Behaviourist perspective

Question 1

What is a perspective?

Answer 1

• A perspective is a viewpoint
• Viewpoints have developed as the subject has grown and they show how different groups of psychologists have gone about studying human behaviour
• Perspectives are more ‘schools of thought’ or ‘movements’ than simply different approaches in psychology. Each perspective is characteristically different and has its own assumptions, S + W

Question 2

What is the behaviourist perspective?

Answer 2

• The behaviourist perspective can be known as ‘learning theory’
• It is the study of how we learn behaviour
• Behaviourists claim that everything we do can, and should be regarded as behaviours that can be studied and explained through observable events, without the need to consider mental processes.
• Goes against Psychodynamic movement, which is unscientific and too subjective.

Question 3

How did the Behaviourist perspective come about?

Answer 3

• It emerged in the early 19th century, through the work of Ivan Pavlov, John Watson and B.F Skinner

Question 4

What are some assumptions of the behaviourist perspective?

Answer 4

• All behaviour is learned from our experiences and interactions with our environment
• Everything we do (acting, thinking, feel + more) can, and should be regarded as behaviours that can be explained through observable events.
• The mind is irrelevant
• Behaviour can be shaped (changed) through reinforcement strategies (e.g, rewards)

Question 5

What was the most significant contribution of behavioursm?

Answer 5

• Learning theory
• In particular, the concept of conditioning (learning through association) There are 2 types:
• Classical conditioning
• Operant conditioning

Question 6

What is classical conditioning?

Answer 6

• Classical conditioning is learning through association

* Two stimuli are linked together to produce a new learned response in a human or an animal

Question 7

Who discovered classical conditioning?

Answer 7

• Pavlov, a Russian Psychologist

Question 8

What was the most famous example of classical conditioning?

Answer 8

• Pavlov’s experiment with dogs, who salivated in response to a bell tone
• Pavlov showed that when a bell was sounded each time the dog was fed, the dog learned to associate the sound with the presentation of the food.

Question 9

What did John Watson propose/believe?

Answer 9

• John Watson proposed that the process of classical conditioning (based on Pavlov’s observations) was able to explain all aspects of human psychology
• Everything from speech to emotional responses was simply patterns of stimulus and response.
• Watson denied completely, the existence of the mind or consciousness. Watson believed that all individual differences in behaviour were due to experiences of learning

Question 10

What was the aim of the Little Albert study? (Watson + Rayner, 1928)

Answer 10

To find out if classical conditioning works on humans.
Specifically, to find out if a fear response can be conditioned into a 9 month old baby boy.
Also, to see if the fear response will be generalised to other animals and objects and how long the conditioning lasts

Question 11

What was the IV of the Little Albert study? (Watson + Rayner, 1928)

Answer 11

1) before-conditioning compared to after-conditioning

2) being presented with the white rat compared to being presented with other white, fluffy animals or objects.

Question 12

What was the DV of the Little Albert study? (Watson + Rayner, 1928)

Answer 12

The DV was the number of fearful behaviours Albert shows when presented with the stimuli

Question 13

What experimental design was used in the Little Albert study? ( W + R, 1928)

Answer 13

Repeated measures design

• Studies baby Albert before and after his conditioning
• Studies Albert with rat and other stimuli. Albert experiences every condition

Question 14

Describe the sample from the Little Albert Study

Answer 14

• One baby boy, Albert B
• 9 months at the start of the study
• 11 months when the conditioning began

Question 15

Describe the procedure from the Little Albert study (9 months)

Answer 15

• At 9 months - Albert was tested with a white rat, rabbit, cotton wool and other stimuli to see if he had a fearful reaction. He didn’t so they were NEUTRAL STIMULI (NS)
• Researchers checked his fear response by banging an iron bar. Albert cried at the loud noise. noise was an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) and the crying was an unconditioned response (UCR)

Question 16

Describe the procedure from the Little Albert study (11 months)

Answer 16

• 11 moths - Albert was conditioned, he was shown the rat 3 times. Each time the rat was paired with striking the iron bar. Albert started to whimper. 1 week later, Albert was conditioned again. Rat - presented 3 times, paired with the noise

Question 17

Results from the Little Albert study (Watson and Rayner, 1928)

Answer 17

• When the rat was later presented alone, Albert whimpered.
• The rat was paired with the noise again another 2 times.
• When the rat was presented alone another time, Albert cried.
• This suggests that now the neutral stimuli is now a conditioned stimulus (CS), and Albert’s crying is now a conditioned response (CR)

Question 18

What were the conclusions made from the Little Albert study? (Watson, Rayner, 1928)

Answer 18

• Watson + Rayner concluded that they had successfully conditioned Albert to fear the white rat and that his fear response generalised to other white, furry thing, and it transferred to other situations

Question 19

What is operant conditioning?

Answer 19

Operant conditioning is the process of learning through consequences.

Question 20

Who introduced operant conditioning?

Answer 20

B.F Skinner

• Skinner (1948) studied operant conditioning by conducting experiments using animals which he placed in a ‘Skinner box.’

Question 21

What was a Skinner box?

Answer 21

• A Skinner box, (operant conditioning chamber), is a device used to objectively record an animal’s behaviour in a compressed time frame
• An animal can be rewarded or punished for engaging in certain behaviours, such as lever pressing (rats) or key pecking (pigeons)

Question 22

What is positive reinforcement?

Answer 22

• Positive reinforcement is a term used by Skinner in his theory of operant conditioning.
• In P reinforcement, a response or behaviour is strengthened by rewards, leading to the repetition of desired behaviour. the reward is a reinforcing stimuli

Question 23

What does positive reinforcement do for behaviour

Answer 23

• Positive reinforcement strengthens a behaviour by providing a consequence an individual find rewarding.
• More likely to repeat this behaviour in the future

Question 24

What is negative reinforcement?

Answer 24

• N reinforcement is the termination of an unpleasant state following a response. This is known as n reinforcement because it is the removal of an adverse stimulus which is ‘rewarding’ to the animal or person.

Question 25

What does negative reinforcement do for behaviour

Answer 25

• N reinforcement strengthens behaviour because it stops or removes an unpleasant experience.

Question 26

What is social learning theory?

Answer 26

• Social learning theory is the idea that children learn from observing others.
• When it comes to aggressive behaviour, SLT plays a big role in how all people and especially children learn

Question 27

What are the four elements to social learning theory?

Answer 27

Attention: Children can’t learn if they aren’t focused on the task. Students who see something unique or different are more likely to focus on it, helping them to learn

Retention: People learn by internalising information. We can then recall info later when we want to respond to a situation I the same way which we saw. In order to learn from what we see; we have to retain that information.

Reproduction: We reproduce our previously learned behaviour or knowledge when it’s required. practising our response in our head or in actions can improve the way we respond

Motivation: Motivation is required to do anything. usually, our motivation comes from seeing someone else be rewarded or pushed for something they have done. This can motivate us to do or not do the same thing

Question 28

What are two strengths of the behaviourist perspective?

Answer 28

1) P: Tends to use laboratory experiments which use standardised procedures and are carried out under exp conditions
C: procedures are highly replicable for the reliability of behaviour.

2) It provides evidence for the nurture side of the nature-nurture debate which allows us to investigate the effect of the environment on behaviour
c: Useful as practice apps could be implemented such as therapy for mental disorders

Question 29

Two weaknesses of the behaviourist perspective?

Answer 29

1) provides a reductionist expl of behaviour as it ignores the influence of biological (nature) and cognitive factors on behaviours. This is a weakness as it reduces validity
c: less accurate in explaining behaviour
as in the real world, our biological make up, social interactions, and situations can influence behaviour rather than a direct consequence of stimulus and response

2) raises many ethical issues as some of the learning experiences studied can be stressful and damaging to participants
c: weakness as it breaches ethical guidelines if it encourages children to behave in an anti-social way rather than a pro-social manner