Brief history

9 important questions on Brief history

What do the behaviorists think should be studied?

Behaviorism (John Watson, 1878-1958): The introspective processes cannot be studied (too vague and subjective) and overt behavior (what people do) should be studied instead because:

- the only way to understand animal and human learning and adaptation is to focus solely on their behavior (animals and humans are not that different);
- behavior can be observed by anyone and measured objectively;
- the goal of scientific psychology is to predict and control behavior in a way that benefits society

What is the operational definition, introduced by Behaviorism?

Behaviorism was a part of the logical positivism movement that introduced the operational definition: A description of a/an (abstract) property in terms of a concrete condition that can be measured.

Why are operational definitions not always good definitions? (examples)

Operational definitions are not always good definitions (clear measurable conditions can still be quite useless):

- happiness is the number of smiles during a specific episode
> perfectly fine way of measuring, but does this give an idea of how happy people are?
- age is the response that participants provide on a questionnaire
> perfectly fine as well, but you don't know if people are lying
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How does classical conditioning of Pavlov work?

Ivan Pavlov, (1849-1936): Classical conditioning

- US (or UCS) = unconditioned stimulus that produces an
- UR (or UCR) = unconditioned response
- When the US is repeatedly paired with another stimulus, the other stimulus becomes a CS = conditioned stimulus that produces a
- CR = conditioned response which is the same as the UR but now occurs without the original US

How does operant conditioning of Skinner work?

Skinner (1904-1990): Operant conditioning

- Learning occurs through reinforcement and punishment, that can both be positive (something is added) or negative (something is removed), so you can have a positive reinforcement and a positive punishment, because positive means adding something
- Reinforcement: increase behavior
- Punishment: decrease behavior

Why did Gestalt psychologists reject Wundt's structuralism and behaviorism?

- Wundt’s structuralism (because experience is more than a function of sensation);
- Behaviorism, because complex behavior (“the whole”) is more than the sum of its components.

In what way is the computer used in the cognitive revolution (since 1970's)?

- Since 1970’s: Cognitive revolution (driven by computers)
- Computer is used as a metaphor for human thinking

What is the advantage of the availability of modern imaging techniques for psychology since the 1980's?

- Since 1980’s: Modern imaging techniques available, so we can actually look at the brain now
- Testing neuropsychological patients (single-case and group studies) can help to answer theoretical (general) hypotheses.

What are two examples of modern imaging techniques?

- Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
>  Structural MRI; MRI: looking at the structure of the brain
- Functional MRI (fMRI)
> fMRI: looking at the brain when there is a stimulus (so see what the response is)

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