problem 4 - psychology in the 20th century Flashcards
what is behaviorism
focuses on observable behavior
all that matters is overt behavior - we can only scientifically study observable phenomena
- feelings, emotions, mental images, etc. = subjective & only accessible to the individual experiencing them = cannot be studied = not our concern
watson, skinner, pavlov
beginning of the 20th century
watson: main ideas
felt that psychology was too focused on humans = focused his research on animals, specifically white rats
very reductionist; according to him, everything could be traced back to a certain foundation
disagreed with many aspects of psychology at the time (philosophical concerns, experimental psychology, hereditarian bias)
logical positivism
everything can ultimately be explained logically - everything we can perceive can be traced back to 1 specific thing
- has strongly influenced behaviourism, and can be linked to reductionism
varieties of behaviorism: e.c. tolman
unhappy about excluding internal events & simply looking at overt stimulus-response (SR) relation = looked for way of reincorporating internal process into the picture
- invented SOR models (O=organism) - instead of SR models
varieties in behaviorism: extending behvaiorism
extending behaviorism to topics other than learning - Karl Lashley adopted the behaviorist framework in his brain functioning research
others wanted to extend it in a more social direction: social behaviorism - concerned with the social construction of the self (was miles away from watson’s idea of what psych should be)
varieties of behaviorism: complexity
theoretical complexity - skinner vs hull
skinner’s approach: atheoretical - purely concerned with empirically studying the shaping of behavior by reinforcement
hull’s theory: a highly ambitious attempt at producing a ‘hypothetico-deductive’ theory with postulates, theorems & quantification
problems with behaviorism: the organization of behavior problem
according to behaviorism, complex behavior involves associatively conditioning each successive component to its predecessor
- cannot explain many higher-order human behaviors (e.g. piano playing or language learning)
problems with behaviorism: the return of instincts
watson thought you could measure general behavior based on a specific species
- behaviorism was seriously misled by focusing on the white rat
the white rat was used to study behavior - however, the white rat is a highly adaptive species that adapts easily to the environment + not every animal learns in the same way and at the same pace
gestalt psychology
originated in germany bcuz german psychologists were not united in accepting Wundt’s reductionist approach to the nature of the mind
is a counterpart of behaviorism - while behaviorism only looks at behavior, Gestalt psychology focuses on mental concepts
Wertheimer (founder), Kohler & Koffka
central gestalt concepts: field
gestalists saw their task as identifying those fields that determine behavior & mental phenomena + the laws governing these fields
psychological phenomena can be explained by the brain: the brain consists of networks/fields (containing electromagnetic forces) = psychological phenomena are not explained by sensory processes but by structured fields in the brain consisting of forces
central gestalt concepts: isomorphism
in topology, two forms are technically “isomorphic” if they share a common structure - e.g the shapes S, C and L are isomorphic because they all consist of a single line
gestaltists used this idea to link conscious experience w physiological level phenomena
apparent movement phenomenon = when a movement is perceived while not really there
- every structure we see has been influenced by the organization in our brain (cognitive system)
central gestalt concepts: pragnaz
a general principle which governs the structure of psychological phenomena - they are always organized in the neatest, tightest, most meaningful way
also about the relationship between different things; the whole is more important than the parts
laws of pragnanz
figure/ground distinction: we always experience part of a complete stimulus as a figure against a background
contrast and closure: we are better at remembering complete things than things that are unfinished (closure) - if you see discernible differences between two things, then we are exaggerating them (contrast)
constancy: even though we see things from different points of view, we still see the same thing
transposition: relationships are more important than parts
cognitive psychology
was seen as very revolutionary in the 50s for 2 reasons:
1. was seen as breaking behaviorism hold on experimental psychology
2. the adoption of a new set of theoretical concepts
emerged from the development of complex technology during WW2
- from the invention of the electronic computer came 3 central ideas to the conceptualization of cognition:
information, feedback & program
cognitive psychology: information
can be measured to the extent that it eliminates uncertainties → done in binary logic
notion of redundancy = surplus information - if a ‘signal’ only contains the min of info necessary, any interference will render it meaningless
- additional redundant info ensures successful transmission despite a degree of degradation
