Chapter 7 - Learning and Intelligence Flashcards
Learning (broad definition)
An enduring change intra-indivudually from experience
What do Psychologists disagree on about learning?
What the change involves: behavioral school and cognitive school
What are roots of Behavioral School?
Association Psychology and Adaptation Psychology
Association Psychology and Adaptation Psychology
Assocation Psych: make new associations among ideas. relies on self-observation?
Adaptation Psych: learning is a major adaptive function. things about non-human animals should apply to humans
How did Adaptation psychology lead to the shift to Behavioral School ideas?
Since non-human animals cannot self-report, they focused on the observables rather than unobservables
Psychological behaviorism
A form of behaviorism; argues that psychology should focus on observables like the other natural sciences (replicable observations)
What do people in the Behavioral School tend to be?
Behaviorists, not psychologists (focus just on behavior)
What did initial work in the Behavioral School focus on?
Evaluating associationist theory of learning scientifically
Who were the big and initial Behavioral School associationists?
E. L. Thorndike and Ivan Pavlov
What did Ivan Pavlov’s studies first focus on?
First reflexes, then became broader
How did Pavlov get to studying classical conditioning?
Studied dogs’ digestive systems, then shifted to stimuli responses
Conditional Reflexes (definition)
Responses conditioned or dependent on stimulus
Conditioning (definition)
Relatively permanent changes in behavior due to experience
How does learning differ to conditioning?
Learning can be changes in the behavioral or mental, but conditioning must be behavioral or observable
Classical Conditioning (definition)
Already-existing behavior paired with new situation; largely involuntary, mostly outside of awareness.
Which form of conditioning relates more to intelligence? Why?
Classical conditioning is more orexis (conation and affection) than intelligence or cognition. Instrumental is more closely related to intelligence
Process of Classical Conditioning
US paired with NS that makes UR;
becomes
CS that elicits CR (CR is same thing as UR. NS is same thing as CS.)
What does Generalizing and Extinguishing mean in Classical Conditioning?
Generalize = similar-to controlled stimulus elicts CR
Extinguishing = CS loses its pair to CR
Reflexes vs. Instincts
Reflexes: automatic responses to stimuli
Instincts: complex behavior sets as responses (species-specific)
Who mainly focused on Instrumental Conditioning?
Thorndike
What allowed for explaining behavior without faculties or factors?
Instrumental conditioning
What did Thorndike want to first study?
Children, but not allowed
Puzzle Box
Thorndike’s experiment that required a sequence of behavior to escape
What did Thorndike do after puzzle box to then come up with his theory with laws
Replicated it with other animals. Found same behavior of orderliness increase
Law of Effect
More likely to do previously-satisfactory responses. Response gets stamped in to stimuli
How did Thorndike explain the Law of Effect?
Strengthening of Stimuli-Response association when satisfaction. Satisfaction strengthens greater than discomfort weakens
Why is Instrumental Conditioning called that?
Instrumental = behavior is instrumental for learning an outcome ???
What did Thorndike equate intelligence with?
Intelligence = Conditioning
How did Thorndike explain intelligence?
Neural associations allow for S-R associations, which # of S-R associations is intelligence
How were people more intelligent according to Thorndike?
Greater biological capability for associations (and S-R associations) = More intelligent
How do human and non-human animal intelligence differ according to Thorndike?
Humans have greater capacity for neural associations (quantitative)
Criticisms of Thorndike’s Intelligence Theory from Behaviorists and Psychologists
Behaviorists: it has some unobservables (satisfaction/discomfort from stimuli)
Psychologists: exclusion of mental attributes (knowledge, information, etc.)
Anarchic Theories
Other behavioral theories built off Thorndike; sought to redefine intellectual concepts in behavioristic way. Then mechanistically explain S-R associations
Specificity Doctrine
Not emitting behavior doesn’t mean they lack ability to. When testing intelligence, it only tests based on behavior. They might have ability but without means to do it.
Trouble of Behavioral School Theory
It’s incomplete. Can’t explain how people respond to completely novel content
Mechanistic Models
Machines or metaphors representing theories. Chain-like and deterministic
Cognitive vs. Intellective
Cognitive is usually common to persons. Intellective is individual differences in mental phenomena (hard to distinguish)
