Approaches

Question 1

What is behaviourism?

Answer 1

All behaviour is learning through association or reinforcement

Question 2

What are the assumptions of behaviourism?

Answer 2

Behaviour is:

• observable
• basic processes that govern learning are the same in all species (following Darwin)

Question 3

Who is an example of an early behaviourist that rejected introspection and why?

Answer 3

John B Watson rejected introspection as it involved too many concepts that were vague and difficult to measure

Question 4

What type of experiments did behaviourists use to try to maintain more control and objectivity?

Answer 4

Lab experiments

Question 5

What could replace humans in behaviourist research as experimental subjects and why?

Answer 5

Animals because following Darwin, behaviourists suggested that basic processes that govern learning are the same in all species

Question 6

What two important forms of learning did behaviourists identify?

Answer 6

• classical conditioning

- operant conditioning

Question 7

What is classic conditioning?

Answer 7

Classical conditioning is learning through association

Question 8

Who first demonstrated classical conditioning? (who’s research)

Answer 8

Ivan Pavlov

Question 9

Pavlov’s research…

Answer 9

He revealed dogs could be conditioned to salivate to the sound of a bell if that sound was repeatedly presented at the same time as they were given food.
Pavlov’s dogs gradually 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.

Question 10

Pavlov’s findings…

Answer 10

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 11

What is operant conditioning (Skinner)?

Answer 11

Learning is an active process whereby humans and animals operate on their environment

Question 12

What are the three types of consequences of behaviour in operant conditioning?

Answer 12

• Positive reinforcement
• Negative reinforcement
• Punishment

Question 13

What is positive reinforcement (in operant conditioning)?

Answer 13

Positive reinforcement is receiving a reward when a certain behaviour is performed.

Question 14

What is negative reinforcement (in operant conditioning)?

Answer 14

Negative reinforcement occurs when an animal (or human) avoids something unpleasant.

Question 15

2 examples of negative reinforcement (in operant conditioning)

Answer 15

When a student hands in an essay so not to be told off, the avoidance of something unpleasant is the negative reinforcement
Similarly, a rat may learn through negative reinforcement that pressing a lever leads to avoidance of an electric shock

Question 16

Example of positive reinforcement (in operant conditioning)

Answer 16

Praise from a teacher for answering a question correctly in class

Question 17

What is punishment (in operant conditioning)?

Answer 17

Punishment is an unpleasant consequence of behaviour.

Question 18

Example of punishment (in operant conditioning)

Answer 18

Being shouted at by the teacher for talking during a lesson (finding a way to avoid that would be negative reinforcement)

Question 19

What types of reinforcement increase the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated?

Answer 19

Positive and negative reinforcement

Question 20

What type of reinforcement decreases the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated?

Answer 20

Punishment

Question 21

Strengths of the behaviourism approach: scientific credibility

Answer 21

Behaviourism was able to bring the language and methods of natural sciences into psychology by focusing on the measurement of observable behaviour in highly controlled lab settings
Through emphasising the importance of scientific processes such as objectivity and replication, this approach was influential in the development of psychology as a scientific discipline
This increases the reliability

Question 22

Strengths of the behaviourism approach: real-life application

Answer 22

The principles of conditioning have been applied to a brand range of real-world behaviours and problems.
For example, operant conditioning is the basis of token economy systems that have been used successfully in institutions, such as prisons and psychiatric wards.
These work by rewarding appropriate behaviour with tokens that can then be exchanged for privileges.
This means there is good application

Question 23

Weaknesses of the behaviourism approach

Answer 23

The behaviourism approach sees all behaviour as determined by past experiences that have been conditioned
Skinner suggested that everything we do is sum total of our reinforcement history