PSYC1001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: B. F. Skinner, Cognitive Neuroscience, Cognitive Revolution
Lecture 5
Gestalt Psychology (Europe)
• Mark Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka
• Perceiving is not just sensations but a creative process of organising in/by
the brain
• The whole is other than the sum of its parts- Koffka
When sensation becomes a perception, you give meaning to it
Gestalt Laws
• Similarity: things which share visual characteristics will be seen as
belonging together
• Proximity: things which are close together will be seen as belonging
together
• Closure: we tend to see complete figures even when part of the
information is missing
Other Movements
• Behaviourism
• Psychodynamic Theories
Parallel Movements: based on animal research
• Russia: Ivan Pavlov → Classic Conditioning
• USA: B>F Skinner → Operant Conditioning
• Stimulus – Response
• Stimuli you can observe and Responses that you can observe
Intermezzo: What is learning?
• Learning by reinforcement
• Learning by punishment
• Think about: individual differences
• Learning: any process through which experiences at one time can alter an
individuals behaviour at a future time
Russia: Ivan Petrovich (late 19th Century)
• Unconditioned response, producing saliva when presented with food
John Watson (USA)
• The behaviour of a person is the product of all one has learned in the past
Lead to a new movement: Behaviourism
• Animal research because
- Easy access
- Good subjects
- Easy to work with
- Don’t have thought interfering with tasks
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