Chapter 12 Flashcards
How was behaviourism “in the air” prior to Watson?
Through the work of Russian physiologists: Sechenov, Bechterev and Pavlov
Summarize Sechenov’s argument that thoughts cannot cause behaviour.
Behaviour is caused by external stimulation → reflexive
How did Sechenov believe that psychological phenomena were to be studied?
Through physiology
What were the circumstances under which Pavlov discovered the conditioned reflex?
Through his research on digestion
What did Pavlov mean by a cortical mosaic?
Pattern of points of excitation and inhibition that characterizes the cortex
How was the cortical mosaic causally related to behaviour?
Extinction, disinhibition & spontaneous recovery
E: Brain activity that leads to behavior
D: Inhibition of an inhibitory process
SR:Reappearance of a reconditioned response
Differentiate between first and second signal systems
First signal: Stimuli that signal biological events
Second signal: symbols of stimuli that signal biological events. e.g. Language
Explain how these systems facilitate environmental adaptation
Behaviour can be explained by associative principles of contiguity and frequency
Summarize Bechterev’s reflexology
- Objective study behaviour
- Understand link between environmental stimulation and overt behaviour
Why did Bechterev believe that he was the first behaviourist?
Because he had conducted the first objective animal research in 1885
How did Bechterev’s method of studying conditioned reflexes differ from Pavlov’s ?
Strictly focused on overt behaviour
Describe the major experiences that steered Watson towards behaviourism
- Loeb’s research on tropism
- White rat research with Angell and Donaldson.
What was the goal of psychology, according to Watson?
To predict and control behaviour
How did this differ from psych’s traditional goal?
Because it represented a shift from the internal to the external.
Summarize Watson’s explanation of thinking.
Thinking was seen as implicit speech
Language came first and due to environmental changes, language is taken inwards in the form of thinking.
What was Watson’s final position on the role of instinct in human behaviour?
People are products of their environments
Summarize Watson’s views on emotion. What emotions did Watson think were innate?
That they were inherited at birth.
Fear, rage and love were considered innate.
How do emotions become associated with various stimuli or events?
Through contiguity
What research did Watson perform to validate his views?
Little Albert study
Describe the procedure that Watson and Jones used to extinguish Peter’s fear of rabbits
They used behaviour therapy.
They gradually moved a rabbit in a cage closer and closer to Peter over time until he wasn’t afraid to interact with it.
Summarize the advice that Watson and Watson gave on child rearing
Treat them like small adults
How did Watson explain learning?
Relies on laws of contiguity, recency and frequency
Distinguish between radical and methodological behaviourism
Radical: Behaviour can’t be explained in terms of unobserved internal events
Methodological: Internal events can be postulated but must be validated by studies on external behaviour
Summarize McDougall’s hormic psychology
Object of study: Purposive behaviour
Cause: Instinctual energy
Why can hormic psychology be considered behaviouristic?
Because McDougall believed that mental events could be studied objectively by observing their influence on behaviour.
What types of behaviour did McDougall study?
Purposive: Spontaneous, variable, goal-driven, long-lasting, increasing effectiveness with practice
What did McDougall assume to be the causes of behaviour?
Environmental events which elicit instincts
What were the important points of disagreement between Watson and McDougall?
2 key points: instincts and learning processes
Watson on instincts: Do not exist in humans
McDougall: Instincts motivate all human behaviour
Watson on learning: Relies on laws of contiguity, recency and frequency
McDougall on learning: Reinforcement in terms of need reduction was important to learning
Describe the efforts of Kuo
- Wanted to discredit McDougall’s concept of instincts
- Did a study with kittens to show that they weren’t born with an instinct for rat killing
- Results included: kittens could kill a rat, love a rat, hate a rat, play with a rat
