Behaviourist approaches

Question 1

When did behaviourism arise, and why?

Answer 1

Behaviourism arose in the early 20th century as a reaction to the scientific deficiencies of psychoanalysis

Question 2

what did behaviourism advocate the study of?

Answer 2

behaviourism advocated the study of objectively observable behaviour and the external events that maintain it

Question 3

How do environmental conditions affect the acquisition, modification & elimination of response patterns?

Answer 3

• The study of subjective experience is not scientifically acceptable
• No need to explore of change the psyche on inner world

Question 4

what is Radical behaviorism?

Answer 4

a psychological concept that dives into how our environmental factors influence our state of mind

Question 5

what does maladaptive behaviour stem from

Answer 5

1. failure to learn adaptive responses
2. the learning of maladaptive responses

Question 6

what does behavioural therapy involve?

Answer 6

it involves unlearning undesirable behaviours and emotional responses and learning desirable ones

Question 7

features and goals of behaviour therapy

Answer 7

features: directive, symptom-focussed
goal: behaviour change, not insight or catharsis

Question 8

what was Walden Two (book by Skinner) about?

Answer 8

a novel about a utopian community based on the principles of behaviour theory

Question 9

what is classical conditioning

Answer 9

theory that states that behaviours are learned by connecting a neutral stimulus with a positive one. (i.e. dogs hearing a bell (neutral) and expecting food (positive)

Question 10

who was Ivan Pavlov?

Answer 10

a Russian physiologist who investigated the ways in which eating excited salivary, gastric and pancreatic secretions

Question 11

what can physiological and emotional responses be?

Answer 11

many physiological and emotional responses can be conditioned e.g. those related to fear, anxiety or sexual arousal and those stimulated by drugs

Question 12

Needles: associations (children vs drugs)

Answer 12

children may acquire a fear of needles through the pairing of this initially neutral stimulus with pain, whereas drug conditioned stimuli can become attention-grabbing and produce a variety of physiological and psychological responses (that may feel good)

Question 13

fetishes: displacement vs conditioning

Answer 13

Freud: fetishistic object as symbolic subsitute for the mother’s missing penis
Conditiong: sexual deviations are the result of an accidental pairing of an abnormal stimulus with sexual arousal or ejaculation

Question 14

Treatment: exposure therapy

Answer 14

patient is confronted with fear-producing stimulus in a therapeutic manner

Question 15

what are the three types of exposure therapy?

Answer 15

in vivo, imaginal and virtual reality exposure

Question 16

what is in vivo exposure?

Answer 16

directly facing a feared object or situation in real life

Question 17

what is imaginal exposure?

Answer 17

vividly imagining the feared object or situation

Question 18

what is virtual reality exposure?

Answer 18

in some cases, virtual reality technology can be useful i.e. someone with a fear of flying might take a virtual flight not a real life one

Question 19

treatment: aversion therapy

Answer 19

use of punishment to modify undesirable behaviours e.g. placing unpleasant-tasting substances on fingernails to discourage nail-chewing

Question 20

what is conversion therapy?

Answer 20

the treatment of homosexuals by behaviour modification techniques to suppress someone’s orientation or gender

Question 21

what is operant conditioning?

Answer 21

behaviours that are controlled by their punishments/consequences

Question 22

operant conditioning: reinforcement

Answer 22

promotes behaviour
- positive = the delivery of a rewarding stimulus
- negative = the removal of an aversive stimulus

Question 23

operant conditioning: punishment

Answer 23

decreases behaviour

Question 24

operant conditioning: extiinction

Answer 24

withholding of reinforcement will eventually halt the behaviour

Question 25

what was Mowrer’s (1947) two factor theory of phobia acquisition/maintenence

Answer 25

1) Classical conditioning: rat paired with loud noise -> conditioned
fear.
2) Operant conditioning: individual avoids rats.
1) Prevents extinction (rat is not experienced in
absence of fearful stimulus).
2) Produces relief, thus avoidance is reinforced.

Question 26

treatment: systematic use of reinforcement (CONTINGENCY MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS)

Answer 26

identification and removal of reinforcers of maladaptive behaviours (e.g. drinking environments may reinforce smoking)

Question 27

Treatment: Systematic Use of Reinforcement (TOKEN ECONOMIES)

Answer 27

developed for use with chronic psychiatric inpatients. Desired behaviours rewarded with tokens that can be used to be purchase rewards

Question 28

Treatment: Systematic Use of Reinforcement (BEHAVIOURAL ACTIVATION)

Answer 28

brief, structured form of therapy for depression. Patient encouraged to engage in positively reinforcing activities

Question 29

observational learning/modeling

Answer 29

Bandura: responses can be acquired without elicit experience of UCS or reinforcers. Which greatly expands the opportunities to learn (mal)adaptive behaviours

Question 30

what was the Bandura Bobo doll study?

Answer 30

children who saw an adult rewarded (punished) for aggression showed more (less) imitative aggression in subsequent free play