Behaviourist Approach

Question 1

A01 - Describe the Behaviourist approach.

Answer 1

• Emerged at the beginning of the 20th century and was a dominant approach for half of that century.
• Main idea is that behaviour is learnt
• Behaviourists relied on laboratory experiments as they were well-controlled
• Revolutionary to psychology

Question 2

Describe Classical conditioning by Pavlov

Answer 2

• Classical conditioning is learning through association. Pavlov showed how dogs could be conditioned to salivate to the sound of a bell.
• Firstly food would be presented to a dog (UCS) which would cause the dog to salivate (USR).
• Then a bell would be rung (neutral stimulus) which produces no response.
• Gradually the dog would be able to associate the sound of the bell (CS) with food which casues the dog to salivate (CR).

Question 3

Describe operant conditioning by Skinner

Answer 3

• Operant conditioning is the result of learning through the concequences of our actions.
• Using rats Skinner found three types of concequences that will affect behaviour: Positive reinforcement involves rewarding a behaviour which increases the likelihood of it being repeated; negative reinforcement involves removing an unpleasent outcome to increase likelihood of a behaviour being repeated; punishment involves adding an unpleasent outcome to a behaviour which reduces likelihood of it being repeated.
• For Skinner, behaviour is the result of learning and remembering the concequences of past behaviours.

Question 4

What are the evaluations of the behaviourist approach?

Answer 4

• Real world application
• Based on well-controlled research
• Sees all behaviour as conditioned by past behaviour
• Ethical issues with procedures.

Question 5

Evaluation: Real-World Application

Answer 5

• Real world application.
• For example, operant conditioning is the basis of token economy systems that have used successfully in places such as prison wards.
• These works by rewarding behaviour with tokens which can be exchanged for privileges.
• This increases the value of the behaviourist approach because it has widespread application on behaviours.

Question 6

Evalution: Based on well controlled research

Answer 6

• Strength - Based on well controlled research.
• Behaviorists focus on measuring observable behavior within highly controlled lab settings.
• This ensures all other extraneous variables were removed allowing cause and effect relationships to be established.
• For instance Skinner was able to demonstrate how reinforcement influenced an animal’s behaviour.
• L- This suggests that these experiments have scientific credibility.

Question 7

Evaluation: All behaviour conditioned by past behaviour

Answer 7

• Limitation: All behaviour conditioned by past behaviour
• Skinner sugguested that everything we do is the sum of our reinforcement history.
• When something happens we may think ‘I made that decision to do that’ but according to Skinner past conditioning behaviour made determined the outcome.
• This ignores any possible influence that free will may have on behaviour.
• Thus this approach ignores conscious decision-making processes on behaviour, as sugguested by the cognitive approach.

Question 8

Evaluation: Ethical issues with procedures

Answer 8

• Limitation: Ethical issues with produres.
• Skinners box caused considerable phsyical harm to rats.
• Harsh, cramped conditions and deliberately kept below their natural weight so were always hungry.
• Goes against ethical animal guidelines.
• Therefore by modern standards, most of behaviorist research would be seen as unethical.

Question 9

Why is the behaviorist approach seen as scientific? (3 marks)

Answer 9

• The behaviourist approach rejected Wundt’s Introspection as it was too subjective and instead focused on collecting objective data.
• The behaviourist approach was based on well contolled research conducted in lab studies which were heavily standardised. This removed possible extraneous variables.
• Thus this made the experiment more valid and repeatable.