Chapter 8 Flashcards
(45 cards)
Who was John Broadus Watson?
John Broadus Watson (1878–1958) was an influential figure in psychology, known as the founder of behaviorism. Initially interested in philosophy, Watson was turned off by the classes with John Dewey and instead was drawn to work with James Rowland Angell and neurologist Henry Herbert Donaldson. His doctoral research involved studying the relationship between learning and changes in the nerve fibers in rats’ cortexes.
What role did animal research play in the development of functional psychology and behaviorism?
Animal research became fundamental in functional psychology and later behaviorism because animals were excellent subjects for studying learning and problem-solving in controlled conditions, a shift from the introspective methods of structuralism. This research approach was inspired by the work of Charles Darwin on adaptation and learning in changing environments.
What is comparative psychology and how does it differ from general animal psychology?
Comparative psychology is a subfield of psychology that studies the behavior of nonhuman animals to generalize findings to human behavior. Unlike general animal psychology, which studies animal behavior for its own sake, comparative psychologists use their studies to draw parallels between human and animal behavior, assuming a shared evolutionary ancestry.
Describe the method of “introspection by analogy” used by George John Romanes in comparative psychology.
George John Romanes developed the method of “introspection by analogy,” where he inferred the mental operations of animals based on the observable activities prompted by his own mental operations (If I feel a certain way in a situation, maybe animals feel the same way in same situations. ). Although useful, this method carried the risk of anthropomorphism, especially when applied to lower species.
Romanes recognized that the mental processes in higher animals (e.g., mammals) should be closer to those of humans than would say the mental processes of insects. There was more danger in using the analogy in lower species.
How did Edward Thorndike contribute to comparative psychology and what was the law of effect?
Edward Thorndike contributed to comparative psychology through his animal studies, particularly with cats in puzzle boxes, which led him to propose the law of effect. This law states that behaviors producing satisfaction in a given situation are likely to recur in similar situations, laying the groundwork for the law of reinforcement and instrumental learning.
Explain Ivan Pavlov’s discoveries and their significance in psychology.
Ivan Pavlov discovered classical conditioning while studying dogs’ salivation responses. He found that dogs would salivate in response to conditioned stimuli (e.g., a bell) that predicted food, leading to significant insights into how associative learning occurs. This foundational work in classical conditioning has had a profound impact on both psychology and education.
Compare the contributions of Vladimir Bekhterev and Ivan Pavlov to the field of psychology.
While both Pavlov and Bekhterev studied conditioned reflexes, their approaches differed significantly. Pavlov focused on psychophysiological aspects using salivary reflexes, whereas Bekhterev emphasized behavioral psychology through motor reflexes and learning. While both Pavlov and Bekhterev studied conditioned reflexes, their approaches differed significantly. Pavlov focused on psychophysiological aspects using salivary reflexes, whereas Bekhterev emphasized behavioral psychology through motor reflexes and learning. Bekhterev’s work, deemed more behavioral, complemented and sometimes contrasted with Pavlov’s findings.
What was John B. Watson’s perspective on psychology as presented in his 1913 Columbia University address?
John B. Watson viewed psychology as a purely objective experimental branch of natural science, focusing on the prediction and control of behavior. He advocated for a shift away from studying consciousness and introspective methods, which he believed introduced too much personal bias to be scientifically valid.
What methods did Watson support for studying psychology, and why?
Watson supported methods that provided objective observations, such as reaction time experiments by Wundt and Cattell, memory studies by Ebbinghaus, puzzle box techniques by Thorndike, and classical conditioning by Pavlov and Bekhterev. He believed these methods could make psychology a credible natural science by focusing on observable behaviors and minimizing subjective biases.
What was the objective of John B. Watson’s experiment with Little Albert at Johns Hopkins University in 1919?
The objective of Watson’s experiment was to determine if an emotion, specifically fear, could be conditioned in a human. He aimed to associate an emotion that is innately present from birth—fear, in this case—with a stimulus that originally did not elicit that emotion, which was a white rat in the experiment.
How did Watson condition fear in Little Albert?
Watson conditioned fear in Little Albert by pairing the presence of a white rat with a loud noise over several trials. This pairing continued until Albert exhibited fear (e.g., crying, trying to crawl away) when the rat was presented, even without the noise.
Did the conditioned fear in Little Albert generalize to other stimuli?
Yes, the conditioned fear generalized to other stimuli that shared common qualities with the white rat, such as fur. Consequently, Albert showed fear responses not only to the rat but also to a rabbit, a dog, and a fur coat, even though these stimuli were never paired with the loud noise.
What happened with the deconditioning of Little Albert’s fear?
Little Albert was not deconditioned because his mother removed him from the hospital before the process could be initiated. There is no evidence that Watson had planned to reverse the conditioning. The first successful deconditioning of a fear was later performed by Mary Cover Jones, with Watson’s consultation, in 1924.
What were the methodological criticisms of the Little Albert experiment?
The Little Albert study faced criticism for numerous methodological flaws, including the lack of controlled conditions and the reliance on qualitative rather than quantitative data. Critics described it not as a true experiment but rather as a demonstration, which called the validity of the results into question.
Despite its flaws, why is the Little Albert study significant in the history of psychology?
Despite its methodological flaws, the Little Albert study is significant because it demonstrated the remarkable power of conditioning in shaping human behavior, particularly how a fear response could be artificially elicited through conditioning. This study became one of the most cited in the history of psychology, underscoring the explanatory power of behavioral psychology.
What was the significance of John B. Watson’s 1913 address at Columbia University for the field of psychology?
John B. Watson’s 1913 address at Columbia University, published as “Psychology As the Behaviorist Views It,” is considered the behaviorist manifesto and marks the official starting point of behaviorism. In this address, Watson outlined his view of psychology as a purely objective, experimental branch of natural science focused on the prediction and control of behavior, advocating for a shift away from introspective methods and the study of consciousness.
How did John B. Watson contribute to psychology during his tenure at Johns Hopkins University?
At Johns Hopkins University, Watson continued his research on animal behavior and began studying human infants, including the famous Little Albert experiment. His work at Johns Hopkins significantly advanced behaviorism, and he was elected president of the American Psychological Association in 1915 due to his influential ideas and leadership in the field.
What led to John B. Watson’s resignation from Johns Hopkins University?
Watson was forced to resign from Johns Hopkins University in 1920 following a scandalous divorce caused by his affair with his graduate student, Rosalie Rayner. Despite his significant contributions to psychology, this personal scandal ended his academic career, and he received no further offers for university positions.
How did Watson transition his career after leaving academia, and what was his impact on advertising?
After leaving academia, Watson moved to New York City and utilized his expertise in behavioral theories in the business world, particularly in advertising. He joined the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency, eventually becoming vice president. His course on the psychology of advertising at Johns Hopkins and his subsequent success in the field demonstrated the practical applications of behaviorist principles outside of academia.
Describe the controversy surrounding Watson’s book on child-rearing and its long-term impact.
Watson’s book on child-rearing, published in 1928, was controversial for advocating that parents raise their children with minimal affection to foster independence and self-reliance. This approach later led to criticism from psychiatrists and clinical psychologists, who associated the lack of affectionate parenting with negative developmental outcomes, coining the term “Watson children” to describe such cases.
Who were some of the key figures in the growth of behaviorism after Watson, and what was their contribution?
Following Watson, figures like Edward Tolman, Clark Hull, and B.F. Skinner became prominent in American psychology, each contributing to the development of neobehaviorism. They extended behaviorist principles, emphasizing the importance of empirical, observable behavior studies in psychology and influencing its direction well into the mid-20th century.
What is neobehaviorism, and when was its significant period in American psychology?
Neobehaviorism refers to a period in American psychology from 1930 through 1970, marked by a focus on theory, research on learning and motivation, and debates over the role of reinforcement in learning. Neobehaviorists primarily used animals, particularly rats, in their research to study behavior in a more systematic and experimental way.
What were Edward Chace Tolman’s main contributions to psychology, and what is his concept of “cognitive behaviorism”?
Edward Chace Tolman was a major figure in cognitive behaviorism, emphasizing that behavior is purposive and directed toward goals, influenced by cognitive processes. He introduced concepts like cognitive maps, the distinction between learning and performance, and latent learning, arguing that behavior is not just a series of stimulus-response connections but is guided by internal cognitive states. For example: Where rats explored a maze without rewards yet formed cognitive maps of the environment. Later, when food was introduced in the maze, these rats navigated the maze more efficiently than those without prior exposure, highlighting that learning can occur without direct reinforcement and is influenced by cognitive expectations.
How did Tolman’s views on reinforcement differ from those of his contemporaries?
Tolman disagreed with contemporaries like Hull and Skinner about the necessity of reinforcement for learning. He demonstrated through studies on latent learning that learning could occur without immediate reinforcement, showing that rats could form cognitive maps of a maze without rewards and utilize this learning effectively when a motivation was later introduced.
