behaviorist approach

Question 1

what are some assumptions of the behaviourist approach?

Answer 1

only interested in studying behaviour that can be observed and measured. behaviourists believe behaviour is learnt. rely on lab studies, in order to maintain more control and objectivity.

Question 2

what is classical conditioning?

Answer 2

learning through association, pavlovs dogs. conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell.

Question 3

in pavlovs study what is the process?

Answer 3

before conditioning
food- unconditioned stimulus
response
salivation- unconditioned response
bell- neutral stimulus
response
no salivation- no conditioned response

during conditioning
bell + food
response
salivation

after conditioning
bell- conditioned stimulus
response
salivation- conditioned response

Question 4

what is operant conditioning?

Answer 4

learning through consequences. skinner suggested learning is an active process whereby humans and animals operate on their environment

Question 5

what are + reinforcement, - reinforcement and punishment , + examples ?

Answer 5

+ receiving a reward when a certain behaviour is performed, eg, praise from a teacher when correct
- occurs when you avoid something unpleasant, the outcome is a positive experience, eg, when a student hands in an essay to avoid being told off
punishment- unpleasant consequence of behaviour eg, being shouted at for talking .

Question 6

explain skinners box

Answer 6

skinner conducted experiments with rats sometimes pigeons,

+ reinforcement- every time the rat activated a lever the box would reward it with food
- reinforcement- if they pressed the pedal (same behaviour) they could avoid an unpleasant stimulus (electric shock)

Question 7

evaluate the behaviourist approach

Answer 7

s- well controlled, focuses on the measurement of observable behaviour within highly controlled lab settings , by breaking down behaviour into basic stimulus-response units, all other extraneous variables were removed, allowing cause and effect relationships to be established , allows for scientific credibility.
counterpoint- however behaviourists may have oversimplified the learning process by reducing behaviour to such simple components, may have ignored and important influence on learning, such as social learning theory and the cognitive approach. learning is more complex than observable behaviour alone.
s- real world applications, the principles of conditioning have been applied to real world behaviours and problems.
operant - token economy systems, have been used successfully in prisons and psychiatric wards, reward appropriate behaviour with tokens that can be exchanged for privileges. increases the value of the behaviourist approach.
c- environmental determinism, sees all behaviour as conditioned by past conditioning experiences, ignored any possible influence of free will, ignores the influence of conscious decision-making processes on behaviour.
c- ethical issues , ever though high level of control some question the ethics, animals were in harsh conditions.
c- not generalisable to the target population as a whole, not known if animals behave the same ways as humans