behaviourist approach

Question 1

3 main assumptions

Answer 1

1) we are born as a blank slate (tabula rasa) behaviour is learned from our environment, nothing is innate

2) there is little difference between the learning in humans and animals

3) behaviourism focuses on observable behaviour instead of internal events as it can be objectively and scientifically measured

Question 2

how do behaviourists believe newborns are born?

Answer 2

completely neutral, with only the most basic of responses (crying, pain, hunger etc) and will be moulded by the environment

Question 3

why was behaviourism developed?

Answer 3

psychologists argued that introspection & its subjectivity led to a lack of general principles & made it unscientific

Question 4

definition of classical conditioning

Answer 4

learning through association - an existing involuntary reflex is associated with a new stimulus

Question 5

definition of operant conditioning

Answer 5

learning through the consequences of our actions

Question 6

positive reinforcement

Answer 6

when a behaviour is followed by a desirable consequence (reward) and is more likely to be repeated

Question 7

negative reinforcement

Answer 7

a behaviour results in an unpleasant consequence being removed to bring an organism back to a pleasant state, results in the behaviour being more likely to be repeated

Question 8

punishment

Answer 8

a behaviour is followed by an unpleasant consequence and is then less likely to be repeated

Question 9

how was classical conditioning first demonstrated

Answer 9

pavlov
(he observed that his dogs salivated when his assistants opened the doors to their cages and inferred that they must have learned to associate the opening of the doors with food, he tested this by associating the ringing of a bell with the food so that the dogs would salivate when they heard the bell)

Question 10

pavlov’s dog experiment

Answer 10

-the dog would be strapped in a harness with an apparatus that allowed precise measurement of the amount of saliva it produced
-a bell would be rung and the amount of saliva measured
-food would be presented and the amount of saliva measured
-then the bell and food would be presented at the same time and the amount of saliva measured.
-this would be repeated then the bell would be rung without presentation of the food, and the amount of saliva would be measured to test the strength of the conditioned response that had been learned

Question 11

neutral stimulus (NS)

Answer 11

an event that doesn’t produce a response

Question 12

unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

Answer 12

an event that produces an unlearned reflex response

Question 13

conditioned stimulus (CS)

Answer 13

an event that produces a learned response

Question 14

unconditioned response (UCR)

Answer 14

an reflex behaviour that an organism produces when exposed to an unconditioned stimulus

Question 15

conditioned response (CR)

Answer 15

a learned behaviour that an
organism produces when exposed to a conditioned stimulus

Question 16

process of classical conditioning- pavlovs dogs

Answer 16

-dog is presented with a bell (NS) which produces no response
-dog is presented with food (UCS) , which produces salivation (UCR)
-dog is presented with the bell (NS) and food ( UCS) at the same time, producing salivation (UCR)
-dog now salivates (CR) when only the bell is present (CS)

Question 17

identify NS, UCS, UCR, CS, CR:

sarah has always felt calm and relaxed when listening to classical music. lately, she’s been lighting a candle just before she listens to classical music. now she doesn’t even need the classical music to feel relaxed, as this happens as soon as she lights the candle.

Answer 17

UCS (music) → UCR (relaxation)
NS (candle) → no response

NS (candle) + UCS (music) → UCR (relaxation)

CS (candle) → CR (relaxation)

Question 18

identify NS, UCS, UCR, CS, CR:

mike receives frequent injections of drugs, which are administered in a small examination room at a clinic. the drug itself causes increased heart rate but after several trips to the clinic, simply being in a small room causes an increased heart rate

Answer 18

UCS (drug injection) → UCR (increased heart rate)
NS (small room) → no response

NS (small room) + UCS (drug injection) → UCR (increased heart rate)

CS (small room) → CR (increased heart rate)

Question 19

AO2:

robert has developed a phobia of going to school. he was recently bullied by another boy in his class which caused robert a lot of anxiety. despite the issue being resolved months ago by the teachers, robert’s mum is having a difficult time getting robert to school and gets very anxious at the thought of going to school

how can classical conditioning explain robert’s phobia. use key terminology.

Answer 19

school (NS) → no response
bullying (UCS) → anxiety (UCR)

school (NS) + bullying (UCS) → anxiety (UCR)

school (CS) → anxiety (CR)

Question 20

little albert case - study key points:
(+ who conducted it)

Answer 20

Watson & Rayner

little albert wasn’t scared of any animals before the experiment, he was only scared of loud noises. he was classically conditioned to be scared of fuzzy/furry things, even santa claus

rat (NS) → no response
loud bang (UCS) → fear (UCR)

rat (NS) + loud bang ( UCS) → fear (UCR)

rat (CS) → fear (CR)

Question 21

how classical conditioning applies to human behaviour:

Answer 21

-the acquisition of phobias there is association of a traumatic experience with a previously neutral stimulus

-the treatment of phobias systematic desensitisation aims to extinguish the association between the stimulus (CS) and the conditioned response (fear)

Question 22

how to remember the definition of classical conditioning

Answer 22

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
ASSOCIATION

Question 23

meaning of operant conditioning

Answer 23

-a new voluntary behaviour is associated with a consequence (reinforcement or punishment)

Question 24

how was operant conditioning demonstrated?

Answer 24

-skinner created an experimental tool (the skinner box) that allowed complete control of the organism’s environment

-skinner investigated how the type of reinforcement or punishment given and the rate of reinforcement or punishment affected the rate of learning

Question 25

layout of skinner’s box

Answer 25

-a rat or pigeon would be put into the skinner box in which temperature, light and noise could be kept constant.
-a lever and a container that could deliver a food pellet to the animal when the lever was pressed (on the wall)

Question 26

how would an animal likely press a lever in the skinners box at first?

Answer 26

the rat is likely to wander around the box aimlessly until it accidentally presses the lever and receives a food pellet

Question 27

what would skinner measure about lever presses and why?

Answer 27

-kkinner would measure how frequently the animal pressed the lever over time.
-the frequency should indicate the strength of the conditioning of the behaviour

Question 28

example of positive reinforcement in the skinners box:

Answer 28

every time the rat presses the lever, it receives a food pellet → rat presses lever more often

Question 29

example of negative reinforcement in the skinners box:

Answer 29

electric shock turned off if rat presses lever → rat presses lever more often

Question 30

example of punishment in the skinners box:

Answer 30

rat’s heat turned off when lever is pressed → rat avoids the lever

Question 31

partial reinforcement

Answer 31

-the response is reinforced only part of the time
-learned behaviours are acquired more slowly with partial reinforcement, but the response is more resistant to extinction

Question 32

four schedules of partial reinforcement:

Answer 32

-fixed-ratio schedules
-variable-ratio
-fixed-interval
-variable-interval

Question 33

fixed-ratio schedules

Answer 33

response is reinforced only after a specified number of responses

example: delivering a food pellet to a rat after it presses a bar five times

Question 34

variable-ratio schedules

Answer 34

-occur when a response is reinforced after an unpredictable number of responses
-creates a high steady rate of responding.

examples:
-gambling
-lottery
-delivering food pellets to a rat after one bar press, again after four bar presses, and a third pellet after two bar presses

Question 35

fixed-interval schedules

Answer 35

-first response is rewarded only after a specified amount of time has elapsed

example:
reinforcing a rat with a pellet for the first bar press after a 30 second interval

Question 36

variable-interval schedules

Answer 36

-occur when a response is rewarded after an unpredictable amount of time has passed

example
delivering a food pellet to a rat after the first bar press following a one minute interval, another pellet for the first response following a five minute interval, and a third food pellet for the first response following a three minute interval

Question 37

ao3 - strengths & limitations

Answer 37

strengths
-real life applications
-scientific

limitations
-oversimplified learning process
-relies on animals
-environmentally deterministic

Question 38

ao3 / strength - real life, practical applications

Answer 38

P - real life, practical applications

E - the principles of conditioning have been applied to many real-world behaviours and problems / operant conditioning is the basis of token economy systems in institutions (prisons and psychiatric wards), these work by rewarding appropriate behaviour with tokens that can be exchanged for privileges

L - gives the approach more credibility and it has been useful for the wider population

Question 39

ao3 / strength - scientific methods

Answer 39

P - uses scientific methods of research

E - the approach use experimental approaches; such as objectivity and replication / in the case of pavlov and skinner’s research, specific conditions and variables could be manipulated in order to assess the main assumptions of classical conditioning and operant conditioning

L - the principals of the behaviourist approach have been measured in a scientific and objective way (not influenced by human bias) → great credibility and status as a scientific discipline

Question 40

ao3 / limitation - oversimplified learning process

Answer 40

P - behaviourists may have oversimplified the learning process

E - by reducing behaviour to such simple
components ~ eg: associations between stimuli and reinforcements (reductionism), behaviourists may have ignored an important influence on
learning – human thought and emotion / social learning theory & the
cognitive approach have drawn attention to the mental processes involved in learning

L - suggests that learning is more complex than observable behaviour alone, and that private mental processes are also essential

Question 41

ao3 / limitation - uses animals within its research

Answer 41

P - uses animals within its research

E - for example, studies have focused on dogs and rat, pigeon behaviour / animals are seen as passive responders to the environment with little to no conscious insight into their behaviour / humans are
different cognitively and physiologically and play a more active role in their own learning, therefore humans might behave differently from animals

L - the laws and principles derived
from these experiments might apply more to animals than to humans and don’t generalise to humans

Question 42

ao3 / limitation - approach is environmentally deterministic

Answer 42

P - the behaviourist approach is environmentally deterministic

E - this approach sees all behaviour as conditioned by past conditioning experiences, for example this
approach assumes if we give a pupil a prize for good behaviour, they will automatically be good in order
to get the prize in future / this theory does not consider that people may or may not be influenced by a reward and will choose freely whether or not to be good/bad

L - this approach ignores the idea that humans have (free will) or that we make conscious decisions

Question 43

how operant conditioning applies to humans:

Answer 43

-phobias are maintained through negative reinforcement, avoidance is reinforced
-token economy in treatment of offenders and in institutions