behaviourism

Question 1

evaluation points?

Answer 1

research on animals
real world application
well controlled research
environmental determinism

Question 2

types of conditionings?

Answer 2

classical & operant

Question 3

experiment for classical conditioning?

Answer 3

Pavlov’s dog

Question 4

experiment for operant conditioning?

Answer 4

Skinner’s box

Question 5

assumptions of this approach?

Answer 5

Believe we are born as a blank slate and become shaped through learning from our environment

Behaviourists are solely interested in behaviour that can be observable and measurable (hence why Watson rejects introspection as it is vague)

Behaviourists rely on lab experiments to maintain control and objectivity.

Question 6

explain one limitation of approach (A03)

Answer 6

Research on animals (animals are not as cognitively complex as humans, making it hard to generalise findings to people, also raises ethical issues)
Environmental determinism
(Does not take into consideration internal forces such as free will, ignoring mental processes)

Question 7

explain one strength of approach (A03)

Answer 7

Well controlled research (used lab experiments for studies, highly controlled settings, makes it scientific, breaks down behaviour into stimulus-response units removing any extraneous variables)

real world application (findings have been used successfully in institutions such as psych wards and prisons (reinforcements), classical conditioning made important contribution to understanding of mental disorders.

Question 8

Outline Pavlov’s experiment on classical conditioning

Answer 8

Pavlov’s research aimed to investigate his theory of classical conditioning where and existing unconditional response such as salivation is associated with a new stimulus. His procedure included conditioning dogs to associate a bell (neutral stimulus) to food (unconditional stimulus) in order to produce a conditioned response of salivation

Question 9

Outline Skinner’s experiment on operant conditioning

Answer 9

Skinner’s research aimed to investigate operant conditioning through a rat’s behavioural response to reinforcements. Placed in Skinner’s box, when the animal accidently pushed down on a lever, it would be rewarded with food, acting as positive reinforcement. Overtime, the rat learnt to push the lever to get food.

Skinner also used negative reinforcement to produce the same behaviour by administering mild shocks to the box which would stop when the animal pushed down on the lever. Therefore, showing behaviour can be shaped by consequences.

Question 10

what is classical conditioning?

Answer 10

learning through association

Question 11

what is operant conditions

Answer 11

A form of learning where behaviour is learnt and maintained through consequences