2. behaviourist approach

Question 1

behaviorist ASSUMPTIONS

Answer 1

· The behaviourist approach is only interested in studying behaviour that can be observed and measured.
· It is not concerned with investigating mental processes of the mind because these were seen as irrelevant.
· Early behaviourists rejected introspection as it involved too many concepts that were vague and difficult to measure. As a result, behaviourists tried to maintain more control and objectivity within their research and relied on lab studies as the best way to achieve this.
· Behaviourists believe that all behaviour is learned describe a baby’s mind as a blank slate and this is written on by experience.
· They suggested that the basic processes that govern learning are the same in all species means that in behaviourist research, animals replace humans as experimental subjects.

Question 2

Behaviourists identified two important forms of learning:

Answer 2

classical conditioning and operant conditioning.

Question 2

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING - PAVLOV’S RESEARCH
Classical conditioning is learning through association and was first demonstrated by Pavlov.
He showed how dogs could be conditioned to

Answer 2

salivate to the sound of a bell if that sound was repeatedly presented at the same time as they were given food.
Gradually, Pavlov’s dogs learned to associate the sound of the bell (a stimulus) with the food (another stimulus) and would produce the salivation response every time they heard the sound.
Thus, Pavlov was able to show how a neutral stimulus, in this case a bell, can come to elicit a new learned response (conditioned response) through association.

Question 3

POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT

Answer 3

is receiving a reward when a certain behaviour is performed, for example, praise from a teacher for answering a question correctly in class.

Question 3

B.F. Skinner (1953) suggested that learning is an active process whereby humans and animals operate on their environment. In operant conditioning behaviour is shaped by

Answer 3

its consequences

Question 4

NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT occurs when

Answer 4

an animal (or human) avoids something unpleasant. The outcome is a positive experience e.g. a rat may learn through negative reinforcement that pressing a lever leads to avoidance of an electric shock.

Question 5

PUNISHMENT is an

Answer 5

unpleasant consequence of behaviour, for example being shouted at by the teacher for talking during a lesson.

Question 6

positive and negative reinforcement increase the likelihood that

Answer 6

behaviour will be repeated

Question 7

Punishment x the likelihood that behaviour will be repeated.

Answer 7

x = decreases

Question 8

SKINNER - OPERANT CONDITIONING

PROCEDURE - POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT

Answer 8

A hungry rat would be placed into the box, where it would move around. If it bumped into a lever, a food pellet would drop into the box.

Question 9

SKINNER - OPERANT CONDITIONING

FINDINGS - POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT

Answer 9

The rat quickly learnt that pressing the lever would result in food, so would press the lever when placed into the box.

Question 10

SKINNER - OPERANT CONDITIONING

PROCEDURE - NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT

Answer 10

A rat would be placed into the box and Skinner would apply an unpleasant electric current to the cage floor. As the rat moved about, it would accidentally knock the lever, which would turn off the electric current.

Question 11

SKINNER - OPERANT CONDITIONING

FINDINGS - NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT

Answer 11

The rat quickly learnt that pressing the lever would prevent the electric current, so would press the lever when placed into the box.

Question 12

AO3: strength of BEHAVIOURIST APPROACH

highly controlled

Answer 12

Behaviourists focused 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 were removed, allowing cause and effect relationships to be established. For example, skinner was able to demonstrate how reinforcement influenced an animal’s behaviour.
This suggests that behaviourist experiments have scientific credibility.

Question 13

AO3: strength of BEHAVIOURIST APPROACH

real world application - therapies, TE systems

Answer 13

The principles of conditioning have been applied to real world behaviours and problems.
For example, operant conditioning is the basis of token economy systems that have been used in institutions, such as prisons and psychiatric wards. These work by rewarding appropriate behaviour with tokens that can be exchanged for privileges. Classical conditioning has been applied to the treatment of phobias, serving as a basis for systematic desensitisation and flooding therapies.
This increases the value of the behaviourist approach because it has widespread application.

Question 14

AO3: limitation of BEHAVIOURIST APPROACH

reductionist

Answer 14

The behaviourist approach sees all behaviour as conditioned by past conditioning experiences.
Skinner suggested that everything we do is the sum total of our reinforcement history. According to him, we may think we made the decision to do something but actually our past conditioning history determined the outcome. This ignores any possible influence that free will may have on out behaviour - he himself said free will was an ‘illusion’.
This is an extreme position and ignores the influence of conscious decision-making processes on behaviour, such as emotions.