Behaviourist approach

Question 1

Who are the three main psychologists in the behaviourist approach

Answer 1

• Ivan Pavlov- Pavlov’s dogs
• B.F. Skinner- Skinner boxes
• John Watson- Father of behaviourism, Little Albert

Question 2

Key assumptions

Answer 2

• all behaviour is learned
• known as the learning thoery
• we are born as a blank slate (tabula rasa)
• expereince and interactions with our environment make us who we are
• animals and humans learn in the same way
• mind is irrelevant

Question 3

What is classical conditioning

Answer 3

-learning through association

Question 4

What is classical conditioning

Answer 4

• learning through association
• when a repsonse is produced, the stimulus becomes associated
• Pavlov stumbled across this while conducting experiments on dogs

Question 5

Classical conditioning- before conditioning

Answer 5

Food (unconditioned stimulus) = salivation (unconditioned response)

Bell (neutral stimulus) = no response

Question 6

Classical conditioning- during conditioning

Answer 6

Food (unconditioned stimulus) + bell (neutral stimulus) = salivation (unconditioned response)

Question 7

Classical conditioning- after conditioning

Answer 7

Bell (conditioned stimulus) = salivation (conditioned response)

Question 8

What is operant conditioning

Answer 8

• learning through reinforcement (reward or punishment)
• any reponse followed by a positive effect will be strengthened (stamping in)
• any response followed by a negative effect (punishment) will result in stamping in

Question 9

Rewards- positive reinforcement

Answer 9

• pleasurable

- increases likelihood of behaviour occurrinf again

Question 10

Rewards- negative reinforcement

Answer 10

• avoidance of an unpleasant stimulus

- decreases likelihood of behaviour occurring again

Question 11

Punishment- positive punishment

Answer 11

• adding something negative to decrease likelihood of repeating behaviour
• e.g. smacking a child

Question 12

Punishmenet- negative punishment

Answer 12

• removing a pleasant stimulus decreases the likelihood of a behaviour
• e.g. being grounded for staying out past curfew

Question 13

Who is B.F. Skinner and what was his work

Answer 13

• influenced by Thorndike and developed the Skinner box
• work in laboratories on animals, investigating the role of rewrd and punishment in shaping behaviour
• Skinner’s box allowed him to observe animal’s responses

Question 14

Explain how the Skinner box worked

Answer 14

• conditioning behaviour (lever pressing) through reinforcement by using stimuli of levers/lights/electrified floors and rewards
• lever promoted release of pellet
• loud speakers and lights indicated the hatch open to get pellet
• floor was metal and could be electrified. Pressing lever took current away
• B.F. Skinner conducted a number of variations to see how behaviour could be shaped using reinforcement e.g. positive then reinforcement

Question 15

Types of reinforcement in the Skinner Box

Answer 15

• pressing the lever to receive pellet- positive

- pressing lever to take electric current away- negative

Question 16

Little Albert- Watson- aim/procedure

Answer 16

• to see if they could condition fear in children
• Albert was shown a number of stimuli such as a fire, mokey, dog and rabbit
• Albert liked rat and wasn’t scared of any of the stimuli
• everytime rat was introduced a bar was struck
• this made him cry andit frightened him

Question 17

Little Albert- Watson- findings

Answer 17

• Albert was scared of anything to do with similar characteristics to the rat
• after one month, he was still scared of the objects

Question 18

Little Albert- Watson- conclusions and evaluation

Answer 18

• phobias were likely conditional responses and can condition emotional responses
• nowadays, ethical issues would prevent this experiment from taking place

Question 19

Strengths of behaviourist approach

Answer 19

• replicate results because of scientific methods used- can establish cause and effect
• produces objective data that can be analysed
• helps to aid our undertanding of human behaviour- real life application, can be used in schools
• research support e.g. Pavlov

Question 20

Weaknesses of behaviourist approach

Answer 20

• doesn’t consider genetics
• only focuses on “observable” behaviour so doesn’t consider thought processes
• assumes animals and humans are the same
• is reductionist as focuses on stimulus-response and ignores other factors
• deterministic- environment shapes our behaviour not free will
• doesn’t take into accord individual differences
• different species have different capacities for learning so some may learn by observation, with no reinforcement