Chapter 12: Behaviourism

PSYCH 304

Ivan Sechenov — what problem were they trying to solve?

School / Movement: Russian Objective Psychology; Core Question: Can all psychic phenomena be explained by physiological mechanisms?; Signature Contribution: The discovery of inhibitory mechanisms in the brain; Why They Matter: He established the foundation for studying psychology as an objective branch of physiology.

Ivan Sechenov — who did they influence, respond to, or oppose?

Built on: La Mettrie and the Berlin physiologists (positivism); Reacted against: Introspection and metaphysical explanations of behavior; Influenced: Pavlov and the next generation of Russian neurophysiologists; Place in the timeline: Mid-to-late 19th century (Reflexes of the Brain, 1863).

Ivan Pavlov — what problem were they trying to solve?

School / Movement: Russian Objective Psychology / Classical Conditioning; Core Question: How do biologically neutral stimuli come to elicit physiological responses?; Signature Contribution: The discovery and systematic study of the conditioned reflex; Why They Matter: Provided an objective, physiological mechanism for explaining associationism.

Ivan Pavlov — who did they influence, respond to, or oppose?

Built on: Sechenov's work on reflexes and Thorndike's animal research; Reacted against: Mentalistic psychology and the use of introspection; Influenced: John B. Watson and the development of American Behaviorism; Place in the timeline: Late 19th to early 20th century (Nobel Prize, 1904).

Vladimir Bekhterev — what problem were they trying to solve?

School / Movement: Reflexology; Core Question: How can human behavior be studied objectively without resorting to 'subjective' psychic concepts?; Signature Contribution: Studying association-motor reflexes in skeletal muscles; Why They Matter: Offered a purely objective approach to behavior more aligned with later American behaviorism than Pavlov's glandular focus.

Vladimir Bekhterev — who did they influence, respond to, or oppose?

Built on: Sechenov's reflexology; Reacted against: Wundt’s introspection and Pavlov’s 'saliva method'; Influenced: John B. Watson (who adopted his motor reflex methods); Place in the timeline: Late 19th to early 20th century (rival to Pavlov).

John B. Watson — what problem were they trying to solve?

School / Movement: Behaviorism (Founder); Core Question: How can psychology be transformed into a purely objective, predictive natural science?; Signature Contribution: Founding the school of Behaviorism and the 'Little Albert' study; Why They Matter: Shifted psychology’s goal from understanding consciousness to the prediction and control of behavior.

John B. Watson — who did they influence, respond to, or oppose?

Built on: Loeb (tropism), Angell (functionalism), and Pavlov/Bekhterev (conditioning); Reacted against: Titchener (structuralism), James (consciousness), and McDougall (instincts); Influenced: All subsequent behavioral psychology and modern advertising; Place in the timeline: Early 20th century (Founding lecture, 1913).

William McDougall — what problem were they trying to solve?

School / Movement: Hormic Psychology; Core Question: How does purposive, goal-directed behavior arise from innate instinctual energy?; Signature Contribution: Defining psychology as the science of behavior while maintaining a role for mental events/motives; Why They Matter: He was the primary adversary to Watson's radical environmentalism.

William McDougall — who did they influence, respond to, or oppose?

Built on: William James (instinct theory); Reacted against: Watson's radical behaviorism and 'twitchism'; Influenced: Social psychology and later debates on human motivation; Place in the timeline: Early-to-mid 20th century.

Lev Vygotsky — what problem were they trying to solve?

School / Movement: Russian Developmental Psychology; Core Question: How do social interactions and language shape cognitive development?; Signature Contribution: The relationship between thought and language; Why They Matter: A pioneer in cognitive development and the precursor to the cognitive revolution.

Alexander Luria — what problem were they trying to solve?

School / Movement: Clinical Neuropsychology; Core Question: How is the brain organized to handle complex psychological functions?; Signature Contribution: Theories of cortical function and neurological assessment batteries; Why They Matter: Famous for studies on brain damage and memory (The Mind of a Mnemonist).

Ivan Sechenov’s Concept of Inhibition — WHY DOES THIS MATTER?

It allowed for a purely objective explanation of voluntary behavior, showing how the brain can suppress reflexes without needing a metaphysical 'mind' or 'will'.

Pavlov’s First and Second Signal Systems — WHY DOES THIS MATTER?

They explain how humans adapt not just to physical reality (sensory stimuli) but also to abstract reality (language and symbols).

Watson’s Advertising Career — WHY DOES THIS MATTER?

It demonstrated the practical application of behavioral conditioning to manipulate consumer choice through emotional association rather than logic.

The 'Little Albert' Study — WHY DOES THIS MATTER?

It provided empirical evidence that complex human emotions like fear are learned through Pavlovian conditioning rather than being exclusively innate or unconscious.

McDougall’s Hormic Psychology — WHY DOES THIS MATTER?

It preserved the idea that behavior is purposive and goal-directed, contrasting with the reactive, stimulus-response model of radical behaviorism.

PROBLEM: Explaining why a stimulus of low intensity sometimes produces an intense response. → SOLUTION:

Sechenov proposed that inhibitory centers in the brain can modulate reflexes, allowing for discrepancies between stimulus and response intensity.

PROBLEM: Studying digestion without traumatizing the animal. → SOLUTION:

Pavlov developed the gastric fistula to observe internal secretions in fully recovered, healthy animals.

PROBLEM: Subjective interpretations in introspection lead to unreliable data. → SOLUTION:

Behaviorists proposed studying only directly measurable, overt behavior to make psychology a 'positive science'.

PROBLEM: Children having persistent, irrational phobias. → SOLUTION:

Mary Cover Jones used counterconditioning (systematic desensitization) to replace a fear response with a positive one (eating).

PROBLEM: Radical behaviorism’s inability to explain the persistence of goal-seeking behavior. → SOLUTION:

McDougall's Purposive Behavior, which posits that behavior continues until a goal is attained or the organism reaches exhaustion.

COMPARE / CONTRAST: Pavlov vs. Bekhterev on Conditioning Methods.

Pavlov focused on internal, glandular responses (saliva); Bekhterev focused on overt, motor responses (limb withdrawal).

COMPARE / CONTRAST: Radical vs. Methodological Behaviorism.

Radical behaviorists deny or ignore mental events; methodological behaviorists use behavior to index unobservable mental or physiological states.

COMPARE / CONTRAST: Watson’s vs. McDougall’s view on Instincts.

Watson eventually rejected the concept of instincts entirely; McDougall made instincts the cornerstone and motivator of all behavior.

COMPARE / CONTRAST: Pavlov’s vs. Watson’s view of Reinforcement.

Pavlov saw reinforcement as necessary (the US); Watson rejected the law of effect, explaining learning through contiguity and frequency.

COMPARE / CONTRAST: Sechenov vs. Pavlov on the Study of Psychology.

Sechenov theorized that psychology should be physiology; Pavlov demonstrated in detail how to actually conduct that physiological study.

DEFINE + SIGNIFICANCE: Cortical Mosaic

Definition: The pattern of excitation and inhibition in the brain at any moment. Significance: It determines how an organism will respond to its environment at a given time.

DEFINE + SIGNIFICANCE: Experimental Neurosis

Definition: Behavioral breakdown caused by making excitatory and inhibitory stimuli indistinguishable. Significance: Showed that abnormal behavior could be produced in a lab by conflicting tendencies.

DEFINE + SIGNIFICANCE: Tropism

Definition: Forced, automatic orienting responses to stimuli (e.g., plants to sun). Significance: Influenced Watson to view behavior as automatically elicited by the environment.

DEFINE + SIGNIFICANCE: Spontaneous Recovery

Definition: The reappearance of a conditioned response after a delay following extinction. Significance: Proves that extinction is an inhibitory process, not the erasure of a learned connection.

DEFINE + SIGNIFICANCE: Horme

Definition: A Greek term meaning 'urge' used by McDougall. Significance: Refers to the instinctual energy that drives purposive, goal-directed behavior.

DEFINE + SIGNIFICANCE: Second-Signal System

Definition: Symbols (words) that signal biologically significant events. Significance: Explains how language acts as a 'signal of signals' to guide human behavior and abstract thought.

Who is considered the founder of Russian objective psychology?

Ivan Mikhailovich Sechenov

Sechenov insisted that the initial cause of any action always lies in _.

External sensory stimulation

According to Sechenov, human development is the slow establishment of _ over reflexive behavior.

Inhibitory control

Which researcher’s work on the vagus nerve of frogs provided the first observation of neural inhibition?

Eduard Weber

Pavlov won the 1904 Nobel Prize for his research in which field?

Physiology (specifically the digestive system)

In Classical Conditioning, what term is used for the innate, unlearned stimulus (e.g., food powder)?

Unconditioned Stimulus (US)

What is the Classical Conditioning formula for a 'Conditioned Reflex'?

Conditioned Stimulus (CS) $\rightarrow$ Conditioned Response (CR)

What is the term for the elimination of a conditioned response when the CS is no longer followed by the US?

Extinction

Pavlov believed that facts were more important than _, which could be easily rejected.

Theories

_ is the phenomenon where a strong, irrelevant stimulus causes an extinguished response to return.

Disinhibition

What were the two 'fundamental processes' Pavlov believed governed all central nervous system activity?

Excitation and Inhibition

According to Pavlov, how many basic types of nervous systems are there in animals?

Four

Which American researcher did Pavlov acknowledge as the first to do systematic, objective research on animal learning?

Edward L. Thorndike

Bekhterev’s term for the strictly objective study of human behavior was _.

Reflexology

Bekhterev criticized Pavlov's saliva method because it was difficult to use on _.

Humans

Luria developed a theory of cortical function that divided the brain into how many major blocks?

Three

Lev Vygotsky is best known for his work on the relationship between _ and language.

Thought

What was the title of John B. Watson’s 1913 lecture that founded behaviorism?

Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It

According to Watson, the goal of psychology is the and of behavior.

Prediction; Control

In his research with rats, Watson discovered that they rely primarily on _ sensations to solve mazes.

Kinesthetic

What was Watson's final position on the existence of human instincts?

He completely rejected the idea of human instincts, claiming all behavior is learned.

Watson defined 'thinking' as being nothing more than internal or _ speech.

Subvocal

Who was the co-researcher on the 'Little Albert' study?

Rosalie Rayner

According to Watson, what are the three innate emotions in humans?

Fear, Rage, and Love

Mary Cover Jones used a technique called _ to treat Peter’s fear of rabbits.

Counterconditioning

What was the name of the ad agency where Watson became a vice president in 1924?

J. Walter Thompson Company

Watson's belief that experience alone makes people what they are is known as _.

Radical Environmentalism

According to Watson's Law of Recency, which response is most likely to be repeated in a learning situation?

The final response made in the previous trial (the one that terminated the trial).

What mind-body position did Watson eventually adopt, rejecting the existence of consciousness?

Physical Monism (Materialism)

Which psychologist believed behavior is motivated by innate 'psycho-physical dispositions'?

William McDougall

McDougall’s three components of an instinct are Perception, Behavior, and _.

Emotion

What term did McDougall use for the association of two or more instincts with a single object or thought?

Sentiment

Who won the formal 'Battle of Behaviorism' debate by a narrow margin in 1924?

William McDougall

Zing Yang Kuo showed that _ behavior in kittens was a result of life history, not instinct.

Rat-killing

A researcher who uses behavior to index unobservable cognitive states is a _ behaviorist.

Methodological

Watson's 'Little Albert' study demonstrated that fear _ to other furry objects like rabbits and dogs.

Generalized

In Watson's maze experiments, what sensory intervention finally confused the rats?

Shortening or lengthening the maze (altering the kinesthetic requirement).

What did Watson suggest parents should do instead of hugging and kissing their children?

Shake hands with them or give them a pat on the head.

Vygotsky's work was banned by the Soviet State from 1936 to _.

1956

Jacques Loeb’s theory that organisms react automatically to stimuli is called _.

Tropism

According to Pavlov, the condition produced by conflicting excitatory and inhibitory tendencies is _.

Experimental Neurosis

Who was the 'father' of Russian objective psychology according to the text?

Ivan Sechenov

Which behaviorist was the first to suggest that Pavlov’s conditioning could apply to humans in a 1915 APA address?

John B. Watson

What specific stimuli originally elicit 'rage' in infants, according to Watson?

Restricting the infant's freedom of movement.

Who was the noted trial lawyer who used Watson's deterministic logic to defend Leopold and Loeb?

Clarence Darrow

Which psychologist wrote 'The Mind of a Mnemonist'?

Alexander Luria

Bekhterev’s 'Association Reflex' is synonymous with Pavlov’s _.

Conditioned Reflex

Watson’s explanation of learning relied on the principles of _ and frequency.

Contiguity

How did Watson describe 'saying' in relation to behavior?

Saying is doing—that is, behaving.