Introduction to Behaviour & History Flashcards
What is behaviour?
“Anything a person or other animal does that can be
measured”
What is the difference between internal behaviours and external behaviours?
Internal- a behaviour that happens within one’s skin
External- a behaviour outside of one’s skin
What is the difference between covert and overt behaviour?
Covert- only visible to the performer
Overt- visible to others
What kind of behaviour is thinking “I am boring?”
Internal Covert
Define reflex
“A relationship between a specific event and a simple
response to that event.” (Chance, 2014, p. 11)
• The relationship between the events not the
behaviour.
What is an elicited stimulus?
(involuntary) behaviour drawn out by certain stimulus
Describe what a relfex is
Simple, automatic response to a stimulus that has survival value
Name some reflexes
Startle, Orienting response, Flexion response, Vomiting reflex
What is a Fixed action patterns/Modal Action Patters (MAP)
Fixed sequence of responses elicited by a stimulus (releaser)
• Unique to species and evolved for consistent environments
• Involve entire organism
• More complex and variable
What is a General Behaviour trait? Give examples
A tendency to engage in a certain kind of behaviour”
(Chance, 2014, p. 16)
• E.g., outgoing, shy, aggressive, relaxed, etc…
How are MAP/FAP different from General behaviour traits?
They are more variable through a species and occur in a wide range of situations (rather than just a response to a stimulus)
Define Learning
• “A change in behavior due to experience.”
• “A change in behavior due to a change in the
environment” (Chance, 2014, p 21, p24)
What are the two types of learning?
Immediate & delayed
What is learning? (4)
- The acquisition of new knowledge
- The transference of already known facts
- The acquisition of new skills
- The acquisition of likes and dislikes
The two learning processes: Declarative and _____
Non-declarative
What is declarative memory?
Declarative learning is acquiring information that one can speak about (contrast with motor learning)
What are the types of declarative memory? (2)
Semantic; Episodic
What is semantic memory?
FACTS- Not drawn from personal experience. Semantic memory includes things that are common knowledge, such as the names of colors, the sounds of letters, the capitals of countries and other basic facts acquired over a lifetime
What is episodic memory?
It is the collection of past personal experiences that occurred at a particular time and place. “Episodes” of your life
What is non-declarative memory? and what are the types of non-declarative memory?
Memory that is acquired and used unconsciously, and can affect thoughts and behaviours.
Procedural; Behavioural;
Emotional
What is procedural memory?
As the name implies, procedural memory stores information on how to perform certain procedures, such as walking, talking and riding a bike
What is behavioural memory?
Memory of behaviour (????)
What is emotional memory?
Memory of experiences that evoked an emotional reaction.
What are the three types learning? (RAL)
- Rote: repetition of a particular stimuli
- Associative: Learning to link two events that occur close together
- Learning Processes:
• Classical Conditioning
• Operant Conditioning
• Observational Learning
What is classical conditioning?
Involuntary behaviours in new situations
What is operant conditioning?
strengthening or weakening of a voluntary
behaviour based on its consequences
Types of learning processes (4)
Operant, Classical, Observational Learning & Inherited dispositions.
What are the three types of adaptive behaviours produced by natural selection?
- Reflexive
- Modal action patterns/fixed action patterns
- General behaviour traits
A speck of dirt hits your eye- what is the reflex in this case?
The reflex is the relation between the speck of dirt and your need to blink (relationship between two events), it is not the eye blink itself (which would be the behaviour).
How do MAPS differ from reflexes? (3)
They involve the whole organism rather than a few muscles & glands.
They are also more complex- consist of a long series of reflex-like acts & are more variable.
Are said to be ‘thoughtful acts’ rather an innate ones.
What type of MAP does the opossum exhibit?
Playing dead
Although it is debatable, what else can we call MAPs in humans? Give an example
Instincts, e.g. the sex instinct or the maternal instinct
MAPs are elicited by specific environmental events called ______.
Releasers
General behaviour are behavioural tendencies with a strong _____.
Beahavioural component.
What changes behaviour is experience. Experience is _____.
Changes in the environment due to stimuli.
Who are two philosophers that debated nurture vs. nature? What did they believe?
Plato- was a nativist (nature)
Aristotle- was an empricist and believed in nurture
What are the 4 laws of association (SCCF)?
•Law of Similarity (e.g. cars and trucks)
•Law of Contrast (e.g. black and white)
•Law of Contiguity (closeness) (e.g. thunder and
lightning)
•Law of Frequency (e.g. go together)
What was Decrates known for?
Mind-body dualism
“I think before I am”
Some behaviours are reflexes that are automatically elicited by external stimulation, others are freely chosen and controlled by the mind
Decribe British Empiricism, who coined it?
• John Locke and British Empiricism • Tabula rasa • The mind is composed of a set of finite basic elements (sounds, smells, colours) that are combined through the principles of association into complex sensations and thought patterns
What is structualism? Who coined it?
- Wundt
Structuralism studies the human mind and the basic units that can be identified through introspection.
What is functionalism? Who coined it?
James and Functionalism • Adaptive processes of the mind • Darwinism and natural selection – the ability to learn confers significant survival advantages • Focuses on the adaptive abilities of the mind
What is behaviourism? Who is responsible for the rise of it?
John B. Watson • Experimental psychology vs. consciousness and introspection • Observable phenomena • Clear research questions
Behaviourism: natural science
approach to psychology focusing on
environmental influences on
observable behaviour
What are the five schools of behaviourism?
- Watson’s Methodological Behaviourism
- Hull’s Neobehaviourism
- Tolman’s Cognitive Behaviourism
- Bandura’s Social Learning Theory
- Skinner’s Radical Behaviourism
Desribe Watson’s Methodological Behaviourism
John. B Watson
• Study of ‘publicly’ observable behaviour
• Subjective activities too difficult to assess and
excluded unless method of measurement exists
• Practice makes perfect ~10 years + hours
Stimulus —— Response
Describe Hull’s Neobehaviourism
• Clark L. Hull • Operationalisation of unobserved constructs and events • e.g. gravity • Mediation by intervening variables which explained the stimulus – response relationship • physiological reactions such as hunger • Note: not mental processes
environmental events —> Internal events e.g. hunger —> Observable behaviour
Describe Tolman’s Cognitive Behaviourism
Edward C. Tolman
• “the whole is more than the sum of its parts”
• Patterns of behaviour rather than a chain of S-R
connections
•Intervening cognitive processes, e.g. cognitive map
• Latent learning
Describe Bandura’s Social Learning Theory
Albert Bandura
• Observational Learning
• Social Learning Theory: importance of observational
learning and cognitive variables in explaining human
behaviour
• Reciprocal determinism:
• environmental events, observable behaviour, ‘person variables’, e.g. think, feel- all influence eachother.
Describe Skinner’s Radical Behaviourism
• Internal states not explanations of behaviour but an
event to be explained
•‘covert’ and ‘overt’ governed by same rules
• Cause, consequence or correlate?
• Capacity to manipulate environment for positive
effect
• Countercontrol: the deliberate manipulation of
environment to alter of impact behaviour
• Operant conditioning as natural selection in an
individual
• Behaviour analysis and contemporary psychological
treatment
Latent learning
Learning occurs despite absence of evidence of learning, apparent only under different condition.
