BEHAVIOURIST Flashcards
assumption of behaviourism
all behaviour is learnt, nothing is innate
behaviouristic approach on mental processes
it isn’t concerned with mental processes, they are seen as irrelevant
what did early behaviourists reject
introspection - they believed most of the concepts were too vague and difficult to measure
what do behaviourists describe a baby’s mind as
a ‘blank slate’ which is written on by experience
what did behaviourists classify as the two important forms of learning
operant conditioning
classical conditioning
what is classical conditioning
learning through assosiation
who first demonstrated classical conditioning and what was the experiment
Pavlov
showed how dogs could be conditioned to salivate to the sound of a bell if that sound was repeatedly presented at the time they were given food
gradually the dogs learned to associate the sound of the bell (stimulus) with the food
the dogs learned to produce the salivation response every time they heard the sound
what did Pavlov show/ prove
how a neutral stimulus (bell) can produce a conditioned response (salivation) through association
what is operant conditioning
behaviour shaped by consequences
two types of reinforcement in operant conditioning
negative reinforcement
positive reinforcement
negative reinforcement
animal/ human avoids something unpleasant and the outcome is something positive
avoidance of something negative in the negative reinforcement
positive reinforcement
receiving an award when a certain behaviour is performed
who came up with the idea of operant conditioning
Skinner
What is Skinners Box
every time the rat activated a lever within the box it was given a food pellet, from then on the animal would continue the same behaviour - positive
also used negative reinforcement by conditioning the rat to perform the same behaviour to avoid an unpleasant stimulus - electric shock
strengths of the approach
lab based methods - more scientific
practical applications
weaknesses
lacks ecological validity
ignores cognition
Pavlov research of dogs cannot be generalised to humans
why does it lack ecological validity
how classical and operant conditioning is measured isn’t accurate to how it would happen in real life
if you know your being tested you might change your behaviour compared to how you would act in real life - responding to demand characteristics
why is it a weakness that the approach ignores cognition
it doesn’t study what they cant see, only observable behaviour
mechanistic view of humans - saying there is only stimulus and response when humans are much more complicated
ignores decision making
weaknesses of Pavlovs research
uses dogs - cannot be generalised to humans as the human mind is much more complex
practical applications of approach
token economy - identifying target behaviours and rewarded when behaviours are seen
seen in real world - goes past lab based theories
can be used in schools, prisons and by parents
little Albert example of classical conditioning in humans
