History of Psychology, Ch. 8

Behaviorism

Founder of behaviorism. Was concerned that psychology would be unable to join the natural sciences due to the pursuit of consciousness as an object of study and introspection as a research method.

John Watson

Form of research that came to dominate functionalism and behaviorism.

Animal research

Subfield of animal psychology that studied behavior of nonhuman animals to generalize findings to human behavior.

Comparative psychology

Follower of Darwin who used the introspection by analogy to study animal behavior. Recognized that mental processes in higher animals were closer to humans than those of insects.

George John Romanes

In explaining animal behavior, a higher mental process should not be invoked if the behavior could be explained adequately by a lower mental process. Used to reject psychological explanations that appealed to mental states instead of wholly situated in behavioral terms.

Morgan’s canon

Studied animals, found animals learned to escape puzzle boxes in a trial-and-error fashion, leading him to reject the idea that reasoning was involved. Responses that led to escape were learned gradually, and ineffective responses gradually eliminated from behavior. Formulated the law of effect.

Edward Thorndike

Any act which in a given situation produces satisfaction becomes associated with that situation, so when the situation recurs, the act is more likely than before to also recur.

Law of effect

Investigated a phenomenon in his subjects (dogs) who salivated before they were shown food. Labeled this kind of learning classical conditioning.

Ivan Pavlov

Topics that disappeared from the subject matter of psychology topics due to behaviorism’s call for objective forms of observation.

Dreaming, thinking, imagery

Experiment conducted by John Watson that conditioned a human emotion to a stimulus that did not previously elicit that emotion. Paired a loud noise with the presence of a white rat until the infant showed fear when the rat was placed near him. Fear response generalized to common quality of white fur.

Little Albert experiment

Argued that animals build up expectancies about the environment, which is one of the determinants of the animal’s responding. Objected Watson’s approach that limited psychology to a strict stimulus-response framework. Called for psychology to recognize the existence of intervening variables and latent learning.

Edward Chace Tolman

Theorized that the law of effect operates by means of drive reduction. Reinforcement was key to the strength of association between a particular stimulus and response.

Clark Leonard Hull

Bodily needs such as hunger, thirst, oxygen, avoiding pain, optimal body temperature, sleep, and sex. When they are activated due to bodily needs, behaviors are instituted that lead to reduction, which is reinforcing.

Drives

Reinforcement is key to the strength of association between a particular stimulus and response. Grows as a direct result of the number of reinforcements experienced.

Habit strength

Called his psychology the experimental analysis of behavior. Emphasized study of learning in animals. Coined the term operant conditioning. Work had widespread implications in society and he attained fame w/n the scientific community and general public.

Burrhus Frederic Skinner