Behaviourism & The Cognitive Revolution Flashcards
Timeline of Psychologists in Behaviourism
- Wundt (1832-1920)
- Titchener (1867-1927)
- James (1842-1910)
- Pavlov (1849-1936)
- Thorndike (1874-1949)
- Watson (1878-1958)
- Skinner (1904-1990)
- Hull (1884-1952)
- Tolman (1886-1959)
Behaviourism:
Pavlov’s Dogs
Before Conditioning:
* UCS (food) -> UCR (salivation)
* NS (light) -> no response
Conditioning Procedure:
* NS (light on) & UCS (food presented) -> (UCR) dog salivates
After Conditioning Trials:
* CS (light on) -> CR (dog salivates)
Roots of Behaviourism:
Criticism towards previous psych approaches:
* psych has the science of consciousness
-what about unconscious mental states?
* only methodology is used (introspection)
Pressure for psychologists to push a scientific agenda:
* phrenology
* mesmerism
* spiritualism
Research on animal learning & reflexes:
* Thorndike (1874-1949)
* Pavlov (1849-1936)
Behaviourism:
Key Psychologists
- Watson
- Skinner
- Hull
- Tolman
Behaviourism:
Who is Watson?
Watson (1878-1958):
* Founder of Behaviourism
Behaviourism:
When did Watson feel Uncomfortable?
When teaching from Titchener’s text
Behaviourism:
2 Studies by Watson
- Rat Study
- Little Albert Study
Behaviourism:
Watson’s Rat Study
Carr & Watson (1907):
* rats learned to escape maze
* then damaged rats’ sight/hearing/smell
* did not affect performance greatly
* conclusion: ability is based on muscle sensations
Behaviourism:
Watson’s Little Albert Study
- investigated dev of learning & reflexes in children
- dev of phobias
Behaviourism:
Criticisms of Watson’s Little Albert Study
- Albert died of what seemed to be brain abnormalities
- Only one ppt - no replications
- Ethical concerns of exp:
-no protection from harm
-child can’t give informed consent
-Watson had an affair with student
Behaviourism:
‘Behaviourist Manifesto’
Watson (1913):
* became frustrated with the focus on introspection
* “Psychology as the behaviourist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science. Its theoretical goal is the prediction and control of behaviour. Introspection forms no essential part of its methods, nor is the scientific value of its data dependent upon the readiness with which they lend themselves to interpretation in terms of consciousness.”
How do Behaviourists Define Psychology in Comparison to Wundt & James?
Wundt: Psychology = “the experimental study of consciousness”
James: Psychology = “the science of mental life”
Behaviourists (Watson): Psychology = “the science of behaviour”
Behaviourism:
What did Watson Argue for the Need of?
The need for an applicable science of psychology
-(Watson, 1929)
* “The Behaviourist asks: Why don’t we make what we can observe the real field of psychology? Let us limit ourselves to things that can be observed and formulate laws concerning only the observed things. Now what can we observe? Well, we can observe behaviour – what the organism does or says”.
Development of the Learning Theory
- It was thought that a set of simple laws could account for all learning
- Emphasis on animal research
- same principles should apply to humans
- easier to control/manipulate
- less ethical issues (?)
Key Psychologist for the Learning Theory & how their ideas differ to Watson’s
Skinner:
* emphasised importance of observable behavior
* rejected study of internal mental processes
* Watson believed all behavior is learned, & aimed to explain how it could be understood & controlled
* Skinner expanded on Watson’s work & developed the concept of operant conditioning
Learning Theory:
Skinner’s Study
Skinner’s Rat Box (1948):
* operant conditioning chamber
* used to objectively record animal’s behavior in a compressed time frame
* animal can be rewarded or punished for certain behaviors, such as lever pressing
Learning Theory:
3 Responses Identified in Operant Conditioning
Skinner (1948):
Neutral operants: responses from the environment that neither increase nor decrease the probability of a behavior being repeated
Reinforcers: responses from the environment that increase the probability of a behavior being repeated
-can be either positive or negative
-pos is added, neg is removed
Punishers: responses from the environment that decrease the likelihood of a behavior being repeated
Note: secondary reinforcers (e.g. money)
Learning Theory:
Another example of the Skinner Box
Skinner (1948):
* pigeons ‘played tennis’
* rewarded for knocking the ball into the opposite slot
Learning Theory:
Schedules of Reinforcement
Ferster and Skinner (1957):
different patterns (schedules) of reinforcement had different effects on the speed of learning (the response rate & the extinction rate)
Variable Ratio:
* behavior is reinforced after an unpredictable number of times
* e.g. gambling
Fixed Ratio:
* behavior is reinforced only after the behavior occurs a specified number of times
* e.g. every 5th response
Variable Interval:
* reinforcement is given after an unpredictable amount of time has passed
* e.g. after 5 mins, then after 2 mins, then after 10 mins
Fixed Interval:
* one reinforcement is given after a fixed time interval providing at least one correct response has been made
* e.g. every 15 mins
Learning Theory:
What Schedules of Reinforcement tell us about Behaviour?
- If expect a reward, it has less impact than an unexpected reward (know it is coming but can’t expect when)
- expected reward is more effective in/more likely to in motivating/producing behaviour
- e.g. gambling success (variable ratio)
Learning Theory:
Hull
Hull (1884-1952):
* hypothetico-deductive learning theory
-explain learning from a few simple axioms (unfalsifiable info)
* formulaic approach
Learning Theory:
Hull’s Formulae
- used specific formulas to predict the likelihood of specific behaviors
- specified that the probability that a particular stimulus would lead to a particular response (the “excitation potential”) using a formula
- Reaction potential (sEr) is determined by sEr = D x V x K x sHr
-Drive x stimulus intensity dynamism x Incentive motivation x habit strength
Behaviourism:
Type of Learning proposed by Tolman
Tolman (1886-1959):
Latent Learning (1930s):
* learning that is not apparant in behaviour at the time of learning but manifests when motivation & circumstances appear
* e.g. child watching parents drive, then mimics when playing with toy cars
Behaviourism:
Tolman’s Study
Tolman & Honzik (1930):
* rats learnt maze layout with a reward, with a delayed reward, and with no reward (i.e. reinforcements)
* therefore rats demonstrated latent learning
* rats actively process info rather than operating on a stimulus response relationship
