behaviourism Flashcards
what are some psychologists who study learning theories?
Influential psychologists:
- Ivan Pavlov
- Burrhus Frederic (BF) Skinner
- John B. Watson
Rejected other ideas (e.g., biological and psychodynamic approaches)
Focused on environmental determinism - our environment is the main influence on behaviour.
what are the assumptions of learning theories?
All behaviour is learned and all we have at birth is the capacity to learn
A person is the product of their environment and born a blank slate (tabula rasa)
Extreme ‘nurture’ end of the debate
For psych to be a science, it should focus on observable behaviour which can be objectively measured
The learning approach assumes we learn behaviour in 3 key ways which can be remembered through the mnemonic CIA. This tell us that we learn through…
consequences
imitation
assocoiation
what is classical conditioning?
where something is assocoated with soemthing which can cause pleasure to needs or a fear from a phobia but is maintained through a conditioned response and conditioned stimulus
explain Pavlov dog’s for classical conditioning?
give some examples of what happens in classical conditioning?
- Extinction - If the conditioned stimulus is continually presented without the unconditioned stimulus, then the conditioned response gradually dies out (becomes extinct).
- Spontaneous Recovery - If the conditioned response is not reinforced, it can become extinguished (extinction) - but after a period of rest, the response may suddenly reappear.
- Discrimination - The conditioned response is produced only by presentation of the original stimulus, it doesn’t extend to similar stimulus.
- Generalisation - Extension of the conditioned response from the original stimulus to similar stimuli.
- One Trial Learning - When conditioning occurs immediately after only one trial.
what is operant conditioning?
Learning from consequences.
Future behaviour is determined by the consequences of past behaviour.
explain skinner’s boxes research?
Throughout his research, Skinner used what has become known as ‘Skinner Boxes’ with pigeons and rats, and carefully measured the frequency of selected behaviour.
Here he was able to carefully
control the consequences of
behaviour ranging from
punishment to negative
reinforcement.
what are the key terms of operant conditioning?
- Primary reinforcers -
anything that fulfils a basic/biological need.
E.g., food fulfils hunger and water fulfils thirst.
Secondary reinforcers -
not inherently reinforcing, it only becomes a reinforcer because it is associated with a primary reinforcer.
E.g., caregiver gives the food that fulfils hunger.
what are schedule reinforcements?
something goes here
- Continuous reinforcement -
Desired behaviour is reinforced every single time it occurs.
E.g., rats gets a food pellet every time it presses the lever. - Partial reinforcement -
Desired behaviour is reinforced only part or some of the time.
Fixed ratio schedule - a rat gets a food pellet after 5 lever presses.
Variable ratio schedule - a rat gets a food pellet after a number of lever presses that changes all the time.
what are the types of reinforcement?
positive - where someones behaviour is rewarded which encourages them to repeat/ imitate that behaviour
negative - where someone behaviour is negatively rewarded as they try and avoid a certain thing and encourages to repeat the behaviour
punishment- someone’s behaviour is punished causing them to be less likely to repeat that behaviour.
how does positive reinforcement relate to skinners boxes?
how does negative reinfocement relate to skinners boxes?
how does punishment relate to skinner’s boxes?
what are the positive evaluations of behaviourism?
1 - There is lots of credible evidence to support the behaviourist approach.
For example, Little Albert was conditioned to fear rats. Through pairing rats (NS) with an unpleasant stimulus of a loud bang (UCS), after 7 pairings Albert showed fear in response to the rat. Watson & Rayner had used CC to teach/condition a fear response.
This means the approach has evidence to validate its claims, and can be seen as falsifiable.
The approach uses both objective and falsifiable methods to study only observable behaviours that underline stimulus-response links e.g. focusing on just the behavioural responses of spider phobics in response to spiders rather than internal cognitions.
This means the behaviourist approach is likely to be trustworthy and reliable deserving of respect (and government funding!).
Many useful and effective therapies have been developed using the principles of OC & CC. For example, SD uses gradual exposure and deep relaxation to gradually “unlearn” phobias. Some studies have found that SD is effective in treating 91% of individuals with specific phobias.
Similarly, token economy uses OC to challenge the behaviour of schizophrenic patients, where they are rewarded with tokens that can be exchanged for primary reinforcers of the patients choice.
This means that the approach has ultimately benefited society and can be seen as extremely useful.
what are the negative evaluations of behaviourism?
1 - However, there are methodological issues with some of the research in the behaviourist approach. For example, most of Pavlov’s research was on dogs, meaning…
there may be issues extrapolating the principles of CC & OC to explain behaviour in humans. This is the issue of evolutionary discontinuity. It is argued that humans are qualitatively different to all other species meaning we cannot generalise findings from animal research to humans. E.G. Humans have a language acquisition device (LAD) in their brains that no other animal possesses. This makes human beings unique. Similarly, Skinner Boxes were predominantly used with rats and pigeons.
All these issues limit the extent to which we can use this research to support the behaviourist explanations of human behaviour.
Behaviourism proposes that most of our behaviour is determined (caused) by past experiences that have been conditioned through our interactions with the environment.
Skinner argued that everything we do is the sum of our reinforcement history.
This means the approach offers an incomplete explanation of human behaviour, neglecting proven biological factors in human behaviour as well as free-will.
