Approaches - Behaviourism Flashcards
Outline the assumptions of the behaviourist approach
- All animals are born with a ‘blank slate’ and all behaviour is learned.
- Only observable behaviour can, and therefore should, be investigated, as it cannot be known what is happening in ‘the mind’.
- Only things that can be measured objectively are inputs (stimuli) and outputs (behaviour).
- As humans and non-human animals are governed by the same basic processes, animal behaviour can be studied and applied to human behaviour.
Who are the 3 main psychologists involved in the behaviourist approach?
Watson - Little Albert
Pavlov - Dogs
Skinner - Rats in box
What did Watson believe about behaviour?
Our behaviour is a product is our environment.
Ideas about inherent intelligence, race wouldn’t dictate what could be achieved.
This went against thinking at the time of natural selection - people thought intelligence, talents were inherited from parents - led to racism, class distinctions.
Outline Watson’s Little Albert experiment
Aim of the study was to show the importance of environment and learning in behaviour, not instinct.
- Little Albert was 9 months old.
- Initially, he showed no fear towards stimuli such as a white rat.
- A white rat was shown to Albert at the same time as a bar was stuck behind his head, making a loud noise that scared Albert.
- Due to this association, Albert eventually developed a fear response, crying just at the rat.
- Shows learning by classical conditioning.
Outline Pavlov’s research
- Temporal association - two stimuli are experienced close together in time, as a result an association is formed.
- Learning happens when a neutral stimulus is consistenly paired with an unconditioned stimulus so that eventually the conditioned stimulus produces a response.
- Pavlov demonstrated this with dogs who would associate the sound of a bell with food, and would drool.
- Food = unconditioned stimulus and drool = unconditioned response
- Bell = neutral stimulus, which is associated with food.
- Bell = conditioned stimulus which produces drool = conditioned response.
Outline Skinner’s research
- Studied operant conditioning - learning by trial and error/ rewards and punishments.
- Positive reinforcement is when a reward is given in response to a behaviour, making that behaviour more likely to be repeated.
- Negative reinforcement is when something unpleasant is avoided in response to a behaviour, making that behaviour more likely to be repeated.
- Skinner tested these concept using rats and pigeons.
- In the ‘Skinner Box’, rats were placed in a box with a lever, light, and electrified floor.
- If the rat pressed the leaver when the light was off, it would receive a shock, and if it pressed the leaver when the light was on, it received a food pellet.
- The rats quickly learned to push the switch only when the light was on.
What does extinction mean in operant conditioning?
If a behaviour that has been reinforced stops being reinforced then it will gradually stop happening.
What is a primary reinforcer & secondary reinforcer?
Primary reinforcer e.g. food, water does not need pairing with another stimulus to be reinforcing.
Secondary reinforcer is reinforcing due to pairing with a primary reinforcer e.g. money can buy food.
What type of reinforcement is resistant to extinction?
Intermittent reinforcement e.g. gambling.
When you win every couple of times, but not every time.
Evaluate behaviourism as an approach - application
Behaviourist principles have useful real-world applications, for example in developing treatments for phobias (systematic desensitisation) and token economy systems, where rewards are given for desirable behaviours in prisons. This increases the usefulness of behaviourism.
Evaluate behaviourism as an approach - objective scientific methods
Behaviourists use the scientific method, for example systematic manipulation of variables, focus on observable behaviour, demonstration of cause and effect.
This enhances the replicability and validity of the conclusions drawn, furthering psychology as a science.
Evaluate behaviourism as an approach - animals vs humans
A lot of the research done into classical/operant conditioning is done using animals and generalising the results to humans. This ignores the differences between humans & animals - humans have more complex thought processes.
Evaluate behaviourism as an approach - oversimplified
A limitation of the behaviourist approach is that it oversimplifies the learning process.
By reducing behaviour to such simple components, behaviourists ignore an important component - human thought.
Other approaches such as SLT and the cognitive approach have drawn attention to mental processes involved in learning and their importance.
This suggests that learning is more complex than observable behaviour alone can account for and that private mental processes are also an essential part of the picture.
Evaluate behaviourism as an approach - racism
Watson’s ideas around characteristics e.g. intelligence being taught, not inherited, went against the idea at the time that all characteristics were inherited, an idea that helped to keep people of other races/classes discriminated against as they were ‘innately less intelligent etc’.
This helped to dispute the racist/classist ideas of the time, giving the approach valuable real-life application.
