behaviourism approach

Question 1

Who founded the behaviourism approach and when?

Answer 1

JB Watson in 1915

Question 2

Explain the assumption that behaviourism is primarily concerned with observable behaviour

Answer 2

As opposed to internal events like thinking and emotion, observable behaviour can be objectively and scientifically measured

Question 3

Explain the assumption that psychology is a science

Answer 3

Behaviour must be measured in highly controlled environments to establish cause and effect

Question 4

What does this approach believe about birth?

Answer 4

When we are born, our minds are a blank slate

Question 5

What does the assumption of the little difference between the learning that takes place in humans and that in other animals mean for us?

Answer 5

Therefore research can be carried out on animals as well as humans

Question 6

What does the assumption of behaviour being the result of stimulus mean?

Answer 6

All behaviour, no matter how complex, can be reduced to a simple stimulus - response association

Question 7

What does the assumption of all behaviour is learnt from the environment mean

Answer 7

We learn new behaviour through classical or operant conditioning

Question 8

What is the concept of a stimulus

Answer 8

Anything, internal or external, that brings about a response

Question 9

What is the concept of a response

Answer 9

Any reaction in the presence of the stimulus

Question 10

What is the concept of a reinforcement

Answer 10

The process by which a response is strengthened

Question 11

Describe classical conditioning with Pavlov’s dogs

Answer 11

• Pavlov was the first to describe this process of learning, by testing it on animals
• This refers to the 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 12

What is the meaning of an unconditioned stimulus

Answer 12

The stimulus that causes the reflex reponse before conditioning and is the stimulus that naturally produces the response

Question 13

What is the meaning of conditioned stimulus

Answer 13

The stimulus which after repeated pairings with the unconditioned stimulus, produces the response

Question 14

What is the meaning of unconditioned response

Answer 14

The innate (reflexive) response to a stimulus that has not been conditioned

Question 15

What is a conditioned response

Answer 15

The response that occurs after exposure to the conditioned stimulus

Question 16

What was the unconditioned stimulus and response in Pavlov’s experiment

Answer 16

Unconditioned stimulus - food
Unconditioned response - saliva

Question 17

What was the neutral stimulus In Pavlov’s experiment

Answer 17

The tone which caused no salivation from the dog

Question 18

What was the conditioned stimulus and response after the tone had been played before food was given

Answer 18

Conditioned stimulus - tone
Conditioned response - salivation

Question 19

What did BF Skinner state?

Answer 19

• claimed that all behaviour is learnt as a result as a result of consequences in our environment - operant conditioning
• this involves learning through the consequences (positive and negative) of behavioural responses

Question 20

When was BF Skinner

Answer 20

1953

Question 21

What is operant conditioning based off?

Answer 21

Operant conditioning is concerned with the use of consequences, such as gaining rewards or receiving punishments in order to modify and shape behaviour

Question 22

What is positive reinforcement and give an example?

Answer 22

Increases the likelihood of a response occurring because it involves a reward for the behaviour such as a worker getting paid a bonus for working hard

Question 23

What is negative reinforcement?

Answer 23

Increases the likelihood of a response occurring because it involves the removal of, or escaping from, unpleasant consequences

Question 24

What is the punishment?

Answer 24

The consequence which includes receiving something unpleasant which decreases the probability of the behaviour being repeated

Question 25

What is the importance of timing between responses and consequences

Answer 25

The associations between responses and consequences have to be made close together for learning to occur

Question 26

What did Wong say about video games and reinforcements and when was it?

Answer 26

Video games provides reinforcements contingencies and rewards depending upon certain behaviours (possibly negative)
2008

Question 27

What is a strength of the approach to do with science

Answer 27

Behaviourism is very scientific and theories are testable and supported by rigorous research and it helps to establish cause and effect

Question 28

What is a strength of the approach to do with replications

Answer 28

It is easily replicable as it can be repeated due to high control so has reliability

Question 29

What is a strength of the approach to do with data

Answer 29

Mainly quantitative data which means it’s easy to analyse

Question 30

What is a strength of the approach to do with real-world application

Answer 30

Behaviourist explanations can be applied to the real world to explain every day behaviour such as phobias and has produced many practical applications

Question 31

What does this approach counter-argue against?

Answer 31

It provides strong counter-arguments to the nature side of the ‘nature-nurture’ debate

Question 32

In this approach what are animals seen as

Answer 32

Passive and machine like responders to their environment with little or no conscious insight into their behaviour

Question 33

What is a limitation of this approach to do with not everything fitting into the explanation that this approach entails

Answer 33

Many forms of learning cannot be satisfactorily explained by classical and operant conditioning

Question 34

What does this approach avoid (limitation)

Answer 34

It ignores important mental processes involved in learning

Question 35

What are two ideas that this approach rules out

Answer 35

Reductionist - only takes into account nurture and rules out any influence of anything else
Deterministic - ignores free will

Question 36

What does this approach lack?

Answer 36

Ecological validity due to highly controlled experiments and issues with generalizability

Question 37

Does this approach have ethical problems or not

Answer 37

Yes, not all research meets ethical guidlines

Question 38

What data is there a lack of in this approach

Answer 38

Qualitative data as no thoughts or feelings are known

Question 39

What is a limitation linking animals and humans

Answer 39

Much of the research in this approach was obtained from species such as rats, dogs and pigeons but the relevance of these findings to human behaviour is dubious