Behaviourist approach Flashcards
What is the behaviourist approach?
Focuses on the idea that all behaviours are learned through interaction with the environment and that inherited factors have very little influence on behaviour.
What are the basic assumptions of behaviourism?
- Behaviourism is primarily concerned with observable behaviour, as opposed to internal events like thinking an emotion. External (observable) behaviour can be objectively + scientifically measured.
- Psychology as a science so behaviour must be measured in highly controlled environments to establish cause and effect.
- When born our mind is a blank slate so there is no genetic influence on behaviour.
*Little difference between the learning that takes place in humans and that in other animals. Therefore research can be carried out on animals as well as humans. - Behaviour is the result of stimulus response.
- All behaviour is learnt from the environment. We learn new behaviour through classical and operant conditioning.
Define classical conditioning.
Behaviours that are learned by connecting a neutral stimulus with a positive one.
Define operant conditioning.
A method of learning that uses rewards and punishment to modify behaviour.
What is positive reinforcement?
A way of operant conditioning.
Receiving a reward when a certain behaviour is performed which then makes this behaviour more likely to reoccur because of positive consequences.
What is negative reinforcement?
A way of operant conditioning.
Increases the likelihood of a certain behaviour occurring because it involves removal of unpleasant consequences. The behaviour is more likely to occur because of avoidance of negative consequences.
What is punishment as an example of operant conditioning?
An unpleasant consequence of behaviour.
How is negative reinforcement and punishment different?
With negative reinforcement you would find a way to avoid being punished.
Who was Ivan Pavlov?
A physiologist whose research work initially focused on the digestive system of dogs.
What was Pavlov’s procedure?
He has dogs harnessed to a bench with a tube coming out of its mouth and going into a jar.
When his assistant came into the lab with the food for the dogs, noticed that the dog salivated upon hearing the sound of the door.
Pavlov rang a bell whenever the dogs was given food. Sound of the bell then became associated with the food.
What were the findings of Pavlov’s study?
Dogs salivate automatically when they see food, Pavlov’s dogs had clearly made an association with the imminent arrival of food when the door was opened and then later the bell.
Thus Pavlov was able to show a neutral stimulus (a bell) can come to elicit a new learned response (conditioned response) through association.
What did Watson and Rayner (1920) wanted to see?
If they could condition a young boy to respond to something in a phobic way.
What was Watson and Rayner’s procedure?
Presented the little boy (Little Albert) with a series of objects in order to find one he did not respond to. They chose a white rat. Then investigated what they could use to provoke a fear response in the boy. Found that the sound of a hammer would make him upset. This was done by hitting a steel bar behind him. These 2 were paired on a number of occasions. First, the rat would be placed near Albert and then the metal bar would be struck - repeated several times. Then the rat was presented on its own.
What did Watson and Rayner find?
Albert became upset and anxious without the noise being made. He learned to respond to the rat with fear and anxiety. Albert also responded with anxiety to a rabbit, a fur coat and some cotton wool.
What was Skinner’s aim?
To show how positive reinforcement works.
