learning and motivation txt chap 1

• behavior: any activity of an organism that can be observed / measured. may be internal or external
• learning: relatively permanent change in behavior
• classical conditioning: certain inborn behaviors come to be produced in new situations (involuntary)
• operant conditioning: strengthening / weakening of a behavior as a result of its consequences (voluntary)
• observational learning: act of observing someone else’s behavior facilitates the development of similar behavior
• fixed action patterns: non-learned, inherited behavior patterns
• historical background
  • aristotle
  • argued that knowledge is acquired through experience. empiricist perspective that agrees with nurture
    • opposite: plato - everything is in our soul. nativist perspective that agrees with nature
  • law of similarity: events that are similar to each other are readily associated with each other
  • law of contrast: events that are opposite each others are readily associated
  • law of continuity: events that occur in close proximity to each other in time or space are readily associated
  • law of frequency: the more frequently two items occur together, the more strongly they are associated
  • descartes
  • mind-body dualism: some human behaviors are involuntary / reflexive while others are voluntary
  • only humans possess free will
  • british empiricists
  • almost all knowledge is a function of experience
  • a newborn’s mind is a blank slate
  • the conscious mind is composed of a finite set of basic elements that are combined through association into sensations and thought
  • structuralism: it it possible to determine the mind’s structure by identifying its basic elements
  • Wilhelm Wundt
  • introspection: a person tries to describe their conscious thoughts, emotions, and sensory experiences
  • functionalism: the mind evolved to help us adapt to the world around us
  • William James
  • should study the adaptive significance of the mind
  • evolution
  • natural selection: individuals / species that are capable of adapting to environmental pressures are more likely to reproduce and pass on those adaptive qualities
    • traits vary within a species
    • many traits are heritable
    • organisms must compete for limited resources
  • evolutionary adaptation
  • behaviorism: natural science approach to psychology that focuses on the study of environmental influences on observable behavior
  • law of parsimony: simpler explanations for a phenomenon are generally preferable to complex ones
• five schools of behaviorism
  • watson
  • psychologists should only study observable behavior (methodological behaviorism)
  • S-R theory: learning involves the establishment of a connection between a specific stimulus and a specific response
  • hull’s neobehaviorism: behaviorism that utilizes intervening variables in the form of hypothesized physiological processes
  • Tolman’s Cognitive Behaviorism
  • argued that it would be more useful to analyze behavior on a broader level
  • cognitive behaviorism: utilizes intervening variables to help explain behavior
  • cognitive map: mental representation of one’s spatial surroundings
  • latent learning: learning occurs despite the absence of any observable indication of learning and only become apparent under a different set of conditions
  • Bandura’s Social Learning Theory
  • observable learning (imitation)
  • self-referent thoughts about our abilities and accomplishments have a significant impact on our behavior
  • social learning theory: emphasizes the importance of observational learning and cognitive variables in explaining human behavior
  • reciprocal determinism: environmental events, observable behavior, and thoughts + feelings have a reciprocal influence on each other
  • Skinner’s Radical Behaviorism: emphasizes the influence of the environment on observable behavior, rejects the use of internal events to explain behavior, and views thoughts and feelings as behaviors that need to be explained
  • viewed internal events as covert behaviors that are subject to the same laws of learning as overt behaviors
  • countercontrol: deliberate manipulation of environmental events to alter their impact on our behavior
• Behavior Analysis and Applied Behavior Analysis
  • behavior analysts have concentrated on researching operant conditioning
  • behavior modification

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