lecture 1 Flashcards
All creatures can learn
Evidence from animals suggests that they too can engage in complex psychological processes.
Learning and Motivation
The process by which changes in behavior arise as a result of experiences interacting with the world.
Nativism Vs. Empiricism
Nativism- most of the knowledge we posses is inborn and is with us from birth.
Empiricism- most of the knowledge we posses is a result of experience
Rene Decartes (1596—1650)
dualism
Dualism- The principle that the mind and body exist as separate entities each with different characteristics, governed by its own laws
The body works through a system of hydraulics and switches.
Stimulus > Response
Stimulus – a sensory event from the outside world enters the system (i.e. light reflects off a flower and enters the eye)
Response – the behavioral consequence of perception of the stimulus
John Locke (1632-1704)
*His theory was that all knowledge is derived from experience. (everything we know is expereince)
*Children arrive into this world as blank slates (tabla rasas).
*His theory was a product of the times.
William James (1842-1910)
Offered first ever course in psychology when an instructor at Harvard.
Also published first book in psychology, Principles of Psychology (1890).
Believed most abilities and habits are formed by experiences especially early in life.
William James (1842-1910)
association
*He was a strong proponent of associationism (this predicts this)
*All learning is due to associations
*He also believed that associations could eventually be mapped directly onto physical connections in the brain.
The Beginning of Experimental Psychology
Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909)
what issues would doing experiments on himself bring??
Interestingly, he would conduct experiments on himself, trying to recall lists of nonsense words over varying intervals of time.
That brings issues such as:
–Subject bias
–Blind Design
–Experimenter Bias
–Double blind design
Was first to really utilize very controlled independent and dependent variables.
He could predict (exposure and time)
The Beginning of Experimental Psychology
Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)
extinction and generalization
*Introduced the concepts of extinction and generalization
Extinction - refers to the gradual decrease in response to a conditioned stimulus that occurs when the stimulus is presented without reinforcement. (extinguish a response)
Generalization – transfer what has been learned about one stimulus to a similar stimulus. (learn something and present it as something else)
Edward Thorndike (1874-1949)
Thorndike was a pupil of William James.
Founder of instrumental learning.
Instrumental learning – the process whereby organisms learn to make response in order to obtain or avoid important consequences (also known as operant conditioning).
- Thorndike’s Puzzle Box
- the cat is placed in the box with food reward outside
- although learning is not immediate, the hungry cat eventually leanrs that pressing on the lever will result in getting out of the box and being able to reach the food
William James (1842-1910)
assocition
*He was a strong proponent of associationism (this predicts this)
*All learning is due to associations
*He also believed that associations could eventually be mapped directly onto physical connections in the brain.
The Beginning of Experimental Psychology
Hermann Ebbinghaus (1850-1909)
*** Contemporary of William James
*Interested in the highly predictable regularities in how people perceived variations in physical stimuli
*He also believed that associations could eventually be mapped directly onto physical **
*He was very interested in phenomenon of forgetting (memory).
*Ebbinghaus tested “participants” by asking them to remember lists of words and then test recall.
–if he used known words, he realized, word choice would affect recall (top, toy, ball, rattle)
*Ebbinghaus used nonsense words to avoid participants familiarity with the words being used.
> always trying to reduce confounds (ANI, ZBI, NBI)
***Interestingly, he would conduct experiments on himself, trying to recall lists of nonsense words over varying intervals of time.
That brings issues such as:
–Subject bias
–Blind Design
–Experimenter Bias
–Double blind design
*Was first to really utilize very controlled independent and dependent variables.**
He could predict (exposure and time)
The Beginning of Experimental Psychology
Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) intro
**The founder of classical conditioning Pavlovian Conditioning).
*Received the Nobel Prize in 1904 for Physiology or Medicine
*Discovered learning in which an animal learns that one stimulus predicts an upcoming important event (like the delivery of food).**
*Found further evidence for the learning curve
Edward Thorndike (1874-1949)
**Thorndike was a pupil of William James.
- Founder of instrumental learning.
–Instrumental learning – the process whereby organisms learn to make response in order to obtain or avoid important consequences (also known as operant conditioning).**
- Thorndike’s Puzzle Box
- the cat is placed in the box with food reward outside
- although learning is not immediate, the hungry cat eventually leanrs that pressing on the lever will result in getting out of the box and being able to reach the food
**Law of effect – the probability of a particular behavioral response increases or decreases depending on the consequences that have followed that response in the past.
- Many of the theories he had come from the findings of Charles Darwin
–The law of effect is very similar to Darwin’s survival of the fittest. Behaviors that increase the likelihood of survival, tend to occur more often.**
The Beginning of Experimental Psychology
Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)
*The founder of classical conditioning (Pavlovian Conditioning).
*Received the Nobel Prize in 1904 for Physiology or Medicine
*Discovered learning in which an animal learns that one stimulus predicts an upcoming important event (like the delivery of food).
*Found further evidence for the learning curve
Edward Thorndike (1874-1949)
law of effect
Law of effect – the probability of a particular behavioral response increases or decreases depending on the consequences that have followed that response in the past.
- do things that lead to reward and punishment
- Many of the theories he had come from the findings of Charles Darwin
–The law of effect is very similar to Darwin’s survival of the fittest. Behaviors that increase the likelihood of survival, tend to occur more often. - survival of fittest - do what we need to survive
- we are survival of the fittesy
The Reign of Behaviorism (began 1920’s)
*A school of thought that argues that psychology should restrict itself to the stuff of observable behavior and not seek to infer unobservable mental processes.
(shifts away from emotions, dream, etc to measuring)
*Behaviorists really wanted to distant themselves from philosophers that used introspection to develop hypotheses about behavior. With the goal of making behavior more of a hard science.
John Watson (1878-1958)
*Watson believe that psychology should be a “purely objective experimental branch of natural science, Its theoretical goal is the prediction and control of behavior”
- you cannot assume anything
- its not measurable if it doesnt exisit
*“Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to being them up in, and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random, train him to become any type of specialist I might select-doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant, chief, and yes even beggarman and thief, regardless of the talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors.”
Clark Hull (1884-1952)
*Clark Hull was interested in developing comprehensive mathematical models that could predict behavior.
- Although his mathematical models were very instrumental during the behaviorist movement, trying to reduce behavior to an equation did not last the test of time.
*By the 1940’s, Hulls work was cited in 70% of all scientific papers on learning psychology published in major journals.
- shift to behaviorism
Physiology
Beating heart
But your heart might beat faster if you’re asked to stand up in front of the class and read Shakespeare
Psychology
Panic attack: “Its all in your head”
But it has physiological manifestations (i.e. hyperventilation - too much oxygen relative to carbon dioxide in the blood)
The most complex psychological processes, like language, emotions, and memory can be affected by stimulating or damage to the brain.
The most complex psychological processes, like language, emotions, and memory can be affected by stimulating or damage to the brain.
Learning Psychology
As learning psychologists and behavioral neuroscientists we think differently.
Humans are not all that special…
Evidence from non-human animals suggests that they too can engage in complex psychological processes
