PSYCH 2GG3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1.5: Sociobiology
Chapter 1.5 – learning theory
humans as subjects:
- human subjects are seldom subjected to pain and suffering but there are some
experiments that are psychologically stressful
- APA developed a set of guidelines governing the conduct of research with human
subjects
Learning theory
- Psychology of learning is based on observations of behavior / behavior changes
- ‘learning theory’ / ‘behavior theory’ =
o synonymous
o they results from psychologist’s attempts to organize the observations /
hypotheses / etc that have been made about human behavior
structuralism and functionalism:
- structuralism = the approach that directs its efforts toward breaking down mental
processes into their most basic components
o goal = to understand the elements (structures) of consciousness
o relied heavily on introspection (examining one’s own feelings / motives and
generalizing from these)
- functionalism: the approach that tries to understand mental processes by looking at the
purposes that drive behavior
o (the functions of behavior)
o a reaction to structuralism
o believe that the mind could not be explained by looking at its elements but instead
focusing on the reasons / purposes for our behavior
classifications of learning theories:
behaviorism:
o concentrates on the more objective aspects of behavior
o stimuli (conditions that lead to behavior) and responses (actual behavior)
behaviorists argue, are the only directly observable aspects of behavior
o reinforcement / punishment
transition:
o the beginnnings of modern cognitivism
o evolutionary psychology
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