Approaches: The behaviourist approach

Question 1

What are the key assumptions of the behaviourist approach?

Answer 1

• They believe that we are born as a “Blank slate”.
• They believe that much of our behaviour is learned through experiences such as association and reinforcement.
• They focus on observable events and reject things like introspection.

Question 2

How is behaviour explained?

Answer 2

Stimulus and response links

Question 3

What is classical conditioning?

Answer 3

Learning through an association between stimulus and response.
When a neural stimulus is constantly paired with an unconditioned stimulus it eventually takes on the properties of this stimulus and is able to produce a conditioned response.

Question 4

When was the first test of classical conditioning and who was it by?

Answer 4

This process was first tested in 1927, in a lab by a Russian psychologist called Ivan Pavlov.

Question 5

What were the stages of Pavlov’s dogs?

Answer 5

• In his experiment, Pavlov used a bell as his neutral stimulus.
• Whenever he gave food to his dogs, he also rang a bell.
• After a number of repeats of this procedure, he tried the bell on its own, the bell on its own now caused an increase in salivation.
• The dog had learned an association between the bell and the food and a new behaviour had been learnt.
• Because this response was learned (or conditioned), it is called a conditioned response.
• The neutral stimulus had become a conditioned stimulus.

Question 6

What is the unconditioned stimulus?

What is the conditioned stimulus?

What is the response?

What is the unconditioned response?

What is the conditioned response?

What is the neural stimulus?

Answer 6

The stimulus that naturally brings about the response e.g food.

The stimulus we learn to respond to e.g bell.

The behaviour that is produced as a result of a stimulus e.g salvation.

The response happens by a reflex.

The response happens by a reflex and that comes about as a result of the conditioned stimulus.

A stimulus which doesn’t bring about a response normally, but becomes the classical stimulus after being paired with the unconditioned stimulus.

Question 7

What was the experiment set up by John B. Watson?

Answer 7

Little albert

Question 8

What was the APFC of Little Albert?

Answer 8

To investigate the conditioning of a phobia. Little Albert who was 9 months old was presented with various items. Monkeys, rabbits, rats and fire. When he was shown these items, he had no fear. The next time, the rat was shown, a loud noise was playing behind him so the child began to cry. after repeatedly pairing this sound with the rat being shown, he was scared of the rat and began to cry whenever he saw something fluffy. Thus, it can be concluded that phobias are nurture, not nature as they can be classically conditioned.

Question 9

What is operant conditioning?

Answer 9

Learning through reinforcement and punishment.

Question 10

What is reinforcement?

Answer 10

Anything that strengthens a response and increases the likelihood that it will occur again in the future.

Question 11

What is punishment?

Answer 11

Involves the application of an unpleasant consequence following a behaviour, with the result that the behaviour is less likely to occur again in the future.

Question 12

What is positive reinforcement?

Answer 12

Consequences which are pleasant and which bring about a repetition of behaviour.

Question 13

What is negative reinforcement?

Answer 13

Behaviour is repeated in order to escape an unpleasant consequence e.g studying for an exam to avoid a poor grade.

Question 14

What is a key study to show operant conditioning?

Answer 14

Skinners rats

Question 15

What is the APFC of skinners rats?

Answer 15

• Skinner would place the rats in a Skinner box with a lever attached to a feeding tube.
• Whenever a rat pressed the lever, food would be released.
• After experiencing multiple trials, the rats learned the association between the lever and food and began to spend more of their time in the box acquiring food than performing any other action.
• The pressing of the lever became a learned behaviour as the rat learns that it will be rewarded with a pellet every time it presses the lever (positive reinforcement).

Question 16

A03: Classical conditioning

Answer 16

+ Applied to therapy
- Limited perspective on behaviour - overall point

Question 17

A03: Operant conditioning

Answer 17

+ Based on experimental work
- Based on non-human animals in research

Question 18

A03: Applied to therapy

Answer 18

Classical conditioning has been applied in the development of treatments for the reduction of anxiety associated with various phobias. Systematic desensitisation is a therapy that is based on classical conditioning. it works by eliminating the learned anxious response that is associated with a feared object or situation. It is then possible to eliminate one learned response by replacing it with another so the patient is no longer anxious in the presence of the feared object or situation. This approach is based to be effective for a range of phobias such as a fear of spiders and fear of flying.

Question 19

A03: Limited perspective on behaviour

Answer 19

Behaviourists have been accused of ignoring other levels of explanation such as those that emphasise the importance of cognitive factors or emotional states. Treating human beings as a product of their conditioning alone means that we ignore the evidence of the role of these other factors in shaping behaviours. However, Skinner rejected this claim arguing that these internal states are scientifically untestable. Skinner argued that even complex behaviours such as our interactions with the opposite sex or pathological behaviour could be better understood by studying the reinforcement history of the individual.

Question 20

A03: Based on experimental work

Answer 20

The approach relies heavily on the use of lab experiments. Skinner’s work has high levels of control. The skinner box has allowed manipulation of consequences (IV) and accurate measurement of the rat’s behaviour following these consequences (DV). This allowed a clear establishment of ‘cause and effect’ to be made between consequences and future behaviour. It has high levels of falsifiability, and the hypothesis that “reinforcement increases the likelihood of repetition” can be easily operationalised and tested using empirical methods (data can be collected.) This means that the behavioural approach is capable of making valid cause-and-effect statements about the relationship between consequences and behavioural responses.

Question 21

A03: Based on non-human animals in research

Answer 21

Skinner’s research has received some criticism because his experiments involved the study of non-human animals. Critics claim that his reliance on rats and pigeons means that Skinner’s studies can tell us little about human behaviour. They claim that, unlike non-human animals, human beings have free will rather than having their behaviour determined by positive or negative reinforcement. However, Skinner argued that free will is an illusion and that what we believe are behaviours chosen through free will are actually the product of external influences that guide our behaviour on a daily basis.