CAS PS 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Limbic System, Prefrontal Cortex, Clanging

• School: Boston University
• Department: Psychological & Brain Sciences
• Course: CAS PS 101
• Professor: Natalie Emmons

Document Summary

In the 1920s, behaviorists watson, pavlov, and skinner believed that psychologists should study observable actions. They dismissed the importance of introspection and mental states in favor of basic learning principles and scientific approaches to psychology. They thought introspection and mental states were non-scientific. Learning: a relatively enduring change in behavior, resulting from experience. Classical (pavlovian) conditioning: learning that two types of events occur together. Operant (instrumental) conditioning: learning that a behavior leads to a particular outcome. Learning that certain types of behaviors will be rewarded or punished. John b. watson argued that only observable behavior was a valid indicator of psychological activity, and that the infant mind was a tabula rasa, or blank slate. He fully believed in the influence of nurture, rather than nature. Behaviorism continues to have a strong influence on the psychology field. Ivan pavlov studied the salivary reflex, an automatic response when food stimulus is presented to a hungry animal.