PSYB45H3 Chapter 1: Chapter 1.docx
Document Summary
Behaviour; what people do and say; described with action verbs: dimensions; can be measured. Frequency; counting the number of times a behaviour occurs. Duration; time from start to finish of behaviour. Behaviour modification; field of psychology concerned with analyzing and modifying human behaviour. Historical roots of behaviour modification: major figures; Ivan v. pavlov; conducted experiments that uncovered the basic processes of respondent conditioning; demonstrated that a reflex could be conditioned to a neutral stimulus. Law of effect; a behaviour that produces a favourable effect on the environment is more likely to be repeated in the future. B. f. skinner; explained the distinction between respondent conditioning and operant conditioning, in which the consequence of behaviour controls the future occurrence of the behaviour; elaborated principles of operant behaviour: early behaviour modification researchers; 1950s; researchers began demonstrating behavioural principles and evaluating behaviour modification procedures.
