11: Behaviorism Flashcards
(22 cards)
How did evolutionism influence psychology?
it enforced a naturalist view of humans, focused on the human psyche in evolution, closeness to animals started comparative psych, adaptation to functionalist psych, individual variability to differential pscyh and the nature-nurture debate
What was the context?
In the 1850s, the US was going through a civil war and institutions after were unstable in comparison to Europe. Only a while after the war, more institutions like universities were propping up (even more than Europe). To get more intellectuals in the country, the US hired European professors leading to structuralism and functionalism.
What is structuralism?
It was started to by a student of Wundt at Cornell. His structuralism consisted in using Wundt’s methods (introspection) and thought psychology was the natural science of the structure of the mind and that consciousness should be the object of study. Content is also then connected by laws of association
Who was William James?
He was an open-minded person who studied multiple fields. He was deeply mentally troubled. He had a laboratory for empirical research but he did not like experimentation.
What were William James ideas of consciousness and the self?
He believed in a stream of consciousness as it is constantly changing, continuing, personal and selective. He believed that the self is divided into two parts: I (what knows things) the pure ego and me (what I know about myself) the empirical self. He also believed in the 3 parts of the empirical self: the material (what I possess), social (how other people shape us) and spiritual self (religious.
What were William James ideas of instinct and habit?
Instinct is an act done in a certain way, pursuing a certain aim and that aim is not known by the actor without previous education needed. However, only having instincts is not adaptive. James therefore argued that humans (who dont have a lot of instincts) have a lot of habits. Habits are the learned activity acquired by repetition that are very important and based in neurophysical pathways.
Who influenced William James?
He was influenced by Wundt but critiqued the abundance of experimentation, the lack of pragmatism (psychology needs to be useful) and lack of Darwinism (survival of the fittest, instincts and adaptation).
What is the James-Lange theory?
The idea that an emotion is actually the consequence rather than the cause of the physiological effects associated with its expression (contrary to common view that emotion leads to physical reaction).
What was James’s practical psychology?
He believed that we should incubate as many useful and GOOD habits as possible in our nervous system to help us. We should therefore also try to get ride of bad habits. To do so, associate yourself in environments that encourage the right habits, take a public pledge and never allow an exception to occur unless the good habit is rooted in your life.
Who was influenced by William James?
His functionalism influenced Calkins, Stanley Hall, Cattell and Angell
Who was James R. Angell?
He defined functionalism and stated that it was “concerned with the operations of the time where functionalists study how the mind helps the human organism to adapt to certain situations and environments.
What were the features of functionalism?
It was not a coherent program or school, but it opposed Titchener’s structuralism and was practice oriented and open-minded to diverse interests. It was supposed to be pragmatic, with research relying on biological (evolutionist) function on how the mind functions, how does habits enable a person to adapt to their environment and specifically mind and behaviour - giving importance to behaviour and bodily processes
Who was John Broadus Watson?
He was poor growing up and his mother struggled. It was difficult for him moving to a big city but he managed and later married and had children (one of which wanted to commit suicide). He got divorced after it was discovered that he cheated leading to a scandal where he was kicked out of the university. After he left, he published in popular magazines and worked in an advertising agency. he got remarried with his original life and his 2 new sons were raised by behaviorist principles where both wanted to committing suicide
What did John Broadus Watson do?
He worked with animals in comparative psychology to know more about the human being. He asked how mice can orient themselves in a maze, specifically, with what sense. But even after mutilating their senses, they were just as quick as the normal mice. He determined that the stimuli of the layout of the labryinth made them move to different directions. This was the Kerplunk experiment. he was criticised for his cruelty to the rats.
What was the Kerplunk Experiment?
It was a stimulus and response experiment conducted on rats that demonstrates the ability to turn voluntary motor responses into a conditioned response. The rats used kineasthetic feedback rather than external stimuli. This supported the chain of responses hypothesis where a stimulus leads to a response leading to a stimulus (S1 -> R1 -> S2 -> R2). After several trials, each movement becomes a stimulus itself triggering the next movement.
What was Watson’s Behaviourist Manifesto about?
It drew on influences from darwinism, comparative psychology, Angell and Functionalism. It states that behaviorism is an objective experimental study with its theoretical goal being the prediction and control of behaviour. It focuses on what we can see outside rather than inside. To do so, there should be no introspection and structuralism.
How did Watson expand on his manifesto?
He tried to do more research which reflected behaviorist principles. He tried to research conditioning, where stimuli and reflexes are associated with something else. Watson asked what innate reflexes humans have. He determined 3 innate emotional responses: Fear, Rage and Love. Everything else is learned by classic conditioning.
What was Watson’s Radical Environmentalism?
He believed that by controlling the environment of children, he could make them become whatever he wants them to be. Highlighting psychology’s power through human enginneering.
What was the difference between Pavlov’s work and Watson’s work?
Pavlov’s work was focused on physiology. He did not want to make a new kind of psychology but he focused on learning about the brain.
What is behaviorism?
Behavior is a reaction to a stimulus; a reflexive response and a basic psychological unit. They were environmentalists where behavior/habit is acquired by classical conditioning. Watson’s approach was reductionist, with the human being being like a machine reacting automatically to the environment. The research was also quite individualist (based on context), rats were on their own doing tasks and social behaviour was not studied.
What were Watson’s 4 types of behaviour?
- Acquired (in contrast to)
- Inherited
- Explicit (in contrast to)
- Implicit
What were Watson’s ideas on thinking?
He believed that thinking was a verbal process by which expressive movements get substituted by word movements, entering the general stream of implicit activity.
