Lesson 3: Behaviourist Approach (operant)

Question 1

Operant conditioning

Answer 1

• Idea behind Skinner’s operant conditioning is that organisms spontaneously produce different behaviours and these behaviours produce consequences for that organism. Some of these consequences may be positive and some may be negative. If the consequence of a behaviour is positive then the behaviour is likely to be repeated. If the consequence is negative then the behaviour is much less likely to be repeated.
• Responses are reinforced in operant conditioning but not in classical conditioning. Classical conditioning explains the acquisition of a response while operant conditioning explains the maintenance of a response.

Question 2

Reinforcement

Answer 2

• something in the environment that strengthens a particular behaviour.

Question 3

Types of reinforcement

Answer 3

Positive reinforcement - occurs when behaviour produces a consequence that is satisfying or pleasant for the organism. For example, praising a child for doing their homework.
Negative reinforcement - occurs when behaviour removes something aversive and returns the organism to the pre-aversive state.

Question 4

Punishment

Answer 4

• occurs when a behaviour leads to an unpleasant consequence. This decreases the likelihood that the behaviour will occur again

Question 5

Types of punishment

Answer 5

Positive - this is when something unpleasant is added to a person’s life that was not there before. For example, such as giving a student detention.
Negative - this is when something pleasant is removed from a person’s life. For example, confiscating a student’s mobile phone.

Question 6

Skinner (1953)

Answer 6

• Conducted a study on rats in a Skinner box
• The Skinner box was a cage which had speakers, lights, a lever, a door and a floor which could be electrified?
• One rat would be allowed to freely run around. If the rat pressed a lever, it would be rewarded with a food pellet. Rat would then continue to press lever for food.
• Other rat could learn pressing lever could help avoid something unpleasant, by pressing the lever the rat could avoid receiving an electric shock.

Question 7

Strengths of behaviourist approach

Answer 7

+ The behaviourist approach enhanced the scientific status of Psychology by using strict scientific methods, being objective and producing verifiable findings.

+ The behaviourist approach has developed laws and principles that have enabled psychologists to predict and control behaviour. However, it also raises ethical concerns because the approach could be used to control people against their wishes.

+ The behaviourist approach had led to several useful treatments such as systematic desensitisation and token economy. However, focusing solely on behaviour neglects the whole person. Treatments using conditioning do not get to the root cause of a patient’s problem and so it is likely that when the therapy has ended the patient will return to their original behaviour.

Question 8

Weaknesses of Behaviourist approach

Answer 8

• Behaviourist approach is environmentally reductionist because it focuses on a lower ,level of explanation than other approaches. Stimulus-response associations lack meaning when attempting to 3D plain complex human behaviours, such as attachment. The behaviourist approach is also environmentally deterministic. According to behaviourists, human behaviour is entirely determined by the environment, there is no account taken of a person’s free will to decide how to behave.
• The behaviourist approach has been criticised because it uses non-human animals. Critics claim this tells us little about human behaviour because humans have cognitive factors and emotional states that influence their behaviour.