Intro and History Flashcards
Name two experiments that have Ethical issues
- Little Albert
- Milgram Experiment
Who performed the experiment called “Little Albert”?
John B. Watson
What was the goal of the experiment?
The goal was to show that fear could be conditioned.
What was the Ethical issue in the experiment?
He conditioned fear in the baby but never unconditioned it.
Give a description of the experiment.
A baby was first exposed to many furry animals.
In the first part of the video, we can see how the baby is not afraid of any of the animals.
Then, Watson started to play strident noises while the baby was interacting with the animals.
Eventually, the baby grew afraid of the furry animals altogether.
Who carried out the Milgram experiment?
Stanley Milgram
What was the goal of the Milgram experiment?
To show obedience to authority figures was greater when the authority figures would be held responsible for the participant’s actions.
What was the ethical issue with this experiment?
- Deception (no real shock)
- Participants put under a lot of stress. Participants were not protected.
- Participants were discouraged to leave the experiment
Give a description of the Milgram experiment
In this experiment, a student and a teacher were picked. The student was then strapped to a chair and the teacher was supposed to read to them a list the student had to memorize.
Then, the student would have to say the list out loud and if they would make a mistake, the teacher would inflict an electrical shock.
During the whole experiment, the student is an actor, there is no electric shock and a scientist in a white coat monitors the experiments by the side of the teacher (the participant).
What resulted from these unethical experiments?
The Belmont Report was written to target these ethical concerns.
Who is considered the father of experimental psychology?
Wilhem Wundt
Who what Wilhem Wundt’s student?
Edward B. Titchener
What is analytic introspection?
This is a process where we look into ourselves following a meticulous process.
Name a few problems with Analytical introspection
- Many thoughts are unconscious
- Many brains are incremental
- There is no way to prove the claims
Who created behaviourism?
John B. Watson
Why did Watson develop another process that was not Analytic introspection?
He was not satisfied with analytic introspection. Especially since it would never yield the same results from person to person and was hard to verify.
What is behaviourism?
He wanted to use behaviour as a starting point. Therefore, he wanted to observe behaviour to understand what was going on in a person’s mind.
Name a few problems with behaviourism
Ethical and theoretical concerns:
- Concerned only with behaviour, no reference to the mind
- Our behaviour is modified by how we interpret a situation
- Our interpretation of a situation is modified by our memories and beliefs.
Who wanted to study behaviour to make inferences about the mental process?
Edward Tolman
In one of Tolman’s experiments, a rat was introduced to a cross-shaped maze that it was allowed to explore.
Then, the rat was positioned at a given branch and food would be placed at the branch on its right. The rat then fetched the food multiple times while keeping the same positions.
Then the rat was moved and placed at the branch opposing the usual branch. The food was not moved.
Surprisingly, the rat turned LEFT instead of RIGHT.
What does this show?
This shows that the rat had created a cognitive map of the maze and did not associate right with reward.
Who claimed that kids would learn language by imitating their parents and by being rewarded when proper language was used?
B. F. Skinner
Who disproved Skinner’s claim on how kids learn language?
Noam Chomsky
Give an example that disproves Skinner’s claim
Ex: A kid saying: “I hate you, mommy”
Following Skinner’s claim, the kid shouldn’t have learned to say this since it wouldn’t have been rewarded.
Who published the first book called Cognitive Psychology and when?
Ulrich Neisser in 1967