16 marker - behavioural approach

Question 1

behavioural approach

Answer 1

Pavolov

Question 2

assumptions

Answer 2

• We are born as a blank state – ‘tabula rosa’ – everything we become is shaped by the process of learning from our environment
• Extreme nurture end of nature-nurture debate
• Focus on observable behaviour which can be objectively measured
• Believe lab experiments are the best way to achieve this
• Darwins idea that learning is the same in all species = animals could replace humans as subjects

Question 3

classical conditioning

Answer 3

• Learned through association
• First demonstrated by Ivan Pavlov
• Showed how dogs could be conditioned to salivate to the sound of a bell if that sound was repeated at the same time as they were given food
• Gradually dogs learnt to associate the sound of the bell (stimulus) with the food (stimulus) would produce the salivation response every time they heard the sound
• show how a neutral stimulus can come to elicit a new learned response (conditioned response) through association

Question 4

operant conditioning

Answer 4

• Skinner suggested that learning is an active process whereby humans and animals operate on their environment
• Behaviour is shaped by its consequences

Question 5

skinner box

Answer 5

• Every time rat activated a lever within the box it was rewarded with a food pellet
• animal continue to perform the behaviour
• Showed how rats could be conditioned to perform the same behaviour to avoid an unpleasant stimulus

Question 6

evaluation

Answer 6

• well controlled research
• real world application
• environmental determinism
• ethical issues

Question 7

well controlled research

Answer 7

• Focus on the measurement of observable behaviour within highly controlled lab settings
• By breaking down behaviour into basic stimulus-response units, all other possible extraneous variables allowing cause and effect relationship to be established
• Skinner was able to clearly demonstrate how reinforcement influence an animals behaviour
• suggests that behaviourist experiments have scientific credibility

Question 8

counterpoint

Answer 8

• Behaviourists may have oversimplified the learning process
• Reducing behaviour to simple components, may have ignored an important influences on learning that of human thought
• Social learning theory and the cognitive approach have drawn attention to the mental processes involved in learning
  -Suggests learning is more complex than observable behaviour alone and that private mental processes are also essential

Question 9

real world application

Answer 9

• principles of conditioning have been applied to real-world behaviours and problems
• Operant conditioning is the basis of token economy that have been used successfully in institutions such as prisons and psychiatric wards
• Work by rewarding appropriate behaviour with tokens which can be exchanged for a treat
• Classical conditioning being used to treat phobias
• Increases the value of the behaviourist approach because it has widespread application

Question 10

environmental determinism

Answer 10

• sees all behaviour as conditioned by past experiences
• Skinner- our past conditioning history determined this outcome
• Ignores any possible influence that free will may have on behaviour
• Is an extreme position and ignores the influence of conscious decision-making processes on behaviour

Question 11

ethical issues

Answer 11

• Animals housed in harsh, cramped conditions
• Deliberately kept below their natural weight so they were always hungry