Chapter 15- exam 4 Flashcards
behaviorism
- study of how a persons behavior is a direct result of his environment, particularly the rewards and punishments in the environment
- belief that the causes of behavior can be directly observed because they are in the environment
functional analysis
the goal of behaviorism is to determine how behavior is a function of one environment
empiricism
- idea that all knowledge comes from experience
- experience is the direct product of reality
- implies that at birth the mind is essentially empty = blank slate
associationism
- idea that any two things become mentally associated as one if they are repeatedly experienced close together in time
- lightning flashes then thunder
- many things are associated because one causes the other
- not all things are cause and effect
hedonism
- organisms learn for two reasons: to seek pleasure and to avoid pain
- explains the motivation for learning and behaving
- implications for values and morality
classical conditioning
- the kind of learning in which an unconditioned response that is naturally elicited by one stimulus becomes elicited also by a new, conditioned stimulus
- physiology: classical conditioning affects involuntary processes
- pavlov’s dogs
- learned helplessness
- involuntary
learned helplessness
cant escape the stimulus so just give up
operant conditioning
- an organisms behavior is shaped by the effect of the behavior on the environment
- Thorndike’s law of effect: responses followed by a rewarding state of affairs will be strengthened, and responses followed by an aversive state of affairs will be weekened
- voluntary
punishment
- an unpleasant consequence that follows an act in order to stop it and prevent it from happening again
steps of punishment
- availability of alternative responses
- behavioral and situational specificity
- apply punishment immediately after the behavior and every time it occurs
- condition secondary punishing stimuli
- avoid mixed messages
habit hierarchy
all of the behaviors an individual might do, ranked in order from most to least probable
primary drive
a drive that is innate to an organism; food, water, physical comfort, avoidance of physical pain, sexual gratification
secondary drive
a drive that is learned through its association with a primary drive; love, prestige, money, power, and avoidance of fear and humiliation; learned during socialization
drive reduction theory
for a reward to have the power to encourage the target behavior, the reward must satisfy a need
approach-avoidance conflict
- an increase in drive strength increase the tendency for approach or avoidance
- when there are two competing responses, the stronger response wins
- the tendency to approach increases as the positive goal gets closer
- the tendency to avoid increases as the negative goal gets closer
- the tendency to avoid is stronger than the tendency to approach
- avoidance gradient: as the events gets closer in time, the negative elements become more important than the positive elements
expectancy value theory
- decisions are determined by the presence or size of reinforcements and beliefs about the likely results of behavior
- even if a reinforcement is very attractive, you are not likely to pursue it if your chances of success seem slim
- even something that is not particularly desirable might motivate behavior, if the chances of getting it are high
social learning theory
- reaction to shortcomings of behaviorism
- based in animal research
- ignores the social dimension of learning, yet we often learn by watching others
- organisms are treated as essentially passive
- suspicion that behaviorism did not tell the whole story
- Kohler’s chimpanzees did more than learn from rewards, they developed insights
locus of control / generalized expectancy
- people with high generalized expectancy have an internal locus of control
- people with low generalized expectancy have an external locus of control
efficacy expectation
- one’s belief that one can perform a given goal-directed behavior
- bandura’s interpretation of Rotter’s expectancy
- difference is rotter focused on the expectation of success if something is done and bandura focused on the expectation of being able to do something in the first place
reciprocal deerminism
people affect their environments while their environments affect them
habituation
- a decrease in responsiveness with each repeated exposure to something
- simplest form of behavior change
- stimulus must change or continually increase in order to maintain the intensity of the original response
- it is possible to habituate to violence portrayed in the media and video games, winning the lottery and being paralyzed
