Transcript PS210-03 History of Psychology Unit 1

PS210
History of Psychology
Unit 7
Nichola Cohen Ph.D.
What were the 3 stages in the
evolution of behaviorism?
What were the 3 stages in the
evolution of behaviorism?
 Watson’s behaviorism
 Psychology dealing with observable behavioral
acts
 Things should be described in terms of stimulus and
response
 Rejected consciousness
 Neo-behaviorism (1930-60)
 Includes work of Tolman, Hull and Skinner
 Neo-neobehaviorism/Sociobehaviorism (1960-90)
 Includes work of Bandura and Rotter
Neo-behaviorism
 Tolman, Hull and Skinner agreed on 3 key points
 (1) The core of Psychology should be to study
learning
 (2) Most behavior can be accounted for by the
laws of conditioning
 (3) Psychology must adopt the principle of
operationalism
 A physical concept can be defined by the
operations or procedures by which it is determined
 To rid Psychology of pseudo-problems
 Problems that are not actually observable or that
can’t be physically demonstrated
Skinner
 Dealt only with observable behavior
 Psychology should be about stimulus-response
 Operant conditioning
 Learning that occurs as a result of a behavior emitted
by an organism
 Skinner box
 Law of acquisition
 The strength of behavior increases when it is
followed by the presentation of a reinforcer
Skinner
 Reinforcement schedules
 Conditions involving various rates and times of
reinforcement
 Fixed interval schedule
Skinner
 Reinforcement schedules
 Conditions involving various rates and times of
reinforcement
 Fixed interval schedule
 Subjects are reinforced after a certain interval (e.g.
once per minute).
 The shorter the time interval between reinforcers, the
more rapidly the animals responded
 Behaviors are eliminated more quickly when they have
been reinforced continuously and the reinforcement is
stopped, compared to intermittent reinforcement
 Fixed ratio schedule
Skinner
 Reinforcement schedules
 Conditions involving various rates and times of
reinforcement
 Fixed interval schedule
 Subjects are reinforced after a certain interval (e.g.
once per minute).
 The shorter the time interval between reinforcers, the
more rapidly the animals responded
 Behaviors are eliminated more quickly when they have
been reinforced continuously and the reinforcement is
stopped, compared to intermittent reinforcement
 Fixed ratio schedule
 Reinforcer presented after a predetermined number of
responses (e.g. every 3 responses)
 Animals on a fixed ratio schedule respond quicker than
animals on a fixed interval schedule
How did Skinner explain the
acquisition of complex behavior?
How did Skinner explain the
acquisition of complex behavior?
 Successive approximation
 Complex behavior (such as learning to talk) gets
reinforced when the behavior starts to approach
the final desired behavior
How did Skinner explain the
acquisition of complex behavior?
 Successive approximation
 Complex behavior (such as learning to talk) gets
reinforced when the behavior starts to approach
the final desired behavior
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_ctJqjlrHA
Where do we see Skinner’s
principles used today?
Where do we see Skinner’s
principles used today?
 To change undesirable behaviors to desirable
ones
 Prisons – tokens to reward positive behavior
 Classrooms – gold stars for good behavior
 Workforce motivation
Albert Bandura
 Social Cognitive theory
Albert Bandura
 Social Cognitive theory
 Focus on observing behavior of humans in interaction
 Emphasized the importance of rewards in acquiring or
modifying behavior
 Stressed the influence of beliefs, expectations and
instructions on reinforcement
 Did not think behavioral responses were mechanistic,
but reactions to stimuli are self-activated. When a
reinforcer alters behavior, it is because the person is
consciously aware of the response and anticipates
receiving the same reinforcer the next time
 He thought that some behaviors can be learned without
direct reinforcement
 Vicarious reinforcement
 Observing how other people behave and seeing
the consequences of their behavior.
 Modelling techniques – have subjects observe a
model in a behavior that usually causes them
some anxiety
 His approach is widely used and has been shown
to be very effective in eliminating phobias and
anxiety
 His approach has also been adapted for radio and
TV to address social problems (e.g. unwanted
pregnancies)
 Highly effective technique for increasing
desirable behaviors such as safe sex practices.
What is Gestalt Psychology?
What is Gestalt Psychology?
 The basic premise is the whole
 Things should not be studied by breaking them
down, rather, things should be studied by viewing
them for what they are
 “The whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts”
What is Gestalt Psychology?
 The basic premise is the whole
 Things should not be studied by breaking them
down, rather, things should be studied by viewing
them for what they are
 “The whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts”
 When individual elements are combined they take on
new meaning
What is Gestalt Psychology?
 The basic premise is the whole
 Things should not be studied by breaking them
down, rather, things should be studied by viewing
them for what they are
 “The whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts”
 When individual elements are combined they take on
new meaning
 “There is more to perception than meets the eye”
 People perceive things differently based on prior
experience
Principles of perceptual
organization
 How we put things in our environment together
to understand them
 How does our mind work to take all the shapes
and color we see in our environment and make
sense of it all?
Principle of proximity
 Things that are close together appear to belong
together
Principle of continuity
 We tend to follow things in a direction that
makes them seem flowing
Principle of closure
 We have a tendency to complete incomplete
figures
Principle of Figure/Ground
 We tend to separate things into the object and
the background
Gestalt Psychology and
Learning
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySMh1mBi3
cI&feature=related
Gestalt Psychology and
Learning
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySMh1mBi3
cI&feature=related
 Here we saw a chimp solve a complex problem
through insight learning
 The movement was planned and deliberate
 Insight means the spontaneous understanding of
relationships
 The chimp had to view the environment as a
whole to solve the problem