behaviourism

Question 1

how are behaviours acquired?

Answer 1

through interaction with the environment

Question 2

what philosophical influence plays a role in behaviourism?

Answer 2

positivism

Question 3

what are 3 historical roots of behaviourism?

Answer 3

• reflex theory of brain
• darwinism
• functionalism

Question 4

what are the 3 basic tenets of behaviourism?

Answer 4

• species’ differences are insignificant
• animals are tabula rasa
• all behaviours are equally trainable in response to all stimuli

Question 5

how did romanes explain animal behaviour?

Answer 5

in psychological terms, anecdotally, anthropomorphically

Question 6

what is anthropomorphic interpretation?

Answer 6

attribute human behaviour to animals

Question 7

what did lloyd morgan’s canon warn against?

Answer 7

the belief that human and animal cognitive processes are the same

Question 8

what speculation was lloyd morgan against?

Answer 8

the speculation of the existence of thoughts and feelings in non-humans

Question 9

what 2 things was thorndike against?

Answer 9

anecdote and anthropomorphism

Question 10

what did thorndike discover about animal behaviour through his puzzle boxes?

Answer 10

animals associate correct responses with rewards

Question 11

what is throndike’s law of effect?

Answer 11

rewards stamp in connection between situation and motor response,

Question 12

how is learning decided according to law of effect?

Answer 12

unconsciously through connecting

Question 13

how did watson describe behaviourism?

Answer 13

purely objective, experimental branch of natural science

Question 14

what was watson against?

Answer 14

introspection, delusion to think psychology observes mental states

Question 15

how did watson describe consciousness?

Answer 15

relic of ancient days of superstition and magic

Question 16

how did watson describe behaviour?

Answer 16

there are no centrally initiated processes, the mind is behaviour

Question 17

what is anti-nativism?

Answer 17

all characteristics, talents, capacities are learnt, not inherited

Question 18

what was watson’s most famous behaviourism study?

Answer 18

little albert

Question 19

where was behaviourism most dominant?

Answer 19

the US

Question 20

how did pavlov’s conditioned reflex method contribute to behaviourism?

Answer 20

enabled reflexes to be manipulated experimentally

Question 21

what did pavlov discover to be the building block of behaviour?

Answer 21

forming an association between 2 stimuli

Question 22

what do behaviourists debate about studying?

Answer 22

internal processes

Question 23

when was the age of learning theory?

Answer 23

the 1930s

Question 24

what was the age of learning theory?

Answer 24

various theories used as a general explanation of behaviour

Question 25

what were theories in the age of learning theory reliant on?

Answer 25

operational definitions

Question 26

what is radical behaviourism?

Answer 26

prediction and control of behaviour

Question 27

what does radical behaviourism say about the mind and self?

Answer 27

there is no place for a mind or self

Question 28

why were animals used in behaviourism?

Answer 28

they are simplified humans that are easier to be objective about

Question 29

what did hull discover in his rat study?

Answer 29

rats learned stimulus-response connections

Question 30

what mechanism forms S-R connections?

Answer 30

law of effect

Question 31

why do rats not know the consequences of their actions?

Answer 31

the S-R connections are the knowledge

Question 32

what 2 things can behaviour be affected by?

Answer 32

current environmental conditions & past events

Question 33

what are proto-cognitivists?

Answer 33

account for behaviour in terms of internal mechanisms e.g. hull

Question 34

why did skinner not believe in psychological theories?

Answer 34

theory refers to any explanation of observed facts, applied to events taking place somewhere else

Question 35

what did skinner want to explore relations between?

Answer 35

emitted behaviours (response rate) and environmental elements (reward rate, presence of stimuli)

Question 36

what did skinner say about contingencies of reinforcement?

Answer 36

they hardly need theory

Question 37

how did the skinner improve the messiness of psychology?

Answer 37

everything is clearly defined (stimulus, response, reinforcement, environment), gave it physics-like precision

Question 38

what are schedules of reinforcement?

Answer 38

how often a reward is given