Association reflex
Bechterev's term for what Pavlov called a conditioned reflex.
Bechterev, Vladimir M.
Like Pavlov, looked upon all human behavior as reflexive. However, Bechterev studied skeletal reflexes rather than the glandular reflexes that Pavlov studied
Behavior therapy
The use of learning principles in treating behavioral or emotional problems.
Behaviorism
The school of psychology, founded by Watson, that insisted that behavior be psychology's subject matter and that psychology's goal be the prediction and control of behavior.
Conditioned reflex
A learned reflex.
Conditioned response (CR)
A response elicited by a conditioned stimulus (CS).
Conditioned stimulus (CS)
A previously biologically neutral stimulus that, through experience, comes to elicit a certain response (CR).
Cortical mosaic
According to Pavlov, the pattern of points of excitation and inhibition that characterizes the cortex at any given moment.
Disinhibition
The inhibition of an inhibitory process. Disinhibition is demonstrated when, after extinction, a loud noise causes the conditioned response to reappear.
Excitation
According to Pavlov, brain activity that leads to overt behavior of some type.
Experimental neurosis
The neurotic behavior that Pavlov created in some of his laboratory animals by bringing excitatory and inhibitory tendencies into conflict.
Extinction
The elimination or reduction of a conditioned response (CR) that results when a conditioned stimulus (CS) is presented but is not followed by the unconditioned stimulus (US).
First-signal system
Those objects or events that become signals (CSs) for the occurrence of biologically significant events, such as when a tone signals the eventuality of food.
Hormic psychology
The name given to McDougall's version of psychology because of its emphasis on purposive or goal-directed behavior.
Inhibition
The reduction or cessation of activity caused by stimulation, such as when extinction causes a conditioned stimulus to inhibit a conditioned response. It was Sechenov's discovery of inhibitory mechanisms in the brain that led him to believe that all human
Law of recency
Watson's observation that typically it is the correct response that terminates a learning trial and it is this final or most recent response that will be repeated when the organism is next placed in that learning situation.
McDougall, William
Pursued a type of behaviorism very different from Watson's. McDougall's behaviorism emphasized purposive and instinctive behavior. (See also Hormic psychology.)
Methodological behaviorism
The version of behaviorism that accepts the contention that overt behavior should be psychology's subject matter but is willing to speculate about internal causes of behavior, such as various mental and physiological states.
Pavlov, Ivan Petrovich
Shared Sechenov's goal of creating a totally objective psychology. Pavlov focused his study on the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli that control behavior and on the physiological processes that they initiate. For Pavlov all human behavior is reflexiv
Radical behaviorism
The version of behaviorism that claims only directly observable events, such as stimuli and responses, should constitute the subject matter of psychology. Explanations of behavior in terms of unobserved mental events can be, and should be, avoided.
Radical environmentalism
The belief that most, if not all, human behavior is caused by environmental experience.
Reflexology
The term Bechterev used to describe his approach to studying humans. Because he emphasized the study of the relationship between environmental events and overt behavior, he can be considered one of the earliest behaviorists, if not the earliest.
Sechenov, Ivan M.
The father of Russian objective psychology. Sechenov sought to explain all human behavior in terms of stimuli and physiological mechanisms without recourse to metaphysical speculation of any type.
Second-signal system
The symbols of objects or events that signal the occurrence of biologically significant events. Seeing fire and withdrawing from it would exemplify the first-signal system, but escaping in response to hearing the word fire exemplifies the second-signal sy
Sentiment
According to McDougall, the elicitation of two or more instinctual tendencies by the same object, event, or thought.
Spontaneous recovery
The reappearance of a conditioned response after a delay following extinction.
Tropism
The automatic orienting response that Loeb studied in plants and animals.
Unconditioned reflex
An unlearned reflex.
Unconditioned response (UR)
An innate response elicited by the unconditioned stimulus (US) that is naturally associated with it.
Unconditioned stimulus (US)
A stimulus that elicits an unconditioned response (UR).
Watson, John Broadus
The founder of behaviorism who established psychology's goal as the prediction and control of behavior. In his final position, he denied the existence of mental events and concluded that instincts play no role in human behavior. On the mind-body problem,
Behavior therapy
The use of learning principles to treat emotional or behavioral disorders.
Belief
According to Tolman, an expectation that experience has consistently confirmed.
Cognitive map
According to Tolman, the mental representation of the environment.
Confirmation
According to Tolman, the verification of a hypothesis, expectancy, or belief.
Descriptive behaviorism
Behaviorism that is positivistic in that it describes relationships between environmental events and behavior rather than attempting to explain those relationships. Skinner's approach to psychology exemplified descriptive behaviorism.
Drive reduction
Hull's proposed mechanism of reinforcement. For Hull anything that reduces a drive is reinforcing.
Expectancy
According to Tolman, a hypothesis that has been tentatively confirmed.
Functional analysis
Skinner's approach to research that involves studying the systematic relationship between behavioral and environmental events. Such study focuses on the relationship between reinforcement contingencies and response rate or response probability.
Guthrie, Edwin Ray
Accepted the law of contiguity but not the law of frequency. For him, learning occurs at full strength after just one association between a pattern of stimuli and a response. (See also Law of contiguity.)
Habit strength (SHR)
For Hull, the strength of an association between a stimulus and response. This strength depends on the number of reinforced pairings between the two.
Hull, Clark Leonard
Formulated a complex hypothetico-deductive theory in an attempt to explain all learning phenomena.
Hypothesis
According to Tolman, an expectancy that occurs during the early stages of learning.
Hypothetico-deductive theory
A set of postulates from which empirical relationships are deduced (predicted). If the empirical relationships are as predicted, the theory gains strength; if not, the theory loses strength and must be revised or abandoned.
Instrumental conditioning
The type of conditioning studied by Thorndike, wherein an organism learns to make a response that is instrumental in producing reinforcement.
Intervening variables
Events believed to occur between environmental and behavioral events. Although intervening variables cannot be observed directly, they are thought to be causally related to behavior. Hull's habit strength and Tolman's cognitive map are examples of interve
Latent extinction
The finding that animals who passively experience a goal box no longer containing reinforcement extinguish a previously learned response to that goal box significantly faster than animals without such experience.
Latent learning
According to Tolman, learning that has occurred but is not translated into behavior.
Law of contiguity
Guthrie's one law of learning, which states that when a pattern of stimuli is experienced along with a response, the two become associated. In 1959 Guthrie revised the law of contiguity to read, What is being noticed becomes a signal for what is being don
Logical positivism
The philosophy of science according to which theoretical concepts are admissible if they are tied to the observable world through operational definitions.
Maintaining stimuli
According to Guthrie, the internal or external stimuli that keep an organism active until a goal is reached.
Molar behavior
(See Purposive behavior.)
Molecular behavior
A small segment of behavior such as a reflex or a habit that is isolated for study.
Neobehaviorism
Agreed with older forms of behaviorism that overt behavior should be psychology's subject matter but disagreed that theoretical speculation concerning abstract entities must be avoided. Such speculation was accepted provided that the theoretical terms emp
Observational terms
According to logical positivism, terms that refer to empirical events.
One-trial learning
Guthrie's contention that the association between a pattern of stimuli and a response develops at full strength after just one pairing of the two.
Operant behavior
Behavior that is emitted by an organism rather than elicited by a known stimulus.
Operational definition
A definition that relates an abstract concept to the procedures used to measure it.
Operationism
The belief that all abstract scientific concepts should be operationally defined.
Performance
The translation of learning into behavior.
Physicalism
A belief growing out of logical positivism that all sciences should share common assumptions, principles, and methodologies and should model themselves after physics.
Positivism
The belief that science should study only those objects or events that can be experienced directly. That is, all speculation about abstract entities should be avoided.
Purposive behavior
Behavior that is directed toward some goal and that terminates when the goal is attained.
Purposive behaviorism
The type of behaviorism Tolman pursued, which emphasizes molar rather than molecular behavior.
Reaction potential (SER)
For Hull, the probability of a learned response being elicited in a given situation. This probability is a function of the amount of drive and habit strength present.
Reinforcement
For Hull, drive reduction; for Skinner, anything that increases the rate or the probability of a response; for Tolman, the confirmation of a hypothesis, expectation, or belief; for Guthrie, a mechanical arrangement that prevents unlearning.
Respondent behavior
Behavior that is elicited by a known stimulus.
Skinner, Burrhus Frederic
A behaviorist who believed that psychology should study the functional relationship between environmental events, such as reinforcement contingencies, and behavior. Skinner's work exemplified positivism. (See also Positivism.)
SR psychology
The type of psychology insisting that environmental stimuli elicit most, if not all, behavior. The Russian physiologists and Watson were SR psychologists.
Theoretical terms
According to logical positivism, those terms that are employed to explain empirical observations.
Token economies
An arrangement within institutions whereby desirable behavior is strengthened using valuable tokens as reinforcers.
Tolman, Edward Chace
Created a brand of behaviorism that used mental constructs and emphasized purposive behavior. Although Tolman employed many intervening variables, his most important was the cognitive map.
Vicarious trial and error
According to Tolman, the apparent pondering of behavioral choices in a learning situation.