The Nature vs. Nurture Debate: Francis Galton and John B. Watson

Vocabulary flashcards covering the nature versus nurture debate, focusing on Francis Galton's biological determinism and twin studies, alongside John B. Watson's classical behaviorism and conditioning experiments.

Nature (Galton)

Inborn and inherited traits and capacities that set the ultimate limits to how far an individual can develop their skills and talents.

Nurture (Galton)

The cumulative external influences, training, education, and environment experienced from birth onward.

Tabula Rasa

The concept proposed by philosopher John Locke in 1690 asserting that the mind of a newborn is a 'blank slate' and all individuals are born equal.

Eugenics

Francis Galton's controversial theory proposing that human beings could be selectively bred like horses to promote desirable inherited characteristics.

Galton's Twin Study (1875)

An investigation of 159 pairs of twins demonstrating that sibling similarity remained constant over time regardless of shared upbringing, with handwriting being the only attribute in which twins consistently differed.

Classical Behaviorism

An approach championed by John B. Watson that rejects introspection and the study of conscious mental states, focusing instead on the objective prediction and control of observable behavior.

"Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It" (1913)

John B. Watson's landmark lecture at Johns Hopkins University, known as the 'behaviorist manifesto,' which defined psychology as an objective experimental branch of natural science.

Fundamental Emotions (Watson)

The three innate, unlearned emotional reactions identified by John B. Watson as present in human infants: fear, rage, and love.

Little Albert Experiment

A 1920 study conducted by John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner demonstrating that emotional responses such as fear could be classically conditioned in an 11-month-old human infant.

Unconditioned Stimulus (US)

A trigger that automatically produces a physiological or emotional reaction without prior conditioning, such as the loud noise made by striking a steel bar with a hammer in the Little Albert study.

Unconditioned Response (UR)

An automatic, unlearned natural reaction elicited by an unconditioned stimulus, such as Little Albert crying and exhibiting distress upon hearing a sudden loud noise.

Conditioned Stimulus (CS)

An initially neutral stimulus that comes to elicit an emotional or behavioral response after being repeatedly paired with an unconditioned stimulus, exemplified by the white rat in Watson's experiment.

Conditioned Response (CR)

A learned response elicited by a conditioned stimulus after training, such as Little Albert bursting into tears and showing distress upon seeing the white rat alone.

Stimulus Generalization

The transfer of a conditioned response to other similar stimuli, demonstrated when Little Albert showed distress toward other white furry items including a rabbit, a dog, and a sheepskin coat.

Watsonian Childcare Philosophy

A behaviorist parenting approach popular in the 1920s and 1930s emphasizing strict emotional detachment, absence of physical punishment, avoidance of sentimental affection, and systematic behavioral modification.