behavioural approach

Question 1

what are the three approaches?

Answer 1

-we are all born into the world as a blank slate
-all behaviour is acquired through the process of conditioning
- same laws apply to human and non-human animal behaviour

Question 2

SEE we are all born into the world as a blank slate

Answer 2

S- When we are born our mind is effectively a blank slate a tabula rasa. this means we are not born with any pre-prepared mental content.

E-this means that our personalities and behaviour are a product of interactions with our environment. we are shaped as a result of each experience we have.

E- an example is from the study of Little Albert. prior to the W&R trial, Albert had no pre-pre-prepared reaction to the rat (NS) following paired presentation with a loud noise (UCS) he had become extremely fearful. (CR)

Question 3

SEE all behaviour is required through the process of conditioning

Answer 3

S- Classical conditions learnt through association and operant conditioning is learnt through reinforcement
E- (C) pavlov conditioned dogs to salivate to the sound of a bell. this outcome was created through joint stimulation of an unconditioned stimulus and a neutral stimulus (bell) over several trials. Salivation to the sound of the bell was a learnt response (conditioned) (O) Skinner demonstrated the positive reinforcement led to an increase in the frequency of target behaviour whereas punishment leads to a decrease in target behaviour
E- an example of conditioning affecting human behaviour can be seen in the acquisition of phobias. people can develop a phobia of dogs after being bitten as they’ve learnt to associate the dog with being bitten and the pain

Question 4

SEE same laws apply

Answer 4

S- laws of learning are believed to be same for humans and non-human animals. it is impossible to study animal learning in the laboratory and make generalisations to human behaviour
e- as behaviours do not look to the impact of emotions, thoughts or biological structures, they can assume that animal/human behaviour is subject to the same influences. animals/ humans use the same basic building blocks for learning, only humans have more of them
E- token reward systems- operant conditioning principles developed in the confinement of the lab with animal, also applied in controlling prisoner behaviour with token reward systems. the desirable behaviour is rewarded

Question 5

freewill/determinist
S/W
application
behavioural

Answer 5

determinism, sees an individuals behaviour as being a product of uncontrollable external factors.
weakness

Question 6

determinism example in this approach behavioural

Answer 6

the rewards and punishments we have been provided with are beyond our control. we cannot determine our behaviour as we do not choose the environment that we are born into

Question 7

reductionist/hollistic
S/W
application

Answer 7

reductionist, the behavioural approach would disregard biological influences
only behaviour and the outcomes of interactions with our environment are important

Question 8

practical applications
S/W
application

Answer 8

hugely successful treatments/therapies
S

Question 9

practical application examples in the approach

Answer 9

systematic desensitisation is extremely effective in the treatment of phobias. based on classical conditioning
75% of patients with phobias responded to SD

Question 10

idiographic/nomothetic
S/W
application/ why is it problematic

Answer 10

individuals are thought to learn all of their behaviours in the exact same way (conditioning) no variation
problematic as no treatment will work for everyone
SD is not 100% effective for all phobias

Question 11

nature/nurture
s/w
application

Answer 11

nurture, behaviour focuses solely on the surrounding environment as a cause of shaping behaviour
behaviourist would not consider how our genes may have contributed to out personality/behaviour

Question 12

example of nurture

Answer 12

behavioural psychologist would say that depression is caused by the individuals surroundings, not the fact that they could have a lack of serotonin in your brain

Question 13

scientific/non-scientific
S/W
application

Answer 13

scientific
advantageous as it allows us to differentiate beliefs and real facts
this makes the assumption of the behavioural approach much harder to argue against as they are supported with evidence
strength

Question 14

therapy

Answer 14

systematic desensitisation

Question 15

what does systematic desensitisation involve

Answer 15

therapy based on classical conditioning, it involves counter conditioning, where the therapist attempts to replace the fear response with a relaxation response in presence of the phobia. we can’t be both fearful and relaxed at the same time, a hierarchy of increasingly fearful situations are used

Question 16

describe the processes of systematic desensitisation

Answer 16

1. an anxiety hierarchy is established, where the therapist would ask the individual to list situations from the least to most fearful, in spider phobics least fearful might be seeing a picture of a small spider, most would be finding a tarantulala in their bed
   2 erapist trains the client in deep relaxation techniques
2. therapist ask the client to visualise the least feared situation. they will perform the deep relaxation procedure
3. once the client feels comfortable at that level, they are asked to imagine the next situation in the hierarchy
4. over a series of sessions that client will cope with every level, although they can stop at any time and restart at a lower level. eventually they can cope with the most feared situation

Question 17

evaluation of therapy
effectiveness strength

Answer 17

extremely effective in treatment of simple phobias Barlowe et al. success rates of between 60-90% have been reported for spider & blood injection phobias.
McGrath et al. reported that about 75% of patients with phobias responded to systematic desensitisation
suggesting SD may be vital in improving quality of life for phobic individuals

Question 18

evaluation of therapy
effectiveness weakness

Answer 18

fails to treat all phobias, especially ones with an evolutionary survival concept
Ohman et al. says that SD is not effective for all phobias. eg, heights, dark.. as they are not phobias as result of personal experiences
SD may be of limited effectiveness and may only be successful in treating some phobias

Question 19

evaluation of therapy
ethical strength for
behavioural

Answer 19

more ethical than other behavioural therapies (flooding)
in SD each step is conducted slowly and at a pace dictated largely by the client. therapist can see whether the client is fully relaxed at each stage of the therapy. therapist must only move up the hierarchy when the client is completely ready. suggesting it’s highly ethical, patients well being is being looked after

Question 20

evaluation for therapy
ethical weaknesses

Answer 20

during treatment clients are subjected to lots of fear/anxiety. using this therapy to treat phobias results in a high level of discontinuation from pps because of the high level of stress (may do more harm than good) Barlow and Duand (1989) sugest subjecting suffers to SD could make their phobia worse.
may be failing to protect their well being

Question 21

evaluation
conclusion

Answer 21

overall the biggest strength is that there is a success rate of 75% of the cure of phobias. the biggest weakness from the evidence above is that it fails to protect some peoples well-being due to anxiety caused. based on the evidence it is clear that SD is effective but isn’t ethical as it should be

Question 22

methodology
Watson and Rainer

Answer 22

-W and R said it was an experiment but it was actually a controlled observation, took part in a controlled environment
sample: one pps (LA) he was familiar with hospitals as his mother was a wet nurse. he was a baby aged 9 months and was described as a male infant who was unemotional and stolid. sample was obtained by opportunity samplinf

Question 23

aim of Watson and Rainers study

Answer 23

to test whether classical conditioning could be used to programme a fear response into an infant

Question 24

what did the proceduers consist of

Answer 24

emotional tests
5 sessions

Question 25

procedures of the emotional tests

Answer 25

he was confronted suddenly with a white rat, rabbit, dog, monkey, masks with and without hair, cotton wool, burning newspaper. he was also tested with a loud sound made by striking ahammer on a steel bar. one got his attention the other strike the bar

Question 26

describe the procedures of session 1 little Albert

Answer 26

baby was 11 months and 3 days, a white rat was presented to him, A started to reach for it. at that point the bar was struck just behind his head

Question 27

Little Albert
describe the procedures of session 2

Answer 27

he was 11 months 10 days
he was shown the rat with no sound to see if the previous experience affected his behaviour. he was shown the joint stimulus (rat/noise) five times

Question 28

little Albert
describe the procedures of session 3

Answer 28

11 months 15 days
question was whether the learned link between the rat and noise would be generalised to other objects. albert was shown a rat, wooden blocks, a rabbit, a dog, a fur coat, cotton wool and John watson’s hair

Question 29

little Albert
describe the procedures of session 4

Answer 29

11 months 20 days after more joint stimulation with the rat, alberts conditioned emotional response was ‘freshened’ up using some ‘joint stimulation’ he was then taken to a new environment (well lit room) with 4 people present. he was placed on a table in the centre the room, the objects were presented to little albert alone and then the rat with the sounds

Question 30

little Albert
describe the procedures of session 5

Answer 30

12 months 21 days
tested one more time. he had been to the lab in the interim but no emotional tests had been conducted. final test involved a santa claus mask, fur coat, rat, rabbit, dog and blocks

Question 31

little Albert
findings of the emotional tests

Answer 31

no fear response to the objects before conditioning. first time the bar was struck ‘the child starred violently’ second stimulation, same thing and his lip trembled. third stimulation, child broke into a crying fit

Question 32

findings after session 1

Answer 32

when the bar was struck he jumped and fell forward, burying his head on the table. he did not cry. when the bar was struck a second time, he fell forward again whimpering a little bit

Question 33

little albertfindings session 2

Answer 33

this time he did not reach for the rat, stared at it. the rat was placed nearer, he reached out carefully but withdrew his hands when the rat started to nuzzle his head. cautious behaviour was tested, shows he had a nervous response to the rat

Question 34

little Albert
findings session 3

Answer 34

played happily with the blocks, showed immediate fear when shown the rat, retained his emotional response. his response to the rabbit was also extreme. neither dog/fur coat produced a violent reaction like the rabbit. cotton wool was in a plastic bag, he showed caution at first. albert played with Watsons hair showing no fear response

Question 35

little Albert
findings session 4

Answer 35

alberts responses to the rat, rabbit and dog are less extreme than before. after further ‘freshening’ up the conditioned fear was stronger. still no response to the blocks. distinct learned responses to furry objects

Question 36

little Albert
findings session 5

Answer 36

albert responded to the test objects in a clearly different way than to the control objects (blocks) his reaction to the furry objects weren’t as extreme. clearly avoided them & whimpered

Question 37

little Albert
conclusions

Answer 37

• a fear response can be created
  -lots of phobias could be true conditioned emotional reactions
• persistence of conditioned response only found in people who aren’t as strong willed
• emotional disturbances in adults is also down to conditioned responses in infancy

Question 38

little Albert
evaluation
methodological strength

Answer 38

extraneous variables can be controlled. (may have affected the outcome) it is easily replicable and quick to conduct. films were used to record Albert. others can confirm their findings

Question 39

little Albert
evaluation
methadological weakness

Answer 39

we cannot apply the findings to real life scenarios. as it was conducted in a lab like room (lacks ecological validity) study lacks external validity, we cannot say a baby would react this way in ‘real life’

Question 40

LA
what is problematic about only using one participant

Answer 40

cannot generalise Alberts reactions to all children. behaviours may have been unique to Albert and the setting. he was described as being extremely ‘phlegmatic’ not true of all children

Question 41

evaluation of procedures
use of opportunity sampling (s)
LA

Answer 41

albert was easy to access. mum worked at hospital where W&R worked. saved time.

Question 41

LA
evaluation of procedures
opportunity sampling (W)

Answer 41

sample is inevitably biased. picked because of his ‘unemotional/stolid nature’ A was raised in a hospital setting, unlike other children so cannot generalise findings

Question 42

LA
reliability

Answer 42

generally strong
use of control setting and structured sessions

Question 43

LA
validity

Answer 43

questionable, they had interest in the outcome, may have exaggerated fear responses to support their research. may mean the results are compramised by research bias. lacks ecological valididty, as it was in a lab setting

Question 44

LA
evaluation of findings
can’t explain why phobias persist

Answer 44

classic conditioning cannot explain why phobias persist. W&R talk about freshening up A conditioned fear response. if only classical conditioning was involved it might disappear in time
once a fear is learned situation that produces fear will be ignored. example of negative reinforcement

Question 45

LA
evaluation of findings
biological preparedness

Answer 45

learning alone cannot explain all phobias. BP is another explanation. martin sellegman argued that animals are genetically programmed to rapidly learn assoiciation between certain smell and fear. (height…) it is adaptive to rapidly learn to avoid these stimuli

Question 46

LA
ethical issues
creating fear in young child

Answer 46

they were aware they were distressing Albert. causing him distress. however W&R felt that what Albert experienced in their study was fairly normal

Question 47

LA
ethical issues
more psychological harm

Answer 47

one of Albert’s response was to sucl his thumb when he was frightened but it also reduced the effect of the loud noise on conditioning him. so they removed his thumb so the conditioned response could be obtained. wanted him to be really scared

Question 48

LA
ethical issues
lasting effects

Answer 48

W&R intended to remove alberts learned conditioned responses with counter conditioning. albert was suddenly removed so this couldn’t be done. W&R believed the responses created would’ve have had lasting effects. he would’ve indefinitely been scared of furry objects

Question 49

LA
social implications

Answer 49

as a result of the research we must question whether it is appropriate to shape and control the behaviour of children through conditioning. this intrusion on a child’s natural behaviour pattern resulted in detrimental effects

Question 50

behavoural

the formation of relationships

Answer 50

rewards need satisfaction theory.
based on conditioning assumption, we form relationships because they are rewarding. operant conditioning theory suggests people seek rewarding experiences that reinforce our behaviour, FOA AND FOA say they bring sex, status money, help, agreement and opinions, we are reinforced to maintain and form relationships to keep rewards. argyle suggested we are rewarded though satisfaction of basic need we all have e.g need for aggression met with arguments.
classical conditioning can be applied to relationships. if an individual were to compliment us (UCS) we would feel happy (UCR) happiness becomes associated with individual who gave the compliment (NS) so that we want to spend more time with the individual (CS) we will experience happiness (CR) even without the presence of compliments

Question 51

why would behaviourist psychologist adopt SD as opposed to other forms of therapy

Answer 51

the main assumption is that all behaviour is learned. if the principles of classical and operant conditioning can be used to learn behaviour, the the same principle can be used to unlearn an unhealthy behaviour. SD adopts the principles of classical conditioning in the treatment of phobias. it is assumed that the client has created an association between an item and fear. using counter conditioning, client will learn to associate the object/situation with relaxation instead. operant conditioning is also involved when the client feels relaxed in the presence of the feared object, this is rewarding and such positive reinforcement encourages the client to progress with the hierarchy.

Question 52

what does classical conditioning say

Answer 52

we learn from associations between something in the environment (stimulus) and a physical reaction (response) pavlov dogs

Question 53

what does operant conditioning say

Answer 53

new behaviours are acquired via the process of reinforcement. an organism interacting with its environment will receive either positive consequences (rewards/reinforcement ) or negative consequences (punishments)

Question 54

what is a reinforcer

Answer 54

anything which increases the likelihood of a behaviour occurring again. if a behaviour is reinforced it is more likely to be repeated.

Question 55

what happens if a behaviour is punished

Answer 55

the chance off that behaviour being repeated are reduced.

Question 56

positive reinforcers

Answer 56

involve the receipt of something pleasant

Question 57

negative reinforcers

Answer 57

evolve escaping from an unpleasant situation

Question 58

example of operant conditioning

Answer 58

skinners rats