Approaches - behaviourist Flashcards
Behaviourist approach, Pavlov and Skinner, conditioning
Behaviourist belief
All animals are born with a blank slate and behaviour is formed through interaction with environment
Mechanism for behaviours
Stimulus-response mechanism
Classical conditioning procedure
> dog hears the bell = no saliva production ;
dog sees food = saliva production ;
dog hears bell then sees food = saliva production ;
dog hears bell = saliva production
Types of stimuli in Pavlov’s research
Neutral stimulus (stimulus that produce no significant response eg: bell) and unconditioned stimulus (naturally triggers a reflexive response eg : food)
Findings of Pavlov’s research
Dogs start to salivate to the neutral stimulus after conditioning
Skinner’s research
Operant conditioning
What is operant conditioning
Learning through consequences
Belief in operant conditioning
Behaviour that is reinforced with be repeated and learnt whereas behaviour that is punished with die out
What animals are used in operant condition
Rats and pigeons
What are types of reinforcement
Positive reinforcement,
Negative reinforment, punishment
Difference between negative reinforcement and punishment
Negative reinforment : consequences are removing something unpleasant ;
Punishment : adding an unpleasant stimulus followed by undesired behaviour
Difference between the two conditioning
Classical conditioning have involuntary response and operant conditioning have voluntary response. Classical conditioning explains how response to a stimuli develop through association, operant conditioning explains how behaviours are continued or modified
Evaluation of behaviourist approach
Strength : scientific, objective observations, real life application ;
Limitation : cannot generalise to humans, ethical issues, reductionist.
