Rise Of Behaviourism

Question 1

Wundt’s Experimental Methods.

Answer 1

Psychophysical (connection between physical stimulus and conscious states). Measurement of duration of simple mental processes. The accuracy of reproduction in memory tasks.

Question 2

Wundt’s Method of Introspection.

Answer 2

Person ‘looks inside’ to report what they are sensing, thinking or feelings. Introduced more control through experimental self-observation (stimulus presented repeatedly, experience reported).

Question 3

Wundt’s Historical Method.

Answer 3

Studying the human mind by investigation of the product of culture, suited to ‘higher’ psychological functions (e.g. social aspects).

Question 4

Psychophysical Parallelism.

Answer 4

Every physical event has a mental counterpart and vice versa. Measurable variables are bi-products of sensations and movements.

Question 5

Libet (2002) Readiness Potentials.

Answer 5

Onset began on average 100ms before reported awareness; neural activity precedes conscious awareness.

Question 6

Dutton & Arn (1974) Love on a Bridge Experiment.

Answer 6

50% of men approach on the bridge later called, only 13% in safe environment. Higher levels of arousal due to fear are misinterpreted as arousal for the woman.

Question 7

Wundt’s Goals.

Answer 7

Analyse elements of consciousness, find connections between elements, find laws.

Question 8

Myers (2008); Deadly Sins of Intuition.

Answer 8

Memory construction. Misreading our minds. Misinterpreting feels and behaviours. Hindsight Bias. Self-Serving Bias. Overconfidence bias. Fundamental Attribution Error, Confirmation Bias/Belief Preservation. Heuristics (availability/representativeness). Farming Effect, Illusory Correlation.

Question 9

William James.

Answer 9

Introspection best available method despite limitations (not fond of experimental method). Functionalist: examined the practical functions of the human mind inspired by evolution (Darwinian ideas as framework).

Question 10

First Psychology Lab.

Answer 10

Germany; 1879.

Question 11

First British Psychology Lab.

Answer 11

1897.

Question 12

Edward Titchener.

Answer 12

Structuralist: trying to discover the structure of the human mind by means of introspection. This was not embraced as participants often came to a conclusion with no clue of the underlaying processes.

Question 13

APA Founded.

Answer 13

1892.

Question 14

Eugenics.

Answer 14

Fate of a nation can be improve by selective breeding of inhabitants.

Question 15

Gestalt Psychology.

Answer 15

Human mind can not be understood by breaking down the experiences to constituting elements; perception is more than sensation of stimuli.

Question 16

Anthropomorphic Interpretation; Romanes.

Answer 16

The attribution of human motives and intelligence to animals; anecdotal evidence combining observations of human behaviour with inference of adaptive capacities.

Question 17

Thorndike.

Answer 17

Did not rely on anecdotal evidence (intr.) but behavioural observation in controlled environments. Instrumental conditioning using the puzzle box.

Question 18

Thorndike Law of Effect.

Answer 18

Behaviours followed by positive consequences and strengthened/repeated, behaviours that are not are not repeated.

Question 19

Pavlov.

Answer 19

Studied digestive system in dogs; ‘psychic reflex’. Classical Conditioning: neutral stimulus presented shortly before stimuli eliciting a reflex response will start to elicit response.

Question 20

Watson.

Answer 20

Published manifesto regarding lack of scientific rigour; beginning of behaviourism and importance of observable behaviours.

Question 21

Skinner and Operant Conditioning.

Answer 21

Radical Behaviourism; denies any relevance of information processing - all human behaviour can be understood on the basis of S-R relationships.

Question 22

Tolman and Rat Maze.

Answer 22

If Skinners operant conditioning (S-R) claim true, rats who are not reinforced should not learn. Purposive behaviourism; learning not due to food but rats had learned the layout and used knowledge when they had reason to (latent learning).

Question 23

Wundt’s Three Methods of Study.

Answer 23

Experimental Methods. Method of Introspection. Historical Method.