Psych 397 Chapter 14

Front 1

Anthroponomy

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Because of the mentalistic implications of the term psychology, Walter Samuel Hunter suggested the term anthroponomy, meaning the science of human behaviour.

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Percy W. Bridgman (1882-1961)

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US physicist and mathematician known for his classic book The Logic of Modern Physics and for his emphasis on operationism, or the attempt to tie scientific terms to precise measurements.

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Cognitive Maps

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A term employed by Edward Chace Tolman referring to "mental representations" of the environment that make it possible for an animal to grasp relationships and locations.

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Contiguity

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Refers to close temporal or spatial conjunction.

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Drive

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A term employed in different ways in different systems of psychology but generally referring to "inner stimulation" that results in action.

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Equipotentiality

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A term employed by Karl Lashley referring to the capacity of one part of the cortex to take over the function of another part.

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Extinction

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A term employed in different ways in the various learning theories but generally referring to the cessation of a response following changes in the circumstances that first supported the response.

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Fatigue

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In Hull's system, fatigue refers to theoretical position that each response generates some inhibition to its own re-occurrence.

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Edwin Ray Guthrie (1886-1959)

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Well-known US behaviourist and learning theorist remembered for a theory of learning based primarily on the law of contiguity. Guthrie served as the 53rd president of the American Psychological Association in 1945.

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Habit Strength

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A term employed by the learning theorist Clark Hull referring to number of reinforced trials in a situation that have contributed to strength of a connection between a stimulus and a response.

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Edwin Bissell Holt (1873-1946)

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Behaviouristically oriented psychologist who argued that psychologists should study what organisms do in their environments, but that behaviour should be regarded as purposive and goal directed.

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Hormic

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A term employed by McDougall from the Greek horme meaning urge. A hormic psychology emphasizes the role of purpose in living systems.

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Clark Leonard Hull (1884-1952)

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One of the most famous neobehaviourists, known for a mathematical-deductive approach to animal and human behaviour. Hull, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, served as the 44th president of the American Psychological Association in 1935.

Front 14

Walter Samuel Hunter (1889-1954)

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Behaviouristically oriented psychology who argued for a variety of methods, including field, clinical and laboratory experimental methods. A member of the National Academy of Sciences, Hunter served as the 39th president of the American Psychological Association in 1931.

Front 15

Incentive

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Generally refers to the attractive characteristics of reinforcement. For example, for a given subject, a piece of chocolate candy may have higher incentive value than a dime.

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Insight

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Mental apprehension of relationships so that a problem is solved in an intelligent rather than a blind trial-and-error fashion.

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Intervening Variable

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An unobserved process that accounts for the connections between stimulus events and responses. For example, response rate may slow down under conditions of high effort. According to Clark Hull, response rate is slowed down because of reactive inhibition (I sub R), a fatigue-like state. Fatigue in this case might be regarded as an intervening variable.

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Karl Spencer Lashley (1890-1958)

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Well-known and highly regarded biologist who collaborated with John B. Watson and who is remembered for classic studies on cerebral correlates of learning.

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Latent Learning

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A term employed by Edward Chace Tolman referring to learning that has occurred but is not observed because environmental conditions have not been favourable to its display. When environmental conditions change appropriately, such learning, heretofore un-observable, may now show itself.

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Logical Positivism

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Sometimes called critical empiricism or scientific empiricism, this school of thought contends that scientific concepts must be explicitly and operationally tied to observable events. Publicly confirmable propositions were to replace "inner experience" in all phases of scientific activity.

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Mass Action

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A concept growing out of the work of Karl Lashley referring to the idea that the rate, efficiency, and accuracy of learning depend on the amount of cortex available, and that parts of the brain are interdependent and function as a whole.

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William McDougall (1871-1938)

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Pioneer psychologist with a very broad-ranging interests in social psychology, abnormal psychology and the philosophical problems of psychology. McDougall emphasized the study of purposive behaviour and the role of instincts in human life.

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Molar Behaviour

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An expression employed by Tolman to designate the special domain of his psychology. Molar behaviour is the behaviour of the intact organism engaging in typical day-to-day activities. Molar behaviour contrasts with molecular or isolated small units of behaviour.

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Operant Conditioning

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The term operant refers to behaviour that is emitted. According to Skinner, operant conditioning occurs if reinforcement follows with a response that is emitted in a specific situation.

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Operationism

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A programmatic attempt to tie scientific terms to measurements or operations employed in experiments. Thus, abstract terms such as anxiety or intelligence are defined in terms of the measures or operations employed in research studies.

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Purposive Behaviourism

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An orientation advanced by Tolman in which behaviour is regarded as the proper subject matter of psychology, but behaviour is construed as goal-directed.

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Reinforcement

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A term highly subject to theoretical interpretation but generally referring to those objects or events that result, for whatever reason, in an increased probability of responding.

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Respondent Conditioning

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Pavlovian conditioning that investigates correlations between unconditioned and conditioned stimuli.

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Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1904-1990)

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One of the foremost behaviourist of the 20th century, who argued that scientific psychology must concern itself with the analysis of behaviour rather than the study of the mind.

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Stimulus Intensity Dynamism

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A term employed by Clark Hull referring to the capacity of a stimulus to energize or direct behaviour.

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Edward Chace Tolman (1886-1959)

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One of the leading behaviourists of the 20th century, remembered for his attempts to combine features of behaviourism, Gestalt psychology, and McDougall's psychology. Tolman emphasized the purposive nature of behaviour. He is properly regarded as one of the precursors of late 20th century cognitive psychology.