Assumptions

Question 1

Tabula Rasa - definition

Answer 1

Humans are born like a blank slate.

Question 2

Tabula Rasa

Answer 2

Behaviourists believe that when we’re born our mind is a “tabula rasa”.
According to the traditional behaviourist approach, we’re not born with in-built mental content.
Internal events such as thinking, and emotion don’t drive our behaviour.
Instead, the belief is that all our behaviour is learned from interactions with the environment.
We don’t think about our behaviour, we respond passively to environmental stimuli.

Question 3

Nature VS Nurture

Answer 3

The behaviourist approach supports the view that social and environmental factors have the greatest influence on behaviour, over and above innate and biological factors.
Behaviourist theory ignores factors such as genetics, physiology and evolution in explaining behaviour.

Question 4

Environmental determinism

Answer 4

Our behaviour is determined by the environment that we grew up in.
The associations we make early on in life and the early rewards / punishments provided by our environment pre-determine our later reactions to other people and situations.

Question 5

Classical conditioning - definition

Answer 5

Behaviour is learned through association.

Question 6

Pavlov (1902)

Answer 6

Before conditioning:
Food is an unconditioned stimulus (UCS).
Salivation is the unconditioned response (UCR).
During conditioning:
The sound of a bell is a neutral stimulus (NS).
The NS is presented alongside the UCS.
This is repeated several times.
This is where association occurs.
After conditioning:
The sound of a bell is now the conditioned stimulus (CS).
Salivation is the conditioned response (CR).

Question 7

Operant conditioning - definition

Answer 7

Behaviour is learned through reinforcement.

Question 8

Operant conditioning

Answer 8

A reinforcer is something that will increase the chance that the behaviour will occur again.
Reinforcement can be positive or negative and both will shape behaviour.

Question 9

Positive reinforcement

Answer 9

Adding a pleasant stimulus to increase that behaviour.

Question 10

Positive reinforcement - example

Answer 10

Being praised for completing homework.

Question 11

Negative reinforcement

Answer 11

Removing unpleasant stimulus to increase the behaviour.

Question 12

Negative reinforcement - example

Answer 12

Doing your homework to avoid being given a detention.

Question 13

Punishments

Answer 13

Behaviour is also learned through punishment.
Punishment weakens behaviour and should decrease the likelihood that the behaviour will reoccur again – the opposite of reinforcement.

Question 14

Positive punishment

Answer 14

Adding unpleasant stimulus to decrease the behaviour.

Question 15

Positive punishment - example

Answer 15

The naughty step.

Question 16

Negative punishment

Answer 16

Removing unpleasant stimuli to decrease the behaviour.

Question 17

Negative punishment - example

Answer 17

Having your phone being taken away.

Question 18

B.F Skinner (1938)

Answer 18

Demonstrated that a pigeon can learn to behave in certain ways due to being rewarded (positively reinforced) with food.
As the behaviour has been reinforced (rewarded) it’s likely that the animal will repeat this behaviour again.

Question 19

Humans and animals learn in similar ways

Answer 19

Behaviourists believe that there are no differences in the way animals and humans learn.
The laws of learning are the same for both humans and non-human animals.
We’re able to study animal learning in a lab environment and make generalisations about human behaviour.

Question 20

Pavlov and systematic desensitisation

Answer 20

Pavlov developed the principles of classical conditioning with dogs.
He showed how they could be conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell, applying the principles to humans.
These same principles have been applied in behaviourist therapies, to help people overcome problems such as phobias.
For example:
In systematic desensitisation, the client will learn to associate the phobic object with feelings of relaxation, instead of anxiety.

Question 21

Behaviourist assumptions and criminal behaviour

Answer 21

The behaviourist approach assumption that behaviour is learned through conditioning can explain criminal behaviour in the terms of differential association.
Differential association theory proposes that people we associate with influence our views.
Through reinforcement, observation and imitation, criminal behaviour can be encouraged.
Therefore, if an individual’s peers have positive views on crime, then it is likely the individual will develop these views, through direct and indirect reinforcement.
Criminal behaviour is positively reinforced directly if the individual is praised and rewarded for criminal behaviours, and indirectly positive reinforced if the individual’s role models are praised and rewarded.