Learning Approach: Behaviourism

Question 1

The behaviourist approach

Answer 1

The behaviourist approach to learning studies changes in behaviour that are caused by a person’s direct experience of their environment.

Question 2

What was the approach’s main assumptions?

Question 3

Pavlov - Classical Conditioning

Answer 3

• Classical conditioning is learning through association.
• It was first demonstrated by Ivan Pavlov.
• Pavlov revealed that dogs could be conditioned to salivate to the sound of a bell if that sound was repeatedly presented at the same time as they were given food.
• Gradually, Pavlov’s dogs learned to associate the sound of the bell (a neutral stimulus) with the food (an unconditioned stimulus) and would produce the salivation response every time they heard the sound.
• Thus, Pavlov was able to show how a neutral stimulus, in this case the bell, can come to elicit a conditioned response, salivation, through association.

Question 4

Skinner - Operant Conditioning

Answer 4

• To study operant conditioning in as scientific a way as possible, Skinner created an experimental tool called the ‘Skinner box’ that allowed complete control over the organism’s environment, the behaviours available to it and the reinforcement or punishment it would receive.
• Skinner investigated how the type of reinforcement or punishment given and the rate at which reinforcement or punishment was given affected the rate of learning.
• In a typical experiment, a rat or pigeon would be put into the Skinner box in which temperature, light and noise were kept constant.
• On the wall of the box, there would be a lever and a hopper that could deliver a food pellet to the animal once the lever was pressed.
• Initially, the rat or pigeon would’ve been wandering around the box aimlessly until it accidentally pressed the lever and received a food pellet.
• Skinner would leave the animal in the box and measure how frequently it pressed the lever overtime.
• The frequency should indicate the strength of the conditioning of the behaviour.
• This would be then repeated with other animals.

Question 5

Skinner - Operant Conditioning - Reinforcement & Punishment

Answer 5

Positive reinforcement - occurs when a behaviour (response) is followed by a favourable stimulus (commonly seen as pleasant) that increases the frequency of that behaviour. It is receiving a reward when a certain behaviour is performed; for example praise from a teacher for answering a question correctly.

Negative reinforcement - occurs when a behaviour (response) is followed by the removal of an aversive stimulus (commonly seen as unpleasant) thereby increasing that behaviour’s frequency. In the Skinner’s box experiment, negative reinforcement can be a loud noise continuously sounding inside the box until it engages in the target behaviour, such as pressing a lever, upon which the loud noise is removed.

Punishment - is an unpleasant consequence that causes a behaviour to occur with less frequency.

Question 6

Strength

Question 7

Strength

Question 8

Weakness

Question 9

Weakness