Behaviorism
Psychological behaviorism studies behavior instead of the mind.
Philosophical behaviorism defines the mind in terms of behavior.
Psychological behaviorism is a methodological thesis about how psychology
should proceed.
• Psychology is a science of behavior: the central task is to explain behavior in
terms of stimulus-response reactions
Classical Conditioning (Pavlow, Watson)
Operant Conditioning (Skinner)
Favor
Behaviorism provides a purely objective method of studying the relation between
stimuli and responses.
With the methods of behaviorism, psychology can (supposedly) be based on
objectively valid scientific knowledge.
Psychology as a discipline no longer needs to rely on infallible introspective
reports.
Problems
We do often postulate non-observable entities in science (e.g., atoms)
The stimulus-response paradigm does not work for complex interactions (e.g.,
complex emotions, long-term planning)
Poverty of the Stimulus (e.g., Chomsky): some abilities of the human mind are
too complex and too diverse to be learned based on external stimuli; we rely on a
certain set of innate knowledge (e.g., about linguistic structure)
Philosophical Behaviorism
“Para-Mechanical Hypothesis”
• The mind is a closed inner realm receiving input from the senses and producing
motoric output
• The difference between intelligent and non-intelligent
behavior is that the former is caused by the mind while the latter is a purely bodily affair
→ This is a ‘Cartesian’ assumption: behavior is caused by the
mind but not part of the mind
→ The mind is like a ‘ghost in a machine’
Ryle: the mind is not a ‘thing’ that causes our behavior, but a concept that refers to a set
of behavioral dispositions. → Shift of question from what the mind is as a
thing in the world to what the concept ‘mind’ refers to
,→ Mental concepts do not refer to processes in an unobservable entity: we thereby
characterize specific tendencies to display specific behavior in specific circumstances.
Favor
Philosophical behaviorism can account for the close (conceptual) relation
between mind and behavior.
Philosophical behaviorism does not simply ignore the mind but it defines
the concept ‘mind’ in terms of behavioral dispositions.
Philosophical behaviorism avoids Cartesian Dualism and the interaction
problem: Mind and behavior are supposed to be conceptually and not
causally connected.
Identity Theory
- Mental states are identical to brain states
- The mind is identical to brain processes that are part of the natural world.
The word ‘type’ means ‘class’ or ‘category’.
The word ‘token’ refers to an individual object in a class or category.
Type Identity Theory: Each distinct type of mental state is identical to a specific
type of physical state in the brain. In other words, every mental state of a certain
kind (e.g., pain) corresponds to a particular type of brain state or process.
→every person who feels pain shares the same kind of neural state (when we feel pain
only particular neurons fire for all)
Token Identity Theory: Every individual mental event or token is identical to a
specific individual physical event or token.
→ a specific instance of feeling pain (a mental token) might be correlated with the firing
of particular neurons (a physical token) without implying that all instances of pain are
associated with the same neural activity. (When I feel pain a neuron B fires, but when
you feel pain a neuron C may fire because the type of pain we feel can differ)
Unlike type identity theory, it allows for multiple physical realizations of the same
mental state type.
Multiple realizability - the idea that a single mental state or function can be
implemented by various physical states or mechanisms. In other words, it suggests that a
, particular mental state or cognitive function can be achieved by different physical
processes or structures.
Problems of Type Identity
**1. Type Identity Problems: **
- Type identity theory suggests that every mental state (like feeling pain) corresponds
to a specific brain state. In other words, if you feel pain, there's one specific way your
brain works to make you feel that pain.
- The problem is that it's too simplistic because different people and animals might
have different brains but still experience the same mental states. So, if two beings have
different types of brains but both feel pain, type identity theory can't easily explain that.
**2. Multiple Realizability: **
- Multiple realizability is the idea that the same mental state (like pain) can be realized
or caused by different physical processes. It's like saying pain isn't tied to just one way
your brain works.
- For example, humans feel pain through their brain's neural activity but imagine an
alien species with completely different brains. They might also feel pain but in a
completely different way, not involving neurons.
- This shows that mental states like pain can be flexible and don't depend on a specific
brain type. This challenges the idea that mental states are strictly tied to one type of
brain state.
**3. Individual Differences: **
- Even among humans, our brains and experiences can vary a lot. So, what causes pain
in one person might differ slightly from what causes pain in another. This means that
there can be variations in the brain processes that lead to the same mental state.
- These differences can make it hard to say a single type of brain state corresponds to a
specific mental state for all humans.
Token Identity Theory:
- Token identity theory is a bit different from type identity theory. It says that each
individual mental event or experience (a "token") is directly identical to a particular
brain event (also a "token").
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