Behaviorist Approach Flashcards
’ Humans are born like a blank slate’
the mind is like a ‘tabula rasa’ meaning blank slate
not born with mental context and learn through environment.
we are passive and do not have conscious.
Bandura demonstrated children learn aggression through environmental factors.
By exposing them to aggressive role models, Bandura found that the children then learnt the aggressive behavior and copied from observing.
Our behaviour is determined by the enviornment we grew up in
‘Behaviour learnt through conditioning’
classical conditioning is learnt through association.
associating 2 things together to give same response.
Pavlov observed salvation in dogs, the NS became associated with the US for a CR.
operant conditioning learnt through reinforcement.
increases the chance of reoccurring behavior.
reinforcement can be positive or negative.
Skinner- with rats showed animals can learn specific behavior if it is positively reinforced.
‘Humans and animals learn in similar ways’
principles by which humans and animals learn are the same.
findings from animal studies can be applied to predict and make generalizations to human behavior.
Pavlov used dogs to develop the concept of classical conditioning.
Skinner used pigeons and rats to develop principles of operant conditioning.
Relationship Formation
Mary Ainsworth explored the relationship between mother and child. Ainsworth suggests that the child is born as a blank slate and ‘learns’ how to form relationships from the first relationship the infant haswith their primary caregiver. the first relationship the infant has acts as an internal model for all
future relationships, If the first relationship is secure and characterised by warmth, then the child will form secure,happy relationships moving forward. However, if the relationship is insecure and characterized by rejection and confusion, then the child will use this as their template
moving forward.
Main components of systematic desensitisation
Systematic Desensitisation (SD) Therapy Process
Step 1: Teaching Relaxation Techniques
* Mastering relaxation techniques helps establish a new stimulus-response link to the phobic object.
* This process is known as counter-conditioning, where the client learns a new, adaptive association.
* This process, also known as reciprocal inhibition, prevents anxiety.
Step 2: Constructing Anxiety Hierarchy
* The client constructs their own anxiety hierarchy, starting from the least feared scenario and progressing to the most feared scenario.
* This therapy traditionally involved in-vivo desensitisation, but now more common in-vitro desensitisation.
Step 3: Bringing Relaxation Techniques and Anxiety Hierarchy Together
* The client and therapist work their way up the anxiety hierarchy, starting from the least anxiety-provoking step.
* The client masters the relaxation techniques and must demonstrate a calm, relaxed response at each stage.
* This process is known as counter-conditioning.
Linking assumption to the therapy
Classical and Operant Conditioning
* Assumes normal behaviour is learned through conditioning.
* Classical conditioning involves association, where an unconditioned stimulus becomes associated with a neutral stimulus.
* Operant conditioning assumes behaviour is learned through reinforcement.
Abnormal Behavior
* Assumes abnormal behaviour is a result of maladaptive faulty learning.
* Example: A phobia person associates fear with a phobic stimulus, causing them to avoid it.
Systematic Desensitisation
* Aims to break down maladaptive learning and re-learn a functional response.
* Aims to gradually replace fear with relaxation.
Operant Conditioning
* Key to therapy as the client progresses through an anxiety hierarchy.
* Positive reinforcement encourages the client to associate relaxation with the phobic object.
Systematic Desensitisation (evaluation of efffectivness)
SD is effective in treating specific phobias, as demonstrated by Rothbaum et al.’s (2000) study on flying phobia.
* Post-SD, 93% of participants agreed to take a trial flight and had lower anxiety levels, a positive effect observed 6 months post-treatment.
* The effects of SD are immediate and persist even after therapy is completed.
* SD is not always effective, and may not be universally effective for all phobias, especially those not influenced by personal experiences.
* Examples include heights, which cannot be effectively treated using SD due to their evolutionary survival benefit.
Symptom substitutions- SD only treats symptoms rather than the cause of phobia. e.g. social phobia could be caused by an abusive relationship. SD can cure the phobia, but the problem remains and the problem could return in another form.
Not effective for more generalised fears such as agorophobia. Seligman argued humans have anicent fears which are things that would have been dangerous in our evolutionary past e.g. snakes, heights. SD not appropriate for all phobias.
Systematic Desensitisation (evaluation of ethics)
Ethical Considerations of Specific Difficulty Therapy (SD)
- Valid consent is obtained from the client before SD begins, ensuring they are of ‘healthy mind’.
- Clients can withdraw from therapy at any point, and relaxation techniques minimize distress.
- SD is more ethical than other therapeutic approaches due to the equitable relationship between the therapist and the client.
- SD increases control, with the therapist playing a less central role.
- The client is at the heart of the therapy, dictating the pace and not being coerced.
- The risk of dependence on the therapist or attribution of success to the therapist is lower as the therapist is external to the therapy.
- SD is effective for specific phobias, but questions arise about its universal application and its ability to address the root cause of the phobia.
Compared to other therapies such as flooding, SD is more ethical as each step is conducted slowly and at a pace largely dictated by the client.
the therapy only moves up the hierarchy when the client is comfortable, therefore anxiety is not an issue. Clients prefer SD over flooding as it does not cause the same degree of trauma and the relaxation technique are pleasant.
Watson & Raynor’s Methodology and Procedure
- Conducted in controlled conditions, involving a single participant, Little Albert. Not a case study as the focus was only on Alberts response to conditioning. Study is described as a controlled observation as it is not an experiment because there was only one condition.
The research involved three stages: establishing a conditioned emotional response, transferring a conditioned response to other stimuli, and exploring the effect of time on conditioned emotional responses. In Stage 1, Albert was presented with a white rat, which he showed no fear to.
In Stage 2, Albert was presented with a range of stimuli, including a rabbit, a dog, a fur coat, and cotton wool. The setting was changed to see if it affected the conditioned response.
In Stage 3, Albert was presented with a range of stimuli one month later, and his behavior was observed and recorded.
The study aimed to understand the effects of time on conditioned emotional responses and the impact of different stimuli on Albert’s emotional responses.
Findings
Albert’s Emotional Responses to Stimuli
Stage One: Establishing Emotional Response
* Startled by ‘loud noise’.
* Cries during joint stimulation phase.
* Cries and crawls away when rat presented without loud noise.
Stage Two: Transferring Emotional Response
* Crying when presented with a rat.
* Cries when presented with a dog.
* Cries when setting changes to a lecture hall.
* Cries until dog removed.
Stage Three: Effect of Time on Emotional Responses
* Cries when fur coat in contact with him.
* Cries when rat touches his hand.
* Wives when rat moves towards him.
Conclusions
It is probable that many of the phobias in psychopathology are true conditioned emotional reactions either of the direct or the transferred type. It is also possible that the persistence of conditioned responses will only be found in people who are not as
strong-willed. Emotional disturbances in adults cannot be traced back to sex alone, as Freudians would theorise. They must be considered with regards to conditioned and transferred responses set up in infancy and early youth in all three of the fundamental human emotions: love, fear and rage.
Watson argued these fears can only occur to those who are ‘constitutionally inferior’.
He was successful in conditioning a fear response in a child.
Evaluation
Little Albert was one baby boy, he was 9 months old at the start of the study and 11 months when the conditioning began. His mother was a wet nurse and he was chosen as he was healthy and seemed quite fearless. Albert’s mother was paid $1 for participating.
He was a healthy baby boy therefore the results can be applied to babies in the population improving the generalisability.
This is a strength as it results can be applied to the target population of babies and therefore used to improve society by understanding how phobias are formed and learning how to prevent them.
Due to ethical reasons W/R procedure could not be replicated. It would be very unethical to cause fear and distress in a young child by using loud noises which is beyond what you would normally expose children to.
W+R defend ethics to study, harm Albert experienced no more than everyday ‘rough and tumble’, intended to decondition Albert, mother removed him from hospital before, ethical guidelines didn’t exist at time of research - isn’t as unethical as critics say
W+R didn’t deal with ethical issues, didn’t debrief Albert’s mother, didn’t return Albert to original state of no fear response to furry objects - highly unethical
W+R study criticized for causing psychological harm in vulnerable ppt, created distress, potential lifelong fear response in infant, preventing from calming himself sucking his thumb - highly unethical
social implications
findings can be applied to education, Le Francais says classical conditioning can be used to improve student performance through maximizing pleasant stimuli, students will associate school with positive experiences - increased attendance, better grades
health sector - phobias learned response where feared thing is neutral stimulus associated with unconditioned unpleasant stimulus, led to therapy called systematic desensitization, counter - conditions fear response with relaxation until fully confronted with phobia, learn new conditioned response to source of phobia
Evaluation Of Approach- Determinism and Free Will
- Behaviourist approach is deterministic, viewing humans as born with a blank slate and the environment shaping them.
- It acknowledges limited free will, such as the ability to shape or choose our environment.
- Supporting environmental determinism undermines human choice and free will, leading to a ‘blame culture’.
- Recognizing determinism in behaviour allows for the identification of factors influencing behavior, such as phobias.
- This allows for the replacement of faulty learned behaviour with a relaxed response, ‘curing’ phobias.
Nature / Nurture
The behaviourist approach is considered to support the
nurture side of the nature/nurture debate. The
environment shapes behaviour.
The fact that the behaviourist approach only considers the nurture side of this important debate is a weakness
because it ignores the nature side of the debate such as the role of genes and thus cannot fully explain all
human behaviour. For example, genes have been found to play a role in aggression and shaping the
functioning of different areas of the brain, e.g. when the pre-frontal cortex has reduced activity people tend to
be more aggressive (Raine et al).
However, exploring only one side of the debate does allow behaviourists to conduct focused research with
clear parameters.
Scientific / Unscientific
Behaviourists use scientific methods to investigate ideas,
for example forming hypotheses and using methods like
experiments; therefore, the approach is considered to be
scientific.
As a subject, psychology strives towards being scientifically recognised. Approaches that use the scientific
method to investigate their ideas tend to be seen as more credible as the quality of their supporting evidence
is higher. This also means they are likely to get more funding for research and be adopted more widely in
society
