Behaviourism Flashcards

You may prefer our related Brainscape-certified flashcards:
1
Q

What are the three main assumptions of behaviourism?

A

1) Nearly all behaviour is learnt,
2) Animals and humans learn in the same ways,
3) The ‘mind’ is irrelevant.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

What is meant by ‘nearly all behaviour is learnt’?

A
  • Only exceptions are a few inborn reflexes and a few inborn instincts,
  • Evidence now shows that genetics can influence psychological features,
  • Behaviourism claims that learning is the cause of the majority of behaviours.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

What is meant by ‘animals and humans learn in the same ways’?

A
  • Humans can do much more complex things than other animals, the principle by which we learn are the same,
  • Based on the idea that we can form stimulus-response associations between stimuli and our actions,
  • We may use both conditioning, but humans can be said to use other forms of learning as well, e.g. social learning.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

What is meant by ‘the ‘mind’ is irrelevant’?

A
  • Can’t directly observe and measure a person’s thinking,
  • Can only obtain measurable data by studying behaviour,
  • Although cognitive abilities cannot be directly, scientifically measured, they may give a more complete explanation of behaviour, as shown by social learning theory.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

Ivan Pavlov, method (classical conditioning)

A
  • Noticed that his dogs would salivate before they got food; realised that they had associated food with another stimulus,
  • Whenever Pavlov gave his dogs food, he would also ring a bell,
  • After repeating this procedure several times, Pavlov tried ringing the bell without giving the dogs any food.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

Ivan Pavlov, results

A
  • The bell alone caused salivation.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

Ivan Pavlov, conclusion

A
  • When dogs see food they salivate, this is an automatic, unlearned response - a reflex,
  • The food is an unconditioned stimulus and salivation is an unconditioned response,
  • The bell has become a conditioned stimulus, and salivation has become a conditioned response.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

Skinner (1938), method (Operant conditioning)

A
  • Created a ‘Skinner box’, in which he placed one rat at a time,
  • Each box contained a variety of different stimuli, a speaker, lights, a floor which gave an electric shock, and a food dispenser that released food upon a lever being pressed,
  • A hungry rat would be placed in a skinner box, the time taken for the rats to learn pressing the lever would release food was recorded.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

Skinner (1938), results

A
  • Initially the rat would run around the cage until it accidentally pressed the lever and it was rewarded with food,
  • the more the rat was put back into the box, the quicker they got at learning where the lever was.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

Skinner (1938), conclusion

A
  • Rats can learn behaviour through operant conditioning,
  • A behaviour such as pressing a lever can be positively reinforced by receiving food.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Skinner (1938), evaluation

A
  • Hugely influential in promoting the idea of behavioural psychology,
  • Experiment used animals; results might not be generalisable to humans,
  • Sample size was too small, reducing reliability of results.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Watson and Rayner (1920), method (little Albert)

A
  • Partcipant was an 11 month old boy named ‘little Albert’,
  • Showed no fear when white fluffy objects such as rats or rabbits,
  • Researchers tried to create a conditioned response to these objects,
  • White rat was placed in front of Albert, as he reached out for it, a metal bar was struck loudly behind his head,
  • This was repeated twice at first, then 5 more times a week later.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

Watson and Rayner (1920), results

A
  • When Albert was shown a rat, he would start to cry,
  • Also extended to other white fluffy objects, e.g. a white santa claus beard prop.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

Watson and Rayner (1920), conclusion

A
  • Fear response to white fluffy objects had been conditioned in Little Albert, showing that abnormal behaviour can be learned.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

Watson and Rayner (1920), evaluation

A
  • Very unethical; experiment couldn’t be repeated today,
  • Not everyone goes on to develop a phobia/fear after a negative situation, learning theory can’t be the entire explanation,
  • Was a laboratory study; lacks ecological validity,
  • Results support Pavlov’s dogs; idea of classical conditioning.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

What is Social Learning Theory, and who developed it?

A
  • Developed by Bandura,
  • Agrees with the idea that people can learn by conditioning, but also claims that they learn a lot from role models,
  • Some mediational processes are also involved between the stimulus and the response,
  • Proposes that several processes take place for learning to happen: modelling, identification,
  • Can also be learnt through reinforcement and vicarious reinforcement.
17
Q

Bandura et al. (1961), method

A
  • 36 girls and 36 boys with a mean age of 52 months took part in the study,
  • Study had a matched participants design (children matched on ratings of aggressive behaviour shown in their nursery school),
  • Had three conditions,
  • In first condition, children observed aggressive adult models playing with a bobo doll,
  • In the 2nd, children observed non-aggressive models playing with other toys and ignoring the bobo doll,
  • In the 3rd, a control condition; children had no exposure to the models,
  • The children’s behaviour was then monitored for 20 minutes in a room containing aggressive toys and non-aggressive toys.
18
Q

Bandura et al. (1961), results

A
  • Children exposed to aggressive models imitated a lot of their aggressive behaviour,
  • Children in the non-aggressive and control conditions showed barely any aggressive behaviour,
  • Aggressive behaviour was slightly higher in the control condition than in the non-aggressive condition.
19
Q

Bandura et al. (1961), conclusion

A
  • Aggressive behaviour is learned through imitation of others behaving aggressively.
20
Q

Bandura et al. (1961), evaluation

A
  • Study provides evidence for social learning theory,
  • Strict control of variables; results likely reliable; study can be replicated,
  • has low ecological validity; artificial situation,
  • Difficult to generalise; limited sample; children all from the same school,
  • Study encouraged aggression in children; could be an ethical problem.