Unit 1 – A science of behavior: Pierce and Epling, Chapter 1



Unit 1 – A science of behavior

Page and paragraph designations: At the end of each study question, I have indicated in parentheses the page number and the paragraph number of the text where the answer can be found. For example, (2, 1) at the end of a question would mean that the text that includes the answer for that question can be found on page 2 in the first paragraph of the text counting down from the top. Sometimes the paragraph starts in one page and carries over to another page, I will denote that paragraph with a “0”. Thus, (5, 0) means that the answer can be found on page 5 at the top of the page. Citations will also be counted as a paragraph.

From Pierce and Cheney

1. What is learning? What is an important aspect of human learning? (1,1)

2. What kinds of causes have human behavior been attributed to? (1,3) What is the trouble with most of these accounts? (2,1)

3. According to a behavior theory, what would the causes of behavior be? (2,2)

4. What is Experimental Analysis of Behavior (EAB) and what is it concerned with? (2,2). Be able to understand the example given in the text and identify the dependent and independent variables. What else does EAB involve? (2,3)

5. What is behavior analysis and what are its primary objectives? (3,2)

6. What is the difference between Experimental Analysis of Behavior and Applied Behavior Analysis (3,2; 10,2 and lecture)

7. Define reflex and explain why this behavior had survival value. (3,5)

8. When does Respondent Conditioning occur? Be able to describe the example (3,6)

9. What does Operant Conditioning involve? Be able to describe the example. You should identify the behavior, the consequences and the outcome of the procedure. (4,2).

10. What is the role of natural selection in the evolution of conditioning (respondent and operant)? (5,1 and lecture). Read the section on Charles Darwin in Jack Michael’s book (p.98)

11. Is Skinner’s causation model a mechanistic one? Why not? (5, 2-5 and lecture)

12. What were Pavlov’s main contributions? (12, 2 and 13,2)

13. What was Watson’s main argument? What did not have a place in a scientific analysis of behavior? (13,4). Read the section on Watson in Jack Michael’s book (p. 100).

14. What was the title and date of Watson’s most influential work? (14, 2)

15. What was Thorndike’s main discovery and how do we call it today? (16,2-3). Read the section on Thorndike in Jack Michael’s book (99)

16. Skinner was the founder of what is now called the field of behavior analysis. He called his philosophy of science “radical behaviorism”. He used the term behaviorism because he argued that Psychology should be the study of behavior and its relationship with the environment. This approach diverges from that of psychologists who think the proper subject matter of Psychology is the mind. Make sure you understand Skinner’s philosophical perspective as described in 17,1-2

17. Behavior analysts agree that people feel and think, however they do not consider…(20, 1).

From Jack Michael

18. How did Bacon influence Skinner (96-97)

19. Learn the purpose and history of both JEAB and JABA (102, 103).

20. Why was the Association for Behavior started? What is its purpose? (103, 4)

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