Chapter 1 and 2 Behavior/learning

what can you use to explain if pigeon not getting enough food

wild pigeon placed on free food for 42 day increased thus weight of pigeon at 80% free feeding weight may be quite close to what it would be if it were foraging food

The behaviorist movement began when and by who?

1913 John B. Watson

Basic assumptions

-All behavior is learned from the environment - should be seen as a science -primarily concerned with observable behavior, as opposed to internal events like thinking and emotion -the result of stimulus-response -Little difference between the learning that takes place in humans and that in other animals

four advantage to using animals

-ability to control their genetic makeup - control their learning history - easier to control animal experimental environment vs. human -some research can't ethically be conducted w/ humans

methodological behaviorism

A philosophical position that views behavioral events that cannot be publicly observed as outside the realm of science.

Radical Behaviorism

B.F. Skinner's philosophy of the science of human behavior. Most influential type of behaviorism for guiding the science and practice of behavior analysis. recognized the role of internal mental events, and while he agreed such private events could not be used to explain behavior, he proposed they should be explained in the analysis of behavior.

Nativists

Nature/person's abilities= largely inborn

Why is psychology considered a science?

Theories need to be supported by empirical data obtained through careful and controlled observation and measurement of behavior (theoretical goal: prediction/control -watson)

distinction between methodological and radical behaviorism

method. didn't study internal/ignore it all Vs. Radical studied it but didn't believe it explain behaviorism methodological behaviorism asserts the mind is tabula rasa (a blank slate) at birth. radical behaviorism accepts the view that organisms are born with innate behaviors, and thus recognizes the role of genes and biological components in behavior.

Empiricists

person's abilities and tendencies are mostly learned

Behaviorism

the view that psychology should be an objective science that studies behavior without reference to mental processes states all behaviors are learned through interaction with the environment.