Exam 11: Behaviorism 1892-1956

Skinner is different from almost every psychological thinker with the exception of Watson in that Skinner argues that people deserve neither praise nor blame for anything they do. Explain Skinner's reasoning and summarize his radical behaviorism. Why is it wrong to call Skinner an S-R psychologist?

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Question 1

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Skinner's reasoning for arguing that people deserve neither praise nor blame for anything they do stems from his radical behaviorism. Skinner believed that human behavior is determined by environmental factors and that individuals do not have free will or personal agency. He argued that people's actions are shaped by their past experiences and the consequences of their behavior, rather than by internal mental states or intentions. Therefore, according to Skinner, it is not fair to praise or blame individuals for their actions because they are simply responding to their environment.

Skinner's radical behaviorism is a branch of behaviorism that emphasizes the role of environmental reinforcement in shaping behavior. He rejected the idea of internal mental states and focused on observable behavior and its relationship to environmental stimuli. Skinner's approach to psychology was based on the principles of operant conditioning, which involves the use of reinforcement and punishment to modify behavior.

It is wrong to call Skinner an S-R psychologist because his approach goes beyond the simple stimulus-response (S-R) model. While Skinner did acknowledge the importance of stimuli in shaping behavior, he also emphasized the role of reinforcement and the consequences of behavior. Skinner's radical behaviorism takes into account the complex interactions between individuals and their environment, and it goes beyond the simplistic S-R framework. Therefore, labeling Skinner as an S-R psychologist would be an oversimplification of his comprehensive approach to behaviorism.

Imagine an experiment by Tolman in which he measures how fast Norwegian rats run down a runway for different sizes of food pellets. Using Tolman's ideas, match the description of the dependent variable to one of the terms listed below from the experiment:

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Question 2

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Skinner regarded organisms as:

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Question 3

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In general, Wittgenstein argues that psychology should:

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Question 4

According to Tolman's earliest formulation of the problem of mind, mental entities such as purposes and cognitions:

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Question 5

Hull gave as his main reason for excluding consciousness from psychology the argument that it:

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Question 6

Karl Lashley suggested that the choice psychology faced between behaviorism and the older traditional psychology came down to a choice between two incompatible world views, these world views were?

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Question 7

Imagine a subject who has learned to withdraw her finger by moving it up and away from a shock pad when a warning signal precedes the shock. Now turn the subject's hand over so the same reflex might drive her finger into the shock pad. Watson predicts while Tolman predicts .

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Question 8

According to Watson, the brain:

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Question 9

A follower of Wittgenstein might say that a person who finds modern art incomprehensible:

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Question 10

Summarize the basic ideas of logical positivism and discuss why psychology in the 1930's embraced Operationism.

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Question 11

According to logical positivism, when we link a theoretical term to observations, we are:

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Question 12

The neo-Hullian informal behaviorists tried to explain thought processes in terms of:

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Question 13

Which of the following "Golden Age" theorists regarded animals as stimulus-response machines?

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Question 14

One reason given by Wittgenstein for concluding that sensations such as pains are not mental objects is that:

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Question 15

In the 1920s and 1930s, the philosophical system of ________ reinforced American psychologists' belief that psychology needed to be defined as the science of behavior.

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Question 16

Watson thought that traditional psychology's interest in consciousness reflected:

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Question 17

When Watson argued that psychologists should ignore consciousness because it was private, and science dealt only with public data, he laid the ground for:

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Question 18

According to Wittgenstein, a mental concept such as memory is best thought of as a(n):

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Question 19

When a rat learns a maze, E. C. Tolman said it acquires:

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Question 20

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Skinner is different from almost every psychological thinker with the exception of Watson in that Skinner argues that people deserve neither praise nor blame for anything they do. Explain Skinner's reasoning and summarize his radical behaviorism. Why is it wrong to call Skinner an S-R psychologist?

Imagine an experiment by Tolman in which he measures how fast Norwegian rats run down a runway for different sizes of food pellets. Using Tolman's ideas, match the description of the dependent variable to one of the terms listed below from the experiment:

Skinner regarded organisms as:

In general, Wittgenstein argues that psychology should:

According to Tolman's earliest formulation of the problem of mind, mental entities such as purposes and cognitions:

Hull gave as his main reason for excluding consciousness from psychology the argument that it:

Karl Lashley suggested that the choice psychology faced between behaviorism and the older traditional psychology came down to a choice between two incompatible world views, these world views were?

Imagine a subject who has learned to withdraw her finger by moving it up and away from a shock pad when a warning signal precedes the shock. Now turn the subject's hand over so the same reflex might drive her finger into the shock pad. Watson predicts while Tolman predicts .

According to Watson, the brain:

A follower of Wittgenstein might say that a person who finds modern art incomprehensible:

Summarize the basic ideas of logical positivism and discuss why psychology in the 1930's embraced Operationism.

According to logical positivism, when we link a theoretical term to observations, we are:

The neo-Hullian informal behaviorists tried to explain thought processes in terms of:

Which of the following "Golden Age" theorists regarded animals as stimulus-response machines?

One reason given by Wittgenstein for concluding that sensations such as pains are not mental objects is that:

In the 1920s and 1930s, the philosophical system of ________ reinforced American psychologists' belief that psychology needed to be defined as the science of behavior.

Watson thought that traditional psychology's interest in consciousness reflected:

When Watson argued that psychologists should ignore consciousness because it was private, and science dealt only with public data, he laid the ground for:

According to Wittgenstein, a mental concept such as memory is best thought of as a(n):

When a rat learns a maze, E. C. Tolman said it acquires:

Introduction

The Legacy of Ancient Greece Eea-323 Bce

Antiquity 323 Bce-1000 Ce

The End of the Premodern World 1000-1600 Ce

The Scientific Revolution

The Enlightenment 1700-1815

The Ascent of Science 1815-1914

The Psychology of Consciousness

The Psychology of the Unconscious

The Psychology of Adaptation

Cognitive Science 1956-2016

The Rise of Applied Psychology 1892-1939

The Psychological Society 1940-2016

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Exam 11: Behaviorism 1892-1956

Skinner is different from almost every psychological thinker with the exception of Watson in that Skinner argues that people deserve neither praise nor blame for anything they do. Explain Skinner's reasoning and summarize his radical behaviorism. Why is it wrong to call Skinner an S-R psychologist?

Imagine an experiment by Tolman in which he measures how fast Norwegian rats run down a runway for different sizes of food pellets. Using Tolman's ideas, match the description of the dependent variable to one of the terms listed below from the experiment:

Skinner regarded organisms as:

In general, Wittgenstein argues that psychology should:

According to Tolman's earliest formulation of the problem of mind, mental entities such as purposes and cognitions:

Hull gave as his main reason for excluding consciousness from psychology the argument that it:

Karl Lashley suggested that the choice psychology faced between behaviorism and the older traditional psychology came down to a choice between two incompatible world views, these world views were?

Imagine a subject who has learned to withdraw her finger by moving it up and away from a shock pad when a warning signal precedes the shock. Now turn the subject's hand over so the same reflex might drive her finger into the shock pad. Watson predicts __________ while Tolman predicts __________.

According to Watson, the brain:

A follower of Wittgenstein might say that a person who finds modern art incomprehensible:

Summarize the basic ideas of logical positivism and discuss why psychology in the 1930's embraced Operationism.

According to logical positivism, when we link a theoretical term to observations, we are:

The neo-Hullian informal behaviorists tried to explain thought processes in terms of:

Which of the following "Golden Age" theorists regarded animals as stimulus-response machines?

One reason given by Wittgenstein for concluding that sensations such as pains are not mental objects is that:

In the 1920s and 1930s, the philosophical system of ________ reinforced American psychologists' belief that psychology needed to be defined as the science of behavior.

Watson thought that traditional psychology's interest in consciousness reflected:

When Watson argued that psychologists should ignore consciousness because it was private, and science dealt only with public data, he laid the ground for:

According to Wittgenstein, a mental concept such as memory is best thought of as a(n):

When a rat learns a maze, E. C. Tolman said it acquires:

Introduction

The Legacy of Ancient Greece Eea-323 Bce

Antiquity 323 Bce-1000 Ce

The End of the Premodern World 1000-1600 Ce

The Scientific Revolution

The Enlightenment 1700-1815

The Ascent of Science 1815-1914

The Psychology of Consciousness

The Psychology of the Unconscious

The Psychology of Adaptation

Cognitive Science 1956-2016

The Rise of Applied Psychology 1892-1939

The Psychological Society 1940-2016

Filters

Imagine a subject who has learned to withdraw her finger by moving it up and away from a shock pad when a warning signal precedes the shock. Now turn the subject's hand over so the same reflex might drive her finger into the shock pad. Watson predicts while Tolman predicts .