Behaviuorist approach: Flashcards
Behaviourist
People who believe that human behaviour can be explained in terms of conditioning, without the need to consider thoughts or feeling
Classical conditioning
When a neutral stimulus is consistently paired with an unconditioned stimulus so that it eventually takes on the properties of this stimulus and is able to produce a conditioned response
Operant conditioning
Learning through reinforcement or punishment.
If a behaviour is followed by a desirable consequence then that behaviour is more likely to occur again in the future.
Punishment
Involves the application of an unpleasant consequence following a behaviour, with the result that the behaviour is less likely to occur again in the future.
Reinforcement:
Anything that strengthens a response and increases the likelihood that it will occur again in the future.
Pavlov’s research
The natural stimulus in any reflex is referred to as the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) and the natural response to this stimulus is the unconditioned response (UCR).
During the acquisition phase, a neutral stimulus (NS), which does not elicit the UCR, is presented shortly before the UCS.
After many pairings of NS + UCS, this changes and the NS is now able to produce the same response in the absence of the UCS.
The NS is now referred to as a conditioned stimulus (CS) and the response it produces is called a conditioned response (CR).
Ringing a bell shortly before presenting food to a hungry animal will eventually (after many pairings of NS and UCS) mean that the bell on its own will be sufficient to produce the response of salivation (CR).
Other important features of classical conditioning
Timing - if the NS cannot be used to predict the UCS (e.g. if it occurs after the UCS or the time interval between the two is too great), then conditioning does not take place.
Extinction - Pavlov discovered that, unlike the UCR, the CR does not become permanently established as a response. After a few presentations of the CS in the absence of the UCS, it loses its ability to produce the CR.
Spontaneous recovery - following extinction, if the CS and UCS are then paired together once again, the link between them is made much more quickly.
Stimulus generalisation - Pavlov discovered that once an animal has been conditioned, they will also respond to other stimuli that are similar to the CS
OPERANT CONDITIONING:
he basic idea behind Skinner’s theory of operant conditioning (Skinner,1938) is that organisms spontaneously produce different behaviours, and these behaviours produce consequences for that organism, some of which may be positive (i.e. desirable) and some negative (i.e. undesirable).
Whether or not an organism repeats a particular behaviour depends on the nature of these consequences, i.e. it is reinforced.
Types of reinforcement
Reinforcement means just what the word implies, i.e. something in the environment that strengthens (or reinforces) a particular behaviour and so makes it more likely to recur.
There are two main types of reinforcer, positive and negative reinforcers.
Although they both make it more likely that a behaviour will recur, they do this in different ways.
Positive reinforcement:
occurs when behaviour produces a consequence that is satisfying or pleasant for the organism; for example, food to a hungry animal or praise given to a child after they do something particularly well are both effective positive reinforcers.
Negative reinforcers
work because they remove something aversive (unpleasant) and so restore the organism to its ‘pre-aversive’ state.
For example, the act of hitting the ‘off’ button on an alarm clock allows a person to escape from the unpleasant ringing and restores the restful pre-alarm
Other important features of operant conditioning
- Schedules of reinforcement
although a continuous reinforcement schedule (e.g. reinforcing a rat every time it presses a lever) is most effective in establishing a particular response, a partial reinforcement schedule (e.g. reinforcing every third lever press or every 10 minutes) is more effective in maintaining that response and avoiding extinction. - Punishment
refers to the circumstance whereby a behaviour is followed by a consequence that is undesirable or unpleasant for the organism.
Reinforcement increases the likelihood of a behaviour recurring, whereas punishment decreases it.
As with reinforcement, punishment can also be positive (i.e. adding something unpleasant as a consequence, such as slapping a naughty child) or negative (i.e. taking away something pleasant such as ‘grounding’ a naughty teenager).
EVALUATION/DISCUSSION
Classical conditioning has been applied to therapy:
Operant conditioning based on experimental work:
A limited perspective on behaviour:
classical conditioning has been applied to therapy:
Classical conditioning has been applied in the development of treatments for the reduction of anxiety associated with various phobias.
Systematic desensitisation is a therapy based on classical conditioning (see page 106). It works by eliminating the learned anxious response (the CR) that is associated with a feared object or situation (the CS).
It is then possible to eliminate one learned response (anxiety) by replacing it with another (relaxation) so the patient is no longer anxious in the presence of the feared object or situation.
This classical conditioning-based approach has been found to be effective for a range of phobias such as fear of spiders (arachnophobia) and fear of flying (aerophobia).
Operant conditioning based on experimental work
A particular strength of Skinner’s research was his reliance on the experimental method, using controlled conditions to discover a possible causal relationship between variables.
Skinner’s reliance on the Skinner box was a good example of this approach in practice.
By manipulating the consequences of behaviour (the independent variable), he was able to accurately measure the effects on the rat’s behaviour (the dependent variable).
This allowed him to establish a cause-and-effect relationship between the consequences of a behaviour (i.e. positive or negative) and the future frequency of its occurrence.
