behaviourist approach Flashcards
behaviourist approach
believe we’re born as ‘blank slate’ and behaviour is learnt through experiences such as association and reinforcement.
classical conditioning - pavlov
learning by association
natural stimulus in any reflex is referred to as UCS and natural response to this stimulus is the UCR
during acquisition a NS that doesn’t elicit UCR is presented shortly before UCS
after many pairings of NS+UCS, this changes and NS produces same response on absence of UCS. NS becomes CS and response is CR
important features of CC
timing - if NS can’t be used to predict UCS then conditioning doesn’t take place
extinction - unlike UCR, CR doesn’t become permanently established as a response, after few presentations of CS in absence of UCS, it loses ability to produce CR
spontaneous recovery - following extinction, if CS and UCS are then paired together again, link between them is made more quickly
stimulus generalisation - once animal has been conditioned, it’ll also respond to other stimuli similar to CS
operant conditioning - skinner
learning through reinforcement - whether behaviour is repeated depends on nature of consequence
skinner - developed special cage to investigate operant conditioning in rats - rat moves around cage and when it accidentally presses lever a food pellet falls into cage
types of reinforcement
positive reinforcement - when behaviour produces a consequence that is satisfying
negative reinforcement - when something unpleasant is removed
important features of OC
schedules of reinforcement - partial reinforcement schedule more effective than continuous reinforcement schedule in maintaining response and avoiding extinction.
punishment decreases likelihood of behaviour occurring.
positive punishment - adding something unpleasant as a consequence
negative - taking away something pleasant
CC evaluation - CC has been applied to therapy
applied to development of treatments for reduction of anxiety associated with various phobias
systematic desensitisation based on CC
works by eliminating learned anxious response (CR) associated with feared object (CS), it’s then possible to eliminate one learned response by replacing it with another so patient is no longer anxious in presence of feared object or situation.
CC evaluation - only appropriate for some learning
different species face different challenges to survive, some relationships between CS and UCS are more difficult to establish.
seligman - proposed concept of preparedness - animals are prepared to learn associations that are significant in terms of survival, yet unprepared to learn associations that aren’t significant in this respect - classical conditioning may be more appropriate in learning of specific types of association, something that’s linked to a species’ evolutionary history
OC evaluation - OC based on experimental work
used controlled conditions to discover causal relationships between variables - by manipulating consequences of behaviour he was able to accurately measure effects on rat’s behaviour - allowed him to establish cause and effect relationship between consequences of a behaviour and future frequency of its occurrence.
OC evaluation - over reliance on non humans in research
skinner criticised for experiments not involving humans - reliance on animals means study can tell us little about human behaviour - unlike animals, humans have free will.
however, skinner argued free will is an illusion and behaviours are actually product of external influences that guide behaviour on a daily basis
