Behavioural Psychology Flashcards
What are the three assumptions of behavioural psychology?
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Conditioning
Humans and animals learn in similar ways
Explain the bobo doll experiment
Albert bandura discovered that children mimic the behaviour of adults, and when aggressive behaviour occurred the children copied; by beating up the “bobo doll” like the adult.
Explain the blank slate
John locke believes everyone is born as a blank slate and we learn everything from our environment and the people around us.
What is classical conditioning?
Learning to associate a neutral stimulus with a conditioned response through repetition.
What is operant conditioning?
When positive behaviour is demonstrated, it is presented with a reward. likewise, when a negative behaviour is displayed, it is punished.
What did pavlovs dogs prove?
Pavlov demonstrated that dogs could be conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell, this represented how humans can develop fears and phobias through conditioning.
What is aversion therapy?
Associating an unpleasant sensation with a negative behaviour to create a reflex response to avoid that behaviour. (such as drinking, or swearing)
What is systematic desensitisation therapy?
Slowly exposing an individual to their phobia in very small stages ( Desensitisation hierachy ) ranging from vitro desensitisation, imagining phobia, and vivo desensitisation, directly confronting it. Once the individual is fully comfortable and relaxed at a stage they will progress.
Describe Watson and Rayners (1920) little albert study
Watson and Rayner conditioned little albert to be scared of white mice by introducing a loud noise when albert was touching the mouse. before long little albert would cry in the presence of the mouse, and in different environments albert would still be afraid of the mouse, little albert would even be scared of things he associates with the mouse such as white beards or other small animals. This demonstrated the ease of developing a phobia and watson and rayner stated most phobia are probably conceived this way
What are the strengths of the behavioural approach
Scientific approach
Focus on present
Successful applications
What are the weaknesses of the behavioural approach
Emphasis on nurture - ignores genetics
Determinist approach
More relevance to animals than humans
Describe B.F Skinners pigeons
B.F Skinner used operant conditioning to further demonstrate that animals behaviours can be controlled. the pigeons were trained to peck a target for a food reward.
