Psychologists
He discovered classical conditioning through experiments with dogs.
Ivan Pavlov
This famous experiment conditioned fear in a young child by using this animal
White Rat
Adding a pleasant stimulus to increase behavior.
Positive Reinforcement
A natural reaction to a stimulus, not learned.
Unconditioned Response
The process of a learned behavior fading when reinforcement stops.
Extinction
Leader of a destructive cult responsible for a mass suicide in hopes to effect political change
Jim Jones
The father of behaviorism who conducted the "Little Albert" experiment.
John Watson
A classic test of conditioned responses, tied to salivation and a bell.
Pavlov's Dog
Removing an unpleasant stimulus to strengthen behavior.
A learned reaction to a previously neutral stimulus.
Conditioned Response
Mental state that occurs when someone repeatedly experiences stressful situations and believes they are unable to control the outcome
Learned Helplessness
Groups that use manipulation and control, often leading to harm.
Destructive Cults
He demonstrated observational learning by showing children mocking adult violence
Albert Bandura
Thorndike used this to show trial-and-error learning in cats trying to escape.
Puzzle Box
Adding something unpleasant to reduce a behavior.
Positive Punishment
The phase where learning occurs as a stimulus-response connection is established in the subject.
Acquisition
When a conditioned response spreads to similar, but technically different, stimuli.
Generalization
Often felt by cult members, this is discomfort felt when actions and beliefs conflict
Cognitive Dissonance
He developed operant conditioning and invented a behavior-testing box.
B. F. Skinner
A chamber used to study behavior with controlled rewards and punishments.
Skinner’s Box
Gradually teaching a behavior by reinforcing a subject towards the goal.
Behavior Shaping
When a conditioned response returns after it was thought to be gone.
Spontaneous Recovery
The psychological approach focusing on observable and learnable behaviors.
Behaviorism
An emotional tactic often used by cults to gain trust and manipulate members.
Love-Bombing / Praise
Psychologist behind the "Law of Effect" and the puzzle box experiments.
Edward Thorndike
Bandura’s study where children imitated aggression they observed.
Bobo Doll
Reinforcing small steps to reach a complex behavior.
Successive Approximation
The ability to distinguish between similar stimuli.
Stimulus Discrimination
Thorndike’s principle that behaviors followed by favorable outcomes are repeated.
Law of Effect
The top of Maslow’s hierarchy, often promised by cults as the ultimate outcome/goal of the group
Self-Actualization