behaviourist approach

Question 1

define classical conditioning

Answer 1

learning through association

Question 2

who first demonstrated classical conditioning

Answer 2

Ivan pavlov

Question 3

what did pavlov demonstrate

Answer 3

that dogs could salivate at the sound of a bell if that sound was repeatedly paired at the same time they were given food

Question 4

classical conditioning process

Answer 4

food UCS -> salivation UCR
bell NS -> no salivation NCR
bell + food -> salivation UCR
bell CS -> salivation CR

Question 5

what experiment did Watson and Rayner do in 1920

Answer 5

little Albert

Question 6

little Albert experiment

Answer 6

a 9 month old infant who was tested on his reactions to various stimuli . white rat (ns) paired with loud noise (ucs) = fear (ucr) . this was reacted over seven weeks and each time Albert showed signs of distress
- through classical conditioning Albert learned to fear the rat even when it was not paired with the loud noise

Question 7

what does the experiment of little Albert illustrate

Answer 7

how phobias can form through classical conditioning

Question 8

after the experiment what does little Albert start to display

Answer 8

generalisation
little Albert started fearing things with similar characteristics to the white rat eg fluffy

Question 9

who was operant conditioning founded by

Answer 9

B.F Skinner

Question 10

types of reinforcement

Answer 10

positive - rewards
negative - avoiding unpleasant
- both make behaviour more likely to occur
punishment - unpleasant consequence

Question 11

skinners box experiment

Answer 11

conducted with rats and pigeons
every time the rat activated a lever within the box it was rewarded with a food pellet the animal would continue to preform the behaviour
POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT
also showed how rats and pigeons could be conditioned to preform the same behaviour but to avoid an unpleasant stimulus eg and electric shock
NEGATIVE REINFROCEMENT

Question 12

scientific credibility
strength

Answer 12

focuses on the measurement off observable behaviour in highly controlled settings
emphasising the impotence of scientific processes it gives the approach higher credibility and status

Question 13

real life application
strength

Answer 13

the principle of conditioning have been applied in many real life situations
for instance in the basis of token economey systems that have been successfully implemented in prisons and pyshariatic wards
classical conditioning = applied to treatment of phobias
overall advantage as talking therapies don work for every patient and have given alternative methods

Question 14

mechanistic view of behaviour
weakness

Answer 14

from a behaviourist perspective animals are seen as passive and machine like responders to their environment
have little or no conscious insight into bevaiour however other approaches such as slt cognitive have emphasised the importance of mental processes in learning
play more active role in our learning then behaviourist approach suggests , may apply less to humans than to animal behaviour

Question 15

environmental determinism
weakness

Answer 15

suggests alll behaviour is dertimned by our past experiences that have been conditioned
skinny suggested everything we do is the sum total of our reinforcement history
this ignores any free will we have on our behaviour and free will is an illusion
believe we made the descion but our past conditioning history determined its outcome = skinner

Question 16

ethics
weakness

Answer 16

experimental procedures such as skinny’s box maintain a high degree of control on their experiment subjects
many critics have questioned the ethic as the animals involved were exposed to stressful and aversive conditions , which may have affected how they reacted to the experimental situation making the results less reliable