Behaviourism

Question 1

What is the behaviourist approach

Answer 1

A way of explaining behaviour in terms of what is observable in terms of learning

Question 2

What did the behavioursts fail to acknowledge?

Answer 2

*The ideas of the internal mental process
*They also thought that the brain was a black box

Question 3

What are the assumptions of the behvaiourist appraoch

Answer 3

We are born as a blank slate and we learn everything from the environment—–> societal norms shape us
We learn through conditioning—->classical conditioning and operant conditioning

Question 4

What do behaviourists believe

Answer 4

Behaviour is learnt through experience and interactions with the environment

Question 5

Define classical conditioning

Answer 5

When an unconditioned response (salivating to food for example) can be triggered by a neutral stimulus through repeated pairing.
Eventually the neutral stimulus alone produces the conditioned response (salivating to the sound of a metronome)

Question 6

What happens before conditioning (classical conditioning)

Answer 6

The uncontioned stimulus produces the unconditioned response.During conditioning the neutral stimulus is repeatedly paired with the Unconditioned stimulus producing an uncondtioned response

Question 7

What happens after conditioning
(classical conditioning)

Answer 7

The neutral stimulus becomes the conditioned stimulus producing the conditioned response

Question 8

What are the steps in classical conditioning

Answer 8

1. Before conditioning, the unconditioned stimulus (food) produced an unconditioned response (salivation)
2. During conditioning, the unconditioned stimulus was repeatedly paired with a neutral stimulus (a bell ringing), to produce the same unconditioned response ofsalivation
3. An association was made between the unconditioned stimulus and the neutral stimulus
4. After conditioning the neutral stimulus became the conditioned stimulus, producing the conditioned response of salivation

Question 9

When does extinction occur in psychology ?

Answer 9

When the conditioned stimulus is no longer paired with the unconditioned stimulus so the conditioned response becomes extinct

Question 10

When does spontaneous recovery occur

Answer 10

when the individual carries out the conditioned response some time after the extinction has occurred

Question 11

When does Generalisation occur

Answer 11

when slight changes in the conditioned stimulus (such as different pitches of the bell used in Pavlovs experiment, still produces the same conditioned response

Question 12

Define operant conditioning

Answer 12

When a creature performs a voluntary response and learns from the consequences of those actions

Question 13

What is the effect of punishment in operant conditioning

Answer 13

Discourages behaviour so it decreases the likelihood of that behaviour occurring

Question 14

What are the two types of reinforcement and what do they do

Answer 14

Negative
Positive

Positive reinforcement occurs when we carry out a behaviour to receive a reward

Negative reinforcement occurs when behaviour is carried out to avoid negative consequences

Question 15

What was the skinners box experiment (just read this imo)

Answer 15

Skinner demonstarted using a rat the mechanisms of postive and negative reinforcement
Positive reinforcement was shown when the rat prerssed down on the lever to receive food as a reward and due to this it learnt to repeat this action to increase their rewards

Question 16

What did classical conditioning lead to with little albert (Negatives)

Answer 16

• A phobia of white rats
• His fear started to become Generalised to other white lfuffy objects

Question 17

How are token economies an example of operant conditioing(an example of real life applications)

Answer 17

Inamtes who carry out socially desired tasks are rewarded with tokens which can be traded for privalleges such as extra tv time

Question 18

Why is the behaviourist approach seen as a limited explanation for human behaviour

Answer 18

Human behaviour accounts for
* Emotions
* Motivations
* Reasoning skills

Question 19

What are the negatives to the skinners box and Little albert (3)

Answer 19

• Skinners box caused considerable physical harm to the rats which breached ethical guidelines
• Watsons and Rayners experiment on little labert failed to protect him from psychological harm as well as not offering him the opportunity to withdraw
• Very unethical

Question 20

Why are non humans able to replace humans in behaviourist experimental research

Answer 20

Because the basic laws governing learning are the same across both non humans and humans

Question 21

What is the differnce between classical and operant ocnidtioning

Answer 21

Classical is an involuntary response:
* In Pavlovs research, the dog naturally drools to food, and the association that devlops between the neutral and unconditioned stimulus is automatic; the dog does not decide to drool to the metronome
Acquisition of response: classicla conditioning explains how automatic responses to new stimuli devlop through association. This is the initial learning phase, where two stimmuli are linked together to produce a new learned response

Operant is a voluntary response they prpduce behavipours with an undertansting that certain consequences may follow maintiance of response

Question 22

Why did behaviourists reject internal mental processes

Answer 22

Because the mind cannot be directly observed

Question 23

What is environmental determinism

Answer 23

Behaviour is the result of experience;behaviour can be predicted and controlled by manipulating the environment

Question 24

Do both positive and negative reinforcement increase or decrease the likelihood of a behaviour occuring

Answer 24

increase

Question 25

Give an example of negative reinforcement being used to increase the likelihood of a behaviour

Answer 25

If ur parents shout at you for not tidying your room you would do it so they stop shouting at you

Question 26

What is behvaviour shaping

Answer 26

When animals are trained to perform complex behaviours through operant conditioning
First simple behaviours will be rewarded then complex behaviours will be rewarded

Question 27

What are the pros of the Behaviourist approach (2)

Evaluation

Answer 27

• It is scientific- It studies objectively observable and measurable stimulus response mechanisms.
• Has a lot of practical applications such as effective counter conditioning treatments token economies and conditioning techniques used for classroom management—-> The fact that applications help reduce bad behaviour suggests that the principles of behaviourism is valid
• The experiment method was used

Question 28

What are the cons of the Behaviourist approach (3)

Evaluation

Answer 28

• Most studies use animals and their findings may not be generalised to human behaviour as we are more developed than them
• Testing on animals is unethical and can be seen as manipulative
• Behaviourist approach can be seen as very reductionist as their attempt to explain behaviour does not include emotions or culture