approaches 1.2

Question 1

behaviourist approach

Answer 1

an approach to explain that behaviour is acquired and maintained through classical and operant conditioning

acquired through association and maintained through consequences

Question 2

which behaviour does the behaviourist approach study?

Answer 2

only objectively observable and measurable behaviour

Question 3

why is only objectively observable and measurable behaviour studied?

Answer 3

because the founders of behaviourism, Watson and Sinner disagreed with the subjective nature of Wunt’s introspective methods and the inability to formulate general laws and universal principles based on his observations

Question 4

why animals can be used in behaviourism studies

Answer 4

basic laws governing learning are the same across non-humans and humans therefore non human animals can replace humans in experimental research

Question 5

‘tabula rasa’

Answer 5

when people are born, their minds are effectively a blank slate, so their experiences make them who they are

part of the nature versus nurture debate, essentially coming out on the side of nurture.

Question 6

classical conditioning

Answer 6

a type of learning which occurs through associations made between the UCS and the NS

before conditioning, the UCS produces the UCR

during conditioning the NS is repeatedly paired with the UCS producing an UCR

after conditioning, the NS becomes the CS, producing the CR

Question 7

who researched into classical conditioning

Answer 7

Pavlov

Question 8

Pavlov’s procedure

Answer 8

he demonstrated that dogs could be conditioned to salivate upon hearing a bell

1. before conditioning the UCS (food) produced an UCR (salivation)
2. during conditioning, the UCS was repeatedly paired with a NS (a bell) to produce the same UCR of salivation
3. an association was made between the UCS and the NS
4. after conditioning, the NS became the CS, producing the CR of salivation when the bell was heard even when the food wasn’t presented

Question 9

discrimination

Answer 9

when stimuli similar to the CS doesn’t produce the CR

e.g a doorbell not causing the dog to salivate even though it sounds the same as a bell

Question 10

high order conditioning

Answer 10

when a new CS is associated with an old CS producing a CR

for example, after pairing a tone with food, and establishing the tone as a conditioned stimulus that elicits salivation, a light could be paired with the tone

if the light alone comes to elicit salivation, then higher order conditioning has occurred

Question 11

extinction

Answer 11

occurs when the CS is no longer paired with the UCS so the CR becomes extinct/disappears

Question 12

spontaneous recovery

Answer 12

occurs when the individual carries out the CR some time after extinction has occurred

Question 13

generalisation

Answer 13

when slight changes in the CS still produces the same CR

e.g. a doorbell causing a dog to salivate since it sounds similar to the bell

Question 14

what was the UCR in Pavlov’s study?

Answer 14

salivation

Question 15

what was the UCS in Pavlov’s study?

Answer 15

food

Question 16

what was the NS in Pavlov’s study?

Answer 16

bell

Question 17

what was the CS in Pavlov’s study?

Answer 17

bell

Question 18

what was the CR in Pavlov’s study?

Answer 18

salivation

Question 19

operant conditioning

Answer 19

it is concerned with the use of consequences such as gaining rewards or receiving punishments in order to modify and shape behaviour

Question 20

positive reinforcement

Answer 20

receiving a reward to increase the likelihood of repeating the behaviour

e.g praise

Question 21

negative reinforcement

Answer 21

removing a negative outcome or avoiding a negative stimuli to increase the likelihood of repeating behaviour

e.g. avoiding a phobia and removing the anxiety encouraging you to avoid it again

Question 22

positive punishment

Answer 22

giving an undesirable stimulus to reduce the beheaviour and make it less appealing

e.g being given more work to do to stop you misbehaving

Question 23

negative punishment

Answer 23

removing a pleasant stimulus to decrease a behaviour

e.g. being given a detention and losing your time to stop you misbehaving

Question 24

Thorndike’s law of effect

Answer 24

behaviors followed by pleasant or rewarding consequences are more likely to be repeated, while behaviors followed by unpleasant or punishing consequences are less likely to be repeated.

Question 25

Thorndike's research

Answer 25

Thorndike put hungry cats in cages with automatic doors that could be opened by pressing a button inside the cage. Thorndike would time how long it took the cat to escape at first, when placed in the cages, the cats displayed unsystematic trial-and-error behaviors, trying to escape they scratched, bit, and wandered around the cages without identifiable patterns Thorndike would then put food outside the cages to act as a stimulus and reward the cats experimented with different ways to escape the puzzle box and reach the fish eventually, they would stumble upon the lever which opened the cage. When it had escaped, the cat was put in again, and once more, the time it took to escape was noted in successive trials, the cats would learn that pressing the lever would have favorable consequences, and they would adopt this behavior, becoming increasingly quick at pressing the lever after many repetitions of being placed in the cages (around 10-12 times), the cats learned to press the button inside their cages, which opened the doors, allowing them to escape the cage and reach the food

Question 26

Thorndike's research (summary)

Answer 26

cat in box with lever discovered the lever helped it escape associated lever with reward cat could eventually escape quicker "law of effect"

Question 27

Skinner (1953)'s aim

Answer 27

aimed to test positive and negative punishment

Question 28

Skinner (1953)'s procedure

Answer 28

he devised the 'Skinner Box' which is a small box designed to hold a rat featuring a lever, electric floor, sound system, signal lights and pellet dispenser 1. rat is placed inside a controlled box 2. rat is inactive in box for some time 3. rat starts to explore box 4. rat discovers lever which dispenses food 5. rat roams around and presses lever 6. rat presses lever again and again for food

Question 29

how did Skinner show positive reinforcement?

Answer 29

Skinner placed hungry rat in box and it would discover pushing the lever produces food pellet they learn connection between lever and food and therefore repeat behaviour

Question 30

how did Skinner show negative reinforcement?

Answer 30

Skinner placed rat in box and loud, bad noise was playing and the rat learnt that pressing the lever stopped the noise

Question 31

how did Skinner show negative punishment?

Answer 31

Skinner placed rat in box and when the rat pushed the lever and electric shock went through the floor and the rat learnt not to press the lever

Question 32

explain how being highly scientific is a strength of the behaviourist approach

Question 39

social learning theory key assumptions

Answer 39

much of our behaviour is learnt through experience specifically through observation and imitation within a social context people do not only learn through classical and operant conditioning but also indirectly through vicarious reinforcement

Question 40

who introduced social learning theory?

Answer 40

Bandura

Question 41

modelling

Answer 41

for social learning to take place, there must be someone to watch carry out an action for it to be copied

Question 42

two types of model

Answer 42

live- someone directly in front of you e.g. a teacher symbolic - someone portrayed in the media

Question 43

imitation

Answer 43

involves copying a role model who is completing a behaviour conditioning is a lengthy process that happens over time however, imitation is a quick process where individuals can learn complex behaviours in a short time

Question 44

identification

Answer 44

refers to the extent as to how similar the person feels to the model and whether they can relate to them they identify with a model, they have to feel as though they are similar enough to a person and that they would have the same experience should they be in 'their shoes' an identified model would ensure effective learning to take place

Question 45

vicarious reinforcement

Answer 45

learning of behaviour through observing others being either rewarded for punished for their behaviour if you observe someone else being rewarded for their behaviour, you will be likely to copy this however if they are punished, you will not learn that behaviour

Question 46

the role of mediational factors

Answer 46

refer to the internal mental processes that exist between environmental stimuli and the response made by an individual to those stimuli how you interpret and think about stimuli material includes whether or not to imitate and whether they would be similar to the model

Question 47

four mediational cognitive processes in learning

Answer 47

attention retention motor reproduction motivation

Question 48

attention

Answer 48

noticing certain behaviours

Question 49

retention

Answer 49

remembering a behaviour

Question 50

motor reproduction

Answer 50

the ability to perform the behaviour yourself

Question 51

motivation

Answer 51

wanting to perform the behaviour or not

Question 52

explain how a strength of SLT is that it emphasises the importance of cognitive factors

Answer 52

neither classical conditioning or operant conditioning can offer a comprehensive account of human learning on their own because cognitive factors are omitted humans and animals store information about the behaviour of others and use this to make judgements about when it's appropriate to perform certain actions this shows that SLT provides a more complete explanation of human learning than the behaviourist approach by recognising the role of mediational factors

Question 53

explain how real world application is a strength of SLT

Answer 53

it explains how cultural norms are transmitted and explains some criminal behaviour and how children come to understand their gender role by imitating role models in the media this increases the value of SLT as it accounts for real world behaviour

Question 54

explain how the SLT relying too heavily on evidence from lab studies is a weakness

Answer 54

many ideas were developed through observations in lab settings this leads to demand characteristics meaning it's not representative of real behaviour therefore it lacks ecological validity difficulty demonstrating cause and effect in real life

Question 55

explain how being reductionist is a weakness of SLT

Answer 55

it sees behaviour as environmentally determined whereas it may be innate this makes it reductionist as it only considers the nurture side of the nature vs nurture debate therefore its ability to fully explain human behaviour can be questioned determinist concept

Question 56

explain how inference is a weakness of SLT

Answer 56

mediating cognitive factors have to be inferred so cannot measure the extend of their influence SLT is not so able to explain the learning of abstract notions e.g. fairness and justice which can't be directly observed it doesn't explain the impact of biological factors determinist concept, doesn't explain why you may not imitate

Question 57

explain how supporting research is a strength of SLT

Answer 57

there is Bandura's research to support this shows that children learn aggressive behaviour through vicarious reinforcement this illustrates the importance of identification in the imitation of behaviour there is empirical evidence which supports the theory's validity

Question 58

Bandura (1961)'s aim

Answer 58

to investigate whether children show imitative learning and to show the expression of aggressive behaviour is learnt

Question 59

Bandura (1961)'s procedure

Answer 59

36 boys and 36 girls aged between 3 and 6 years old were tested in a nursery school in California lab experiment + independent groups design children were taken to another room with toys including a bobo doll behaviour was observed through a one way mirror behaviour was categorised in the aggressive condition the model punches, kicks and shouts and the bobo doll in the non - aggressive condition the model ignores the bobo doll and plays with other toys control condition no model presented

Question 60

Bandura (1961)'s results

Answer 60

children in aggressive condition reproduced many physical and verbal acts they observed children in non - aggressive condition didn't reproduce aggressive behaviour boys more physically aggressive than girls boys and girls equally as verbally aggressive if model was the same sex as participants this had a greater effect on behaviour, in boys this was a big difference

Question 61

Bandura (1961)'s conclusion

Answer 61

children acquire aggressive responses as a result of watching others

Question 62

strengths of Bandura (1961)'s studies

Answer 62

large sample so anomalies might be cancelled out very reliable because it can be replicated, standardised procedures (same script, same categories etc) Bandura used two observers behind the one-way mirror and this creates inter-rater reliability because a behaviour had to be noted by both observers otherwise it didn't count can be applied to parenting and teaching styles, it suggests children observe and imitate adults so if you want well behaved children you need to keep your temper. calm role models have a big effect might apply to "buddy systems used in schools or prisons to help troubled students learn from a role model nursry teachers and parents gave permission for children to take part which is presumptive consent Bandura would argue that the benefits to society outweighed the risks to any of the children that took part. his research has shown us the influence that role models have on aggressive behaviour especially role models on TV and film. this has been an important contribution to the debate over censorship in TV films, videos and games

Question 63

explain how the samples being taken from the same nursery is a weakness of Bandura's experiment

Answer 63

samples were all taken from the same nursery, children might have unusual home lives and particularly educated parents (top University) making them unrepresentative of normal children

Question 64

explain how generalisability is an issue of Bandura's experiment

Answer 64

a problem is generalising from children to adults this might not matter if all of our important behaviour is learned in childhood the study may not tell us much about how adults learn behaviour, adults may be less influences by role models

Question 65

explain how validity is an issue of Bandura's experiment

Answer 65

children were put in a strange situation, exposed to some unusual adult behaviour and given toys to play with, encouraged them to act unnaturally e.g. a bobo doll is designed to be hit and knocked over children would suppose the experimenters wanted them to play with the bobo doll in this way this leads to demand characteristics

Question 66

explain how other explanations for aggression is a weakness of Bandura's study

Answer 66

there may be biological explanations the study by Raine et al (1997) shows that aggression is linked to certain brain deficits, like a weak prefrontal cortex people with these deficits might need no xcuse to start behaving aggressively and misinterpret the role model's behaviour as an invitation to do so

Question 67

explain how ethics are a problem in Bandura's study

Answer 67

children may have been distressed by the aggressive behaviour they witnessed. any aggressive behaviour learnt may have stayed with them, going on to become a behavioural problem participants are supposed to leave the study in the same way they entered it, which may not have happened here. this is an example of what the BPS code of ethics calls "normalising unhelpful behaviours" children couldn't give informed consent, consent was given on their behalf, the children couldn't withdraw from the study and no effort seems to have been made to debrief them afterwards (by explaining that the aggressive adults were only pretending)