Washburn and Thorndike: History of Psychology (E3)

What is Margaret Floy Washburn's famous publication? What information did it contain?

"The animal mind" - was a synthesis of other's work

Who was Clever Hans? What was he doing?

-A horse that could count -Actually, he was detecting cues from humans, both his trainer and strangers

What are some of Thorndike's professional honors?

-APA president -Elected to the National Academy of Sciences

What was Margaret Floy Washburn's family like?

-Advantaged -Mom inherited wealth -Dad had college degree and was clergy member -Washburn was only child -Free to move to whatever parish Dad was appointed to, or to wherever she was being educated since a single woman couldn't live alone

What are examples of animals who seem to have some higher level thought processes?

-Chicks and lemurs: understand many and few -Chaser the dog: responds to many words, can use inference to find new toy -Crows can problem solve: drop stones in water to raise level and get food -Cockatoos: can use tools and teach others

What are examples of how there was room for animal psychology within functionalists' ideas?

-Darwin: emphasizes that all organism are variations on a similar theme / animals are more like man in emotional expression than we think -Romanes: gets anecdotes about animals from trained observers and uses introspection by analogy -Morgan: law of parsimony - use simplest cognitive processes to explain behavior of animals -James: animals can choose so they have mind

What were Margaret Floy Washburn's professional accomplishments?

-Elected the 2nd woman president of APA -Elected to Experimentalists after the death of Titchener -- Later served as its chair -2nd woman elected to national academy of sciences

What was Margaret Floy Washburn's education like?

-Got B.S. from Vassar -Hearer at Columbia: Cattell wanted her to be a student, but he couldn't make it happen -Cattell recommended she go to Cornell -Went to Cornell as Titchener's first PhD student -1st woman to earn PhD in psychology

How does Thorndike use the law of parsimony?

-He says animals don't have ideas about situations, they just respond to the situation as they sense it -Humans think about response and relationship to consequence and the situation and all the interconnectedness --- Animals don't think that way

What did Margaret Floy Washburn's work lay the foundation for? Why was this ironic?

-Her work on animal mind suggested the study of animal behavior, which helped lay the foundation for behaviorism -This is funny because she herself wasn't a fan of behaviorism

What were criticisms of Romanes' work?

-His anecdotes about animals came from untrained observers -In introspection by analogy, he imagined that animals had these elaborate ideas

How can we see the law of effect in Thorndike's puzzle boxes? In grizzly bears fishing?

-Puzzle box: Animal will do things randomly at first and get out on accident while a practiced animal will push the lever immediately -Fishing: young bears try random methods and continue to use the ones that pay off

How did gender differences play a role in Margaret Floy Washburn's life?

-She proceeded as if gender boundaries made no difference, which worked to some degree because she was successful and respected by male and female peers -But meritocracy for women is still somewhat of a myth: had everything been equal, she would have had a position at a research institution and other things

What was Thorndike's theoretical standpoint with which he approached psychology?

-Similar to British empiricists: thinks in terms of elements and how they come together via a mechanical process of repetition, and not an active mind -Proponent of objective data (behavior, not introspection)

What is the relationship between animal learning and human learning according to Thorndike?

-The fundamentals of animal and human learning are the same -These foundations are build upon to understand complex human learning

Who is the law of effect associated with? What is it?

-Thorndike -Act which leads to satisfaction is associated with that specific situation. When the situation recurs, the act is more likely to recur -Act which leads to discomfort is dissociated from that specific situation. When the situation recurs, the act is less likely to recur

Who is the law of partial activity associated with? What is it? What is an example?

-Thorndike -An element of a situation may be prepotent in causing a response and may have responses bound more or less exclusively to it regardless of some or all of its accompaniments -Example: if a cat got out of a puzzle box by pulling a string, it will start off in a new puzzle box by pulling the string

Who is the law of exercise associated with? What is it?

-Thorndike -Exercise (repetition) strengths and disuse weakens bonds between stimulus and response and between response and consequence

Who is the law of readiness associated with? What is it?

-Thorndike -For a conduction unit ready to conduct, to do so is satisfying and not to do so is annoying -For a conduction unit not ready to conduct, to be forced to do so is annoying

Who is the law of associative shifting associated with? What is it? What is an example?

-Thorndike -Response of which a learner is capable can be associated with any situation to which the learner is sensitive -Example: Cat sniffs hand because there is a treat in it ---- Response associated with natural attraction to food smell but also with sight that there is usually a treat in your hand --- cat is sensitive to what it both sees and smells

Who is the law of assimilation or analogy associated with? What is it? What is an example?

-Thorndike -Situations with no acquired response of their own will have a response made that which by acquired nature is connected with some situation which it resembles -Example: puzzle box is like cat being in a bramble patch. So behavior that would be used in a bramble patch will also be used in a puzzle box

Who is the law of set or disposition associated with? What is it? What is an example?

-Thorndike -The process of learning is conditioned by the mind's 'set' at the time -Example: volunteers read sentences out loud 10 times. Were given one word and had to provide the word that comes next -21.5% recall when words were in same sentence -2.8% recall when words were in difference sentences -Because our mind's 'set' is that each sentence is a distinct unit

Who is the law of multiple response associated with? What is it?

-Thorndike -When one response fails to produce a satisfying state of affairs, it will trigger a new response -Like trial and error

What are examples of how there was room for animal psychology within structuralists' ideas?

-Titchener: if an organism has a nervous system (animals do) then it has the capacity for mind

What is Loeb's thought about animal behavior?

-Tropisms: forced movement -Maybe animal behavior is forced and isn't because of complex mental processes -Like plants are forced to grow towards the sun

How are the Law of Effect and Natural Selection similar?

-Variations in species that aren't adaptive get selected out -Similarly, variations in behaviors that don't produce satisfaction get selected out

Where did Margaret Floy Washburn spend most of her career? What did the dean there say about her? What was her work like?

-Vassar -Dean said there are analytics (reflective, studious) and creatives (independent, dangerous) / Washburn is named as a creative -Does work with 177 student coauthors -Few studies involve animals

What is anthropomorphism?

Animals are like humans -This is the foundation for introspection by analogy

What is mechanicotheriomorphism?

Animals are like machines, humans are like animals, therefore humans are like machines

Who was Darwin's successor? And who was his successor's successor?

Darwin --> Romanes --> Morgan

How does the law of exercise relate to Ebbinghaus?

Ebbinghaus counted number of repetitions needed to form an association -Law of exercise says more repetitions will help form that association between stimulus and response

How does the law of exercise relate to the British empiricists?

Empiricists say that knowledge is associated by the environment because it is presented over and over again -Just like how using certain bonds over and over again strengths the connections

Why might we consider Thorndike a transitional figure?

He helped transition from mentalism to behaviorism -He wasn't a behaviorist himself, but he argued for an emphasis on behavior

What was notable about Thorndike's education?

He was the first entirely US trained prominent psychologist. -BS and MS at Harvard -PhD at Columbia with Cattell

What is theriomorphism?

Humans are like animals

What is mechanicomorphism?

Living things are like machines --- Comes from Descartes

What was Thorndike the author of?

Materials for elementary school students and textbooks

Why were women in academics paid half of what men were?

Men were supposed to be supporting a family - it was assumed that women in academics didn't have families

What are behaviorists interested in behavior for?

Not as an evidence of mind, but they look at behavior for its own sake

What mental capacities did "The Animal Mind" look at?

Sensory discrimination, spatial perception, learning, ideas and problem solving

How did Margaret Floy Washburn feel about introspection by analogy?

She advocated for it

What do Binet and Francis Darwin say about animal mind?

Something as small as an amoeba can even have a mind

Who were the subjects of Thorndike's research?

Started with animal research Then looked at how kids learn, especially in classrooms