PAPER 2 - APPROACHES - the behaviourist approach Flashcards
what is the fundamental belief of the behaviourist approach?
all behaviour is learned through classical and operant conditioning
what was Pavlov able to get the dogs to do?
able to train the dogs to salivate when a bell rang without presence of food, by associating the food and bell together
what is the UCS in Pavlov’s experiment?
food
what is the NS in Pavlov’s experiment?
bell
what is the UCR in Pavlov’s experiment?
salivation
what happens during the acquisition phase?
- an NS that doesn’t elicit the UCR is presented shortly after the UCS
- after many pairings of the NS+UCS, changes the NS to be able to produce the same response in the absence of the UCS
why is ‘timing’ important?
if NS cannot be used to predict the UCS conditioning doesn’t take place - may take too long and cant associate
what is meant by ‘extinction’?
Pavlov discovered that unlike the UCR, the CR does not become permanently established as a response
what is meant by ‘spontaneous recovery’?
following extinction, if the CS and UCS are then paired together once again, the link is made much more quicky
what is meant by ‘stimulus generalisation’?
Pavlov discovered that once an animal has been conditioned, they will also respond to stimuli similar to the CS
what is classical conditioning?
learning through association (NS associated with UCS causing an unconditioned response)
what is operant conditioning?
learning through reinforcement - shapes behaviour through consequences
what is positive reinforcement?
adding a pleasant consequence to a behaviour
what is negative reinforcement?
taking away something unpleasant to a behaviour
what is punishment?
an unpleasant consequence to behaviour and decreases likelihood of it occuring
what is positive punishment?
adding an unpleasant consequence to a behaviour
what is negative punishment?
taking away something pleasant to a behaviour
how is ‘systematic desensitisation’ a strength of classical conditioning theory?
- treatment based on classical conditioning that eliminates learned anxious response that’s associated with the feared object/ situation and replacing it with another
- good for phobias
how is Seligman’s preparedness hypothesis a limitation of classical conditioning?
classical conditioning is only appropriate for some learning
- Seligman proposed concept of preparedness - explains how animals are prepared to learn associations significant for survival needs & unprepared to learn insignificant associations
how are behaviourist explanations limited?
behaviourists are accused of ignoring other explanations like cognitive factors (how we perceive things, schemas)
- means we ignore evidence of the role of other factors shaping behaviour
how is skinners experimental method a strength of his research?
- lab experiment - skinners reliance on the skinner box, good example of his approach in practice
- manipulated consequences of behaviour, meant he could accurately measure effect on rats behaviour & frequency of occurrence
how is the fact that Skinners research is based on non-human animals a limitation?
non human animals tell us little about human behaviour, humans have free will, behaviour isn’t determined by positive/ negative reinforcement
- inappropriate to generalise, animal behaviour not decision based
how did skinner respond to the criticism of humans having free will?
said that free will is an illusion and what we believe are behaviours chosen through free will are just the product of external influences that ‘guide’ our behaviour on daily basis
