The Behavioural Approach Flashcards
1
Q
Key assumptions of Behaviourist approach
A
- Concerned with observable behaviour that can be objectively and scientifically measured.
- All behaviour is learned from the environment and can be reduced to a stimulus-response association.
- There is little difference between the learning that takes place in humans and non-human animals. Therefore, research can be carried out on animals as well as humans.
- Behaviourists identified two forms of learning: classical conditioning and operant conditioning
2
Q
Classical conditioning
A
- The behaviourist approach suggests that all behaviour is learnt rather than being innate or inherited from parents.
- Classical conditioning is learning through association
- A stimulus produces the same response as another stimulus because they have been consistently presented at the same time.
3
Q
Pavlov (1927)
A
- Pavlov conditioned dogs to salivate at the sound of a bell
- BEFORE CONDITIONING :
->UCS : Food
-> UCR : Salivating
-> NS : Bell
DURING CONDITIONING :
-> The unconditioned stimulus (food) was repeatedly paired with the neutral stimulus (bell). Eventually the dog associated the bell with food.
AFTER CONDITIONING
-> CS : Bell
-> CR : Salivating
4
Q
Principle of classical conditioning
A
- Stimulus generalisation : stimuli similar to the original condition stimuli will cause the conditioned response
- Extinction: The conditioned response is not produced when the bell is wrong. This is because the bell is rung without the food being presented at the same time.
- Spontaneous recovery : Following extinction if the conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus are paired together once again the link between them is made more quickly.
5
Q
Evaluation of Classical conditioning (+)
A
- Research to support the idea of classical conditioning in the development of behaviours. Eg. In Watson and Rayner’s study Little Albert was conditioned to fear a white rat by striking a metal bar behind his head every time he reached for the rat. Therefore, classical conditioning is successful in explaining how learning can occur in animals and little children.
- Has helped developed treatments of psychological disorders. Eg. treatments such as systematic desensitisation and flooding are formed based on the components of classical conditioning and association. Therefore has helped treat many patients with phobias.
6
Q
Evaluation of classical conditioning (-)
A
- It is environmentally reductionist because it focuses on a lower level of explanation than other approaches.
Stimulus-response associations lack meaning when attempting to explain complex human behaviours, such as attachment. - Menzies’ findings suggests learning is not involved in all behaviours.
He studied people that had a phobia of water and he found that only 2% of his sample had encountered a negative experience with water.
Therefore 98% of his sample had a phobia of water, but has never had a negative experience with water, so learning has not occurred. Therefore learning is not a factor in the formation of all behaviour, other factors such as genetics can also influence our behaviours.
7
Q
Operant conditioning
A
- Operant conditioning is learning through reinforcement and punishment.
- Reinforcement is a consequence that makes a behaviour more likely to occur
1. Positive reinforcement: Occurs when behaviour produces a consequence that is satisfying or pleasant for the organism
2. Negative reinforcement: Occurs when we avoid something unpleasant - Punishment occurs when a behaviour leads to an unpleasant consequence.
1. Positive punishment : This is when something unpleasant is added to a person’s life that was not there before.
2. Negative punishment: This is when something pleasant is removed from a person’s life.
8
Q
Principles in operant conditioning
A
Extinction - When the rat presses the lever but no longer receives a reward the rat learns that pressing the lever leads to no reward. The rat will therefore stop pressing the lever as it has learned that it leads to no more rewards.
Spontaneous recovery - Following extinction if the rat presses the lever and suddenly received a food pellet the rat will quickly learned that pressing the lever results in a reward.
9
Q
Operant conditioning- Skinner
A
Skinner conducted a study on rats in a device called the Skinner Box.
- The Skinner box was a cage which had speakers, lights, a lever, a door and a floor which could be electrified.
One hungry rat at a time would be placed in the Skinner box and allowed to freely run round.
- The rat might accidentally press the lever and be rewarded by a food pellet which would drop into the box (positive reinforcement).
- The rat would then continue to press the lever in order to receive a food pellet in the future, as the rat soon learned that pressing the lever led to a reward.
-The rat could also learn that by pressing the lever they could avoid something unpleasant, by pressing the lever the rat could avoid receiving an electric shock (via the electrified floor). This is an example of negative reinforcement.
10
Q
Operant conditioning evaluation (+)
A
- Research evidence to support the idea of operant conditioning in the real world.
Eg. token economy is used in institutions such as prisons and hospitals and acts as a form of behaviour modification. It works by rewarding appropriate behaviour with tokens which can be exchanged for privileges. Research conducted by Paul and Lentz used token economy to treat patients who had schizophrenia and it was found that their behaviour became more appropriate. Therefore operant conditioning is useful in dealing with everyday issues.
11
Q
Operant conditioning (-)
A
- A weakness of the Skinner box is that there are ethical issues with the study. Rats and pigeons were often placed in the Skinner box in stressful and aversive conditions which could have a negative effect psychological and physical health of animals. Therefore this study causes psychological harm.
- Another weakness of Skinner’s research is that it ignores the concept of free will. Skinner suggests that past experiences involving operant conditioning will affect future behaviour and people have no control over their actions or their behaviour they show.
Therefore, this is a deterministic view of behaviour which does not account for free will and the fact that a human has choice over how they behave
12
Q
Behavioural approach evaluation (+)
A
- A strength of the behaviourist approach is that it enhanced the scientific status of psychology. Behaviourism was able to bring the language and the methods of the natural sciences into psychology by focusing on the measurement of observable behaviour within highly controlled lab settings. Therefore, by focusing on the importance of scientific processes such as objectivity and replication behaviourism was influential in the development of psychology as a science.
- Research evidence to support the principles of conditioning in the real world.
Eg. token economy is used in institutions such as prisons and hospitals and acts as a form of behaviour modification. Token economy works by rewarding appropriate behaviour with tokens which can be exchanged for privileges. Research conducted by Paul and Lentz used token economy to treat patients who had schizophrenia and it was found that their behaviour became more appropriate. Therefore conditioning is useful in dealing with everyday issues.
13
Q
Behavioural approach evaluation (-)
A
- The behaviourist approach uses animals within its research. For example, studies looking at classical conditioning have focused on dogs (Pavlov) and studies looking at operant conditioning have focused on rat behaviour (e.g. Skinner). This is a weakness because, animals (such as a rats and dogs) are physiologically different to humans. As a result, findings generated from animal studies can be criticised for extrapolation and cannot be generalised to humans.
- The behaviourist approach is environmentally deterministic. According to behaviourism, human behaviour is entirely determined by the environment, there is no account taken of a person’s free will to decide how to behave. Therefore this explanation of behaviour is incomplete.
