behaviourism Flashcards
assumptions about human behaviour;
*humans born with a blank slate
*ALL behavior is learnt from environment, so can be unlearnt
What was Pavlov’s study into classical conditioning
dogs were conditioned to salivate when hearing bell by:
*unconditional stimulus- food
*unconditioned response- salivation
*neutral stimulus- bell
*dogs learnt to associate unconditioned stimulus with noise of bell that became a conditioned stim
What does operant conditioning emphasise the importance of
*Consequences- learning thru rewards and reinforcement
What’s positive reinforcement
*reward is given for behaviour
*behaviour is encouraged so behavior is repeated
Whats NEGATIVE reinforcement
*perfoming behaviour to remove/ avoid an unpleasant consequence
*behavior repeated to avoid unpleasant consequence
Skinners research into operant conditioning
*animals in a “Skinner box” with a lever, a light and a food dispenser. *if rat pressed lever, the light came on and received food this is
positive reinforcement, rat learnt to press lever for food.
*In a variation , Skinner electrified the floor of the Skinner Box and pressed the lever to turn the electric current off for 30 seconds. shows negative reinforcement since the rat is learning to remove something painful. Skinner found that the rats learned to press the lever, but not as quickly as the rats that were positively reinforced.
evalute behaviorism
LIMITATIONS;
*P- environmental determinism
*E- approach states that indi behaviour controlled by external factors- learning thru stimulus, response and association or being rewarded for behaviour that INEVITABLY cause behaviour
E- neglects free will, and choice tha5t individuals have- leave ppl feeling as if they have no control over behaviour.
L- limiting the appropiatness of the behaviourist explanation
P-environmental reductionism
E- approach breaks down complex human behaviour to simple basic units- learning thru stim, response, association or rewards/ reinforcements
E- neglects holistic approach, that would take into account persons culture and social context would influence and explain human behaviour.
L- therefore the behaviorist explanation may lack validity cause it doesnt allow to understand behaviour in context.
STRENGTHS:
P- uses scientific methods- lab experiments- uses scientific enquiry to investigate human behaviour.
E- for eg, Pavlov used controlled environments alongside objective and empirical techniques
E- like measuring the amount of saliva produced during conditioning in learning thru association.
L- therefore this increases the overall internal validity of behaviourist explanations, raising psychology’s scientific status
Evaluate classical conditioning
P- practical applications
E- principle of the theory that behavior is caused by classical conditioning has lead to treatment of systematic desensitisation.
E- effective in treating phobias - helps indi unlearn their MALADAPTIVE ASSOCIATION to a phobic stimulus by gradually exposing them to their phobia whilst applying relaxation techniques.
L- therefore making the behaviourist approach an important part of applied psychology
Evaluate Operant conditioning
the use of animals in research by behaviourists has been criticised. In Skinner’s study involving rats- the rats were shocked when they didn’t perform a certain behaviour.. Subjecting the mice to these aversive conditions is unethical.
*animal bias- rats may not be able to represent human behavior therefore lowering the internal validity, and findings cant be generalised
