托福听力TPO02精听讲义 | 讲座1: Behaviorism

Part I

Professor: Now, many people consider John Watson to be the founder of behaviorism. And like other behaviorists, he believed that psychologists should study only the behaviors they can observe and measure. They’re not interested in mental processes. While a person could describe his thoughts, no one else can see or hear them to verify the accuracy of his report. But one thing you can observe is muscular habits. What Watson did was to observe muscular habits because he viewed them as a manifestation of thinking. One kind of habit that he studied are laryngeal habits. 

虽然一个人可以描述他的想法，但没有任何其他人可以看到或听到他的这些想法来验证他描述准确性。

1. verify |ˈverɪfaɪ|

verb. to check that sth is true or accurate 核实；查对；核准   

E.g.: Please verify that there is sufficient memory available before loading the program.

请在核实有足够的内存后再安装程序。

2. manifestation|ˌmænɪfeˈsteɪʃn|

noun. an event, action or thing that is a sign that sth exists or is happening; the act of appearing as a sign that sth exists or is happening 显示；表明；表示

E.g.: The riots are a clear manifestation of the people's discontent.

骚乱清楚地表明了人们的不满情绪。

Part II

Watson thought laryngeal habits... you know, from larynx, in other words, related to the voice box... He thought those habits were an expression of thinking. He argued that for very young children, thinking is really talking out loud to oneself because they talk out loud even if they’re not trying to communicate with someone in particular. As the individual matures, that overt talking to oneself becomes covert talking to oneself, but thinking still shows up as a laryngeal habit.

One of the bits of evidence that supports this is that when people are trying to solve a problem, they, um, typically have increased muscular activity in the throat region. That is, if you put electrodes on the throat and measure muscle potential—muscle activity—you discover that when people are thinking, like if they’re diligently trying to solve a problem, that there is muscular activity in the throat region.

So, Watson made the argument that problem solving, or thinking, can be defined as a set of behaviors—a set of responses—and in this case the response he observed was the throat activity. That’s what he means when he calls it a laryngeal habit. 

他认为对于非常年幼的孩子来说，思考实际上就是在跟自己大声对话，因为即便他们没有在试图跟什么人交流，他们也会把话大声说出来。

因此，沃森认为解决问题或思考可以定义成一组行为——一组反应——在这种情况下，他观察到的反应是喉部活动。

1. larynx |ˈlærɪŋks|

noun. the area at the top of the throat that contains the vocal cords 喉

2. overt|ˈəʊvɜ:t|

adj. (formal) done in an open way and not secretly 公开的；明显的；不隐瞒的

E.g.: There was little overt support for the project.

对这个项目公开表示支持的很少。

3. covert |ˈkəʊvɜ:t|

adj. (formal) secret or hidden, making it difficult to notice 秘密的；隐蔽的；暗中的   

E.g.: He stole a covert glance at her across the table.

       他隔着桌子偷偷地瞥了她一眼。

4. show up

to become visible; to make sth become visible （使）看得见，变得明显，显现出来    

E.g.: The harsh light showed up the lines on her face.

       在耀眼的光线下，她脸上的皱纹清晰可见。

5. potential|pəˈtenʃl|

noun. the possibility of sth happening or being developed or used 可能性；潜在性  

E.g.: The European marketplace offers excellent potential for increasing sales.

欧洲市场带来了扩销的大好机遇。

6. diligent |ˈdɪlɪdʒənt|

adj. (formal) showing care and effort in your work or duties 孜孜不倦的；勤勉的；刻苦的

E.g.: He was careful and diligent. I was all over the place.

       他细心且勤奋，我则稀里糊涂。

Part III

Now, as I am thinking about what I am going to be saying, my muscles in my throat are responding. So, thinking can be measured as muscle activity. Now, the motor theory... yes

Student: Professor Blake, um, did he happen to look at people who sign? I mean deaf people?

Professor: Uh, he did indeed, um, and to jump ahead, what one finds in deaf individuals who use sign language when they’re given problems of various kinds, they have muscular changes in their hands when they are trying to solve a problem... muscle changes in the hand, just like the muscular changes going on in the throat region for speaking individuals. So, for Watson, thinking is identical with the activity of muscles. A related concept of thinking was developed by William James. It’s called ideomotor action. 

人们在使用手语的听障人士身上发现，当他们遇到各种问题并试图解决问题的时候，他们的手部会发生肌肉变化，他们手部的肌肉变化就像会说话的人的喉部肌肉会发生变化一样。

1. happen|ˈhæpən|

verb. to do or be sth by chance 碰巧；恰好  

E.g.: She happened to be out when we called.

我们打电话时她刚巧不在家。

2. sign |saɪn|

verb. to use sign language to communicate with sb 打手语 

E.g.: An increasing number of plays are now being signed.

现在越来越多的戏剧配上了手语。

3. identical |aɪˈdentɪkl|

adj. similar in every detail 完全同样的；相同的

E.g.: The two pictures are similar, although not identical.

       这两幅画很相似，虽然不完全相同。

4. ideomotor action

Ideomotor actions are unconscious, involuntary motor movements that are performed by a person because of prior expectations, suggestions or preconceptions.意念动作是一个人基于先前的期望、建议暗示或者先入之见而执行的无意识、不自主的运动。  

Part IV

Ideomotor action is an activity that occurs without our noticing it, without our being aware of it. I’ll give you one simple example. 

If you think of locations, there tends to be eye movement that occurs with your thinking about that location. In particular, from where we’re sitting, imagine that you’re asked to think of our university library. Well, if you close your eyes and think of the library, and if you’re sitting directly facing me, then according to this notion, your eyeballs will move slightly to the left, to your left, ‘cause the library’s in that general direction. James and others said that this is an idea leading to a motor action, and that’s why it’s called “ideomotor action”—an idea leads to motor activity.

If you wish to impress your friends and relatives, you can change this simple process into a magic trick. 

如果你想的是某个地点，那么在你想那个地点的时候往往会伴随发生眼球运动。

1. in particular

special or unusual尤其；特别  

E.g.: I made the cookies for no one in particular. [=I did not make the cookies for any particular person]

我的曲奇不是特别给什么人专门做的。

2. impress |ɪmˈpres|

verb. if a person or thing impresses you, you feel admiration for them or it 使钦佩；使敬仰；给…留下深刻的好印象 

E.g.: He impressed her with his sincerity.

       他的真诚打动了她。

Part V

Ask people to do something such as I’ve just described: think of something on their left; think of something on their right. You get them to think about two things on either side with their eyes closed, and you watch their eyes very carefully. And if you do that, you’ll discover that you can see rather clearly the eye movement — that is, you can see the movement of the eyeballs. Now, then you say, think of either one and I’ll tell which you’re thinking of.

OK. Well, Watson makes the assumption that muscular activity is equivalent to thinking. But given everything we’ve been talking about here, one has to ask: are there alternatives to this motor theory — this claim that muscular activities are equivalent to thinking? Is there anything else that might account for this change in muscular activity, other than saying that it is thinking? And the answer is clearly yes. Is there any way to answer the question definitively? I think the answer is no.

但是考虑到今天我们在这里讨论的所有内容，有人禁不住会问：这种运动理论是否有其他替代解释——也就是肌肉活动等同于思考的这个说法，除了说它在思考之外，还有什么别的说法可以解释肌肉活动的这种变化吗？答案显然是肯定的。但是有什么答案可以明确地回答这个问题吗？我认为答案是否定的。

1. equivalent |ɪˈkwɪvələnt|

adj. equal in value, amount, meaning, importance, etc. （价值、数量、意义、重要性等）相等的，相同的 

E.g.: Eight kilometres is roughly equivalent to five miles.

八公里约等于五英里。

2. alternative |ɔ:lˈtɜ:nətɪv|

noun. a thing that you can choose to do or have out of two or more possibilities 可供选择的事物   

E.g.: There is a vegetarian alternative on the menu every day.

每天的菜单上另有素食餐点。

3. definitely |ˈdefɪnətli|

adv. in a way that is certain or that shows that you are certain 确切地；明确地；清楚地 

E.g.: Please say definitely whether you will be coming or not.

       请说清楚，你来还是不来。