Behaviourist Flashcards
What are the main assumptions of the behaviourist approach?
Behaviour is learnt from experience
Only observable behaviour is of interest
All humans born as blank slates
Basic processes that govern learning are the same in all species
What is classical conditioning?
Learning through association
What is the study associated with classical conditioning and how was it carried out?
Pavlov’s dogs- Food causes the dogs to salivate, Pavlov gives dogs food while ringing bell causing them to salivate, dogs associate bell with food so salivate at the sound of the bell
What are the other important features of classical conditioning?
Timing- if NS presented way after UCS, conditioning won’t work
Extinction- If CS continually presented without UCS, we learn to gradually disassociate the two
Spontaneous recovery- Following extinction, if paired again, learnt behaviour reappears
Stimulus generalisation- Once you have been conditioned, you will respond in same way to similar stimuli
What is operant conditioning?
Learning through consequences
What are the four methods of operant conditioning?
Positive reinforcement- something pleasant added to increase behaviour
Negative reinforcement- something bad taken away to increase behaviour
Positive punishment- something unpleasant added to decrease behaviour
Negative punishment- something good taken away to decrease behaviour
What was Skinner’s first experiment?
Hungry rat placed in Skinner box, discovers lever, when presses lever, food is dispensed so rat continues to press lever- shows positive reinforcement
What was Skinner’s second experiment?
Rat given electric shocks, when lever is pressed, current stops so presses lever to stop shocks- shows negative reinforcement
What are the schedules of reinforcement?
Continuous reinforcement- reinforcing behaviour every time
Partial reinforcement schedule- reinforcing behaviour at certain intervals or ratios of time, e.g. every third time
What are the four schedules of partial reinforcement?
Fixed ratio- only after a specified number of responses
Variable ratio- after an unspecified number of responses, e.g. gambling
Fixed interval- First response reinforced after a specified amount of time has elapsed
Variable interval- response reinforced after an unpredictable amount of time has passed
What are the strengths of the behaviourist approach?
Measures observable behaviour in highly controlled lab settings- scientific
Real life application- operant conditioning and token economy
What are the weaknesses of the behaviourist approach?
Use of animal research- differences of complexity in behaviour so can’t be generalised
Animals and humans seen as passive responders to environment with little conscious insight- ignore cognitive factors
Environmental determinism- determined by our past conditioning, no free will
