Behaviourist Approach Flashcards
What time period
1932-1920
Why was he considered as the father of psychology
He separated psychology from philosophy and biology due to psych having more controlled research
Set up the first psychology lab in germany
Authored many psychology books
His work paved the way for later reasearch in cognitive psychology
His work is still used today
What is introspection
Systematic analysis which examines an experience ad breaks them down into thoughts, sensations and emotions, Wundt did this with a tricking metronome
What is classical conditioning
Learning through associations made between the unconditioned stimulus and the neutral stimulus
What were the stages of conditioning
Before conditioning= ucs produces ucr
During conditioning= the ns paired with the ucs to produce ucr
After conditioning= the ns becoms cs to produce cr
Evaluate Wundt
His method of data collection was highly scientific e.g the same stimulus was used each time, allowing for replication under standardised conditions, hence producing reliable datawjha
What was pavlovs research in classical conditioning
Pavlov examined this by doing an experiment which included dogs and discovering what made them drool
-he found out that dogs drool automatically when coming into contact with food
-he then intoduced a stimulus, which was a ticking sound that was unrelated to feeding, he played this sound before the food came
-the dogs became familliar with this routine and drooled before the food came due to the ticking sound
-he drooled with the ticking sound as he anticipated the food to come, this is called the conditioned reflex
-eventuallly the dogs were conditioned to drool before the food came, so only with the sound
Evaluate pavlovs research in cc
Pavlovs experiment has scientific credibility as it can be repliacted to provide accurate results, due to there being a control within the experiment
What is operant conditioning
Operant conditioning: learning where behaviour is aquired and maintained based on its consequances
What is reinforcement
Reinforcement- to encourage or establish a pattern of behaviour
What is negative reinforcement, encouragement
Negative reinforcement- encouragement of a certain behaviour by avoiding a negative outcome
What is positive reinforcement
Posistive reinforcement- behaviour modification which increases the likelyhood of a behavuoir being done again due to there being a positive outcome
What is deterministic
the beleif that all events or descisions are ultimately determined by pre-existing conditions
What was skinners research in operant conditioning
Skinners rat- rats are explorative creatures, so when it was placed into skinnners box it explored the box, as ity did so, it got closer to the food dispenser and skinner released a food pellet , this causes the rat to go close to the dispenser when hungry, as it knows that food will come out which was an example of positive reinforcemnt. He then introduced negative reingorcemnt when the rat pressed down on the lever and had the experience of an electric shock
Evaluate skinners research
Skinners experiment can be genralised to humans due to the similar behaviour
However, there are clear ethical issues relating to the use of animals, rats cannot give consent, the rat was exposed to claustraphobic conditions,physical harm due to the electric shocks
Positive of the behaviourist approach
The behaviourist approach uses objective and scientific ways to collecr reliable data. This is bcs the behaviourist approach makes use of highly scientific research methods particularily the use of lab experiments. The strictly controlled conditions decrease the likelyhood of extraneous variables and confounding variables which may dissrupt the findings, so increases the reliability and internal valdiity of the study. It focuses on behaviour which is observable and can be measured, which increases the scientific credibility
2nd positive of the behaviourist approach (real life application)
The behaviorist approach has real life applications as the knowledge of classical and operant conditioning has led to the development of treatments and therapies for mental disorders, token economies have also been used as a way to deal with offending behaviour . Therefore having postives effects on the lives of many people
Negative of the behaviourist approach
The behaviourist approach sees all baheviour as the product of reinforcement, which leaves no room for the use of free will or consious choices . The deterministic stance may be better for animals but the explanations of human behaviour should also account for emotions and reasoning skills, so maybe cannot be generalisable to human behaviour.
