Behaviourism & Humanistic Psychology Flashcards
methodological behaviourism
based on studying only what is directly observable (behaviour)
behaviourism is based on 2 types of learning
- classical conditioning
- operant conditioning
Ivan Pavlov
conducted an experiment with dogs, wherein he conditioned them to associate a bell and to respond to it; developed the idea of classical conditioning
Edward Thorndike
performed a classic puzzle box experiment, in which a box filled with animals was used to test how they’d learn to escape via operating a lever; developed the idea of operational conditioning
Thorndike’s laws of operant conditioning
- learning is incremental
- learning occurs automatically
- all animals learn the same way
- law of effect
- law of use
- law of disuse
- law of recency
- multiple response
- set/attitude
- prepotency of elements
- response by analogy
- identical elements theory of transfer
- associative shifting
- law of readiness
- identifiability
- availability
operant conditioning
based on how an organism tends to repeat behaviours it’s rewarded for
law of disuse
the longer an association is unused, the weaker it is
law of effect
if an association is followed by satisfaction, it will be strengthened; if followed by annoyance, it will be weakened
law of use
the more an association is used, the stronger it is
law of recency
the most recent response is likely to occur
response by analogy
responses from a related or similar context may be used in a new one
multiple responses
animals try diff responses (trial and error) if the first doesn’t lead to a specific state of affairs
set/attitude
animals are predisposed to act in a specific way
prepotency of elements
subject can filter out irrelevant aspects of a problem and focus on and respond to significant elements
identical elements theory of transfer
the more similar situations are, the greater the amount of info that will transfer; if situations have no commonalities, info learned in one won’t be valuable in the other
associative shifting
it’s possible to shift any response from occurring with 1 stimulus to occurring with another
law of readiness
quality in responses and connections that results in readiness to act; behavior and learning are influenced by (un)readiness and its strength
identifiability
identification/placement of a situation is the first response of the nervous system, which can recognize it; connections can be made to each other or to another response, and these depend on original identification
availability
ease of getting a specific response
John B Watson
coined “behaviourism” and believed that psych should be a natural, empirical science with no place for introspection
Little Albert experiment
one of Watson’s unethical experiments, wherein he classically conditioned a child to be scared of rats and animals
2 big ideas related to free will
- inherent tendencies: much of who you are is already based on genetic and biological tendencies (Watson didn’t believe in this, arguing instead that we were blank slates)
- environmental influences: we are affected by our env
Burrhus F. Skinner
associated with the Skinner box, which investigated operant conditioning wherein ppl learn to repeatedly perform or not perform a behaviour based on the response to it; operant conditioning also studies how an organism operates on its env