behaviourist approach

Question 1

what are the basic assumptions of behaviourism?

Answer 1

• concerned with observable behaviour that can be objectively and scientifically measured
• psychology is a science so behaviour must be measured in highly controlled environments to establish cause and effect
• mind is born as a blank slate (no genetic influence)
• little difference between learning in humans and animals (so animal research is fine)
• all behaviour is learnt from the environment

Question 2

what is classical conditioning?

Answer 2

• a way a species can interact with their environment to learn behaviour
• learning occurs when 2 stimuli are repeatedly put together
• eventually the neutral stimulus produces the same response first produced by the unconditioned stimulus alone

Question 3

what was pavlov’s dogs experiment?

Answer 3

• first time classical conditioning documented
• focus on digestive system of dogs where pavlov’s dogs made an association of food brought with salivating
• Pavlov rang a bell whenever the dogs were given food so the sound became associated with food
• eventually the dogs would salivate from the bell sound even if there was no food present

Question 4

what is operant conditioning?

Answer 4

• works on the principle of learning by consequence
• done through positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement or punishment

Question 5

what was skinner’s research on rats and pigeons?

Answer 5

• done in controlled environment (the skinner box)
• every time the rat activated the lever, it was rewarded with a food pellet - led to an increase in the behaviour (positive reinforcement)
• also trained some rats to press the lever to avoid an unpleasant stimulus eg. an electric shock (negative reinforcement)

Question 6

what are the strengths of the behaviourist approach?

Answer 6

• focus on being scientific - use of highly controlled lab studies like Pavlov and Skinner mean findings remain objective, which increases psychology’s credibility as a science
• the approach’s methods done from this research can be applied to real life
• for example, operant conditioning is the basis of token economy systems that have been in institutions like prisons where reinforcement and punishment is used to reward and punish behaviour, showing how behaviourism is valuable in society

Question 7

what are the weaknesses of the behaviourist approach?

Answer 7

• criticised for being too environmentally deterministic as it suggests can only be learnt through experiences
• suggests free will is not important in playing a role in how we choose to behave whereas other approaches like cognitive approach and SLT prove how internal mental processes play an active role in our behaviour, proving the behaviourist approach is limited in how we decide to react to certain things as it doesn’t acknowledge the role of cognitive factors