Behaviourism Flashcards
What is Behaviourism and how does it operate?
The science of human behaviour; behaviourists collect facts, measure behaviour, and look for patterns
What is the main belief held by behaviourists?
One’s behaviour is entirely dependent on their past & present environment
What is classical conditioning?
A method of conditioning that focuses on automatic, unconscious responses to stimuli
What is a neutral stimulus?
A stimulus that generates no positive or negative response
What is an unconditioned response?
The automatic, unconscious response to a stimulus
What is a conditioned response?
A response that is trained over time, and eventually becomes automatic
What is a conditioned stimulus?
A stimulus that has been conditioned to generate either positive or negative automatic responses (conditioned responses)
What does it mean to ‘extinguish’ in the behaviourist context?
To extinguish = to minimize/reduce/disappear a response to a conditioned stimulus
What is the Garcia Effect?
Conditioned ‘taste’ aversion
i.e. Cindy & the taste of lamb
What kind of classical conditioning did Watson & Rayner do?
Classical conditioning of emotions
What is Operant Conditioning?
Taking an action and heightening or decreasing it for research purposes
i.e. the rat pushing the bar for food
Who invented the ‘Rats pushing bars’ experiment?
B. Skinner
What are successive approximations?
Conditioning via ‘warmer or colder’ methodology to en/discourage certain behaviours
What are reinforcers?
Anything at all that increases behaviour - it can be positive or negative
What are positive reinforcers?
Anything that people like
What are the two main types of positive reinforcers?
Primary (basic human needs)
Secondary (praise, toys, tokens, fun activities, etc.)
What is a negative reinforcer?
A reinforcer that is something negative being taken away or stopped
i.e. your car stopping its horrid beeping when you buckle your seatbelt
What is the Premack Principle?
If you do x (eat your veggies) you’ll get y (dessert!)
Name the two categories of punishment
Removal and presentation
What are removal punishments?
Taking away something an individual likes
What are presentation punishments?
Spanking, yelling, etc.
What are some side effects of punishment
Any of…
- people working hard to avoid punishing situations
- at times punishment acts as a reinforcer and increases misbehaviour
- students may model aggressive behaviour
- time wasted for all parties
