Behaviourism Flashcards
1
Q
What is classical conditioning?
A
- Learning through association
- First demonstrated by Pavlov: showed that a neutral stimulus can come to elicit a new learned (conditioned) response through association
2
Q
Main findings of Pavlov’s research
A
- 1927
- Showed how dogs could be conditioned to salivate to the sound of a bell if the sound was repeatedly presented at the same time they’re given food
- Dogs learned to associate the sound of a bell (stimulus) with the food (another stimulus) and would produce the salivation response every time they heard the sound
3
Q
What is a neutral stimulus (NS)?
A
- An event that does not produce a response
- White rat
4
Q
What is an unconditioned stimulus (UCS)?
A
- An event that produces an innate, unlearned reflex response
- Loud noise
5
Q
What is an unconditioned response (UCR)?
A
- Innate, unlearned reflex behaviour that is produced when exposed to an unconditioned stimulus
- Fear of the loud noise
6
Q
What is a conditioned stimulus (CS)?
A
- An event that produces a learned response
- White rat
7
Q
What is a conditioned response (CR)?
A
- A learned behaviour that is produced when exposed to a conditioned stimulus
- Fear of the white rat
8
Q
Why is timing important?
A
Stimuli must be presented at the same time otherwise they won’t be paired
9
Q
What is stimulus generalisation?
A
Generalise stimulus to things that are similar to it
10
Q
What is extinction?
A
- Reversing the conditioning by presenting the conditioned stimulus without the unconditioned stimulus
- Over time the association will be broken
11
Q
What is spontaneous recovery?
A
- Once extinction has occurred, the connection suddenly recovers spontaneously
- Link between CS and UCS is made much more quickly
12
Q
What was the Little Albert Experiment?
A
- Conducted by Watson and Rayner 1920
- 9 month old infant shown a white rat/rabbit/monkey/various masks, was unemotional (no fear)
- Hammer being struck against a steel bar caused a fear response (crying)
- White rat and sound presented at same time 7 times over 7 weeks, caused a fear response
- When the rat was presented without the sound, a fear response still occurred
- Albert also developed phobias of objects which shared characteristics with the rat (stimulus generalisation)
13
Q
What is operant conditioning?
A
- Form of learning in which behaviour is shaped and maintained by its consequences
- Includes positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement and punishment
14
Q
Skinner box experiment
A
- Conducted experiments with rats/pigeons in specially designed cages called skinner boxes
- Every time the rat activated a lever (or pecked a disk in the case of the pigeon) within the box it would be rewarded with a food pellet
- The animal would continue to perform the behaviours
- Animals could be conditioned to perform the same behaviour to avoid an unpleasant stimulus e.g. an electric shock
15
Q
What is positive reinforcement?
A
- Receiving a reward when a certain behaviour is performed
- e.g. praise from a teacher for answering a question correctly in class
16
Q
What is negative reinforcement?
A
- Avoids something unpleasant and the outcome is a positive experience
- e.g. the student hands in homework so as not to be told off by the teacher
- Rat may learn that pressing a lever leads to avoidance of an electric shock through negative reinforcement
17
Q
What is a punishment?
A
- An unpleasant consequence of a behaviour
- Finding a way to avoid this is called negative reinforcement
- Positive: add something unpleasant
- Negative: remove something pleasant
18
Q
What is a Token Economy
A
- Operant conditioning is the basis of token economy systems
- Work by rewarding appropriate behaviour with tokens that can be exchanged for privileges
- Successful in institutions such as prisons and psychiatric wards
19
Q
Scientific credibility (evaluation of Behaviourism)
A
- Strength
- Falsifiable, objective, replicable, empirical
- Doesn’t rely on subjective interpretation
- Behaviourists have broken down behaviours into stimulus: response units and studied casual relationships, suggests behaviourist experiments have scientific credibility
- However: may be oversimplifying learning and ignoring important influences on behaviour
20
Q
Nature/nurture (evaluation of Behaviourism)
A
- Limitation
- Behaviourist approach sees all behaviour as learnt (nurture) and ignores/overlooks any biological/innate factors
21
Q
Use of animals (evaluation of Behaviourism)
A
- Limitation
- Animals can’t give consent (unethical)
- Issue of generalisability: human experience of vastly different to animal’s
- Using non-humans in experiments gives more control over the process without demand characteristics or individual differences influencing findings
- Can’t consent so makes it easier for researchers as the animals don’t have a choice
22
Q
What is environmental determinism?
A
- Behaviour is determined or caused by forces outside the environment
- Behaviour is caused by previous experience learned through classical and operant conditioning
