Approaches - The Behavioural Approach Flashcards
Assumptions of the approach
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
Stimulus
Anything, internal or external, that brings about a response
Response
Any reaction in the presence of the stimulus
Reinforcement
The process by which a response is strengthened
Before classical conditioning(Pavlov’s dog)
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.
During classical conditioning
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)
After classical conditioning
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)
Unconditioned stimulus
The stimulus that causes the reflex response before conditioning. It’s the stimulus that naturally produces the response
Conditioned stimulus
The stimulus which, after repeating pairs with the unconditioned stimulus, produces the response
Unconditioned response
The innate(reflexive response to a stimulus that hasn’t been conditioned)
Conditioned response
The response that occurs after exposure to the conditioned stimulus
Operant conditioning
Concerned with the use of consequences, such as gaining rewards or receiving punishments, in order to modify and shape behaviour
Positive reinforcement(operant conditioning)
Increases the likelihood of a response occurring, because it involves a reward for their behaviour
Negative reinforcement(operant conditioning)
Increases the likelihood of a response occurring, because it involves the removal of, or escaping from,unpleasant consequences
Punishment(operant conditioning)
The consequence is receiving something unpleasant which decreases the probability of the behaviour being repeated
Operant conditioning key feature
The associations between responses and consequences have to be made close together in time for learning to occur
Reinforcement and punishment - stimulus presented after behaviour occurs
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
Reinforcement and punishment - stimulus removed after behaviour occurs
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
Little Albert method
- 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.
- A white rat was placed in front of little Albert.
- 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.
Little Albert results
When little Albert was shown a rat, or other white fluffy objects, he would start to cry
Little Albert conclusion
A fear response to whote fluffy objects had been conditioned in little Albert, showing abnormal behaviour can be learned
Little Albert evaluation(negative)
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.
Little Albert positive evaluation
The results support Pavlov’s idea of classical conditioning.
Skinner metjod
- Skinner created a skinner box in which he placed one rat at a time.
- 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.
- A hungry rat was placed in the Skinner box.
- The time taken for the rats to learn pressing the lever would release food was recorded.
Skinner(1938) results
The more the rat was put back in the box, the quicker they got at learning where the lever was
Skinner(1938) conclusion
Rats can learn behaviour through operant conditioning. A behaviour such as pressing a lever can be positively reinforced by receiving food.
Skinner(1938) positive evaluation
Experiment hugely influential in promoting the idea of behavioural psychology
Skinner(1938) negative evaluation
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.
Strengths of behavioural approach
- Behaviourism is very scientific. Theories are testable and supported by rigorous experimental research - use of experimental method: helps to establish cause and effecr, objective
- Influenced all areas of psychology
- Replicable(due to high control)- has reliability
- Many quantitative data: easy to analyse
- Behaviourist explanations can be apploed to the real world to explain everyday behaviour such as phobias, and has produced many practical applications.
- Useful applications to education, child rearing
- Strong counter-arguments provided to the nature side of the ‘nature-nurture’ debate
Limitations of behavioural approach
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
Ethical and practical issues(behavioural approach)
Is this fair on the animals - experienced stress and aversive conditions
