Approaches - The Behavioural Approach

Question 1

Assumptions of the approach

Answer 1

Behaviourism is primarily concerned with observable behaviour, as opposed to internal events like thinking and emotion. Observable behaviour can be objectively and scientifically measured.
Psychology is a Science, so behaviour must be measured in highly controlled environments to establish cause and effect.
When born, our mind is a blank slate.
There is little difference between the learning that takes place in humans and that in other animals. Therefore, research can be carried out on animals as well as humans.
Behaviour is the result of stimulus - response(all behaviour, no matter how complex, can be reduced to a simple stimulus- response association).
All behaviour is learnt from the environment: we learn new behaviour through classical or operant conditioning

Question 2

Stimulus

Answer 2

Anything, internal or external, that brings about a response

Question 3

Response

Answer 3

Any reaction in the presence of the stimulus

Question 4

Reinforcement

Answer 4

The process by which a response is strengthened

Question 5

Before classical conditioning(Pavlov’s dog)

Answer 5

First Pavlov established meat caused the dog to salivate.
Unconditioned stimulus(FOOD)= Unconditioned response(SALIVA)
Then Pavlov established a tone didn’t cause the dog to salivate.

Question 6

During classical conditioning

Answer 6

He then presented the tone with the food. Note the dog is salivating in response to the food at this time.
Unconditioned stimulus(food) + neutral stimulus(bell)= Unconditioned Response(Saliva)

Question 7

After classical conditioning

Answer 7

After several pairings of the tone and food, Pavlov found the dog would salivate to the tone when it was presented alone.
Conditioned stimulus(bell)=Conditioned response(saliva)

Question 8

Unconditioned stimulus

Answer 8

The stimulus that causes the reflex response before conditioning. It’s the stimulus that naturally produces the response

Question 9

Conditioned stimulus

Answer 9

The stimulus which, after repeating pairs with the unconditioned stimulus, produces the response

Question 10

Unconditioned response

Answer 10

The innate(reflexive response to a stimulus that hasn’t been conditioned)

Question 11

Conditioned response

Answer 11

The response that occurs after exposure to the conditioned stimulus

Question 12

Operant conditioning

Answer 12

Concerned with the use of consequences, such as gaining rewards or receiving punishments, in order to modify and shape behaviour

Question 13

Positive reinforcement(operant conditioning)

Answer 13

Increases the likelihood of a response occurring, because it involves a reward for their behaviour

Question 14

Negative reinforcement(operant conditioning)

Answer 14

Increases the likelihood of a response occurring, because it involves the removal of, or escaping from,unpleasant consequences

Question 15

Punishment(operant conditioning)

Answer 15

The consequence is receiving something unpleasant which decreases the probability of the behaviour being repeated

Question 16

Operant conditioning key feature

Answer 16

The associations between responses and consequences have to be made close together in time for learning to occur

Question 17

Reinforcement and punishment - stimulus presented after behaviour occurs

Answer 17

Positive reinforcement(e.g. reward)- increases probability of behaviour occurring in the future
Positive punishment(e.g. receiving a detention for poor behaviour) - decreases the probability of the behaviour occurring in the future

Question 18

Reinforcement and punishment - stimulus removed after behaviour occurs

Answer 18

Negative reinforcement(e.g. picking up a crying baby)- increases probability of behaviour occurring in the future
Negative punishment(e.g. penalty - being grounded for being late home)- decreases probability of behaviour occurring in the future

Question 19

Little Albert method

Answer 19

1. The participant was an 11-month-old boy called ‘little Albert.’ He showed no fear of white fluffy objects, and the researchers tried to create a conditioned response to these objects.
2. A white rat was placed in front of little Albert.
3. As he reached out for it, a metal bar was struck loudly behind his head. This was repeated twice at first, then five more times a week later.

Question 20

Little Albert results

Answer 20

When little Albert was shown a rat, or other white fluffy objects, he would start to cry

Question 21

Little Albert conclusion

Answer 21

A fear response to whote fluffy objects had been conditioned in little Albert, showing abnormal behaviour can be learned

Question 22

Little Albert evaluation(negative)

Answer 22

The experiment was unethical.
Such an experiment could not be repeated today - not everyone goes on to develop a fear or phobia after a negative situation, so learning theory cannot be the full story.
It was a laboratory study, so it lacks ecological validity as the situation was artificial.

Question 23

Little Albert positive evaluation

Answer 23

The results support Pavlov’s idea of classical conditioning.

Question 24

Skinner metjod

Answer 24

1. Skinner created a skinner box in which he placed one rat at a time.
2. Each Skinner box contained a variety of different stimuli - a speaker, lights, a floor which gave an electric shock and a food dispenser which dispensed food when a lever was pressed.
3. A hungry rat was placed in the Skinner box.
4. The time taken for the rats to learn pressing the lever would release food was recorded.

Question 25

Skinner(1938) results

Answer 25

The more the rat was put back in the box, the quicker they got at learning where the lever was

Question 26

Skinner(1938) conclusion

Answer 26

Rats can learn behaviour through operant conditioning. A behaviour such as pressing a lever can be positively reinforced by receiving food.

Question 27

Skinner(1938) positive evaluation

Answer 27

Experiment hugely influential in promoting the idea of behavioural psychology

Question 28

Skinner(1938) negative evaluation

Answer 28

His experiment did use animals, which means results might not be generalisable to humans.
His sample size was also small, reducing the reliability of his results.

Question 29

Strengths of behavioural approach

Answer 29

1. Behaviourism is very scientific. Theories are testable and supported by rigorous experimental research - use of experimental method: helps to establish cause and effecr, objective
2. Influenced all areas of psychology
3. Replicable(due to high control)- has reliability
4. Many quantitative data: easy to analyse
5. Behaviourist explanations can be apploed to the real world to explain everyday behaviour such as phobias, and has produced many practical applications.
6. Useful applications to education, child rearing
7. Strong counter-arguments provided to the nature side of the ‘nature-nurture’ debate

Question 30

Limitations of behavioural approach

Answer 30

Many forms of learning can’t be satisfactorily explained by classical and operant conditioning.
Approach ignores important mental processes involved in learning
Reductionist: only takes into account nurture, rules out any influence of anything else
Deterministic: ignores free will
Lack of ecological validity due to highly controlled experiments: issues with generalisability
Ethical issues: not all research meets ethical guidelines
Lack of qualitative data: no thoughts or feelings known
Much data has been obtained from species, such as rats, dogs and pigeons, but the relevance of these findings to human behaviour is dubious

Question 31

Ethical and practical issues(behavioural approach)

Answer 31

Is this fair on the animals - experienced stress and aversive conditions