Task 6 From thinking animal to behaviourism Flashcards
Behaviourism
movement in psychology arguing that observable behaviours are the most important aspect of human functioning to be understood; denies to various extents the relevance of information processing going on in the mind; particularly strong in the USA in the first half of the twentieth century
Comparative psychology
study of behaviour of animals, usually with the intention to shed light on human functioning within the framework of the evolutionary theory
Operational definition
definition of a variable in terms of how the variable has been measured; allows description of the variable in quantitative form
Independent and dependent variables
Taken over from the philosopher behaviourists stated that you have to distinct between independent and dependent variables
Need of verification
principle that up tot the 1950s formed the core of the scientific method: a proposition was meaningful (scientific) if its truth could be empirically verified by observation
Radical behaviourism
Strong version of behaviourism, defended by skinner, which denies the relevance of information processing in the mind and holds that all human behaviour can be understood on the basis pf S-R (stimulus-response) associations
Purposive behaviourism
version of behaviourism, defended by Tolman, which saw behaviour as goal-related (means to an end); agreed with other behaviourists that psychology should be based on observable behaviour
Watsons contribution to behaviourism
- Was the head of Psychological review, which he used to promote animal research, and the chair of psychology in Toronto
- Strongly against introspection as valid method
- Can’t determine difference between structuralism and functionalism
- came to deny the importance/existence of any process that was not observable
- thought that consciousness is the part in psychology that distinguishes psychology to science
Critics on behaviourism
• Denies to various extents the relevance of information processing going on in the mind
Latent learning
the acquisition of knowledge that is not demonstrated in observable behaviour
Anthropomorphic interpretation
interpreting behaviour of non-human living creatures by attributing human motives and human-like intelligence to them
Instrumental conditioning
name introduced by Thorndike to refer to learning on the basis of the law effect; called operant conditioning by skinner
Thorndike
o Based his theories on careful observation of animals put in controlled environments
o Law of effect: behavioural law introduced by thorndike to refer to the fact that behaviours followed by positive consequences are strengthened and more likely to be repeated
o Instrumental conditioning: name introduced by Thorndike to refer to learning on the basis of the law effect; called operant conditioning by skinner
Law of effect
behavioural law introduced by thorndike to refer to the fact that behaviours followed by positive consequences are strengthened and more likely to be repeated
Positivism
movement which sees science as motor of progress (comte)
o Because science is based on observation and experimentation, its findings are always true
o Scientific theories are summaries of the empirical findings. Therefore, they are always true as well.
o Because scientific knowledge is infallible, it should be the motor of all progress
Philosophy of science
branch of philosophy that studies the foundations of scientific research, to better understand the position of scientific research relative to other forms of information acquisition and generation
Skinner
coined operant conditioning and was known for radical behaviourism
o Humans have much less control over actions than they think, they simply respond to events in environment, don’t take initiative -> no free will in humans
Tolman
agreed with Watson and Skinner that psychology should be based on observable behaviour and not seek to understand the animal’s ‘mind’ or ‘consciousness’, but at the same time he did not see why he should be asked to assume that nothing more than the formation of S-R associations happened in the mind
Mechnomorphism (thorndike)
is the exclusive attribution of mechanistic properties to psychological phenomena
Theriomorphism (Thorndike)
is the attribution of the qualities of non-human animals to human beings
Mechanicotheriomorphism (Thorndike)
the ascription of mechanical properties to phenomena that are psychological in nature in non human animals that are in turn used to explain human psychological phenomena
Attempts to win over the public (USA)
Society associated psychology with phrenology, mesmerism, spiritualism & other paranormal subjects
Phrenology (Gall, Spurzheim) – view that mental functions are localised in the brain and that the capacity of a function corresponds to the size of the brain part devoted to it (gave rise to personality assessment by analysing bumps on the scull in beginning of 19th century)
Mesmerism (Mesmer, Poyen) – hypnosis induced by animal magnetism
Spiritualism – belief that spirits of the dead could be contacted by mediums
Tried to win public over by publishing hundreds of articles about new scientific psychology (but messages lacked strength so weren’t convincing)
Zeitgeist of American psychology
1892 – foundation of American Psychological Association (APA) as forum to meet & discuss
Strong influence of Darwin’s evolutionary theory and later Galton’s eugenics
Believed in importance of environment (country of immigrants)
Mistrust of intellectualism (knowledge for the sake of knowledge)
So, psychology addressed concerns prevalent in American society functionalism
Experimental psychology still had a bad position in rather philosophical & theological universities
US DOMINANCE IN 20TH CENTURY
Efforts made by academic psychological labs to become reorganised as scientific labs
US dominance as Europe was crippled by war
Sheer amount of research done
Quality of produced textbooks (e.g. James’s principles much easier to understand than Wundt)
