Deck 11: Behaviorism: After the Founding

Question 1

What does Priscilla the Fastidious Pig have to do with the history of psychology? By what techniques was this animal trained?

Answer 1

There was an IQ Zoo, in Arkansas, in the hot springs. Many people used to visit the zoo to see animals perform a fascinating array of tricks. These actions appeared to be ticks, however, in actuality each animal is trained anxiously.
If one has actually seen a pig in a backyard, one may not think the pigs were able of accomplishing anything astonishing enough to compel you for watching them.
Priscilla also known as the pig which was fastidious was very fascinating. She used to perform a routine of waking up during morning hours. She used to switch on the radio, had breakfast from the table.
She then used to pick up a series of filthy clothes, put them away in a bassinet, and then roamed a vacuum cleaner in the room. The time she got ready to address her public, she moved further to answer qualms by the audience using signs lighting up to show "no" or "yes".

Question 2

Describe the three stages in the evolution of the behaviorist school of thought.

Answer 2

Calculated revolution of Watson did not lead to ephemeral transformation of psychology. It took a longer time than expected by Watson. By the year of 1924, a little extra than ten years when he properly begun with behaviorism, greatest adversary of Watson, Titchener capitulated that behaviorism consumed psychology.
By the year of 1930, Watson was capable to affirm with appreciable justification that his achievement was finished. Behaviorism of Watson was the initial stage in the idea of behavior's evolution.
The second step, neobehaviorism, started from 1930 to 1960 which included the work of Skinner, Hull and Tolman. Such neobehaviorists complied on many points, as following:
1. The basis of psychology is the learning study.
2. Many behavior, however complicated they are, could be held for by the principles of conditioning.
3. Psychology should follow the fact of operationism.
The third and last stage in the evolution of behaviorism, sociobehaviorism or neo-neobehaviorism started from 1960 to 1990. This stage comprises the research of Rotter and Bandura and is distanced by an arrival to the application of cognitive procedures maintaining a target on the observation of honest behavior.

Question 3

Which psychologists can be classified as neobehaviorists? On what major points did they agree?

Answer 3

Calculated revolution of Watson did not lead to ephemeral transformation of psychology. It took a longer time than expected by Watson. By the year of 1924, a little extra than ten years when he properly begun with behaviorism, greatest adversary of Watson, Titchener capitulated that behaviorism consumed psychology.
By the year of 1930, Watson was capable to affirm with appreciable justification that his achievement was finished. Behaviorism of Watson was the initial stage in the idea of behavior's evolution.
The second step, neobehaviorism, started from 1930 to 1960 which included the work of Skinner, Hull and Tolman. Such neobehaviorists complied on many points, as following:
1. The basis of psychology is the learning study.
2. Many behavior, however complicated they are, could be held for by the principles of conditioning.
3. Psychology should follow the fact of operationism.
The third and last stage in the evolution of behaviorism, sociobehaviorism or neo-neobehaviorism started from 1960 to 1990. This stage comprises the research of Rotter and Bandura and is distanced by an arrival to the application of cognitive procedures maintaining a target on the observation of honest behavior.

Question 4

What was operationism and how did it influence the neobehaviorists of the 1920s and 1930s?

Question 5

What are pseudo-problems? Why was the notion of pseudo-problems so appealing to behaviorists?

Question 6

Give an example of an intervening variable. Describe how it can be defined operationally.

Question 7

What did Tolman mean by purposive behaviorism?

Question 8

How did Hull's behaviorism differ from the views of Watson and Tolman?

Question 9

What role did the spirit of mechanism play in Hull's approach to behaviorism?

Question 10

Define Hull's concepts of primary and secondary drives and primary and secondary reinforcement.

Question 11

What is the hypothetico-deductive method? List some criticisms of Hull's system.

Question 12

Describe Skinner's views on theorizing, the mechanistic spirit, intervening variables, and the use of statistics.

Question 13

Distinguish between operant and respondent conditioning. How is operant conditioning used to modify behavior?

Question 14

What is Skinner's law of acquisition? How did it differ from Thorndike's and Hull's positions on learning?

Question 15

What is the difference between fixed-interval and fixed-ratio reinforcement schedules? Give a few examples of each.

Question 16

How would you apply the method of successive approximation to train a dog to walk in a circle?

Question 17

On what grounds has Skinner's system been criticized?

Question 18

How do Bandura's and Rotter's views on cognitive factors differ from Skinner's views?

Question 19

How is modeling used to change behavior? Give an example.

Question 20

How do people high in self-efficacy differ from people low in self-efficacy?

Question 21

Distinguish between self-efficacy and locus of control in terms of their effects on behavior.