Chapter 12

Question 1

How was behaviourism “in the air” prior to Watson?

Answer 1

Through the work of Russian physiologists: Sechenov, Bechterev and Pavlov

Question 2

Summarize Sechenov’s argument that thoughts cannot cause behaviour.

Answer 2

Behaviour is caused by external stimulation → reflexive

Question 3

How did Sechenov believe that psychological phenomena were to be studied?

Answer 3

Through physiology

Question 4

What were the circumstances under which Pavlov discovered the conditioned reflex?

Answer 4

Through his research on digestion

Question 5

What did Pavlov mean by a cortical mosaic?

Answer 5

Pattern of points of excitation and inhibition that characterizes the cortex

Question 6

How was the cortical mosaic causally related to behaviour?

Answer 6

Extinction, disinhibition & spontaneous recovery

E: Brain activity that leads to behavior

D: Inhibition of an inhibitory process

SR:Reappearance of a reconditioned response

Question 7

Differentiate between first and second signal systems

Answer 7

First signal: Stimuli that signal biological events

Second signal: symbols of stimuli that signal biological events. e.g. Language

Question 8

Explain how these systems facilitate environmental adaptation

Answer 8

Behaviour can be explained by associative principles of contiguity and frequency

Question 8

Summarize Bechterev’s reflexology

Answer 8

• Objective study behaviour
• Understand link between environmental stimulation and overt behaviour

Question 8

Why did Bechterev believe that he was the first behaviourist?

Answer 8

Because he had conducted the first objective animal research in 1885

Question 9

How did Bechterev’s method of studying conditioned reflexes differ from Pavlov’s ?

Answer 9

Strictly focused on overt behaviour

Question 10

Describe the major experiences that steered Watson towards behaviourism

Answer 10

1. Loeb’s research on tropism
2. White rat research with Angell and Donaldson.

Question 11

What was the goal of psychology, according to Watson?

Answer 11

To predict and control behaviour

Question 12

How did this differ from psych’s traditional goal?

Answer 12

Because it represented a shift from the internal to the external.

Question 13

Summarize Watson’s explanation of thinking.

Answer 13

Thinking was seen as implicit speech

Language came first and due to environmental changes, language is taken inwards in the form of thinking.

Question 14

What was Watson’s final position on the role of instinct in human behaviour?

Answer 14

People are products of their environments

Question 15

Summarize Watson’s views on emotion. What emotions did Watson think were innate?

Answer 15

That they were inherited at birth.

Fear, rage and love were considered innate.

Question 16

How do emotions become associated with various stimuli or events?

Answer 16

Through contiguity

Question 17

What research did Watson perform to validate his views?

Answer 17

Little Albert study

Question 18

Describe the procedure that Watson and Jones used to extinguish Peter’s fear of rabbits

Answer 18

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.

Question 19

Summarize the advice that Watson and Watson gave on child rearing

Answer 19

Treat them like small adults

Question 20

How did Watson explain learning?

Answer 20

Relies on laws of contiguity, recency and frequency

Question 21

Distinguish between radical and methodological behaviourism

Answer 21

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

Question 22

Summarize McDougall’s hormic psychology

Answer 22

Object of study: Purposive behaviour

Cause: Instinctual energy

Question 23

Why can hormic psychology be considered behaviouristic?

Answer 23

Because McDougall believed that mental events could be studied objectively by observing their influence on behaviour.

Question 24

What types of behaviour did McDougall study?

Answer 24

Purposive: Spontaneous, variable, goal-driven, long-lasting, increasing effectiveness with practice

Question 25

What did McDougall assume to be the causes of behaviour?

Answer 25

Environmental events which elicit instincts

Question 26

What were the important points of disagreement between Watson and McDougall?

Answer 26

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

Question 27

Describe the efforts of Kuo

Answer 27

• 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