behaviourist approach (learning approach 2/2) Flashcards
what does it study
observable & measurable behaviour
behaviourists belief
- believe all behaviour is learned
- baby’s mind = ‘blank slate’
- basic processes which govern learning are same in all species
behaviourists identified 2 important forms of learning
- classical conditioning
- operant conditioning
researcher - classical conditioning
ivan pavlov (1927)
classical conditioning
learning through association
research by pavlov 1927 - classical conditioning
dogs associated bell with food & began to salivate at sound of bell
- food (UCS) –> salivation (UCR)
- bell (NS) –> no salivation
- bell (NS) & food (UCS) –> salivation (UCR)
- bell (CS) –> salivation (CR)
researcher - operant conditioning
b.f. skinner (1953)
what did skinner (1953) suggest
learning is an active process whereby humans & animals operate on environment
3 parts of operant conditioning
- positive reinforcement
- negative reinforcement
- punishment
describe positive reinforcement
= receiving reward when certain behaviour performed
eg. praise from teacher for answering correctly
describe negative reinforcement
= animal/human avoids something unpleasant & outcome is positive experience
eg. student hands in essay to not be told off
–> avoidance of something unpleasant = negative reinforcement
describe punishment
= unpleasant consequence of behaviour
eg. shouted at by teacher for talking during lesson
what do negative & positive reinforcement cause
increase likelihood behaviour will be repeated
what does punishment cause
decreases likelihood behaviour will be repeated
research by skinner (1953)
‘skinner boxes’ with rats in
A) every time rat activated lever = rewarded with food pellet
–> would continue to perform behaviour
B) rats conditioned to perform same behaviour to avoid unpleasant stimulus = electric shock
AO3 (+) well controlled research
P: approach based on well-controlled research
E: behaviourists focused on measurement of observable behaviour in highly controlled lab settings. the behaviour was broken down into basic stimulus-response units & all other extraneous variables were removed, allowing cause-and-effect relationships to be established eg. skinner
T: behaviourist experiments have high credibility & increases validity of approach
AO3 (-) counterpoint to well-controlled research
P: behaviourists may have over-simplified learning process
E: reducing behaviour to such simple components may have ignored importance influence on learning, which is the human thought. other approaches (eg. SLT & cognitive approach) have drawn attention to mental processes involved
T: suggests learning is more complex than observable behaviour alone & private mental processes are essential
AO3 (+) real-world application
P: principles of conditioning have been applied to real-world behaviours & problems
E: eg. operant conditioning is basis of token economy systems which have been used successfully in institutions (eg. prisons & psychiatric wards). these work by rewarding appropriate behaviour with tokens which can be exchanged for privileges.
T: increases value & usefulness of behaviourist approach as has widespread application
AO3 (-) environmental determinism
P: behaviourist approach sees all behaviour as conditioned by past conditioning experiences
E: skinner suggested everything we do is sum total of our reinforcement history. when something happens we may think ‘i chose to do that’, but according to skinner, our past conditioning history determined this outcome. this ignores any possible influence of free will on behaviour
T: ignores influence of conscious decision-making process on behaviour
