The behavioural approach Flashcards
What are the main assumptions of the behavioural approach?
The behavioural approach is centred around understanding measurable and observable behaviour and not the inner workings of the mind.
Behaviourists tried to maintain more control and objectivity in their research and therefore relied heavily on lab experiments.
Behaviourists believe basic processes of behaviour apply to all species and therefore use animals as experimental subjects.
What are the stages of classical conditioning
- Before conditioning
food = unconditioned stimulus response–> salvation= unconditioned response - Before conditioning
tuning fork= neutral stimulus response–> no salvation= no conditioned response - During conditioning
tuning fork+ food response–> salvation= unconditioned response - After conditioning
tuning fork= conditioned response response–> salvation= conditioned response
What other processes involved in conditioning did Pavlov identify in his later work?
Extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalisation, discrimination.
Definition of Extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalisation and discrimination
Extinction= A conditioned response dies out
Spontaneous recovery= A conditioned response that has disappeared suddenly appears again
Generalisation= The conditioned response is produced when a similar stimulus to the original conditioned stimulus is presented
Discrimination= The conditioned response is only produced when a specific stimulus is present
What is operant conditioning
A method of learning where the consequences of a response determine the probability of it being repeated. Through operant conditioning behaviour which is reinforced will likely be repeated, and behaviour which is punished will occur less frequently
What are the schedules of reinforcement?
Positive reinforcement= receiving an award when a certain behaviour is performed
Negative reinforcement= occurs when you avoid something unpleasant/negative
Punishment= an unpleasant consequence of a certain behaviour
What is classical conditioning
Learning through association, Pavlov found 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.
Eventually Pavlov’s dogs learned to associate the sound of the bell with food and began to salivate at the sound alone.
What are the strengths of the behavioural approach?
It has scientific credibility - behaviourism was able to bring the language and methods of natural sciences into psychology by focusing on the measurement of observable behaviour with highly controlled lab settings - this is important because processes such as objectivity and replication, behaviourism was influential in the development of psychology as a scientific discipline, giving it greater credibility and status.
Real life application - the principles of conditioning have been applied to a brand range of real-world behaviours and problems.
What are the weaknesses of the behavioural approach?
Mechanistic view of behaviour - from a behaviourist perspective animals, including humans, are seen as passive and machine-like responders to the environment, with little or no conscious insight into their behaviour.
Environmental determinism - the behaviourist approach sees all behaviour as determined by their past experiences that have been conditioned. this ignores any possible influence that free will may have on behaviour.
