Behaviourist approach Flashcards
what is a conditioned stimulus
a conditioned stimulus is something that was once a neutral stimulus, but has become conditioned through an association with the unconditioned stimulus
what are the assumptions of the behaviourist approach
-psychologists should study observable behaviour only, so that psychology is based on empirical evidence
-most behaviour is learned
-behaviourists believe humans and animals learn through the same learning mechanisms, this means it does not matter whether we use humans or animals in our research, so our results from experiments of animals can teach us about humans
what are the assumptions of the behaviourist approach
-psychologists should study observable behaviour only, so that psychology is based on empirical evidence
-most behaviour is learned
-behaviourists believe humans and animals learn through the same learning mechanisms, this means it does not matter whether we use humans or animals in our research, so our results from experiments of animals can teach us about humans
what are the 2 learning mechanisms
-classical conditioning
-operant conditioning
what is classical conditioning
-classical conditioning is when someone learns through associating a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus
what is operant conditioning
-operant conditioning is when someone learns through associating an action with an outcome
what is a neutral stimulus(NS)
-a neutral stimulus is when a stimulus doesn’t make us feel or respond in a certain way
what is an unconditioned stimulus(UCS)
-an unconditioned stimulus is when a stimulus does make us feel or respond in a certain way
Ivan Pavlov(1903)
-investigated the production of saliva in dogs
-in his research we saw that before the experiment, the food was the unconditioned stimulus, the bell was the neutral stimulus and the dogs salivation in response to the food was the an unconditioned response.
-however, during the experiment the bell was paired with the food and the dogs therefore formed an association between them,
-as a result of classical conditioning, the dogs would salivate whenever they heard the bell, this may have been because the bell became a conditioned through repeated association with the unconditioned stimulus
what is conditioned response
a conditioned response is the response we have to a conditioned stimulus
reinforcement definition
when operant conditioning makes someone more likely to repeat a behaviour
positive reinforcement definition
positive reinforcement is when you are more likely to repeat a behaviour because you have received an award
negative reinforcement definition
is when you are more likely to repeat a behaviour because something negative has been taken away
punishment definition
when a negative outcome makes you less likely to repeat a behaviour
(BF Skinner)operant conditioning
-conducted animal research on rats
-he placed rats in a glass box with a lever, food dispenser and an electrified floor
-he found that if the rats received food when they press the lever, they learn to associate their action with a reward
-this was support for learning through positive reinforcement
-he also found that if pressing the lever temporarily stopped the electric current in the floor, they learn to associate their action with stopping the pain
-this was support for learning through negative reinforcement
