Lecture 2 Flashcards
(30 cards)
Who was John Watson and what did he start?
He was a famous psychologist who disliked the idea of “mind”. He started behaviourism because it was observable unlike mind.
What did Watson believe?
That by observing people we could come up with predictions of what they would do
What did Skinner believe?
That behaviour is a series of reflexes and saw it as learning, people and animals react either positively or negatively depending on rewards and punishments
What is a Skinner box?
It was invented by Skinner to test the behaviour of rats so that if the rat does something he gets a reward and if he does something wrong he gets electrocuted
What does an Ethologist study?
The behaviour of natural animals, in the field.
What do ethnologists believe?
That animals had instincts and not all behaviour is learned
What did skinner argue about language?
That it can be learned because of rewards, but he was not correct
What did Noam Chomsky argue about language?
That the brain has characteristics which allows us to have language and learn it in depth, he was correct
What is science?
Science is how every theory is built on the theory before it.
What is scientific theory?
A set of relatable assumptions which testable predictions can be made
What is a hypothesis?
Is when you see something or wonder about something, you have a thought and you think about how you would answer the question
What does the scientific method say?
It must be very precise, needs accuracy, open mindedness. Theories are disproved, not proved and results must be reproducible
Why can we say pseudoscience isn’t real science?
The cumulative process seen in science, internal skepticism and only vaguely explains how conclusions are reached, uses loose and distorted logic.
What is the confirmation bias?
That people like to be right, therefore you’re confident you’re correct and can unconsciously alter the results
What did Freud argue? Why was it not a good theory?
He argued that at age 4 all children feel a sexual attraction towards their parent of the opposite sex and anyone who denies it is repressing them.
You can’t falsify this theory, it can’t be tested.
Who was Clever Hans? What was he famous for?
Was he actually clever ?
Clever Hans was believed to be a smart horse and was famous for being able to answer various questions.
He was not actually clever he was just good and picking up on people’s reactions and senses.
What is skepticism?
An alternative explanation, test the hypothesis under controlled conditions, be cautious of confirmation bias
Samples for experiments don’t have to be representative of population.
TRUE or FALSE
FALSE
They must be representative of population. Sometimes it can be hard to get an unbiased sample.
How do we study behaviour scientifically?
By observation, which is what you see under natural conditions
To study behaviour it is not necessary to have a hypothesis.
TRUE or FALSE
TRUE
It is not necessary to have a hypothesis.
What is a correlation study?
It examines how often 2 phenomenon happen in connection with each other.
Do two variables always have to be related directly to have a correlation?
No, they can sometimes be related because of a third, unrelated variable
In a correlation study you have causality.
TRUE or FALSE
FALSE
You don’t have causality.
What is a positive correlation?
When two variables increase together
