Chapter 1 - Some pioneers of Comparative Psychology Flashcards
(40 cards)
What was George John Romanes approach to comparative studies?
He viewed evolution as linear and studied animal intelligence
what was a major problem with Romanes animal intelligence data?
It was too anecdotal to be taken seriously and hard to prove; many stories of incredible dog behaviour when stories were mostly witnesses by one individual and over emphasized
What kind of approach was Romanes taking when studying animal intelligence?
an anthropomorphic approach ==> explained apparently clever animal behaviour in terms of human reasoning abilities and said animals could reason like humans
What is a problem with Romanes anecdotal method?
Selection-bias
he only picked data that demonstrated animals doing intelligent behaviour without context and ignored the vast amount of other non-intelligent things that animals do
What kind of approach did C. Lloyd Morgan take in comparative studies?
First he was monism
He took a more experimental approach as opposed to Romanes anecdotal approach
what was the name of the book by Morgan?
Called An introduction to Comparative Psychology = stressed that mind and body are both products of evolution
What was Morgan’s view on animal behaviour/ Morgans cannon?
he believed in objective observations
He saw problems wit anecdotal approach and wanted a hollistic view of behaviour not just small interesting portions
He said that to understand an animals behaviour we must ‘dumb’ down to trial and error first (the simplest method) and then if that doesnt work we can bring into a more “higher” explanation like insight
What are some cautions to take when using Morgan’s Cannon?
- no one knows what ‘higher psychical faculty” is and who determines it
- Might miss higher processes if we are always trying to dumb them down
- misleading idea of phylogenetic scale. Humans are not just highly evolved fish, pigeons or rats
- Each species is specifically adapted to its own environment, so one cannot be smarter or more advanced than the other because environments differ
What was Thorndike’s contribution to animal learning?
used an objective method to study animal learning
he created the Thorndike Puzzle Box ==> put a cat in a box and saw how many trials it takes for the cat to escape using learning curves (time to escape should decrease over number of trials)
What kind of learning/conditioning did Thorndike demonstrate using his Puzzle box?
instrumental learning / operant conditioning
What is Thorndike’s law of effect?
- satisfying consequences strengthen connections
- unpleasant consequences weaken connections
What is Thorndike’s idea of ToT (Transfer of Training)?
idea that by studying one subject/task, the learning process can transfer over to similar tasks (i.e. learning latin to be better at learning other languages - this failed btw)
what is the opinion of all true behaviourists (from Pavlov to Skinner) about behaviour?
they all regarded behaviour as the only proper subject for psychology and rejected subjective experience as a legitimate topic
- they all promoted the objective observation of behaviour since animals can’t introspect
what was the driving force behind behaviourism?
animal research
What was Pavlov’s contribution to behaviourism?
pavlov was a moderate behaviourist; he contributed the conditioned reflex by demonstrating it with his dogs
What is the purpose of conditioned reflexes? describe an example with Pavlov’s dogs?
the purpose of conditioned reflexes is to adapt to environment
Pavlov’s dogs drooled when they saw food and when they heard the bell after it was conditioned to signify food on the way; they drool to prep their GI tract for food which allows for better absorption and extraction of more nutrients
what was Pavlov’s ideas on temperament? What are the two groups he places humans and animals into in terms of learning capabilities?
Pavlov demonstrated that animals show individual differences in their abilities to form conditioned reflexes.
Excitatory group/Pro-active animals ==> easily conditioned; deal with threats immediately/ learn easily but are very rigid to changes in environment.
Inhibitory group/reactive animals ==> difficult to condition; take longer to learn but are more flexible and can detect changes in environment better
thought this distinction would also apply to humans
What are the temperamental extremes associated with pathology according to Pavlov? (4 types)
they are based on body fluid amount
- Choleric ==> anxious, high energy (extrovert) BUT low emotional stability
- Sanguine ==> warm and dynamic; high energy (extrovert) and positive emotional stability
- Melancholic ==> Depressed; Low energy Introvert, and negative emotional stability
- Phlegmatic ==> calm, self contained; positive emotional stability, but an introvert (low energy)
What was Watson’s contribution to Behaviourism?
Watson opposed structuralism (study of the structure of the mind via introspection) and had said that psychology needs to shift from being subjective to being objective and available to all
he was a moderate behaviourist
What behaviourist concept Watson’s experiment with Little Albert representing? How is this contrasted with Freud and Little Hans?
Watson paired a white rat + loud sound to a baby called Little Albert and created conditioned fear (via classical conditioning and association)
this was a direct contrast to Little Hans by Freud; which was a little boy who was scared of horses and Freud claimed it was due tot he Oedipal complex and caused a phobia.
Watsons is objective and Freuds is subjective/introspective
What was Skinner’s contribution to behaviourism?
Skinner was a radical behaviourist
He highly emphasized that psychologists should study the relationship between stimulus and response and nothing else (no nerves or physiological aspects)
He said that people have personal mental processes but theres no point in studying them
What is the contrast between Pavlov’s and Skinner’s experiments?
Pavlov’s experiments are passive, so an antecedent (a stimulus) causes a response; But Skinner’s experiments are active, where a behaviour is caused by a consequence and without consequence the behaviour would not occur
What was Skinner’s operant experiment and how does it differ from Thorndike’s Puzzle box?
Skinners operant experiment focused on voluntary behaviour whenever the animal wants; And it examined the natural flow of behaviour and lets you measure the number of successful responses of the animal because the animal stays in the box and can receive rewards as they push lever;
Operant box has an advantage that the researcher doesn’t have to be around all the time but its basically putting food outside the box and waiting to see how long it takes for the animal to learn to open the cage and get the food.
what was on disadvantage of Skinner’s radical beliefs on behaviourism?
People thought Skinner was an evil person trying to shape people and remove their free will
