Brief history
9 important questions on Brief history
What do the behaviorists think should be studied?
- 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?
Why are operational definitions not always good definitions? (examples)
- 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
- Higher grades + faster learning
- Never study anything twice
- 100% sure, 100% understanding
How does classical conditioning of Pavlov work?
- 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?
- 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?
- 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)?
- 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?
- Testing neuropsychological patients (single-case and group studies) can help to answer theoretical (general) hypotheses.
What are two examples of modern imaging techniques?
> 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)
The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:
- A unique study and practice tool
- Never study anything twice again
- Get the grades you hope for
- 100% sure, 100% understanding