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