Behaviourism and Neobehavioural Approaches

Question 1

Who was John B Watson? 1878-1958

Answer 1

• He studied consciousness through introspection
• Introspection is notoriously an unreliable tool
• decided that behaviour was a reliable measure

Question 2

What is Functionalism?

Answer 2

a learning process involving relationships between stimuli and responses

Question 3

What is Associationism?

Answer 3

a learning process involving relationships between stimuli

Question 4

What is Cognitive?

Answer 4

unseen processes that guide behaviour

Question 5

What did Skinner focus on?

Answer 5

• rejected inferred motives

- observable events

Question 6

Using the following constructs of depression and describe their observables:

• Lack of motivation
• Lethargic

Answer 6

• going out less

- sleeping during the day

Question 7

What are the Operant Conditioning principles?

Answer 7

• Any response that is followed by a reinforcing stimulus tends to be repeated
• A reinforcer is anything that increases the frequency of a response

Question 8

What is Contingent reinforcement?

Answer 8

Getting the reinforcer is contingent on a certain response

Question 9

What is positive reinforcement?

Answer 9

something which, when added, increases the probability of response occurrence

Question 10

What is negative reinforcement?

Answer 10

something which, when removed, increases the probability of response recurrence

Question 11

What is punishment?

Answer 11

something which, when added, decreases the probability of response occurring

Question 12

What is a continuous schedule of reinforcement?

Answer 12

behaviour reinforced every time it occurs

Question 13

What is an intermittent schedule of reinforcement?

Answer 13

behaviour is reinforced sometimes, slower to learn but resistant to extinction
(most effective)

Question 14

What is superstitiousness?

Answer 14

• Random or regular reinforcement
• We tend to causally link events that co-occur in time
• Leads to strange responses

Question 15

What is extinction?

Answer 15

• removal of reinforcer
• return to baseline behaviour (or the operant level)
• Will result in spontaneous recovery, as after extinction, rested and returned will reinitiate behaviour for a short period without additional training

Question 16

What is shaping?

Answer 16

• successive approximations (they are close to the end product so you shape them to it)
• use differential reinforcement (e.g. you are hot.. you are cold)

Question 17

What is chaining?

Answer 17

• acquire separate skills and put them together

Question 18

How did Skinner view punishment?

Answer 18

• punishment suppresses a response as long as it is applied but does not weaken the habit
• causes unfortunate emotional by-products (fear and stimulus generalisation)
• Indicates what organisms should not do, not what they should do

Question 19

What are the issues with punishment and what does it cause?

Answer 19

• it elicits aggression toward the punishing agent and others
• punishment often replaces one undesirable response with another undesirable response
• in the intermediate to long term, punishment does not work as well as a reward

Question 20

What are alternatives to punishment?

Answer 20

• circumstances causing undesirable behaviour can be changed
• reinforce incompatible behaviour
• best way = extinction

Question 21

What are some evaluations of respondent conditioning approaches?

Answer 21

• highly deterministic
• idiographic approach emphasized
• very strong empirical support
• widely used in behavioural management

Question 22

What work did Pavlov conduct? 1849-1936

Answer 22

• Classical Conditioning
• psychic reflex
• dog salivation and stimulus

Question 23

What is an unconditioned stimulus (US)?

Answer 23

elicits a natural and automatic response

Question 24

What is an unconditioned response (UR)?

Answer 24

natural and automatic response elicited by the US

Question 25

What is a conditioned stimulus (CS)?

Answer 25

neutral stimulus in that it does not elicit a natural and automatic response

Question 26

What is a conditioned response (CR)?

Answer 26

the pairing of the CS and US

Question 27

What is Pavlov’s paradigm?

Answer 27

• CS is presented
• when US occurs, a UR follows
• CS eventually can be presented alone and can elicit a response similar to UR

Question 28

What did Pavlov use in his paradigm during his experiments?

Answer 28

US = acid
UR = salivation
CS = sound
CR = salivation in response to sound
- resulted in higher-order conditioning where CS can then be paired with other CS to bring about CR

Question 29

What is the difference between classical conditioning and operant conditioning?

Answer 29

• CC elicits an involuntary and automatic response
• OC is voluntary, under the being’s control and depends on the emission of the response
• Associationist vs functionalist

Question 30

What is the significance of CC for personality?

Answer 30

• creates a system of signs and symbols that allow the anticipation of significant events
• foundations for associationist theories

Question 31

What work did John Dollard and Neil Miller do?

Answer 31

sought to account for psychoanalytic notions about fundamental drives focus on:
- drive and tension reduction
- drive cues a behaviour to reduce a drive
- reduction in drive reinforces the sequence
only behaviours that result in drive reduction will occur

Question 32

What are the 4 key aspects of learning by John Dollard and Neil Miller?

Answer 32

• Drive (engine)
• Cue (when/where a response is needed)
• Response (act or thought)
• Reinforcement (reward or non-reward, includes drive reduction)

Question 33

What is a primary drive?

Answer 33

• hunger, fatgue, pain, sex

- steam boiler model

Question 34

What is a learned drive?

Answer 34

drive to reduce a feeling e.g. loneliness

Question 35

What are Cues?

Answer 35

• is a stimulus that immediately precedes the problem behaviour
• these determine when a person will respond, and what response the person will make

Question 36

What are the responses?

Answer 36

• responses must occur to be rewarded

- an initially weak response can become a dominant response, depending on its reinforcement

Question 37

What is reinforcement from Dollard and Miller?

Answer 37

• specific event that strengthens the tendancy for a certain response
• drive (or tension) reduction

Question 38

What happens when you take away a reinforcer?

Answer 38

• response extinguishes but not completely

- a new response needs reinforcement before it does

Question 39

What is conflict?

Answer 39

approach conflict = conflict between two desirable goals
avoidance conflict = 2 undesirable outcomes
approach-avoidance conflict = co-occurring desirable and undesirable goals

Question 40

What are 3 core contributions of Behaviourism?

Answer 40

• Introduced empiricism into psychology
• Person/organism-focused
• Wide range of points of leverage

Question 41

What are some limitations of Behaviourism?

Answer 41

• de-emphasises the private world

- ignores the concept of choice/free will

Question 42

How can you measure behaviourism?

Answer 42

direct observation only

diary

Question 43

How can measure neo-behaviourism?

Answer 43

direct observation through to internal subjective states

questionnaires or diaries