Behaviourism

Question 1

What is behaviourism about

Answer 1

We are born to as ‘blank slates’ (tabula rasa),

All we have at birth is the capacity to learn and all behaviour is learned from the environment

Question 2

Stimulus

Answer 2

Anything external or internal that brings about a response

Question 3

Response

Answer 3

Any reaction in the presence of a stimulus

Question 4

Reinforcement

Answer 4

Anything which has the effect of increasing the likelihood of the behaviour being repeated.

Question 5

Positive reinforcement

Answer 5

Giving a reward when someone does something to encourage them to repeat the behaviour more often

Question 6

Negative reinforcement

Answer 6

increasing the likelihood of the behaviour being repeated by removing unpleasant consequences.

Question 7

Classical conditioning

Answer 7

It is when you pair a response naturally caused by one stimulus with another, previously neutral stimulus.

Question 8

When was the behaviourist approach founded and by whom

Answer 8

JB watson in 1915

Question 9

Who are the important contributors to the behaviourist approach (classical conditioning, and operant conditioning

Answer 9

Ivan pavlov (classical conditioning)
B.f. Skinner (operant conditioning)

Question 10

Assumptions of the approach

Answer 10

Behaviourism is primarily concerned with obersevable behaviour, as opposed to internal events like thinking and emotion. Observable (I.e external) behaviour and be objectively and scientifically measured.

Psychology is a science so behaviour must be measured in highly controlled environments to establish cause and effect.

Our mind is a blank slate when born.

There is little difference between the learning that takes place in humans and that in other animals. Therefore research can be carried out on animals as well as humans.

Behaviour is the result of stimulus - response (I.e. all behaviour, no matter how complex can be reduced to a simple stimulus - response association).

All behaviour is learnt from the environment. We learn new behaviour through the principles of classical or operant conditioning.

Operant conditioning explains the learning of voluntary behaviour through positive and negative reinforcement. Positive reinforcement occurs when a behaviour produces a consequence that is rewarding, whereas negative reinforcement. Both positive and negative reinforcement make a behaviour more likely to occur again.

Question 11

3 types of learning

Answer 11

Classical conditioning- stimulus and response of reflexes, this is at explaining phobias.
Operant conditioning- behaviour is voluntary and considers punishments and rewards.
Social learning theory- we learn through watching and copying others especially role models and people we look up to.

Question 12

Basic assumptions about behaviour

Answer 12

Behaviour is learned by the environment. If we manipulate the environment, we can shape and manipulate behaviour.
Behaviour is learned by the environment. If we manipulate the environment, we can shape and manipulate behaviour.

Question 13

Pavlov demonstrated the importance of …

Answer 13

Learning by association.

Question 14

What is classical conditioning all about

Answer 14

Learning is the process of associating a stimulus with a response.
This is learning by association and refers to conditioning of reflexes and involves associating a new stimulus with an innate bodily reflex
Classical conditioning involves pairing a response naturally caused by one stimulus with another, previously neutral stimulus.

Question 15

How did Pavlov teach his dog to salivate when the bell rings

Answer 15

Before conditioning:
Food (unconditioned stimulus) caused (response) the dog to salivate (unconditioned response)
Bell (unconditioned stimulus) -> no salivation (no conditioned response)

During conditioning:
(Pairing)Bell + food -> salivation (unconditioned response)

After conditioning:
Bell (conditioned stimulus) -> salivation (conditioned response)

Question 16

Extinction

Answer 16

Conditioned stimulus is continually presented without US, conditioned response then becomes weaker and eventually stops

Question 17

Spontaneous recovery

Answer 17

Spontaneous recovery can be defined as the reappearance of the conditioned response after a rest period or period of lessened response. If the conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus are no longer associated, extinction will occur very rapidly after a spontaneous recovery.

Question 18

How did Pavlov contribute on understanding human behaviour

Answer 18

Pavlov showed that learning could be investigated experimentally using non-human participants.
This provided laws of learning-classical conditioning.
This has provided therapies for conditions such as phobias and addictions. (Aversion therapy, SD and flooding).
Non-observable behaviour could not be studied in this way
Therapeutic techniques have been successful in eliminating maladaptive behaviours.
Difficulties in extrapolating from animals to humans.
Supporting human evidence - little Albert.
Issue of environment determinism of focus on free will.

Question 19

What experiment did watson and rayner hold in 1920 and what were the results.

Answer 19

The little Albert experiment.
Aim: In this experiment, their aim was to investigate whether an emotional response, such as fear, could be conditioned in a human being.
Method/design: the participant was Albert (11 months old) and they placed a white rat in front of Albert but when Albert went to reach the rat, Watson would simultaneously strike a metal bar with a hammer, creating a loud noise. This was repeated for many weeks.
Results: watson and Rayner found that when the rat was presented alone, Albert became frightened and tried to get away from the rat.
Conclusion: Watson and rayner demonstrated that behaviour is learnt and that a phobia of rats could be conditioned in a human being.
Evaluation: the study raises huge ethical implications. Little Albert showed evidence of fear months after the experiment. The study is also flawed methodologically, Can we generalise the findings of one case study to use as an explanation for how we acquire a phobia.

Question 20

Explain how little Albert was classically conditioned to be afraid of white rats.

Answer 20

Rat (Neutral stimulus) before conditioning
loud bang (ucs) -> fear and anxiety (UCR) before conditioning.
Rat (cs) and loud bang (ucs) -> fear (UCR) during conditioning
Rat (cs) -> fear (cr) after conditioning

Question 21

Who came up with operant conditioning and what did they claim?

Answer 21

B.F Skinner claimed that all behaviour is learnt as a result of consequences in our environment. This involves learning through the consequences (positive and negative) of behavioural responses.

Question 22

Punishment def

Answer 22

Anything which has the effect of decreasing the likelihood of the behaviour being repeated by using consequences that are unpleasant. E.g detention

Question 23

What was ‘skinner’s box’ (pigeon)

Answer 23

Animal (rat or pigeon) learns to press a button or lever in order to get food.
If the animal moves close to the lever, then food appears in order to encourage pecking on the lever itself.
Animal has control over its environment.
Food is a positive consequence of behaviour and so the pecking is repeated.

Question 24

What were the positive and negative reinforcements of Skinners box (rat)

Answer 24

Positive reinforcement: a hungry rat was placed in a Skinner box. The box contained a lever in the side and as the rat ,moved about the box it would accidentally knock the lever. Immediately after it did so, a food pellet would drop into a container next to the lever. The rats quickly learned to go straight to the lever after a few times of being put in the box.
Negative reinforcement: a rat was placed in a Skinner box and then was subjected to unpleasant electric shocks which caused it discomfort. As the rat moved about in the box it would accidentally knock the lever. Immediately after it did so, the electric current would be switched off. The rats quickly learned to go straight to the lever after a few times of being put in the box.

Question 25

What are BF Skinner’s principles

Answer 25

1. Refers to voluntary behaviour.
2. Positive consequences strengthen behaviour.
3. Such behaviours are more likely to be repeated.
4. Any animal can be taught to produce any behaviour by use of appropriate consequences.

Question 26

What time frame should the associations between responses and consequences be made in operant conditioning?

Answer 26

They should be made close together in time for learning to occur

Question 27

How has operant conditioning been used in real life

Answer 27

Operant has been applied to the treatment of behaviour (e.g. behaviour shaping, social skills training for offenders, and token economy systems used in institutions whereby tokens are given as a secondary reinforcement for good behaviour.

Question 28

Strengths of behaviourist approach

Answer 28

Very scientific with its experimental methodology- theories are testable and supported by rigorous experimental research.
Helps to establish cause and effect, objective.
Replicable - can be repeated due to high control so has reliability.
Mainly quantitative data- easy to analyse.
Behaviourist explanations can be applied to the real world to explain everyday behaviour such as phobias and has produced many practical applications such as treatments which have been found to be effective. E.g systematic desensitisation which is based on classical conditioning is effective in the treatment of phobias.
Useful applications to education, child rearing.
It provides strong counter-arguments to the nature side of the ‘nature-nurture’ debate.

Question 29

Limitations of the behaviourist approach

Answer 29

Much data has been obtained from species such as rats, dogs and pigeons but the relevance of these findings to human behaviour is dubious.
Many forms of learning cannot be satisfactorily explained by classical and operant conditioning- it sees people as passive in their learning with little conscious thoughts influencing their behaviour, other approaches recognise the importance of mental events in the learning process.
It is deterministic as it sees all behaviours determined by previous conditioning and does not recognise free will. E.g we could argue that we choose not to behave in certain ways because of moral or religious values. However the behaviourist approach argued that free will is an illusion.
Lack of ecological validity due to highly controlled experiments - issues with generalisability.
Ethical issues.
Lack of qualitative data, no thoughts or feelings known.