Learning and Thinking Chapter 1

Behavior

Any activity of an organism that can be observed/measured

Learning

Relatively enduring change of behavior that results from some type of experience

Classical Conditioning

Inborn behaviors elicited in new environments

Operant Conditioning

Strenghten/weaken behavior based on consequences

Plato vs Aristotle

Plato saw learning as a process of inner reflection to uncover knowledge already there (nativist) and Aristotle saw that people’s abilities/tendencies are learned (empiricists)

Law of Similarity

Similar events are readily associated (cars and trucks)

Law of Contrast

Events opposite readily associated (tall and short)

Law of Contiguity

Events in close proximity are readily associated (lightning/thunder)

Law of Frequency

More frequently items occur together, stronger association (flashcards)

Descartes

Dualism; body as machine with involuntary, reflexive behaviors bc of external stimuli (sneeze from dust); mind w/ free will and voluntary behaviors

British Empiricists

All knowledge a function of experience; Locke thought infants are a blank slate; Hobbes = hedonism (pleasure principle, anarchy)

Structuralism

Experimental study of Human Consciousness; Wilhelm Wundt used scientific method to investigate and Edward Titchener used and became structuralism; basic elements of conscious mind and how they combined to create more complex experiences)

Aspects of Structuralism

Introspection= person attempts to accurately describe conscious thoughts, emotions, and sensations (what you feel when listening to a clock tick; very subjective); helped establish psych as a scientific discipline

Functionalism

Adaptive Mind; William James= mind evolved to help us adapt to the world around us and that the focus of psych should be the study of adaptive processes (derived from theory of evolution (adaptive characteristics enable a species to survive and reproduce increase)

Aspects of Functionalism

Consciousness in humans must have adaptive value; learning is cool; John Watson and Thorndike

Theory of Evolution

Species change across generations in response to environmental pressures; natural selection (traits vary within/between species, many are heritable, organisms must compete for limited resources, successful individuals have a reproductive advantage)

Evolutionary Adaptation

A helpful genetic trait that evolves as a result of natural selection; physical or behavioral (the ability to learn is important; significant survival advantage); ability to learn (nurture) is inherited (nature) and can be automatic/reflexive

Behaviorism

Observable Behavior