jones - behavourism

Question 1

What is classical conditioning?

Answer 1

Learning by association
-> occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired together

Question 2

What is unconditioned stimulus? (UCS)

Answer 2

an object or an event that produces a response

Question 3

What is unconditioned response? (UCR)

Answer 3

a response to the unconditioned stimulus

Question 4

What is neutral stimulus?

Answer 4

something that doesnt produce a response

Question 5

What is conditioned stimulus? (CS)

Answer 5

an item that originally didnt produce a response but does because it is paired with the UCS

Question 6

What is conditioned response? (CR)

Answer 6

a response to the conditioned stimulus

Question 7

What is Pavlov’s dog training study?

Answer 7

before conditioning
1) the food (UCS) would cause salvation (UCR)
2) the bell (neutral) would cause no salvation (UCR)

during conditioning
3) the bell (neutral) was associated with food (UCS)

after conditioning
4) the bell (neutral -> CS) will cause salvation (UCR -> CR)

Question 8

What are some contributions of behaviourism?

Answer 8

-tells us how our behaviour is learned and determined by the environment

-large scale of data
-> generalisation
-> development of laws and principles

-theories and laws of leaning (classical and operant conditioning)

-emphasises the significance of consequences (behaviour which is rewarded is more likely to be done again)

-raised psychology’s scientific status

Question 9

What is Skinner’s experiment with rats?

Answer 9

Skinner box
-> people and animals actively engage with their environment
-> an animal or a person’s behaviour was determined by the consequences of its past behaviour
-> contains a lever or button that an animal can press to receive a reward (like food) or to avoid a punishment (like a mild shock)

Question 10

What is operant conditioning?

Answer 10

learning through consequences
-> behaviour is shaped and maintained

Question 11

What are processes of operant conditioning?

Answer 11

1) positive reinforcement
2) negative reinforcement
3) punishment

Question 12

What is positive reinforcement?

Answer 12

receiving a reward when a certain behaviour is performed
-> presenting something the organism likes
-> strengthens the behaviour

Question 13

What is negative reinforcement?

Answer 13

occurs when an organism aims to avoid something unpleasant
-> removing something the organism doesn’t like
-> strengthens the behaviour

Question 14

What is punishment?

Answer 14

unpleasant consequence of behaviour
-> presenting something the organism doesn’t like
-> weakens behaviour

Question 15

What are some strengths for the behaviourist approach?

Answer 15

1) scientific credibility
-> highly controlled lab settings
-> objective and replicable
-> high internal validity
-> influential in the development of psychology as a scientific subject

2) real life application the a broad range of behaviours
-> operant condition = basis of token economy system (rewarding appropriate behaviour with tokens that can be exchanged for privileges in institutions like prisons and psychiatric wards)
-> requiring less effort from a patient (don’t have to talk about their problems) compared to talking therapies

Question 16

What are some weaknesses for the behaviourist approach?

Answer 16

1) mechanistic view of behaviour
-> animals and humans are not passive and machine like responders but go through cognitive processes like thinking before an action
-> applies less to humans and animals (SLT)

2) ethical and practical issues in skinner’s research on operant conditioning
-> animals were exposed to harm (electric shocks)