Learning Approaches - The Behaviourist Approach

Question 1

The Behaviourist Approach: Key Assumptions

Answer 1

1) Behaviour is learnt from experience.
2) Only observable behaviour is measurable scientifically and should be studied i.e. stimuli and responses.
3) We are born a blank slate (‘tabula rasa’) - there is no genetic influence on behavior.
4) The same laws apply to human and non-human animal behaviour. It is therefore valid to study the behavior of animals as they share the same principles of learning.

Question 2

Classical Conditioning

Answer 2

Classical conditioning involves learning through ASSOCIATION.
Learning occurs when an association is made between a previously neutral stimulus and a reflex response (positive or negative).

Question 3

Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

Answer 3

Something that produces a natural response

Question 4

Unconditioned response (UCR)

Answer 4

The natural response to the UCS

Question 5

Neutral stimulus (NS)

Answer 5

A stimulus which does not elicit a response on its own.

Question 6

Conditioned stimulus (CS)

Answer 6

A stimulus that produces a reflexive response (previously the NS), but in the absence of the UCS

Question 7

Conditioned response (CR)

Answer 7

The response produced by the CS

Question 8

who was Ivan Pavlov

Answer 8

Ivan Pavlov was a Russian physiologist credited with discovering the process of classical conditioning.

He was originally investigating the salivary reflex in dogs, when he noticed that they not only salivated when food was placed in their mouths, but also reacted to stimuli that coincided with the presentation of food e.g. food bowl or person who fed them.

Question 9

Classical Conditioning: Pavlov (1927)
procedure

Answer 9

He inserted a small test tube into the cheek of each dog to measure saliva when the dogs were fed.
In his experiment, Pavlov used a metronome as his neutral stimulus. By itself the metronome (NS) did not elicit a response from the dogs.
Next, Pavlov began the conditioning procedure, whereby the clicking metronome (NS) was introduced just before he gave food (UCS) to his dogs.
After a number of repeats (trials) of this procedure (i.e. presenting the food and ticking metronome at the same time) he presented the metronome on its own.

Question 10

Classical Conditioning: Pavlov (1927)
Findings

Answer 10

The sound of the clicking metronome (CS) on its own now caused an increase in salivation (CR).
The dog had learned an association between the metronome and the food and a new behaviour had been learned.

Question 11

Stimulus Generalisation

Answer 11

Once an animal has been conditioned, then they will also respond to other stimuli that are similar to the CS
e.g. a bell with a different pitch/tone.

Question 12

Timing

Answer 12

If the NS occurs after the UCS or the time interval between the two is too great, then conditioning does not take place.
Time contiguity – when the NS and UCS are presented at the same time, or around the same time.

Question 13

Extinction

Answer 13

After a few presentations of the CS in the absence of the UCS, it loses its ability to produce the CR.

Question 14

Spontaneous Recovery

Answer 14

Following extinction, if the CS and UCS are then paired together once again, the link between them is made much more quickly.

Question 15

What does this research tell us about how behaviour may be acquired?

Answer 15

Pavlov was able to show how a neutral stimulus (bell/metronome) can come to elicit a new learned response (conditioned response) through association.

Question 16

Why might it be inappropriate to generalise these findings to human behaviour?

Answer 16

There are fundamental differences between humans and dogs.
For example, humans have a much more sophisticated intelligence than other species and much more of our behaviour is the outcome of a conscious decision than the product of an instinct or drive.

Question 17

Reinforcement

Answer 17

A consequence that means a behaviour is more likely to be repeated in future. The response is therefore strengthened.

Question 18

Primary reinforcer

Answer 18

When a reward strengths a behaviour by itself. They are biological e.g. food, drink, pleasure.

Question 19

Secondary reinforcer

Answer 19

When something strengthens a behaviour because it leads to a primary reinforcer. Examples include money, grades in schools, stickers, which all result in feelings of pleasure.

Question 20

Positive reinforcement

Answer 20

A positive consequence in the form of a reward (the addition of a positive stimulus)

Question 21

Negative reinforcement

Answer 21

Removal of a negative/aversive stimulus

Question 22

“Caveman test”

Answer 22

If the stimulus is something that a caveman would naturally find desirable (e.g. food) then it is a primary reinforcer.
If the caveman would not react to it (e.g. money), it is a secondary reinforcer.

Question 23

what is Operant Conditioning

Answer 23

Learning through consequence

Question 24

what does punishment do

Answer 24

Punishment decreases the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated (because of its unpleasant consequence)
e.g. being shouted at for talking during a lesson results in you talking less (the behaviour is less likely to occur again)

Question 25

Skinner Box
procedure

Answer 25

Procedure: Skinner designed a device to test learned responses (in animals) capable of adding and removing positive and negative stimuli.

Question 26

Skinner Box
Key Findings

Answer 26

Positive reinforcement: When the rat pressed the lever it prompted the release of a food pellet (reward) into the box for the rat to eat - the rat then repeated this behaviour i.e. the action of pressing the lever.

Negative reinforcement: The floor was capable of administering an electric shock (punishment). The rat was then shocked until it pressed the lever, therefore removing the unpleasant and painful electric shock. It quickly learned to press the lever to stop the shock.
Subsequently: A light came on prior to the electric current, thus lever pressing immediately after the light came on was negatively reinforced.

Question 27

Key Study: Skinner (1948)

Answer 27

Skinner experimented with different schedules of reinforcement (a tactic that influences how an operant response is learned and maintained – they are rules that are used to present reinforcers following a specified operant behaviour):
Continuous reinforcement
Partial reinforcement

Although a continuous reinforcement schedule is most effective in establishing a particular response, a partial reinforcement schedule is more effective in maintaining that response and avoiding extinction.

Question 28

Continuous reinforcement

Answer 28

Continuous reinforcement: the behavioural response is reinforced every time that it occurs e.g. food pellet dispensed every time the rat presses the lever.

Question 29

Partial reinforcement

Answer 29

Partial reinforcement: the behaviour is only sometimes reinforced.

Question 30

Reinforcement schedule

Answer 30

Continuous reinforcement
Fixed interval
Fixed ratio
Variable interval
Variable ratio

Question 31

P:Scientific evidence supports/underpins the principles of classical and operant conditioning.

Answer 31

E: Skinner demonstrated positive and negative reinforcement as he found that the action of pressing the lever was positively reinforced by food pellets dispensed into the box, as well as negatively reinforced by its ability to remove an unpleasant and painful electric shock.

C: Skinner’s experiments were conducted under controlled conditions, which allowed for a cause-effect relationship to be established between the consequences (reward/punishment) he was manipulating and their effects on behaviour, thus supporting operant conditioning.

Question 32

P:Classical conditioning has led to the development of treatments that have been used to help change behaviour e.g. overcome phobias.

Answer 32

E: Systematic desensitisation and flooding work by creating a new non-fearful association with the feared object or situation (e.g. associating flying with relaxation instead of anxiety, to produce a calm response), thus eliminating the learned anxious response. This is known as counter-conditioning.

C: Therefore, the behaviourist approach has led to treatments that can help people to unlearn behaviours that may be causing them distress, supporting the assumption that the behaviour was learnt in the first place.

Question 33

P:However, behaviourists rely mostly on animal research.

Answer 33

E: Arguably, this doesn’t tell us much about human behaviour, because there are both psychological and physiological differences between rats/dogs and humans e.g. arguably, humans have free will and a more sophisticated intelligence than other species and much more of our behaviour is the outcome of a conscious decision than the product of an instinct or drive.

C:Therefore, the findings of animal research are difficult to extrapolate to human behaviour.

Question 34

P:Behaviourists do not consider the influence of inherited and cognitive processes as they are not observable – the approach is therefore reductionist and environmentally deterministic.

Answer 34

E: Animals are seen as passive and machine-like responders to the environment, with little or no conscious insight into their behaviour. However, it is likely that in humans our thoughts do have an effect on how we behave and mediate between stimulus and response i.e. thinking before acting.

C: Therefore, this approach does not give a complete explanation for behaviour and could be considered reductionist as it reduces the complexities of human behaviour down to overly simple ideas such as stimulus, response and reinforcement. People may play a more active role in their learning.