The Behaviourist School of Thought in Psychology

Question 1

What period did the Behavirourist Movement occur in?

Answer 1

1900s (1904-1971).

Question 2

Name three of the key ideas in Watson’s Behaviourist Manifesto.

Answer 2

Prediction and control of behaviour.
Behaviourism is an objective, experimental branch of natural science.
No dividing line between man and brute.

Question 3

Name three of the key ideas in Behaviourism.

Answer 3

Observable behaviour.
Animal subjects.
Blank slate theory.

Question 4

What was Ivan Pavlov a Nobel prize winner for?

Answer 4

For his work on digestion.
He developed surgical skill and created fistula which allowed for new observations of digestion.
His experiment showed the importance of secretin to the salivation response.

Question 5

What is a conditioned reflex (Pavlov)?

Answer 5

Salivation is a naturally-occurring unconditioned response.
By pairing the unconditioned stimulus with a neutral stimulus, the neutral stimulus becomes conditioned and therefore a conditioned stimulus.

Question 6

Why was timing important in Pavlov’s theory?

Answer 6

The conditioning only works if the neutral stimulus is presented before the unconditioned stimulus.

Question 7

State what higher-order conditioning, generalisation and differentiation are (Pavlov).

Answer 7

Higher-order conditioning: a conditioned stimulus can be used for conditioning a second higher-order stimulus.
Generalisation: conditioned response generalises to similar stimuli.
Differentiation: a conditioned response does not generalise to a similar stimulus. It is differentiated from it.

Question 8

What is Experimental Neurosis (Pavlov)?

Answer 8

A seemingly aversive state where the stimulus is close to differentiation.

Question 9

What did Pavlov’s findings later lead him too?

Answer 9

His theory of brain organisation.

Question 10

State the 3 key ideas in Pavlov’s Theory of Brain Organisation.

Answer 10

Conditioned stimuli are represented in the cortex.
Excitation is caused by reinforcement.
Inhibition is caused by a lack of reinforcement.

Question 11

What was Pavlov’s opinion on dogs?

Answer 11

He believed they should be offered as a sacrificed to science but not with unnecessary suffering.

Question 12

What were the three emotions that Watson considered to be unconditioned emotional reactions?

Answer 12

Fear, rage and love.

All other emotions were considered to be learned by conditioning.

Question 13

Briefly explain the aim of Watson’s Little Albert Experiment.

Answer 13

The aim was to show conditioned emotional responses in a human.
Lots of myths surrounding this study.

Question 14

What did Mary Jones’ Little Peter study demonstrate?

Answer 14

Systematic desensitisation.

Question 15

When did Behaviourism become a dominant approach?

Answer 15

1930-1950s.

Question 16

Name 2 of Skinner’s key ideas.

Answer 16

He believed the behaviour of any organism was controlled by its history of reinforcement.
Operant conditioning stated that a behaviour is learned as a result of its past consequences.

Question 17

Name Skinner’s 3 main scientific practices.

Answer 17

The Skinner Box.
Contingencies of Reinforcement - graph to show the relationship between responses and reinforcement by time interval/ratio of responses to reinforcement (these could be fixed or variable).
The cumulative record - graph of a single organism’s behaviour overtime.

Question 18

What is variable interval reinforcement schedules?

Answer 18

You don’t know when the reinforcement will occur so you keep checking to see when it happens (e.g. gambling).
It is the hardest reinforcement to recondition.

Question 19

What is radical behaviourism and who was the main leader of this?

Answer 19

Radical behaviourism believed ALL behaviour could be explained without the need for mental states.
Skinner banned all talk of cognition.

Question 20

Name one of the applications of radical behaviourism.

Answer 20

Token economy in therapy.

This had many ethical issues such as abuse of power.

Question 21

How did Edward C Tolman contribute to the Behaviourist Movement?

Answer 21

Tolman took into account mental traits.
Conducted the maze for rats studies.
Wanted to test whether rats form hypotheses about where the food is in the maze or cognitive maps.
Skinner was not impressed by this theory.

Question 22

How did Harry Harlow contribute to the Behaviourist Movement?

Answer 22

Nature of love monkey experiments.

Monkeys prefer soft mother with no food more than wire mother with food.