Behaviourism Flashcards
A strength of the behaviourist approach is that it helped psychology fully emerge as a science
E – For example, Skinner’s theory of operant conditioning and his supporting research on rats illustrates how behaviourism utilised all aspects of the scientific method.
E – Skinner’s research was both empirical and objective. It was empirical as he collected evidence by observing how the rats behaved in his Skinner box. Moreover, the evidence he collected in his research was objective, as it produced quantitative data that required little interpretation e.g., counting if the rats pressed the lever more following positive reinforcement requires minimal interpretation. Another illustration of behaviourisms’ scientific nature is that the theory of operant conditioning is falsifiable. This is because it leads to a testable hypothesis that, if not supported, could falsify the theory. For example, if the rats pressed the lever less after being positively reinforced, this would falsify the theory of operant conditioning. Finally, Skinner’s research was replicable. This is because it was conducted with clearly operationalized variables in controlled conditions with a clear procedure. This ensured other researchers were able to consistently carry out his procedure and achieve the same results.
L – Therefore, behaviourist theories and research demonstrate the key features of science. This not only increases the credibility of behaviourist claims, but it also illustrates the important role that behaviourism played in helping psychology fully emerge as a scientific discipline.
underlying assumptions of behaviourism were attacked by Chomsky (1959)
E – Chomsky observed that by the age of four or five, most children have developed an almost limitless capacity to understand and produce sentences which they have never heard before.
E – This observation undermines the behaviourist assumption that we are born a blank slate. If children are able to form sentences, they have never heard before, then they cannot be learning them only through experience, as the blank slate assumption suggests. Chomsky argued that human beings are born with many mental capacities that are organized in advance of experience. This means that we are born able to think in ways that are not the result of environmental learning. For example, we are born with an ability to produce language. This challenges the behaviourist assumption that biology plays a limited role in explaining human behaviour. Chomsky’s criticisms of behaviourism – along with criticisms made by other researchers, like Albert Bandura (who developed the social learning approach) helped instigate the cognitive revolution, ending the dominance of behaviourism in psychology.
L – Therefore, behaviourism can be challenged as its central assumptions are in doubt, and this undermines its overall approach of explaining behaviour solely in terms of environmental learning.
The use of animals in behaviourist research has been criticised on ethical grounds
E – Behaviourist research frequently used animals, as Two key ethical principles in psychological research are informed consent and protection from harm.
E – Behaviourist research has caused significant harm to animals. Skinner’s research, for example, involved electrocuting rats, whilst Pavlov’s dogs underwent surgery so that Pavlov could measure their saliva secretions. Moreover, since animals lack language, they clearly cannot consent to their participation in research, and even if they could, their lack of understanding would mean their consent was not informed. Therefore, behaviourist research is unethical. However, although behaviourist research may have been unethical, this does not mean its ideas were wrong. It is possible to learn important information from unethical research. In addition to behaviourist research itself being ethically questionable, the behaviourist theories also have ethical implications as they provide a means for behavioural control. Skinner actually wrote about this in his novel, Walden Two. He presented this as a utopia, but arguably the misuse of behaviourist theories provides a means for companies and authoritarian regimes to control people’s behaviour and undermine free will.
behaviourist attempt to explain all voluntary behaviour as the result of operant conditioning was challenged by Bandura’s Bobo doll experiment.
E – In the Bobo doll experiment, the child participants were observed imitating the behaviour of an adult model.
E – This finding challenged the behaviourist assertion that all voluntary behaviours are the result of behavioural responses to stimuli being directly reinforced, either through positive or negative reinforcement. Bandura’s finding showed this to be wrong as the child participants received no direct reinforcement when they imitated the adult model – they simply observed the model’s behaviour and imitated it. Bandura explained this behaviour with reference to cognitive (meaning mental) processes he called mediational processes. He argued these resulted in the child participants acting upon what they observed without the need for direct reinforcement.
L – Therefore, Bandura’s Bobo Doll findings challenge the claim of behaviourist that all voluntary behaviour – like attacking a doll – should be explained by operant conditioning, as well as challenging the behaviourist assumption that behaviour can and should be explained without reference to mental processes.
