Behaviourism (School of Thought) Flashcards
state 3 introductory facts to the ‘Behaviourism’ school of thought
- consciousness is impossible to observe significantly and therefore contributes little to our understanding of humans
- systematic and objective approaches are needed to further develop our understanding
- switches to behavioural approaches drawing upon observations and experiments on animals
state the 5 basic assumptions of Behaviourism
- psychology should be a science
- observable behaviours are of greater relevance than internal events such as thinking or emotion
- all behaviour is learned from the environment
- behaviour is the result of S-R conditioning
- there is little difference between humans and animals
who came up with the idea of ‘classical conditioning’ ?
Ivan Pavlov
state 3 introductory facts to how Ivan Pavlov came up with the idea of ‘classical conditioning’
- came from unconditioned physiological response of salivation in dogs
- shows how a neutral stimulus (bell) becomes conditioned (leads to a response) by being paired with an unconditioned stimulus (food)
- Pavlov’s work focused on animals, but can be transferred to humans)
state the following for the ‘Little Albert’ experiment:
- unconditioned stimulus
- unconditioned response
- conditioned stimulus
- conditioned response
- white rat
- un-phased
- load bang (hammer on metal) when Albert went near rat —> 6 bangs/times
- fear of rat
who, and when, conducted the ‘Little Albert’ experiment ?
Waston + Reynor, 1920
who came up with the theory of ‘operant conditioning’ ?
B.F. Skinner
what did B.F. Skinner believe about behaviour ?
He believed in studying observable behaviour and the our behaviour is shaped by our environment. He also believed that classical conditioning was far too simplistic
state 2 expansionary facts to why B.F. Skinner thought that classical conditioning was far too simplistic
- rather than being an automatic response to a conditioned stimulus, his work suggests behaviour is more voluntarily modified by its consequences
- this approach enables the understanding of situations in which an individual has multiple possible responses
state what it is meant by the key term - neutral operants
responses from the environment that neither increase or decrease the probability of a behaviour being repeated
state what it is meant by the key term - reinforcers
positive or negative responses from the environment that increase the probability of a behaviour being repeated
state what it is meant by the key term - punishers
responses form the environment that decrease the probability ofd a behaviour being repeated - punishment weakens/breaks S-R bonds
state what it is meant by the key term - positive reinforcement
a behaviour is strengthened by rewards, leading to the repetition of a desired behaviour
state what it is meant by the key term - negative reinforcement
the termination off a negative state following a desired response
state what it is meant by the key term - punishment
an adverse event that decreases the behaviour likelihood that it follows
