behaviourist approach Flashcards
What is the behaviourist approach?
It is only interested in behaviour that can be measured and observed.
It believes that we are our born with our mind as a blank slate.
Everything we are and become is due to the environment which we are raised in.
What did early behaviourists such as John Watson claim?
-That humans are conditioned and learn from our environment via experience.
-lab experiments are the best way to achieve results to back up theory.
-Only behaviour which is observable and measurable scientifically should be studied.
-It is not worth investigating mental processes as they are too vague.
What is classical conditioning?
Learning by association.
Occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired together- an unconditioned stimulus is paired with a neutral stimulus. The neutral stimulus eventually produces the same effect as the unconditioned one.
Who first demonstrated classical conditioning and what was his procedure?
Ivan Pavlov, who showed how dogs could be conditioned to salivate to the sound of a bell if that bell was repeatedly used when they were given food.
What is operant conditioning?
learning through consequence.
3 types:
Positive reinforcement- Receiving a reward when a certain behaviour is performed e.g. (praise from a teacher for getting good grades.)
negative reinforcement- Performing a certain behaviour to avoid something negative.
e.g. (when a student completes their homework to avoid the anger or further consequences from the teacher.)
Punishment- It is an unpleasant consequence of behaviour.
e.g (being shouted at by a teacher for talking in class)
What study looked into operant conditioning?
Skinners Rats/box
Skinner conducted experiments with rats in a specially designed cage. Where every time the rat activated a lever in the box it was rewarded a food pellet. From then on the animal would continue to perform the behaviour.
Skinner also showed how rates and pigeons could be conditioned to perform the same behaviour to avoid an unpleasant stimulus- an electric shock.
Evaluation: Strength of the behaviourist approach.
One strength of the behaviourist approach is that it is based on well-controlled research.
behaviourists focused on measurements of observable behaviour within highly controlled lab settings.
Low extraneous variables so allowed cause and effect relationships to be established.
This suggests the behaviourists have scientific creditability.
Evaluation: What is a counterpoint of the behaviourist having well-controlled research? Oversimplified the learning processes
That behaviourists may have oversimplified the learning processes.
By reducing behaviour to such simplistic components, behaviourists may have ignored an important influence on learning- that of human thought.
Other approaches, such as SLT and the cognitive approach have drawn attention to the mental processes involved in learning.
This suggests that learning is more complex than observable behaviour alone, and that private mental processes are also essential.
Evaluation: Strength of the behaviourist approach- real world application.
Another strength of the behaviourist approach is that principles of conditioning have been applied to real-world behaviours and problems.
For example, operant conditioning has worked well in prisons and psychiatric wards.
Been used in token economies to deal with offending behaviour.
Evaluation: Limitation of the behaviourist approach.
Environmentally deterministic
It is environmental deterministic as it sees all behaviour as conditioned by past conditioning experiences.
Skinner suggested that everything we do is the sum total of our reinforcement history. When something happens, according to skinner our past experiences conditioned the outcome.
This ignores any possible influence that free will may have on behaviour.
