Behaviourist approach Flashcards
What do behaviourists argue behaviour is learned through?
Behaviourist argue that behaviour is learned through experiences and interactions with the environment.
Who are the leading theorists of the behaviourist approach?
Pavlov and Skinner
Why do behaviourists reject introspection?
They argue that the mind is like a black box (the mind cannot be directly observed) so it is not suitable for scientific study.
Define Classical conditioning
Learning by association. Two stimuli repeatedly paired together (UCS and NS).
NS eventually produces the same response that was first produced by the UCS alone.
Define Operant conditioning
A form of learning in which behaviour is shaped and maintained by its consequences. Possible consequences include reinforcement (positive or negative) and punishment.
Pavlov classical conditioning study.
Procedure: presented the NS with the UCS over several trials.
Findings: The NS became a conditioned stimulus, producing the conditioned response (salivation even when the food was not present.
This showed the dogs had learned an association between the NS (bell) and the UCS (food).
Positive reinforcement
receiving a reward when a certain behaviour is performed.
Negative reinforcement
when an animal (or human) avoids something unpleasant. The outcome is a positive experience. Similarly, a rat may learn through negative reinforcement that pressing a lever leads to avoidance of an electric shock.
Punishment
an unpleasant consequence of behaviour.
Skinner operant conditioning study
Rats placed in a “Skinner box”, a controlled environment with levers and a food dispenser . He demonstrated positive reinforcement, adding a pleasant stimulus (food) encouraged a desired behaviour (lever pulling); negative reinforcement, removing an unpleasant stimulus ( electric shock) encouraged lever pull; and extinction.
Define extinction
In conditioning theory, the disappearance of a learned response when stimuli stop being paired (classical conditioning) or no reinforcement occurs (operant conditioning).
A03- EVAL
✓ Well controlled research -> focused on the measurement of observable behaviour within highly controlled lab settings. Suggests behaviourist experiments have scientific credibility.
✘Animal studies may not be generalisable to humans.
✘ harmful effects due to behaviourism modification
Assumptions of the behaviourist approach.
•Observable behaviour is all that is needed to be studied.
•Basic processes same in all species.
