate
what was Pavlov’s study?
each time the dog received his food the bell was sounded for a few seconds and the amount of saliva measured
after several tries the bell was sounded without food being presented, and the dogs still salivated nearly as much as when there was food
the dog had been classically conditioned to salivate at the sound of the bell
what is extinction?
if a dog hears a bell on several trials when no food is presented, the association weakens so eventually the dog will not salivate when hearing the bell
what is spontaneous recovery?
when the dog is removed from the experiment for a few hours and is then returned, it will salivate (show the CR) when it hears the bell
shows the association has not been completely extinguished
what does anthropomorphic mean?
giving an animal (or something else) a human quality
we can’t generalise from animals to humans
what are the strengths of classical conditioning?
scientific methods - high reliability
generalisable to humans eg a school bell means it’s time to leave
can be used to treat phobias in humans
what are the weaknesses of classical conditioning?
anthropomorphic
too simplistic - classical conditioning is nurture and some things come down to nature
what was Watson and Raynor’s (1920) research on?
little albert :
a rat was placed in front of the baby and he seemed happy (NS)
2 months later when the baby was shown the rat, a four-foot metal bar was struck behind his ear, making a loud noise that scared him (UCS)
repeated 5 times a week and twice more 17 days later
what was the results in Watson and Raynor’s (1920) study?
when the bar struck he displayed fear
in the second trial he was suspicious of the rat and the next session he turned away from the rat immediately
also scared of a similar objected like a fur coat that was placed in front of him (generalisation)
