Exam 2 Flashcards
Robert Yerkes
Began studying animals –> strengthened comparative psy.
William Small
Introduced rat maze
Mary Floy Washburn
Publises “The Animal Mind” (inferred mental state of animals)
Ivan Pavlov
Objective psy. and Watson’s research supported by Pavlov
James Loeb developed a theory of animal behavior based on the concept of:
Trophism: An involuntary forced movement (animal’s reaction to a stimulus is direct and automatic) Automatic processes do not require further explanation of consciousness
Thorndike’s law of..
Effect:REWARD more effective than mere repetition
Thorndike’s experimental approach to the study of association & instrument used to study it
Connectionsim: Learning as connections bw stimuli and responses // Puzzle box
Thorndike argued that behavior must be redued to which simplest elements?
Stimulus-Response units
Pavlov’s psychic reflexes AKA
conditioned reflexes: conditioned stimulus was a bell –> Salivating to the sight of food is learned (conditioned reflex)
Pavlov increased controlled environment in studies though?
The Tower of silence
Pavlov’s 3 areas of study
Function of the nerves of the heart, primary digestive glands, and conditioned reflexes
Contributions of Pavlov
Demonstrated study of higher mental processes in physiological terms
What school of thought was the direct antecedent of behaviorism
functionalism/ Watson studied under Angell
According to Watson, psychology was to be
the science of behavior
not the introspective study of consciousness
a purely objective, experimental natural science
use animals and humans as subjects
Psychology’s goal: The prediction and control of behavior
The method’s of behaviorism (2)
(objective methods) Verbal report: Talking is a behavior bc it is observable/ Conditioned reflex method: Watson’s substitute for introspection
Behaviorism’s popular appeal
Behaviorism’s popularity stemmed from from Watson’s emphasis on the nurturing effect of the childhood environment in determining behavior and minimization of the impact of inherited tendencies
Contribution’s of Watson’s Behaviorism (3)
Made psy. more objective in methods and terminology
Stimulated great deal of research
Objective methods and language became part of the mainstream
Neo-Behaviorism (4) (3 ppl)
(1930-1960) S-O-R bonds/ Focuses on learning/ Operationism/ Physics as guide of psy. //Tolman, Hull, and Skinner
Sociobehaviorism (4) (2 ppl)
(1960-1990) S-O-R bonds/ Cognitive processes are important to learning behavior/ NEW operationism –> operational definition// Increase objectivity of language and terminology// Bandura & Rotter
Operationism
We do not know the meaning of a concept unless we have a direct way of studying it bc A physical concept is the same as the set of operations or procedures by which it is determined
Bridgman (1927) The Logic of Modern Physics
Precise definition of all physical concepts/ concept= procedure by which it is determined// Concepts wo this must be discarded
Subject matter of behaviorism(3)
Instincts/ emotions/ OVERT BEHAVIOR
Watson’s views on instincts
Accepted them @ first, not later –> Denied inherited capacities, temperaments, talents –> increase popularity w/ American public
Watson’s views on emotions
Each emo.=specific configuration of physiological changes