Introduction to Behaviour & History

Question 1

What is behaviour?

Answer 1

“Anything a person or other animal does that can be

measured”

Question 2

What is the difference between internal behaviours and external behaviours?

Answer 2

Internal- a behaviour that happens within one’s skin

External- a behaviour outside of one’s skin

Question 3

What is the difference between covert and overt behaviour?

Answer 3

Covert- only visible to the performer

Overt- visible to others

Question 4

What kind of behaviour is thinking “I am boring?”

Answer 4

Internal Covert

Question 5

Define reflex

Answer 5

“A relationship between a specific event and a simple
response to that event.” (Chance, 2014, p. 11)
• The relationship between the events not the
behaviour.

Question 6

What is an elicited stimulus?

Answer 6

(involuntary) behaviour drawn out by certain stimulus

Question 7

Describe what a relfex is

Answer 7

Simple, automatic response to a stimulus that has survival value

Question 8

Name some reflexes

Answer 8

Startle, Orienting response, Flexion response, Vomiting reflex

Question 9

What is a Fixed action patterns/Modal Action Patters (MAP)

Answer 9

Fixed sequence of responses elicited by a stimulus (releaser)
• Unique to species and evolved for consistent environments
• Involve entire organism
• More complex and variable

Question 10

What is a General Behaviour trait? Give examples

Answer 10

A tendency to engage in a certain kind of behaviour”
(Chance, 2014, p. 16)
• E.g., outgoing, shy, aggressive, relaxed, etc…

Question 11

How are MAP/FAP different from General behaviour traits?

Answer 11

They are more variable through a species and occur in a wide range of situations (rather than just a response to a stimulus)

Question 12

Define Learning

Answer 12

• “A change in behavior due to experience.”
• “A change in behavior due to a change in the
environment” (Chance, 2014, p 21, p24)

Question 13

What are the two types of learning?

Answer 13

Immediate & delayed

Question 14

What is learning? (4)

Answer 14

• The acquisition of new knowledge
• The transference of already known facts
• The acquisition of new skills
• The acquisition of likes and dislikes

Question 15

The two learning processes: Declarative and _____

Answer 15

Non-declarative

Question 16

What is declarative memory?

Answer 16

Declarative learning is acquiring information that one can speak about (contrast with motor learning)

Question 17

What are the types of declarative memory? (2)

Answer 17

Semantic; Episodic

Question 18

What is semantic memory?

Answer 18

FACTS- Not drawn from personal experience. Semantic memory includes things that are common knowledge, such as the names of colors, the sounds of letters, the capitals of countries and other basic facts acquired over a lifetime

Question 19

What is episodic memory?

Answer 19

It is the collection of past personal experiences that occurred at a particular time and place. “Episodes” of your life

Question 20

What is non-declarative memory? and what are the types of non-declarative memory?

Answer 20

Memory that is acquired and used unconsciously, and can affect thoughts and behaviours.

Procedural; Behavioural;
Emotional

Question 21

What is procedural memory?

Answer 21

As the name implies, procedural memory stores information on how to perform certain procedures, such as walking, talking and riding a bike

Question 22

What is behavioural memory?

Answer 22

Memory of behaviour (????)

Question 23

What is emotional memory?

Answer 23

Memory of experiences that evoked an emotional reaction.

Question 24

What are the three types learning? (RAL)

Answer 24

• Rote: repetition of a particular stimuli
• Associative: Learning to link two events that occur close together
• Learning Processes:
  • Classical Conditioning
  • Operant Conditioning
  • Observational Learning

Question 25

What is classical conditioning?

Answer 25

Involuntary behaviours in new situations

Question 26

What is operant conditioning?

Answer 26

strengthening or weakening of a voluntary | behaviour based on its consequences

Question 27

Types of learning processes (4)

Answer 27

Operant, Classical, Observational Learning & Inherited dispositions.

Question 28

What are the three types of adaptive behaviours produced by natural selection?

Answer 28

- Reflexive - Modal action patterns/fixed action patterns - General behaviour traits

Question 29

A speck of dirt hits your eye- what is the reflex in this case?

Answer 29

The reflex is the relation between the speck of dirt and your need to blink (relationship between two events), it is not the eye blink itself (which would be the behaviour).

Question 30

How do MAPS differ from reflexes? (3)

Answer 30

They involve the whole organism rather than a few muscles & glands. They are also more complex- consist of a long series of reflex-like acts & are more variable. Are said to be 'thoughtful acts' rather an innate ones.

Question 31

What type of MAP does the opossum exhibit?

Answer 31

Playing dead

Question 32

Although it is debatable, what else can we call MAPs in humans? Give an example

Answer 32

Instincts, e.g. the sex instinct or the maternal instinct

Question 33

MAPs are elicited by specific environmental events called ______.

Answer 33

Releasers

Question 34

General behaviour are behavioural tendencies with a strong _____.

Answer 34

Beahavioural component.

Question 35

What changes behaviour is experience. Experience is _____.

Answer 35

Changes in the environment due to stimuli.

Question 36

Who are two philosophers that debated nurture vs. nature? What did they believe?

Answer 36

Plato- was a nativist (nature) Aristotle- was an empricist and believed in nurture

Question 37

What are the 4 laws of association (SCCF)?

Answer 37

•Law of Similarity (e.g. cars and trucks) •Law of Contrast (e.g. black and white) •Law of Contiguity (closeness) (e.g. thunder and lightning) •Law of Frequency (e.g. go together)

Question 38

What was Decrates known for?

Answer 38

Mind-body dualism "I think before I am" ``` Some behaviours are reflexes that are automatically elicited by external stimulation, others are freely chosen and controlled by the mind ```

Question 39

Decribe British Empiricism, who coined it?

Answer 39

``` • John Locke and British Empiricism • Tabula rasa • The mind is composed of a set of finite basic elements (sounds, smells, colours) that are combined through the principles of association into complex sensations and thought patterns ```

Question 40

What is structualism? Who coined it?

Answer 40

- Wundt | Structuralism studies the human mind and the basic units that can be identified through introspection.

Question 41

What is functionalism? Who coined it?

Answer 41

``` James and Functionalism • Adaptive processes of the mind • Darwinism and natural selection – the ability to learn confers significant survival advantages • Focuses on the adaptive abilities of the mind ```

Question 42

What is behaviourism? Who is responsible for the rise of it?

Answer 42

``` John B. Watson • Experimental psychology vs. consciousness and introspection • Observable phenomena • Clear research questions ``` Behaviourism: natural science approach to psychology focusing on environmental influences on observable behaviour

Question 43

What are the five schools of behaviourism?

Answer 43

1. Watson’s Methodological Behaviourism 2. Hull’s Neobehaviourism 3. Tolman’s Cognitive Behaviourism 4. Bandura’s Social Learning Theory 5. Skinner’s Radical Behaviourism

Question 44

Desribe Watson’s Methodological Behaviourism

Answer 44

John. B Watson • Study of ‘publicly’ observable behaviour • Subjective activities too difficult to assess and excluded unless method of measurement exists • Practice makes perfect ~10 years + hours Stimulus ------ Response

Question 45

Describe Hull’s Neobehaviourism

Answer 45

``` • Clark L. Hull • Operationalisation of unobserved constructs and events • e.g. gravity • Mediation by intervening variables which explained the stimulus – response relationship • physiological reactions such as hunger • Note: not mental processes ``` environmental events ---> Internal events e.g. hunger ---> Observable behaviour

Question 46

Describe Tolman’s Cognitive Behaviourism

Answer 46

Edward C. Tolman • “the whole is more than the sum of its parts” • Patterns of behaviour rather than a chain of S-R connections •Intervening cognitive processes, e.g. cognitive map • Latent learning

Question 47

Describe Bandura’s Social Learning Theory

Answer 47

Albert Bandura • Observational Learning • Social Learning Theory: importance of observational learning and cognitive variables in explaining human behaviour • Reciprocal determinism: • environmental events, observable behaviour, ‘person variables’, e.g. think, feel- all influence eachother.

Question 48

Describe Skinner’s Radical Behaviourism

Answer 48

• Internal states not explanations of behaviour but an event to be explained •‘covert’ and ‘overt’ governed by same rules • Cause, consequence or correlate? • Capacity to manipulate environment for positive effect • Countercontrol: the deliberate manipulation of environment to alter of impact behaviour • Operant conditioning as natural selection in an individual • Behaviour analysis and contemporary psychological treatment

Question 49

Latent learning

Answer 49

Learning occurs despite absence of evidence of learning, apparent only under different condition.