Ch. 9, Behaviorism

Question 1

Determinism

Answer 1

belief that something is caused by a prior event

Question 2

How do behaviorists conduct. research?

Answer 2

Must only study things that are observable, research is primarily based on animals

Question 3

Situational specificity

Answer 3

since behavior is governed by environment, behavior varies significantly between environments

Question 4

Skinner, operant conditioning

Answer 4

control of behavior through punishment/reward; deemphasizes structures: no need for it because behavior varies from one situation to the next only because of environment; REJECTS PERSONALITY AS A THEORY

Question 5

Response and operants

Answer 5

response: represents external/observable behavior related to environmental events
Operants: responses that cannot be associated with environmental stimuli; occur as a part of the nature of an organism

Question 6

Skinner, reinforcer, generalized reinforcers, schedules of reinforcement.

Answer 6

Reinforcer: follows a response and increases probability of the response occurring again
Generalized Reinforcer: associated with many other reinforcement stimuli
Schedules of reinforcement: reinforcements don’t have to occur after every response

Question 7

Skinner, fixed/variable ratio schedule

Answer 7

Fixed ratio: after a certain interval reinforcement is given
Variable ratio: THE WORST OUT OF ALL OF THEM gambling, never know when reinforcement will happen
does not occur every time after response

Question 8

Behaviorists/free will

Answer 8

Believe humans do not have free will: every action is a product of environment

Question 9

Skinner, psychopathology

Answer 9

explains it in terms of a maladaptive response: maladaptive response is a response that is unacceptable to the society
OR people develop faulty behaviors because they were punished for good ones and reinforced bad ones

Question 10

Functional Analysis of Behavior, A-B-C

Answer 10

assess antecedents
assesses behavior
assess consequences of behavior
By applying knowledge from classical and operant conditioning, functional analysis uses the principles of behaviorism to give a mechanistic account of how the individual’s behavior is shaped by contingencies within the person and in their environment

Question 11

ABA Research design

Answer 11

Baseline measurement is taken, treatment given and measurement taken, return to baseline and measure again

Question 12

Token Economy

Answer 12

rewarding behaviors with “tokens’

Question 13

Sign vs. sample approach to research

Answer 13

Sign: test response is seen as an indicator/sign of x
Sample: what behaviorists use, view response as a non-representative sample of behavior

Question 14

General psychopathology in behaviorism

Answer 14

mental illnesses are not internal
product of a maladaptive environment
goal in therapy is to create new environment

Question 15

Pavlov, Classical Conditioning

Answer 15

Neutral stimulus becomes a stimuli that elicits strong response
Unconditioned stimulus: doesn’t require training to elicit response
Unconditioned response: response to US
Conditioned Stimulus: requires training to produce response
Conditions Response: response to CS

Question 16

Generalization, discrimination, extinction

Answer 16

Generalization: response produced to similar stimuli
Discrimination: response not produced to different stimuli
Extinction: neutral stimulus that is repeatedly not paired with conditioned stimulus extinguishes the response over time

Question 17

Conditioned Emotional Reaction, Pavlov

Answer 17

Works the same way as pairing US with CS, just with fears/emotions

Question 18

Systematic Desensitization

Answer 18

Inhibits anxiety through counter conditioning
Ranking fears in hierarchy and overcoming them

Question 19

Scientific analysis of behaviorism

Answer 19

Database: objective/scientific yes, but limited to animals
Comprehensive: very
Systematic: very
Testable: extremely, but more difficult with human participants
Highly replicable but oversimplifies personality
requires more evidence to support related therapy mechanisms

Question 20

Watson’s primary ideas affair guy

Answer 20

Only overt behavior and external stimuli should be studied
Direct observation, precise definitions, and controlled experimentation should be the ONLY methods used to study behavior: REJECTS QUALITATIVE METHODS
Cognition is thought to be a form of covert speech: “covert” movements of the voicebox that reveals the existence of cognition or “covert speech” (later studies showed that larynx does move when thinking)
Mental states arte private events that cannot be measured or tested: SCIENCE IS CONCERNED WITH PUBLIC/OBSERVABLE EVENTS
Conditoning fears like in the Little Albert case doesn’t work longterm

Question 21

Skinner’s work with classical (respondent) conditioning

Answer 21

stimulus is associated to a response (conditioning of involuntary behavior, autonomic nervous system/ CONDITIONING OF EMOTIONS, WHICH ARE INVOLUNTARY REACTIONS, CLASSICAL CONDITIONED BUT NOT ALWAYS LEARNED)

Question 22

Skinner’s Operant Conditioning

Answer 22

SOMATIC NERVOUS SYSTEM Operant Conditioning: how behavior is acquired and modified in response to consequences (voluntary behavior, somatic nervous system, observable behavior) Skinner utilized Pavlov’s understanding of this

Question 23

Prompting, fading, shaping in operant conditioning g

Answer 23

Prompting: reminding someone to perform a behavior
Fading: progressively withdrawing the prompting and increasing reinforcement (reinforced approximations of behavior)
Shaping: reinforcing closer approximations of the target

Question 24

Difference between ratios and intervals?

Answer 24

Interval means the schedule is based on the time between reinforcements, and ratio means the schedule is based on the number of responses between reinforcements.

Question 25

Push and Pull Theories

Answer 25

“Pull” Theory: behavourism is THE pull theory: everything that you do is due to environmental contingencies; conditions and shapes behavior into complex responses that you are able to produce
“Push” Theory: motivational theories, psychondyamic, Freud, mostly unconscious motive focused

Question 26

How is radical behaviorism parsimonious, functionalist, environmentalist, pragmatic, materialistic and experimentalist?

Answer 26

PARS: (based on few constructs/assumptions) based on direct description of behavioural contingencies, with as little inference about how people might be thinking or feeling as possible)
Functionalist: focusing on FUNCTIONS OF BEHAVIOUR
Environmentalistic: focused almost completely on envifonment
Pragmatic: very applied, based on observation, fits the actual reality of what is happening in front of you
Materialistic: aspect of philosophy, where scientists focus on the techniques/technology that are available to measure/evaluate what they are trying to observe; FOCUSES ON THE MATERIAL ASPECT OF WHAT IS BEING STUDIED/MEASUREMENT AND EVALUATION BASED
Experimentalistic: only way to learn the truth about anything is via experimentation

Question 27

Bicycle Application of Personality Theories

Answer 27

“Hub Theories:” theories that posit very specific ways of thinking, specific structure, specific processes (Freud, Kelley) theorists define the core of the theory as well as they can
“Spoke” Theories: trait theory, various traits that go from the “hub” of the bicycle and different traits explain different behaviour, things that stem from the hub
“Rim” Theory: behaviourism (Explains an element of understanding of thousands of behaviours, ENCOMPASSING THE WHEEL LIKE A RIM, where the rubber hits the road, all the things that you do and the immense pattern of actions that defines an individual; patterning personality in a manner that nothing else will

Question 28

Scientific Analysis of Behaviourism

Answer 28

Systematic: very, and very parsimonous
Testable: very, but on human participants it can be difficult
Behavioural analysis is difficult to do with adults; extremely hard to test in real life^^
Comprehensive: very comprehensive due to Skinner
Applications: has extensive applications; applied behavioural analysis, behaviour modification and behaviour therapy continue to have immense practical value

Question 29

Applied Behavior analysis

Answer 29

Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) is an approach to understanding and changing behaviour. It’s not a specific therapy itself, but a range of different strategies and techniques that can be used to help autistic people learn new skills and behaviour
(prompting, fading, shaping)

Question 30

What does respondent/classical conditioning do?

Answer 30

Conditions involuntary response system/ autonomic nervous system
conditioning of emotions fall in this category

Question 31

What does operant conditioning do?

Answer 31

SOMATIC NERVOUS SYSTEM Operant Conditioning: how behavior is acquired and modified in response to consequences (voluntary behavior, somatic nervous system, observable behavior) Skinner utilized Pavlov’s understanding of this

Question 32

What three types of learning did Skinner finally admit exist before his death?

Answer 32

Classical, operant and social learning

Question 33

Difference between instrumental and operant conditioning

Answer 33

In Instrumental Conditioning, the focus is on the S and how it affects the response. In Operant conditioning, what follows the response is the most important.

Question 34

Counterconditioning and phobias

Answer 34

a technique employed in animal training and the treatment of phobias and similar conditions in humans, in which behavior incompatible with a habitual undesirable pattern is induced.