Chapter 1- Background of Learning and Behaviour

Question 1

Behaviourist Psychology:

Answer 1

• Emphasizes analyzing behaviour in terms of stimuli and consequences
  
  • Conscious reflection and reasoning left out of analysis
  • Studies how the environment can trigger our behaviour
  • Overshadowed by “cognitive revolution’

Question 2

Automatic Procedural Learning:

Answer 2

• Does not require awareness that learning has occurred

* Capacity of conscious thought is very limited, much of what we do occurs without conscious awareness

Question 3

Declarative Learning:

Answer 3

Learning that you are aware of

Question 4

Rene Descartes:

Answer 4

• Suggested idea of Cartesian Dualism
  
  • Prior to Descartes, prevailing view was that human behaviour is entirely determined by conscious intent and free will, actions not considered automatic

Question 5

Dualism:

Answer 5

• Also known as Cartesian dualsim

* 2 classes of human behaviour- involuntary, voluntary

Question 6

Involuntary

Answer 6

◦ Automatic reactions to external stimuli
◦ Mediated by mechanism called a reflex
◦ Believed only one set of nerves was involved (same nerve transmit info from sensory organs to brain and from brain to muscles) to allow for rapid reactions
◦ Believed nerves were hollow tubes and neural transmission involved movement of gases called animal spirits (released by pineal glands)
◦ Believed to be the only mechanism available to non humans (animals only exhibit reflexive behaviour, no free will)

Question 7

Voluntary

Answer 7

◦ Does not have to be triggered by external stimuli
◦ Occurs due to conscious intent
◦ Believed only humans demonstrated this mechanism

Question 8

Dualism and the Mind:

Answer 8

• Believed that the mind was a non physical entity that could initiate voluntary actions (because it is non physical, behaviour is not automatic and could occur independent from external stimulation)
  
  • Mind thought to be connected to physical body via pineal gland so it could monitor involuntary behaviour

Question 9

Nativism:

Answer 9

• Belief that we are born with innate ideas about certain things
  
  • Descartes thought some contents of the mind cam from sense experiences, but also believed that the mind contained innate ideas that exist in all humans
  • Believed that mind did not function in a predictable and orderly manner or according to any rules

Question 10

Empiricism:

Answer 10

John Locke Proposed that all ideas are acquired through experiences after birth, and that humans are born without any preconceptions about the world (born as a blank slate)

Question 11

Hedonism:

Answer 11

• Proposed by Thomas Hobbes
  
  • Accepted distinction between voluntary and involuntary behaviour, and that voluntary behaviour was controlled by mind
  • Believed that mind operated just as predictably and lawfully as a reflex
  • People do things in pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain

Question 12

Mentalism:

Answer 12

Studied contents and workings of the mind

Question 13

Reflexology:

Answer 13

Studied mechanisms of reflexive behaviour

Question 14

Charles Bell & Francois Magendie:

Answer 14

• Showed that separate nerves are involved in transmission of sensory info from sense organs to CNS and motor info from CNS to muscles
  
  • If a sensory nerve is cut, animal remains capable of muscle movements, if a motor never is cut, animal remains capable of registering sensory info

Question 15

John Swammerdam:

Answer 15

• Disproved idea of animal spirits
  
  • Showed that mechanical irritation of nerve was sufficient to produce a muscle contraction, therefore, infusion of animal spirit from pineal gland not necessary

Question 16

Francis Glisson:

Answer 16

• Tested whether muscle contractions were produced by infusion of gas into muscle
  
  • Showed that volume of a muscle does not increase when it is contracted (gas does not enter muscle to produce motor movement)

Question 17

I.M. Sechenov:

Answer 17

• Proposed that stimuli doesn’t cause a response in all cases
  
  • Instead, a stimulus could cause a response from inhibition, in this case, response does not depend on intensity of the stimulus
  • If the strength of a response does not depend on intensity of stimulus, then a faint stimulus could produce a large response
  • i.e. small piece of dust in the nose can cause a large sneeze
  • Suggested that actions or thoughts that occurred in the absence of an obvious eliciting stimulus are actually reflexive responses to stimuli too faint for us to notice

Question 18

George Romanes:

Answer 18

Proposed that intelligence is identified by whether an animal learns to make new adjustment or to modify old ones

Question 19

Nervism:

Answer 19

All key physiological functions are governed by nervous system

Question 20

Learning:

Answer 20

Enduring change in the mechanisms of behaviour involving specific stimuli and responses that results from prior experience with those or similar stimuli and responses

Question 21

Maturation:

Answer 21

• Persistent change in behaviour occurs, but without experience with environment that is required for learning
  
  • Occurs in the absence of training or practice
  • i.e. Child can reach object on a high shelf when they grow taller, not learning

Question 22

Developmental Changes:

Answer 22

Changes in learning that occur as a function of age

Question 23

General Process Approach:

Answer 23

• Learning is a product of elemental process that operates in the same way in different learning situations
  
  • i.e. Processes of learning is the same across species

Question 24

Methodological Implications of the General Process Approach:

Answer 24

General rules of learning maybe be discovered by studying any species or response system that exhibits learning