3- behaviourist approach

Question 1

what is operant conditioning

Answer 1

• idea is that organisms spontaneously produce different behaviours and these produce consequences
• if consequence is positive = behaviour is likely to be repeated
• if consequence is negative = behaviour is less likely to be repeated

Question 2

define reinforcement

Answer 2

something in the environment that strengthens a particular behaviour

Question 3

what is positive/ negative reinforcement

Answer 3

• positive = occurs when behaviour produces a satisfying/pleasant consequence
• negative = occurs when behaviour removes something aversive (unpleasant) and returns the organism to pre-aversive state

Question 4

define punishment

Answer 4

occurs when behaviour leads to an unpleasant consequence

Question 5

what is positive/negative punishment

Answer 5

• positive = something unpleasant is added to the person’s life
• negative = something pleasant is removed from a person’s life

Question 6

what is partial reinforcement

Answer 6

• rewarding after e.g 3 times
• it is more effective at maintaining behaviour in the long run compared to continuous reinforcement (rewarding every time)

Question 7

describe Skinners experiment

Answer 7

• Skinner box: cage with speakers, lights, lever, door and electrifiable floor
• hungry rat placed in box and allowed to move freely
• rat may press lever and get rewarded a food pellet (positive reinforcement)
• rat continues to press lever to get food pellet so learns pressing lever=reward
• rat may learn that pressing lever avoids something unpleasant (e.g avoid getting electric shock) (negative reinforcement)

Question 8

positive evaluation of the behaviourist approach (3)

Answer 8

+ experimental method with highly controlled conditions to discover relationship between variables so you can establish cause and effect
+ token economy is used in institutions (eg. prisons/hospitals) and works by rewarding appropriate behaviour with tokes which get exchanged for privileges. it has been used to treat schizophrenics to make their behaviour more appropriate SO supports idea of operant conditioning irl
+ nurture side of the debate which states learning occurs due to environmental factors so manipulating environmental factors can have an effect on learning/behaviour

Question 9

negative evaluation of the behaviourist approach (3)

Answer 9

• skinners research ignores the concept of free will as he says experiences involving operant conditioning will affect future behaviour so we have no control over the actions we show
• ethical issues with Skinner box as rats/pigeons were in stressful+aversive conditions which could have a negative effect on psychological and physical health
• can’t generalise results gained from rats and pigeons to humans as they are so different
• biological approach would argue this as it states behaviour can’t be learnt but is influenced by genes/ hormones/ biochemical and neural mechanisms so other approaches have to be considered (e.g. people can learn aggressiveness or it could be caused by genes/hormones (testosterone ))