Behaviourist Approach Flashcards
The assumptions, therapy, classical research and contemporary debate of the behaviourist approach.
What are the three assumptions of the behaviourist approach?
-Humans are born as a blank slate
-Behaviour is learned through conditioning
-Humans and animals learn in similar ways
Explain the ‘humans are born as a blank slate’ assumption.
Behaviourists believe that we are born as a ‘tabula rasa’, aka a blank slate. This means that we are born only with our instincts (e.g. crying when hungry) and that any aspects of our personality are moulded by our environment.
What evidence is there to support the ‘blank slate’ assumption?
Bandura (1961) tested 36 boys and 36 girls aged 3-6. 24 boys and girls watched a role model play quietly with the Bobo Doll, while another 24 boys and girls watched a role model play aggressively with the Bobo Doll. The children who watched the aggressive role model played far more aggressively with the Bobo Doll compared to those with a calm role model.
Explain the ‘behaviour is learned through conditioning’ assumption.
There are two types of conditioning: classical and operant. Classical conditioning is when you change an unconditioned stimulus to a conditioned stimulus by pairing it with a neutral stimulus. Operant conditioning is where behaviour is learned through positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement or a punishment.
Define the following:
-Positive reinforcement
-Negative reinforcement
-Punishment
-Positive reinforcement: rewarding a behaviour to encourage the desirable behaviour happening again.
-Negative reinforcement: encouraging a desirable behaviour by removing a negative stimulus/avoiding consequences.
-Punishment: a consequence to reduce the likelihood of a undesirable behaviour.
Give an example of classical conditioning.
Pavlov’s Dog. Pavlov conditioned a dog to salivate at the sound of a bell ringing. He noticed that a dog would salivate whenever it was presented with food, so whenever he gave the dog food, he rang a bell. This caused the dog to salivate whenever a bell was rung, as it associated the sound of the bell with food.
Give an example of operant conditioning (hint - there’s two!)
Skinner’s Rats.
Positive reinforcement - Skinner placed a hungry rat in the Skinner box with a lever in the corner. Whenever the rat would nudge the lever, a food pellet would come out. The rat learned to nudge the lever whenever it wanted food.
Negative reinforcement - Skinner placed a rat in a Skinner box that had an electrical current running through the floor. Whenever the rat nudged the lever, the current stopped. The rat learned to nudge the lever to stop the current (negative reinforcement).
Explain the ‘humans and animals learn in similar ways’ assumption.
Behaviourists believe that the ways human and animals learn behaviours is the same. Therefore, we are able to study animals in a laboratory environment and make generalisations about human behaviour based on the findings.
What evidence is there to support the ‘humans and animals learn in similar ways’ assumption?
Watson and Rayner (1920) Little Albert study, Pavlov’s dogs, Skinner’s rats.
Real life application: token economy systems in prisons (desirable behaviours are reinforced with tokens that can be exchanged for rewards, e.g. sweets or cigarettes).
What is the therapy of the behaviourist approach?
Systematic desensitisation.
What are the main components of SD?
1) Providing the patient with coping techniques to relax, e.g. progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) or imagery.
2) Constructing an anxiety hierarchy.
3) Counterconditioning: Exposure to phobic stimuli.
4) Continue to progress through the anxiety hierarchy.
Treatment has been successful when patient can remain calm during situation ranked highest on the anxiety hierarchy.
Define these key terms of SD:
-Extinction
-Reciprocal inhibition
-In vivo
-In vitro
-Extinction: the gradual weakening of a conditioned response that results in the behaviour decreasing or disappearing.
-Reciprocal inhibition: two opposing emotions cannot be felt at the same time.
-In vivo: the client is actually exposed to the phobic stimulus.
-In vitro: the client imagines exposure to the phobic stimulus.
How do the assumptions of the behaviourist approach apply to SD?
-Blank slate: we aren’t born with phobias, they are caused by our experiences in our environment. Our environment can be manipulated to unlearn the response to the phobic stimulus. SD allows us to learn a new response to the stimulus.
-Behaviour learned through conditioning: Behaviours are learned through environment, therefore phobias are learnt via conditioning. Phobias are developed through classical conditioning and maintained through operant conditioning. We can unlearn conditioned responses through SD.
What points can we use to evaluate SD?
+ve Supporting evidence:
Rothbaum et al (2000) used virtual reality (vitro) to help those who were afraid of flying. Following SD treatment, 93% of pps agreed to take a test flight. Anxiety levels were lower than those of the control group who had not received SD and this improvement was maintained.
-ve Doesn’t treat the cause of the phobia, just provides coping mechanisms:
McGrath (2000) used SD for a 9-year-old girl who had a noise phobia. A fear thermometer was used (rating scale 1-10). The girl’s fear rating dropped from 7 to 3 for balloons popping, from 9 to 3 for party poppers and from 8 to 5 for cap guns.
Shows that it is effective, but only reduces anxiety levels, not a treatment.
+ve More ethical than other treatments:
More suitable for children, as children have less life experience and therefore their behaviour is easier to manipulate. They may struggle to take medicines or stick to a drug therapy, and certain medications cause side effects.
+ve Client led
Client led, meaning treatment and ascension up the hierarchy is at the client’s pace. Amount of anxiety experienced is no more than they would encounter in real life. Much less harm to client compared to flooding.
What is the classical research for the behaviourist approach?
Watson and Rayner (1920) Little Albert study.
