Behaviourist approach

Question 1

Classical conditioning

Answer 1

• Pavlov
• CC is learning through association
• Pavlov showed how dogs could be conditioned to salivate to the sound of a bell if that sound was repeatedly presented at the same time they were given food
• Gradually, Pavlov’s dogs learned to associate the sound of a bell (stimulus) with food (stimulus) which would produce a response of salivation
• Before conditioning - Food = UCS, Salivation = UCR, Bell = NS
• During conditioning - Bell + Food = Salivation
• After conditioning - Bell = CS, Salivation = CR

Question 2

Operant conditioning

Answer 2

• Skinner
• Learning through the consequences of behaviour
• Positive reinforcement = recieving a reward for a certain behaviour - e.g praise
• Negative reinforcement = when we avoid an unpleasant situation the outcome is positive - e.g avoiding a spider because we have a phobia of them
• Punishment = unpleasant consequence of behaviour - e.g being shouted at
• P+N reinforcement increase likelihood that behaviour will be repeated - Punishment decreases that likelihood
• Skinner’s box:
• Every time a rat activated a lever in the box it was rewarded with a food pellet - rat would then continue to perform the behaviour
• Then showed how rats could be conditioned to perform same behaviour to avoid an unpleasant stimulus (electric shock)

Question 3

Behaviourist app - evaluation - Strength

Answer 3

• Well-controlled research
• Focused on the measurement of observable behaviour within highly controlled lab settings
• Breaking down behaviour into stimulus-response units, all possible extraneous variables were removed - so cause-and-effect established
• Suggests studies have high scientific credibility

Question 4

Behaviourist app - evaluation - Limitation

Answer 4

• Environmental determinism
• Skinner suggested - everything we do is the total of our reinforcement history
• Ignores possible influence that free will may have on behaviour