deck_15906552 (1) Flashcards
What are the three main assumptions of behaviourism?
1) Nearly all behaviour is learnt,
2) Animals and humans learn in the same ways,
3) The ‘mind’ is irrelevant.
What is meant by ‘nearly all behaviour is learnt’?
- Only exceptions are a few inborn reflexes and a few inborn instincts,
- Evidence now shows that genetics can influence psychological features,
- Behaviourism claims that learning is the cause of the majority of behaviours.
What is meant by ‘animals and humans learn in the same ways’?
- Humans can do much more complex things than other animals, the principle by which we learn are the same,
- Based on the idea that we can form stimulus-response associations between stimuli and our actions,
- We may use both conditioning, but humans can be said to use other forms of learning as well, e.g. social learning.
What is meant by ‘the ‘mind’ is irrelevant’?
- Can’t directly observe and measure a person’s thinking,
- Can only obtain measurable data by studying behaviour,
- Although cognitive abilities cannot be directly, scientifically measured, they may give a more complete explanation of behaviour, as shown by social learning theory.
Ivan Pavlov, method (classical conditioning)
- Noticed that his dogs would salivate before they got food; realised that they had associated food with another stimulus,
- Whenever Pavlov gave his dogs food, he would also ring a bell,
- After repeating this procedure several times, Pavlov tried ringing the bell without giving the dogs any food.
Ivan Pavlov, results
- The bell alone caused salivation.
Ivan Pavlov, conclusion
- When dogs see food they salivate, this is an automatic, unlearned response - a reflex,
- The food is an unconditioned stimulus and salivation is an unconditioned response,
- The bell has become a conditioned stimulus, and salivation has become a conditioned response.
Skinner (1938), method (Operant conditioning)
- Created a ‘Skinner box’, in which he placed one rat at a time,
- Each box contained a variety of different stimuli, a speaker, lights, a floor which gave an electric shock, and a food dispenser that released food upon a lever being pressed,
- A hungry rat would be placed in a skinner box, the time taken for the rats to learn pressing the lever would release food was recorded.
Skinner (1938), results
- Initially the rat would run around the cage until it accidentally pressed the lever and it was rewarded with food,
- the more the rat was put back into the box, the quicker they got at learning where the lever was.
Skinner (1938), conclusion
- Rats can learn behaviour through operant conditioning,
- A behaviour such as pressing a lever can be positively reinforced by receiving food.
Skinner (1938), evaluation
- Hugely influential in promoting the idea of behavioural psychology,
- Experiment used animals; results might not be generalisable to humans,
- Sample size was too small, reducing reliability of results.
Watson and Rayner (1920), method (little Albert)
- Partcipant was an 11 month old boy named ‘little Albert’,
- Showed no fear when white fluffy objects such as rats or rabbits,
- Researchers tried to create a conditioned response to these objects,
- White rat was placed in front of Albert, as he reached out for it, a metal bar was struck loudly behind his head,
- This was repeated twice at first, then 5 more times a week later.
Watson and Rayner (1920), results
- When Albert was shown a rat, he would start to cry,
- Also extended to other white fluffy objects, e.g. a white santa claus beard prop.
Watson and Rayner (1920), conclusion
- Fear response to white fluffy objects had been conditioned in Little Albert, showing that abnormal behaviour can be learned.
Watson and Rayner (1920), evaluation
- Very unethical; experiment couldn’t be repeated today,
- Not everyone goes on to develop a phobia/fear after a negative situation, learning theory can’t be the entire explanation,
- Was a laboratory study; lacks ecological validity,
- Results support Pavlov’s dogs; idea of classical conditioning.
What is Social Learning Theory, and who developed it?
- Developed by Bandura,
- Agrees with the idea that people can learn by conditioning, but also claims that they learn a lot from role models,
- Some mediational processes are also involved between the stimulus and the response,
- Proposes that several processes take place for learning to happen: modelling, identification,
- Can also be learnt through reinforcement and vicarious reinforcement.
Bandura et al. (1961), method
- 36 girls and 36 boys with a mean age of 52 months took part in the study,
- Study had a matched participants design (children matched on ratings of aggressive behaviour shown in their nursery school),
- Had three conditions,
- In first condition, children observed aggressive adult models playing with a bobo doll,
- In the 2nd, children observed non-aggressive models playing with other toys and ignoring the bobo doll,
- In the 3rd, a control condition; children had no exposure to the models,
- The children’s behaviour was then monitored for 20 minutes in a room containing aggressive toys and non-aggressive toys.
Bandura et al. (1961), results
- Children exposed to aggressive models imitated a lot of their aggressive behaviour,
- Children in the non-aggressive and control conditions showed barely any aggressive behaviour,
- Aggressive behaviour was slightly higher in the control condition than in the non-aggressive condition.
Bandura et al. (1961), conclusion
- Aggressive behaviour is learned through imitation of others behaving aggressively.
Bandura et al. (1961), evaluation
- Study provides evidence for social learning theory,
- Strict control of variables; results likely reliable; study can be replicated,
- has low ecological validity; artificial situation,
- Difficult to generalise; limited sample; children all from the same school,
- Study encouraged aggression in children; could be an ethical problem.
What are the mediational processes?
- Attention,
- Retention,
- Reproduction,
- And motivation.
What is the mediational process: Attention?
To learn behaviours from others, you have to pay full attention. Once you notice your role model, you have to give your full attention and attend to their behaviour.
What is the mediational process: Attention?
You then judge whether you have the ability to reproduce the behaviour. If you think you can reproduce the behaviouir, you are far more likely to do it.
What is the mediational process: Retention?
Not only do you need to pay attention at the time, but you need to remember what you observed to be able to model it.
What is the mediational process: Attention?
Finally, you evaluate the direct or indirect results of imitating the behaviour. If the behaviour results in a good reward, you are more likely to imitate it.
