Test 1

Question 1

What is Behavior?

Answer 1

Any activity of an organism that can be observed or somehow measured.

Question 2

What is learning?

Answer 2

A relatively permanent change in behavior that results from some type of experience.

Question 3

What causes change in behavior? (4 things)

Answer 3

1. Classical conditioning
2. Operant conditioning
3. Observational learning
4. Fixed action patterns

Question 4

Classical conditioning

Answer 4

process by which certain inborn behaviors come to be produced in new situations.

Question 5

Operant conditioning

Answer 5

Strengthening or weakening of a behavior as a result of its consequences.

Question 6

Observational learning

Answer 6

The act of observing someone else’s behavior facilitates the development of a similar behavior in oneself.

Question 7

Fixed action patterns

Answer 7

Inherited, instinctive behavior patterns.

Question 8

Law of similarity

Answer 8

Events that are similar to each other are readily associated with each other.
eg. Cars are associated with trucks

Question 9

Law of contrast

Answer 9

Events that are opposite are readily associated.

eg. The word “wealth” may bring to mind the word “poverty”.

Question 10

Law of contiguity

Answer 10

Events that occur in close proximity to each other in time or space are readily associated. (Closeness).

Question 11

Law of frequency

Answer 11

The more frequently two items occur together, the more strongly they are associated.
eg. Associating a friend with her perfume over time.

Question 12

Mind-Body dualism: Founder & definition

Answer 12

Descartes; Some human behaviors are reflexes that are automatically elicited by external stimulation, while other behaviors are freely chosen and controlled by the mind.

Question 13

John lock

Answer 13

(empiricists) Almost all knowledge is a function of experience.

Question 14

Wilhelm Wundt & Edward Titchener

Answer 14

(Structuralism) Assumes it is possible to determine the structure of the mind by identifying the basic elements that compose it.

Question 15

William James

Answer 15

(functionalist) Assumes the mind evolved to help us adapt to the world around us. As an adaptive process, learning was of great interest.

Question 16

John B. Watson

Answer 16

Disliked previous approaches & wanted psychology to be a true science.

Question 17

Behaviorism is

Answer 17

a natural science approach to psychology that focuses on the study of environmental influences on observable behavior.

Question 18

Watsons Methodological Behaviorism

Answer 18

Extreme; Study of observable behavior. “S-R Theory”. Learning involves the development of a connection between the environmental event & a specific behavior. (eg. Lights turn off in a classroom (s) and talking stops (r)).

Question 19

Hull’s Neobehaviorism

Answer 19

disagreed w/ Watson. Thought events that cant be directly observed can still be operationalized (eg. Thirst defined as a number of minutes since last drink).
Agreed with Watson. Shared the view that psychology’s mentalistic emphasis must go & also took a pure S-R approach to learning. (Behavior must be rewarded for learning to take place).

Question 20

Watson’s Methodological Behaviorism (simplified)

Answer 20

Environmental Events → (no internal events)→ Observable characteristics

Question 21

Hull’s Neobehaviorism

Answer 21

Environmental Events →Internal events → observable behavior.

Food deprivation→Hunger→Food seeking behavior

Question 22

Dolman’s Cognitive behaviorism

Answer 22

Disagreed with Watson & Hull. Viewed behavior as “ goal-directed”. Believed that internal cognitive processes like”expectations” and “hypotheses” guided behavior instead of just physiological process. (Learning can occur even if its not readily apparent).
Agreed w/ Watson & Hull: Necessary to incorporate internal process to explain behavior.

Question 23

Latent Learning

Answer 23

(Tolman) Learning occurs despite any observable indication; Only becomes apparent under different circumstances.

Question 24

Dolman’s Cognitive Behaviorism (simplified)

Answer 24

Environmental events → Internal events (expectations & hypotheses) →Observable behavior

Question 25

Bandora’s Social learning Theory

Answer 25

Emphasized expectations as having a primary role in the learning process. Proposed “reciprocal determinism”.

Question 26

Reciprocal determinism

Answer 26

Env. events, observable behavior, and “person variables” (thoughts & feelings) have a reciprocal influence on each other.

Question 27

Skinner’s Radical Behaviorism

Answer 27

• Emphasized influence of environmental consequences on overt & covert behavior and rejects internal events as explanation for behavior.
• Believed that thoughts & feelings were themselves behaviors that needed to be explained by environmental events.
• Agreed w/ Watson: Disliked the increasing interest in internal processes.
• Not as mechanistic as Watson & Hull