Behaviourism Flashcards
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Explain the differences between B. F. Skinner’s behaviorism and Sigmund Freud’s
psychoanalytic theory.
B.F. Skinner’s behaviorism focuses on observable behavior shaped by external reinforcement, while Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory emphasizes unconscious motives and internal psychological conflicts.
Which idea about conscious thought is common for both behaviorism and
psychoanalysis?
Both behaviorism and psychoanalysis believe that conscious thought alone cannot fully explain human behavior.
Describe the three radical claims that behaviorism tends to agree on based on the text
you read by Paul Bloom.
According to Paul Bloom, behaviorism agrees on three radical claims: psychology should study behavior, not the mind; all behavior is learned through interactions with the environment; and the same learning principles apply to all organisms.
Briefly present the concept of classical conditioning as illustrated by Ivan Pavlov’s
experiment with dogs.
In Ivan Pavlov’s experiment, a neutral stimulus (like a bell) produced no response at first, but when repeatedly paired with an unconditioned stimulus (like food) that naturally caused an unconditioned response (like salivation), the neutral stimulus became a conditioned stimulus, triggering a conditioned response (salivation) on its own.
Explain the terms neutral stimulus, neutral response, unconditioned stimulus,
unconditioned response, conditioned stimulus, and conditioned response. Which type of
conditioning are these terms related to?
Neutral stimulus is no response, neutral response is no reaction to the neutral stimulus, unconditioned stimulus is something that naturally triggers a response and unconditioned response is automatic reaction to the stimulus, conditioned stimulus is a previously neutral stimulus that now triggers a response and conditioned response is learned reaction- all of these terms are related to Pavlov’s Classical conditioning.
Why can classical conditioning not be the sole explanation for understanding how
phobias and aversions develop?
For example, a person might develop a phobia of dogs after being bitten (classical conditioning), but their fear could also be influenced by past experiences, their family’s reactions to dogs, or even genetic factors that make them more anxious, showing that conditioning alone doesn’t explain the whole process.
What is systematic desensitization?
Systematic desensitization is a therapeutic technique that gradually exposes a person to a phobia while teaching relaxation techniques to reduce anxiety.
How does operant conditioning differ from classical conditioning, and what was Edward
Thorndike’s contribution to the development of operant conditioning?
Operant conditioning differs from classical conditioning because it involves learning through rewards and punishments for behavior, and Edward Thorndike helped develop it with his Law of Effect, showing that behaviors followed by good outcomes are more likely to happen again.
Explain Thorndike’s Law of Effect.
Thorndike’s Law of Effect states that behaviors followed by satisfying outcomes are more likely to be repeated, while those followed by unpleasant outcomes are less likely to occur again.
Explain the terms reinforcement, positive reinforcement, shaping, extinction, and partial
reinforcement. Which type of conditioning are these terms related to?
They are related to operant conditioning reinforcement is increasing a behaviour, positive reinforcement is adding something pleasant to encourage a behaviour, shaping is rewarding in small steps to reach a behaviour goal, extinction is the fading of a behaviour when not reinforced, partial reinforcement is giving the reward to a behaviour sometimes not all the time.
Explain and evaluate Skinner’s analogy between operant conditioning and natural
selection.
Skinner compared operant conditioning to natural selection by suggesting that just as traits that help survival are “selected” over generations, behaviors that lead to rewards are “selected” and repeated over time; this analogy helps explain behavior as adaptive, but critics argue it oversimplifies complex human actions by ignoring thoughts, emotions, and free will.
What does shaping mean in the context of the behaviorist approach?
In the behaviorist approach, shaping means gradually teaching a new behavior by reinforcing small steps or actions that get closer and closer to the desired behavior.
Discuss the concept of partial reinforcement and its implications for learning and
behavior.
Partial reinforcement is when a behavior is only rewarded some of the time, not every time it occurs, and it leads to stronger, more persistent behavior because the unpredictability makes the behavior more resistant to extinction—similar to how people keep playing slot machines hoping for a win.
What idea Skinner tried to defend in his book Verbal Behavior? How successful was he in
the long run?
In his book Verbal Behavior, Skinner argued that language could be explained entirely through operant conditioning—that we learn to speak through reinforcement of verbal behaviors; however, in the long run, this idea was not very successful, especially after Noam Chomsky’s influential critique showed that language involves complex mental processes that behaviorism alone couldn’t explain.
Explain Noam Chomsky’s critique of Skinner’s behaviorist theory in “Verbal Behavior.”
Noam Chomsky’s critique of Skinner’s Verbal Behavior argued that behaviorism couldn’t explain how people, especially children, learn language so quickly and creatively, noting that we often produce and understand sentences we’ve never heard before—something that can’t be explained just by reinforcement, suggesting instead that humans have an inborn, universal grammar.
Explain behaviorism’s limitations in fully explaining human psychology’s complexities.
Behaviorism’s limitations lie in its focus only on observable behavior, ignoring thoughts, emotions, and mental processes, which means it can’t fully explain complex human experiences like creativity, problem-solving, language, or internal motivations.
How did Edward Tolman’s experiments with rats challenge traditional behaviorist
theories?
Edward Tolman’s experiments with rats challenged traditional behaviorist theories by showing that rats could form cognitive maps and learn the layout of a maze without direct reinforcement, suggesting that learning involves internal processes like expectations and beliefs, not just stimulus-response associations.
