PY 352 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Operant Conditioning, Urie Bronfenbrenner, Pupa

• School: University of Alabama
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PY 352
• Professor: Carolyn Gibson

Document Summary

Historical foundations: medieval times, childhood is regarded as a separate period of life, reformation, puritans believed that children were born evil and stubborn. What is a theory: an orderly, integrated set of statements that describes, explains and predicts behavior, provides organizing framework, guides and gives meaning to what is observed, testable by research, provide basis for action. Continuity vs. discontinuity: continuity, height growth in a human or a tree, discontinuity, development of a butterfly from caterpillar to chrysalis and then butterfly, balanced view embraces both continuous and discontinuous change. Biological givens: based on genetic inheritance, nurture, physical and social world, influence biological and psychological development. Stability vs. plasticity: stability: usually associated with heredity, lifelong characteristics, early experiences establish patterns, plasticity: responsive to experience. Behaviorism: driven by desires to focus on observable events, classical conditions pavlov, watson, stimulus response, learn by association, operant conditioning skinner, rewards and punishments.