Behaviourism Flashcards
What is behaviourism?
An approach in psychology that believes behaviour is learned from our environments and behaviours should be researched by observation.
What does unconditioned mean?
Something that is a natural/innate behaviour
What does conditioned mean?
A behaviour that is learned through association.
What is a stimulus?
Something that causes a conditioned/unconditioned response.
What is association?
When two things are subconsciously paired together.
What is reinforcement?
A method used to strengthen something
Why is positive reinforcement?
Providing a consequence that an individual will find rewarding.
What is negative reinforcement?
Removing an unpleasant stimulus.
What is punishment?
Directly applying an unpleasant stimulus after a response or by removing a potentially rewarding stimulus.
What is operant conditioning?
Learning through reinforcement
What is classical conditioning?
Learning through association
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When did behaviourism start?
Behaviourism started in America in the early 1900s mainly through the work of John Watson. Watson argued that earlier psychological research was not scientific enough
Why could Wundt’s use of introspection be considered unscientific?
-indirect measure of the mind
-sdb and dc
-data was qualitative- subjective
-lacks mundane realism- cannot generalise
What are the key assumptions of behaviourism?
-behaviour is learned
-animals and human learn in the same way
-the mind is irrelevant
-behaviour depends on its consequences
-key form of learning is conditioning
Behaviour is learned
• Nearly all behaviour is learnt directly, apart from inborn reflexes and inborn instincts, from an interaction with our environment.
• Behaviour is the product of learning, not genetics, complex behaviours are the result of learning through interaction with the environment.
• All behaviour can be understood in terms of stimulus-response (S-R) links
• Behaviourists believe that people are born ‘tabula rasa’ as ‘blank slates’ and all our behaviour from then on is determined by the environment.
• This is an extreme nurture theory in psychology
Animals and humans learn in the same way
Behaviourists accept Darwin’s theory of evolution – human beings have evolved from lower animals. As a result, behaviourists see the basic processes of learning as being the same for all species, although humans can do more complex things than other species the principles of how we learn is the same.
What are the advantages of using animals?
Ethical guidelines do not apply to animals making it easier for psychologists
What are the disadvantages of using animals?
Cannot generalise/draw conclusions about human behaviour from animals
The mind is irrelevant
we cannot measure & directly observe a person’s mind-we can only gain measurable data by studying behaviour.
Behaviour depends on its consequences
• If a behaviour has pleasant consequences then it is likely to be repeated.
• If it has an unpleasant consequence then it is not likely to be repeated.
• If we make an association between a particular behaviour and a particular consequence this will shape the repetition, or not, of this behaviour
Key form of learning is conditioning
• Classical conditioning – learning by association – demonstrates how a new association can be made between a neutral stimulus and an already existing response.
• Operant conditioning – learning by reinforcement – concerned with the use of consequences or reinforcements to modify and shape behaviour
What did Watson argue about early Psychological research and why? (2)
Argued it was not scientific as it was based on assumptions/indirect measure. Additionally, self-report techniques increase the risk of social desirability bias and demand characteristics.
