Ch. 1 Flashcards
1
Q
Behaviour
A
- any activity of an organism that can be observed or somehow measured
- can be internal or external and may not always be visible to others
2
Q
Learning
A
- relatively enduring change in behaviour that results from some type of experience
3
Q
Classical conditioning/respondent conditioning
A
- a process whereby a stimulus comes to elicit a response because it has been paired (or associated) with another stimulus
4
Q
Operant conditioning
A
- strengthening or weakening of a behaviour as a result of its consequences
5
Q
Plato
Nativist (nature) perspective
A
- assumes that a person’s abilities and tendencies are largely inborn
6
Q
Aristotle
Empiricist (nurture)
A
- assumes that a person’s abilities and tendencies are mostly learned
7
Q
What 4 laws did Aristotle suggest for how ideas come to be connected or associated with each other
A
- law of similarity
- law of contrast
- law of contiguity
- law of frequency
8
Q
Law of similarity
A
- events that are similar to each other are readily associated
9
Q
Law of contrast
A
- events that are opposite from each other are readily associated
10
Q
Law of contiguity
A
- events that occur in close proximity to each other are readily associated
11
Q
Law of frequency (adds on to contiguity)
A
- the more frequently two items occur together, the more strongly they are associated
12
Q
Descartes
Mind-body dualism
A
- some human behaviours are reflexes that are automatically elicited by external stimulation, while other behaviours are freely chosen and controlled by the mind
13
Q
what did British Empiricists say
A
- almost all knowledge is a function of experience
- everyone starts out as a blank slate
- believed that the mind is composed of a finite set of basic elements (ex. colours, sounds, smells, etc.) that are combined through the principles of association to form our conscious experiences
14
Q
Structuralism
A
- an approach to psychology that studies the basic elements of the conscious mind and how they are combined to create complex experiences
- approach died out in the early 1900s
- led to behaviourism
15
Q
Structuralism - method
Introspection
A
- a person tries to acurately describe their conscious thoughts, emotions, and sensations (but that is really hard - can’t just say “i’m bored”)
16
Q
William James
Functionalism
A
- assumes that the mind evolved to help us adapt to the world around us and that the focus of psychology should be the study of those adaptive processes (adaptive significance of the mind)
- partially derived from Darwin’s evolution (survival of the fittest)
- learning as an adaptive process/function
17
Q
Darwin
Natural selection
A
- organisms that are capable of adapting to environmental pressures are more likely to reproduce and pass along their adaptive characteristics than those that cannot adapt
18
Q
What are the 3 main components of natural selection
A
- traits vary within species and between species (ex. some dogs are bigger than others)
- many traits are heritable by offspring due to their genetic basis
- organisms must compete for limited resources
19
Q
Evolutionary adaptation
A
- a helpful genetic trait that evolves as a result of natural selection
- ex. the ability to learn
20
Q
Behaviourism
Why did Watson critisize functionalist and structuralist approaches
A
- he thought that people were forced to use introspection and were not able to accurately understand what was going on inside the minds of others
- So, he said cut all that shit and just focus on the observable behaviours
21
Q
Behaviourism
A
- natural science approach to psychology that emphasizes the study of environmental influences on observable behaviour
22
Q
Watson
Methodological behaviourism
A
- scientists should study environmental influences only on those behaviours that can be directly observed
- things like thinking and feeling are too difficult to assess and therefore shouldn’t be included in the scientific analysis of behaviour
23
Q
Stimulus-response theory (S-R)
A
- learning consists of a connection being formed between a specific stimulus and a specific response
24
Q
Tolman
Cognitive behaviourism
A
25
# Hull
Neobehaviourism
26
Intervening variables
27
Cognitive map
- mental representation of one's spatial surroundings
28
Latent learning
- learning can occur despite the absence of any observable indication of learning at that time and only becomes apparent at a later time
29
# Bandura
Social learning theory
- an approach to psychology that strongly emphasizes the importance of observational learning and cognitive variables in explaining human behaviour
30
# Bandura
Reciprocal determinism
- the assumption that environmental events, observable behaviour, and "person variables" (thoughts, feelings) reciprocally influence each other
- how we think and behave can influence our environment as well
31
# Skinner
Radical behaviourism
- emphasizes the influence of the environment on observable (overt) behaviour
- rejects the use of internal events (ex. thoughts and feelings) to explain behaviour
- instead views these as "private" behaviours that need to be explained just like any other behaviour
- doesn't totally reject the use of thoughts and feelings, just says they can't be used to explain behaviour
32
Basic behaviour analysis
- basic science that grew out of radical behaviourism and is concerned with investigating the basic principles of behaviour, especially the principles of operant conditioning
33
Applied behaviour analysis
- the science and technology of behaviour that is concerned with applying the basic principles of behaviour towards the analysis and improvement of real-world issues
