The Behaviourist Approach Flashcards
Who founded the approach and when?
JB Watson in 1915
What was the approach’s main assumption?
We are born as a black slate, our environment and our experience shape us as a person.
What did the approach reject and focus on instead?
They rejected the vagueness of introspection instead focusing on observing people behaviour. Observable behaviour can be objectively and scientifically measured.
Behaviourists believe that because all behaviour is learnt from our environment if…
We manipulate the environment we can manipulate behaviour.
What did Thorndikes law of effect, cat experiment show?
Behaviour that produces rewards are generally repeated whereas behaviour that produces punishment are not.
Describe Ivan Pavlov’s work.
He was initially interested in the digestion and the salivary glands of dogs. However, he noticed that the dogs started to salivate when they heard his footsteps as they new food was coming. This is known as classical conditioning.
Unconditioned stimulus (food) = ?
Unconditioned response (saliva)
What happens if a neutral stimulus is presented on its own?
No response will take place.
Unconditioned stimulus (food) + Neutral stimulus (tone) = ?
Unconditioned response (saliva)
What did Pavlov find out that happened over time?
The dog would start to respond to the neutral stimulus. The neutral stimulus has now become the conditioned stimulus and learning has taken place.
What happens if the unconditioned stimulus is no longer presented with the conditioned stimulus?
The conditioned response will start to be lost (extinction has taken place). However, the behaviour can be learnt again.
What principle does Pavlov’s work operate on?
The principle of association.
What are the advantages of behaviourism?
- results were objective
- responses were repeatable
- scientific research was used
- provides a reason for addiction, phobias, etc
- helps to establish cause and effect
- mainly quantities data
- provides strong counter arguments to nature side or nature-nurture debates.
What are the disadvantages of behaviourism?
- non-observable behaviour could not be studied in this way.
- it is hard to extrapolate results from animals to humans.
- deterministic-doesn’t take into consideration free will.
- ethical issues with experiments.
- lack of qualitative data.
- doesn’t take into consideration conscious thoughts.
Describe the Baby Albert Experiment (1920).
Watson and Rayner would place a white rat in front of Albert but when Albert went to reach the rat, Watson would simultaneously strike a metal bar with a hammer, creating a loud noise. This was repeated for weeks. Albert was initially not afraid of the white rat but he began to be frightened of it as he was frightened of the loud noise that was associated with it.
