Topic 3: Behaviorism Flashcards
Behaviorism
the school of psychology, founded by Watson, that insisted that behavior be psychology’s subject matter and that psychology’s goal be the prediction and control of behavior
Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov (1829-1905)
the father of Russian objective psychology
Sechenov sought to explain all huma behavior in terms of stimuli and physiological mechanisms without recourse to metaphysical speculation of any type
Inhibition
the reduction or cessation of activity caused by stimulation, such as when extinction causes a conditioned stimulus to inhibit a conditioned response
it was Sechenov’s discovery of inhibitory mechanisms in the brain that led him to believe that all human behavior could be explained in terms of brain physiology
Ivan Petrovich Pavolv (1849-1936)
shared Sechenov’s goal of creating a totally objective psychology
Pavolv focused his study on the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli that control behavior and on the physiological processes that they initiate
for Pavlov, all huma behavior is reflexive
Conditioned Reflex
a learned reflex
Unconditioned Reflex
an unlearned reflex
Unconditioned Stimulus (US)
a stimulus that elicits an unconditioned response (UR)
Unconditioned Response (UR)
an innate response elicited by the unconditioned stimulus (US) that is naturally associated with it
Conditioned Stimulus (CS)
a previously biologically neutral stimulus that, through experience, comes to elicit a certain, conditioned response (CR)
Conditioned Response (CR)
a response elicited by a conditioned stimulus (CS)
Excitation
according to Pavlov, brain activity that leads to overt behavior of some type
Cortical Mosaic
according to Pavlov, the pattern of points of excitation and inhibition that characterizes the cortex at any given moment
Extinction
the elimination or reduction of a conditioned response (CR) that results when a conditioned stimulus (CS) is presented but is not followed by the unconditioned stimulus (CS)
Spontaneous Recovery
the reappearance of a conditioned response after a delay following extinction
Disinhibition
the inhibition of an inhibitory processes
disinhibition is demonstrated when, after extinction, a loud noise causes the conditioned response to reappear
Experimental Neurosis
the neurotic behavior that Pavlov created in some of his laboratory animals by bringing excitatory and inhibitory tendencies into conflict
First-Signal System
those objects or events that become signals (conditioned stimuli, CSs) for the occurrence of biologically significant events, such as when a tone signals the eventuality of food
Second-Signal System
the symbols of objects or events that signal the occurrence of biologically significant events
seeing fire and withdrawing from it would exemplify the first-signal system, but escaping in response to hearing the word “fire” exemplifies the second-signal system
Vladimir Bekhterev (1857-1927)
like Pavlov, looked upon all human behavior as reflexive
however, Bekhterev studied skeletal reflexes rather than the glandular reflexes that Pavlov studied
because he emphasized the study of the relationship between environmental events and overt behavior, he can also be considered one of the earliest behaviorists, if not the earliest
Reflexology
the term Bekhterev used to describe his approach to studying humans
Association Reflex
Bekhterev’s term for what Pavlov called a conditioned reflex
John B. Watson (1878-1958)
the founder of behaviorism who established psychology’s goal as the prediction and control of behavior
in his final position, he denied the existence of mental events and concluded that instincts play no role in human behavior
on the mind-body problem, Watson finally became a physical monist, believing that thought is nothing implicit muscle movement
Tropism
the automatic orienting response that Loeb studied in plants and animals
Radical Environmentalism
the belief that most, if not all, human behavior is caused by environmental experience
Behavior Therapy
the use of learning principles in treating behavioral or emotional problems
Law of Recency
Watson’s observation that typically it is the “correct” response that terminates a learning trial and it is the final or most recent response that will be repeated when the organism is next placed in that learning situation
Radical Behaviorism
the version of behaviorism that claims only directly observable events, such as stimuli and responses, should constitute the subject matter of psychology
explanations of behavior in terms of unobserved mental events can be, and should be, avoided
Methodological Behaviorism
the version of behaviorism that accepts the contention that overt behavior should be psychology’s subject matter but is willing to speculate about internal causes of behavior, such as various mental and physiological states
William McDougall (1871-1938)
pursued a type of behaviorism very different from Watson’s
McDougall’s behaviorism emphasized purposive and instinctive behavior
Hormic Psychology
the name given to McDougall’s version of psychology because of its emphasis on purposive or goal-directed behavior
Sentiment
according to McDougall, the elicitation of two or more instinctual tendencies by the same object, event, or thought
Zing Yang Kuo (1898-1970)
a Chinese psychologist who worked with kittens to show that rat killing was not instinctual
Positivism
the belief that science should study only those objects or events that can be experienced directly
that is, all speculation about abstract entities should be avoided
Logical Positivism
the philosophy of science according to which theoretical concepts are admissible if they are tied to the observable world through operational definitions
Observational Terms
according to logical positivism, terms that refer to empirical events
Theoretical Terms
according to logical positivism, those terms that are employed to explain empirical observations
Operational Defintion
according to logical positivism, terms that refer to empirical events
Theoretical Terms
according to logical positivism, those terms that are employed to explain empirical observations
Operational Definition
a definition that relates an abstract concept to the producers used to measure it
Operationism
the belief that all abstract scientific concepts should be operationally defined
Physicalism
a belief growing that all sciences should share common assumptions, principles, and methodologies and should model themselves after physics
Neobehaviorism
agreed with older forms of behaviorism that overt behavior should be psychology’s subject matter but disagreed that theoretical speculation concerning abstract entities must be avoided
such speculation was accepted provided that the theoretical terms employed are operationally defined and lead to testable predictions about overt behavior
Edwin Ray Guthrie (1886-1959)
accepted the law of contiguity but not the law of frequency
for him, learning occurs at full strength after just one association between a patter of stimuli and a response
Law of Contiguity
Guthrie’s one law of learning, which states that when a pattern of stimuli is experienced along with a response, the two became associated
in 1959, Guthrie revised the law of contiguity to read, “What is being noticed becomes a signal for what is being done.”
One-Trial Learning
Guthrie’s contention that the association between a pattern of stimuli and a response develops at full strength after just one pairing of the two
Maintaining Stimuli
according to Guthrie, the internal or external stimuli that keep an organism active until a goal is reached
Clark Leonard Hull (1884-1952)
formulated a complex hypothetico-deductive theory in an attempt to explain all learning phenomena
Hypothetico-Deductive Theory
a set of postulates from which empirical relationships are deduced (predicted)
if the empirical relationships are as predicted, the theory gains strength
if not, the theory loses strength and must be revised or abandoned
Reinforcement
for Hull, drive reduction
for Skinner, anything that increases the rate or the probability of a response
for Tolman, the confirmation of a hypothesis, expectation, or belief
for Guthrie, a mechanical arrangement that prevents unlearning
Drive Reduction
Hull’s proposed mechanism of reinforcement
for Hull, anything that reduces a drive is reinforcing
Habit Strength (sHr)
for Hull, the strength of an association between a stimulus and response
this strength depends on the number of reinforced pairings between the two
Reaction Potential (sEr)
for Hull, the probability of a learned response being elicited in a given situation
this probability is a function of the amount of drive and habit strength present
B. F. Skinner (1904-1990)
a behaviorist who believed that psychology should study the functional relationship between environmental events, such as reinforcement contingencies and behavior
Skinner’s work exemplified positivism
Functional Analysis
Skinner’s approach to research that involves studying the systematic relationship between behavioral and environmental events
such study focuses on the relationship between reinforcement contingencies and response rate or response probability
Respondent Behavior
behavior that is elicited by a known stimulus
S-R Psychology
the type of psychology insisting that environmental stimuli elicit most, if not all, behavior
the Russian psychologists and Watson were S-R psychologists
Instrumental Conditionig
the type of conditioning studied by Thorndike, wherein an organisms learns to make a response that is instrumental in producing reinforcement
Operant Behavior
behavior that is emitted by an organism rather than elicited by a known stimulus
Descriptive Behaviorism
behaviorism that is positivistic in that it describes relationships between environmental events and behavior rather than attempting to explain those relationships
Skinner’s approach to psychology exemplified descriptive behaviorism
Behavior Therapy
the use of learning principles to treat emotional or behavioral disorders
Token Economies
an arrangement within institutions whereby desirable behavior is strengthened using valuable tokes as reinforcers
Edward Chace Tolman (1886-1959)
created a brand of behaviorism that used mental constructs and emphasized purposive behavior
although Tolman employed many intervening variables, his most important was the cognitive map
Molecular Behavior
a small segment of behavior such as a reflex or a habit that is isolated for study
Purposive Behavior
behavior that is directed toward some goal and that terminates when the goal is attained
Tolman referred to this as molar behavior
Purposive Behaviorism
the type of behaviorism Tolman pursued, which emphasizes molar rather than molecular behavior
Intervening Variables
events believed to occur between environmental and behavioral events
although intervening variables cannot be observed directly, they are thought to be causally related to behavior
Hull’s habit strength ad Tolman’s cognitive map are examples of intervening variables
Hypothesis
according to Tolman, an expectancy that occurs during the early stages of learning
Vicarious Trial and Error
according to Tolman, the apparent pondering of behavioral choices in a learning choices
Expectancy
according to Tolman, a hypothesis that has been tentatively confirmed
Belief
Tolman, an expectation that experience has consistently confirmed
Cognitive Map
according to Tolman, the mental representation of the environment
Confirmation
according to Tolman, the verification of a hypothesis, expectancy, or belief
Performance
the translation of learning into behavior
Latent Learning
according to Tolman, learning that has occurred but is not translated into behavior
What is the importance of behaviorism to psychology?
while John Watson is usually heralded as the founder of behaviorism, there was a movement toward “behaviorist” thought at the time
many functionalists were making behaviorist-like statements and objective psychology in Russia was already well developed
so significant was the behaviorist movement in psychology, it has been sometimes called the “second-force” of psychological theory and practice (after psychoanalysis)
Who was Ivan Sechenov?
sought to explain all psychic phenomena on the basis of associationism and materialism
thoughts do not cause behavior
both internal behavior (mental processes) and external behavior are reflexive in that they are triggered by external stimulation
What was Sechenov’s idea of inhibition?
consciousness can be reduced down to physiological processes
found that spinal reflexes are slower in animals with an intact cerebral cortex then ones that don’t
cerebral cortex allows you to stop suppressing automatic reflexes
inhibition: inhibitory mechanisms in the brain
all behavior is reflexive
saw human development as the slow establishment of inhibitory control over reflexive behavior
story of gradually inhibiting our behavior enough to exist in a smooth, voluntary way
What was Sechenov’s idea of psychology vs physiology?
the only valid approach to the study of psychology involved the objective methods of physiology
Who was Ivan Pavolv?
opposed to psychology in many ways
for something to be valid knowledge it needs to be scientific knowledge
won the Nobel Prize in 1904 or his work in physiology
What was Pavolv’s research on digestion?
trying to understand secretions and operations of the digestive system
used channel to dogs stomach to directly observe secretions
during his work on the physiology of the digestive system Pavlov discovered the conditioned reflex
noted that objects or events associated with presentation of food also produced gastric secretions
What was Pavlov’s idea of the conditioned reflex?
during his work on the physiology of the digestive system Pavlov discovered the conditioned reflex
noted that objects or events associated with presentation of food also produced gastric secretions
referred to these as “conditional” because they depended on something else
an early translation of his work mistranslated conditional as conditioned
What is an unconditioned response in classical conditioning?
an unconditioned response, (innate unconditioned reflex) is triggered by an unconditioned stimulus (a stimulus which naturally elicits the unconditioned response out of the organism)
for example, food elicits salivation out of an organism
What is a conditioned reflex (conditioned response) in classical conditioning?
is developed by the laws of contiguity ad frequency
a biologically neutral stimulus (a stimulus that does not elicit a specific response, a response similar to the unconditioned response, out of the organism) is associated, through contiguity, with the unconditioned stimulus and develops the capacity to elicit some fraction of the unconditioned response
at this point, the neutral stimulus has become the conditioned stimulus and the response to the conditioned stimulus is the conditioned response
for example, a dog salivating to the sight of person bringing food is an example of classical conditioning and the salivation is the conditioned response
What were Pavlov’s ideas about excitation and inhibition?
all central nervous system activity can be characterized as either excitation or inhibition
the pattern of excitation and inhibition that characterizes the brain at any given moment is what Pavlov called the cortical mosaic
cortical mosaic: total sum of excitation and inhibition in the brain at a given time
What was Pavlov’s idea about extinction?
if a conditioned stimulus is no longer followed by the unconditioned stimulus, then extinction of the response will occur
What was Pavlov’s idea of spontaneous recovery?
if a period of time elapses between extinction and the presentation of the conditioned stimulus again, the conditioned response will be observed
What was Pavlov’s idea of experimental neurosis?
occurs when excitatory and inhibitory tendencies are brought into conflict
What was Pavlov’s idea of the first-signal system?
first-signal system or “the first signals of reality”
stimuli (conditioned stimuli) that come to signal biologically significant events
What was Pavlov’s idea of the second-signal system?
second-signal system or “signals of signals”
human learn to respond to symbols of physical events (use of language, words are symbols referring to events)
What was Pavlov’s relationship with psychology?
Pavlov had a low opinion of psychology
he thought the study of consciousness should be studied using scientifically based methods
he believed that by showing the physiological underpinnings of association, he had put associationism on an objective footing and that speculation about how ideas become associated with each other could finally end
Who was Vladimir Bechterev?
argued for an objective psychology
almost exclusively concentrated on relationships between environmental stimulation and behavior
What was Bechterev’s idea of reflexology?
in later publications he argued for a discipline of reflexology
a strictly objective study of human behavior that seeks to understand the relationship between environmental influences and overt behavior
Bechterev’s concentration on the overt behavior of organisms was actually more relevant to U.S. behaviorism than was Pavlov’s research on secretions
What are the comparisons between Bechterev and Pavlov?
what Pavlov called a conditioned reflex, Bechterev called an association reflex
Bechterev was actually quite critical of Pavlov: still need to do an operation, can’t do it on humans, critical of use of meat powder, get full of food which could impair responses, salivatory response unimportant in humans
What did Alexander Romanovich Luri study?
traumatic brain injury and memory
What did Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky study?
child cognitive development and higher mental processes such as thought and language
What was Watson’s education?
influenced by Jacques Loeb: influenced Watson with his work on tropism
shows that the behavior of simple organisms could be explained as being automatically elicited by stimuli: there are no mental events involved in tropistic behavior
influenced by his early research with rats running in mazes: early research with rats running in mazes helped him formulate some of his later ideas regarding a purely objective science of psychology
What was Watson’s time at Johns Hopkins?
early in his career (1908) he publicly announced his behavioristic views
his behavioristic views were severely criticized: he withdrew and fell silent temporarily
in 1913, he presented his famous lecture “Psychology as a behaviorist views it”, the “Behaviorist Manifesto”, within which he lays out the basic tenants of behaviorism
the reaction was, for the most part, critical and immediate: this served the purpose to just make him more adamant and radical in his views
What are Watson’s basic tenants of behaviorism?
psychology is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science
its theoretical goal is the prediction and control of behavior
introspection forms no essential part of its method
the behaviorist, in his efforts to get a unitary scheme of animal response, recognizes no dividing line between man and brute
What was Watson’s influence in advertising?
Watson forced to resign from Johns Hopkins University after a scandal
he then entered into advertising where he made a substantial amount of money
apply behaviorism to advertising to get people to buy
could pair stimuli with images to increase sales people brought on brand loyalty, associating with celebrity
What is Watson’s objective psychology?
rejected both introspection and mentalism
Russians cared about neurological elements, Watson didn’t care about that
What is the goal of Watson’s objective psychology?
goal was prediction and control of behavior
What are the four types of behavior according to Watson?
explicit (overt) learned behavior: talking, writing, etc.
implicit (control) learned behavior: increased heart rate caused by a feared stimulus
explicit unlearned behavior: grasping, blinking, sneezing, etc.
implicit unlearned behavior: glandular secretions
What are the four methods of research for the four types of behavior according to Watson?
explicit learned behavior: observation, naturalistic or controlled
implicit learned behavior: conditioned-reflex method, proposed by Pavlov and Bechterev
explicit unlearned behavior: testing, meant taking samples of behavior and not measurement of “capacity” or “personality”
implicit unlearned behavior: verbal reports, which were treated as any other type of overt behavior
What was Watson’s idea of language and thinking?
language and thinking were a form of behavior
speech was simply a form of overt behavior, while thinking was a form of implicit or subvocal speech
What was Watson’s idea of instincts and behavior?
there were a few simple reflexes, but no complex innate behavior patterns in humans: our experience is what makes us who we are radical environmentalism
proposed that, along with a few basic reflexes, humans inherit the emotions of fear, rage, and love
through learning, emotions come to be elicited by many stimuli, not just the stimuli that naturally elicit them
in addition, all other emotions are derived from these three
What was the Little Albert experiment by Watson?
the research with infants (Little Albert) exemplified the conditioning (learning) of emotional responses in human and the counterconditioning of those emotions
one of the first examples of behavior therapy
What are the three basic emotions proposed by Watson?
fear: loud noises, lack of stability, crying
rage: wanting to get away
love: happiness, closeness, being touched, held
emotions become associated with neutral stimuli
What was the experiment with Peter and the rabbit by Watson?
child who was afraid of rabbits
modeling: show other children playing
used counter conditioning: eat lunch, more rabbit closer to him
over the course of several trials eliminated fear
generalized to other fears
this is one of the first examples of what we now call behavior therapy
What were Watson’s ideas regarding child rearing?
proposed that children should be raised in an objective manner
few displays of affection
they are treated as adults
Watson also believed that children should receive sex education
What was Watson’s legacy?
learning was one of contiguity and frequency: events are associated in time, which produces conditioning of behavior to occur, law of recency
adopted a physical monism position: eventually switched to a physical monism position regarding the mind-body problem, rejecting the existence of mental events (consciousness) altogether
behaviorism had two long-lasting effects: psychology’s main goal changed from description and explanation of states of consciousness to the prediction and control of behavior, overt behavior was the almost-exclusive subject matter of psychology
What was McDougall’s psychology?
defined psychology as the science of behavior
differed from Watson in that he did not disregard mental events as unimportant
mental events could be studied objectively by observing their influence on behavior
What was McDougall’s purposive behavior?
behavior is goal-directed and stimulated by some instinctual motive
saw behavior as goal-directed and stimulated by some instinctual motive rather than by environmental events
ignoring the purposive nature of behavior is missing its most important aspect
What was McDougall’s idea of instincts?
beloved that all behavior is stimulated by instinctual energy
all behavior is stimulated by instinctual energy and humans are born with a number of instincts that provides motivation to act in certain ways
single event or thought tends to elicit several instinctual tendencies
a single environmental event or a single thought tends to elicit several instinctual tendencies
when two or more instincts become associated with a single object or thought, a sentiment is said to exist
most human social behavior is governed by sentiments
What are the three components of McDougall’s basic instinct?
perception: directed to attend to stimuli to satisfy urge
behavior: will act to satisfy urge
emotion: feel emotions related to behaviors
What were the differences between Watson and McDougall’s behaviorism?
McDougall: instincts are the motivators of all animal (and human) behavior
Watson: instincts do not exist on the human level
Who was Zing Yang Kuo?
worked with kittens to show that rat killing was not instinctual, but based on life history
Who was Albert P. Weiss?
understood behaviorist psychology in terms of a biosocial interaction
argued Watson couldn’t handle complex behaviors
Who was Walter S. Hunter?
a respected researcher who developed several behavioral tasks in his experimental work
delayed response, double alternation behavioral response
What is positivism?
in various forms had been active for centuries
argues that what constitutes appropriate data are observations that are public domain
important to avoid, or at least minimize, theoretical speculation from the data
What is logical positivism?
developed by the Vienna Circle
divided science into empirical and the theoretical
it wedded empiricism and rationalism
accepting theory as a part of empirical science, however, did not reduce the importance of empirical observation
abstract theoretical terms were allowed only if such terms could be logically tied to empirical observations
What is operationism?
the insistence that all abstract scientific terms be operationally defined
an operational definition is the defining of an abstract, theoretical concept by the procedures used to measure it
operational definitions tie theoretical terms to observable phenomena
no ambiguity about the definition of the theoretical term
once operationism was presented, most psychologists agreed with the logical positivists that unless a concept can be operationally defined it is scientifically meaningless
What is physicalism?
the desire for the unification of and a common vocabulary among the sciences including psychology
one outcomes of logical positivism was that all sciences were viewed as essentially the same: following the same principles, with the same assumptions and all attempting to explain empirical observations
What are the characteristics of neobehaviorism?
the combination of behaviorism and logical positivism is neobehaviorism
though there were major differences among the neobehaviorist, they all tended to agree on a few important issues
if theories are used they must be used in ways demanded by logical positivism
all theoretical terms must be operationally defined
learning processes are of prime importance because learning is the primary mechanism by which organisms adjust to a changing environment
Why should nonhuman animals be used as research participants in neobehaviorism?
relevant variables are easier to control in animals than when using human subjects
perceptual and learning processes in nonhuman animals differ only in degree from those processes in humans
Who were Jerzy Konorski and Stefan Miller?
medical students who were the first to distinguish between CS-US conditioning and operant conditioning
Pavlov could not account for all types of learning; classical conditioning couldn’t explain reward and punishment
type 1 conditioning: have US/CS
type 2 conditioning: responses that produce reward or avoidance of punishment
Who was Edwin Ray Guthrie?
law of learning of contiguity: stimuli which accompanies a movement will on its recurrence, tend to be followed by that movement
rejected the law of frequency (employed in various forms by most all other learning researchers), and postulated one-trial learning
What was Guthrie’s idea of rejecting the law of frequency?
the theory rejected the law of frequency (employed in various forms by most all other learning researchers) and postulated one-trial learning
What was Guthrie’s idea of the distinction between movements and acts?
to explain why practice improves performance, even though one trial learning occurs, Guthrie distinguished between movements and acts
movement” a specific response to a configuration of stimuli in which an association is learned at full strength after one exposure
act: made up of movements and a skill is made up of acts
What was Guthrie’s idea of the nature of reinforcement?
“reinforcement” changes the stimulus situation and this preserves the association that preceded the reinforcement condition
when “reinforcement” occurs, the stimulus situation changes and thus the last response made will not be associated with other situations, and when the situation occurs again the response will occur again
What was Guthrie’s idea of forgetting?
occurs in one trial due to an old S-R association being displaced by a new one
What was Guthrie’s idea of breaking habits?
consists of observing the stimuli, which elicit the habitual behavior and performing other behavior in the presence of those stimuli
What was Guthrie’s idea regarding the effectiveness of punishment?
determined not by the pain it causes, but by what it causes the organism to do it the presence of stimuli that elicit undesirable behavior
if punishment elicits behavior incompatible with the undesirable behavior in the presence of these stimuli, it will be effective
What is the formalization of Guthrie’s theories?
drives: provide maintaining stimuli that keep an organism active until a goal is reached; these can be internal or external
attempts made to formalize the theory and thus make it more testable
Who was B. F. Skinner?
atheoretical
at his core, he was a traditional positivist
public intellectual
What was Skinner’s positivism?
essentially was from Francis Bacon and, to a lesser extent from Ernst Mach
scientist were to collect empirical facts and the infer knowledge from those facts - not devise theories and then deduce facts from theory
science is to be descriptive and inductive rather than theoretical and deductive
What was Skinner’s functional analysis of behavior?
an analysis of the relationships between environmental events and behavioral events
internal events have no place in such an analysis because they are evets also and thus need to be explained also
internal events cannot serve as explanations or causes of behavior
What is Skinner’s idea of respondent behavior?
respondent behavior was behavior which was related to environmental stimuli, that is reflexive behavior
Watson and Pavlov were interested in this type of behavior
What is Skinner’s idea of operant behavior?
operant behavior is behavior that is influenced by its consequences and because it operates on the environment in such a way as to produce consequences he called his behavior operant behavior
Skinner’s free operant methodology allows the organism to respond freely in an experimental chamber in which a particular response is reinforced based on prearranged contingencies
the relevant measure is usually the rate of the selected response
operant conditioning takes place as the behavior of the organism is affected by its consequences
What is the nature of reinforcement according to Skinner?
the process by which a consequence of a behavior increases the rate or probability of the behavior
nothing else is necessary to define reinforcement: the reinforcer can be anything as long as its effect is to increase the probability of the behavior that produces the consequences
What is Skinner’s idea of reinforcement contingencies?
influence which behaviors are increased and which are not
change contingencies and you can change behavior
selection of behavior by consequences
Darwinism ideas can be applied here
the organism produces a variety of behaviors
some will result in consequences that will increase the behavior (will be functional, reinforcing)
these effective behaviors will be selected to be part of the organism’s repertoire while others will not
What is Skinner’s idea of the control of behavior?
reinforcement versus punishment
reinforcement of behavior exerted a much better control over behavior than punishment of behavior
What are Skinnerian principles?
Skinner’s position was nontheoretical
operationism is important, but he rejected the theoretical aspects of logical positivism
was content to manipulate environmental events ad observe the effects on behavior: this functional analysis is all that is necessary
his approach is called descriptive behaviorism
What are the applications of Skinner’s ideas?
education: criticized use of punishment rather than the manipulation of reinforcement contingencies
behavior therapy: treatment is a matter of removing reinforcers of abnormal behavior and arranging reinforcement contingencies so that they strengthen desirable behavior, token economies
Who was Clark Hull?
the hypothetico-deductive theory of learning of Hull
three important concepts include reinforcement, habit strength, reaction potential
influence on the amount of research it produced and methodology
What is the hypothetico-deductive theory of learning of Hull?
used intervening variables as Tolman, but used them more extensively
from summarizing the research on learning, he formed postulates from which he interfered theorems that yielded testable propositions
Hull’s intervening variables were primarily physiological, in contrast to the cognitive variables of Tolman
his final theory had 17 postulates and 133 theorems
What were Hull’s ideas on reaction potential?
the probability that a learned response will occur
it is primarily a function of the amount of drive and habit strength but is also influenced by other intervening variables
What was Hull’s legacy?
influence on the amount of research it produced and methodology
though Hull’s theory has essentially gone away, its great influence was the amount of research it produced as researchers devised projects to test the theory’s predictions and validity
Who was Edwin B. Holt?
supervisor of Tolman
emphasized the importance of purpose in behavior
Who was Edward Tolman?
his understanding of mind was influential in cognitive psychology
What was Tolman’s idea of purposive behaviorism?
studied purposive and molar behavior
studied purposive behavior in contrast to the molecular behavior that he saw Watson studying
at Harvard, Tolman learned to study purposive aspects of behavior without sacrificing scientific objectivity
done by seeing purpose in the behavior itself rather than inferring purpose from the behavior
Why did Tolman use rats in his experiments?
rats used to avoid introspection
Tolman saw the use of rats as experimental subjects as a way of guarding against eve the possibility of indirect introspection that could occur if humans were used as experimental participants
What was Tolman’s idea of intervening variables?
variables that intervene between environmental events and behavior
employing logical positivism , he tied all intervening variables to observable behavior: he operationally defined all the theoretical terms
Tolman’s intereving variables were cognitive processes, which are influential in determining behavior
hypotheses, expectations, beliefs, and (sometimes) a cognitive map
How did Tolman disagree with Watson and Thorndike’s explanations of learning?
he believed that learning occurs constantly with or without reinforcement and with or without motivation
What is Tolman’s distinction between learning and performance?
learning takes place constantly as the organism interacts with its environment
whether the organism uses what it has learned is determined by its motivational state, in other words, whether the organisms performs the learned behavior is based on whether it is motivated to do so
performance is the translation of learning into behavior
What was Tolman’s idea of latent learning?
Tolman and Honzik (1930) showed that latent learning remained latent until the organism had a reason to use it, which was an incentive
What was Tolman’s influence?
set the stage for cognitive psychology
talked about organisms as information processors
What is the state of behaviorism today?
Skinner remains the most influential of all the behaviorists
behaviorism and neobehaviorism have lost influence today: evidence of genetic influence on behavior, criticism of logical positivism
major legacy of behaviorism: psychologists generally now agree that the subject matter of psychology is overt behavior
What are behavioral therapies?
behavior modification refers to behaviorist models of clinical application
Who was Joseph Wolpe?
a founder of behavior modification
best known for developing systematic desensitization
