Behaviourist approach Flashcards
Why did psychology shift away from the study of the mind
Because introspection and psychodynamic approach were too subjective, relied on individual interpretation and couldn’t be confirmed
What did behavioural psychologists argue should be the only investigated subject matter
Objective, observable and measurable behaviour
What were behavioural psychologists particularly interested in
How we learn from the environment and if behaviour can be predicted or controlled
How does it favour experimental methods
It focuses solely on observable behaviour
What were these experiments carried out on
Humans and animals
What were humans and animals predicted to share
Principles of learning
How is all behaviour thought to be learnt
Through classical and operant conditioning
What is stimulus generalisation
Associations are also made to other stimuli that is similar to the conditioned stimulus
What is stimulus discrimination
The cut off point where stimulus generalisation doesn’t occur
What is time contiguity
Associations will only be made if the eureka and unconditioned stimulus are presented at the same time or in close succession to each other
What is classical conditioning
The process of learning by association
What does classical conditioning involve
Making stimulus-response associations, where a previously neutral stimuli becomes associated with an existing stimulus
What does the consequence of our behaviour determine
How likely we are to do it again
What is positive reinforcement
A consequence where something good is given to increase the likelihood of the behaviour occurring again
What is extinction
When a behaviour is extinguished if the response is not reinforced
