Behaviourism and the cognitive revolution Flashcards
Describe the behaviourist view
Based on that scientific psych should study observable behaviour. Reaction against introspection, personality as collection of response tendencies tied to various stimulus structures. Focus on personality development
What are the 3 methods behaviourism focuses on?
Classical conditioning, operant conditioning and observational learning
Explain Pavlov’s views
Introspection is unreliable, classical conditioning. Explain how people acquire emotional responses, examined conditional reflexes. Conditioning increased as stimuli pairing was increased
Describe John Watson’s views
Little Albert, didn’t like introspection as thought it was unscientific. Based on observation, contrasts eugenics.
Skinner did what?
Radical behaviourism, operant conditioning. Used Skinner box, reinforcement determines behaviour
Garcia, McGowan & Green found what when studying conditioned nausea?
Rats drank novel liquid and were sick 1 hour later. Rats attributed nausea to the liquid, not the stimuli
What did Thorndike say in terms of behaviourism?
Acquisition of behaviour, cats escaping from puzzle box. Law of effect that behaviour depends on consequence (reward/punishment). Stronger reward = stronger response
Thorndike said what happened when S-R probabilities were increased and decreased?
S-R probabilities increased = learning, decrease = forgetting
Describe cognitive psych
Behaviour is goal directed, complex processes may intervene between stimulus and response. Infers central mental processes from observable behaviour
Ulric Neisser believed what?
Pushed psych to cognitive. Sensation, perception, memory, problem solving & thinking
Noam Chomsky said what?
Language is infinitely creative and flexible - not due to behaviourism. Rules, not associations. Mind cannot be a blank slate
How does extinction work?
Take away reinforcement to stop behaviour. Action extinguished.
State the problems for behaviourism (5)
Wanted to treat behaviour as mechanistic operations of the NS, wanted to remove mind, purpose + cognition from psych. Behaviour often shows purpose, learning depends on species of animals. Animals often show instinctive drift back to original behaviour
What did Miller and Bruner look at?
Looked at language, memory and perception. Miller - magic 7, plus or minus 2 (chunking). Computer like a mind, reverse engineering approach. Bruner - learn from experience.
Name what Turing developed and the purpose of the Turing machine
Developed artificial intelligence. Turning machine stores info in memory and has process to operate on that info
