Behaviourism

Question 1

Who founded the Behaviourist approach?

Answer 1

JB watson

Question 2

What was the key focus of the behaviourist approach?

Answer 2

we are products of our learning, experiment & environment

Question 3

What are 3 assumptions of the behaviorist approach?

Answer 3

• When we are born our mind is a blank slate
• little difference between learning that takes place in humans & in animals
• All behaviour is learnt from environment through classical or operant conditionings

Question 4

What is classical conditioning?

Answer 4

behaviour is learnt through association
(involves pairing a response caused 1 one natural stimulus with another neutral stimulus)

Question 5

What was Pavlovs’ dogs experiment?

Answer 5

• Pavlolv established meat caused dog -> salivate
• unconditioned stimulus (FOOD) = unconditioned response (SALIVA)
• Pavlov established a tone that did not cause dog to salivate
• Pavlov presented tone with food, so dog salivates in response -> food
• unconditioned stimulus (FOOD) + conditioned stimulus (BELL) = unconditioned response (SALIVA)

Question 6

What are 3 strengths of classical conditioning?

Answer 6

1. easy to replicate as it is a lab experiment
2. research support eg. Little Albert
3. used as an explanation of phobias

Question 7

What are 3 weaknesses of classical conditioning?

Answer 7

1. reductionist - as human behaviour is more complex than just a stimulus response
2. deterministic - suggests that CC is only way behaviour forms
3. research into CC can often be unethical eg. Little Albert

Question 8

Who came up with operant conditioning?

Answer 8

Skinner

Question 9

What is operant conditioning?

Answer 9

behaviour is learnt as a result of the positive & negative consequences in our environment

Question 10

Through which 2 processes allows behaviour to be learnt & maintained?

Answer 10

learnt - classical conditioning
maintained - operant conditioning

Question 11

What is positive (+) reinforcement?

Answer 11

increases likelihood of response occuring bc it involves a reward for behaviour

Question 12

What is negative (-) reinforcement?

Answer 12

increase likelihood of a response occuring due to the removal of an unpleasant consequence

Question 13

What is positive (+) punishment?

Answer 13

recieving something unpleasant, which decreases likelihood of behaviour being repeated

Question 14

What is negative (-) punishment?

Answer 14

taking away something that is desirable, which decreases the likelihood of the behaviour repeating

Question 15

For learning to occur, as a result of operant conditioning, what has to happen?

Answer 15

association between responses & consequence have to be made close together in time

Question 16

What research did Skinner conduct, which led him to the idea of operant conditioning?

Answer 16

Skinner’s Box - if the rat operated a lever, it would be rewarded with food or it wouldn’t be electrocuted

Question 17

What are 3 strengths of the behaviourist approach?

Answer 17

• very scientific - theories are falsifiable & replicable
• research support eg. Little Albert & Pavlov’ dogs
• real life applications eg. CC explanation of phobias & OC token economy systems in prisons but also used in parenting

Question 18

What are limitations of the behaviourist approach?

Answer 18

1. deterministic -> suggests that this is the only explanation of behaviour & ignores free will
2. reductionist -> doesn’t take into the complexity of human behaviour
3. low ecological validity -> most experiments = lab experiments, lack of generalisability