The Behaviourist Approach

Question 1

What are the 3 main assumptions of behaviourism?

Answer 1

-There is little difference between the learning that takes place in humans and that in other animals.
-We are born with our minds as a ‘blank slate’ (tabula rasa).
-All behaviour is learnt through the environment.

Question 2

What does UCS mean?

Answer 2

Unconditioned stimulus.

Question 3

What does UCR mean?

Answer 3

Unconditioned response.

Question 4

What does NS mean?

Answer 4

Neutral stimulus.

Question 5

What does CS mean?

Answer 5

Conditioned stimulus.

Question 6

What does CR mean?

Answer 6

Conditioned response.

Question 7

What is classical conditioning?

Answer 7

Learning through association.

Question 8

What is a stimulus?

Answer 8

Anything that brings about a response.

Question 9

What is a response?

Answer 9

A reaction to a stimulus.

Question 10

What is reinforcement?

Answer 10

The process where a response is strengthened.

Question 11

What are the two types of learning?

Answer 11

Classical conditioning (CC) and operant conditioning (OC).

Question 12

How did Pavlov experiment classical conditioning with his dogs?

Answer 12

1. He presented his dogs with food (UCS), causing them to salivate (UCR).
2. He paired the food (UCS) with ringing a bell (NS), causing them to salivate (UCR).
3. After a few trials, ringing a bell (now CS) alone caused the dogs to salivate (CR).

Question 13

How did Pavlov experiment classical conditioning with his dogs (simplified)?

Answer 13

1. Food (UCS) = Salivation (UCR).
2. Food (UCS) + Bell (NS) = Salivation (UCR).
3. Bell (CS) = Salivation (CR).

Question 14

What is the rule on the NS?

Answer 14

The NS will always become the CS.

Question 15

A child is afraid of spiders. One day he is in a lift and notices a spider. Now he is afraid of lifts. What is the 3 step process (simplified)?

Answer 15

1. Spider (UCS) = Fear (UCR).
2. Spider (UCS) + Lift (NS) = Fear (UCR).
3. Lift (CS) = Fear (CR).

Question 16

What are advantages of classical conditioning?

Answer 16

-Aversion therapy: associating a dysfunctional behaviour (like drinking) with a UCR (like vomiting) to produce a new CS. Uses ‘Antabuse’, which reacts with alcohol in the blood stream; the drug causes the drinker to feel violent nausea.
-Systematic desensitisation: associating a troubling CR (like a phobia) with the CS (like a spider) in a relaxing, safe environment. Gradually, the patient stops associating fear with the spider. The spider goes back to being a NS, producing no reaction.

Question 17

What are disadvantages of classical conditioning?

Answer 17

-Dogs don’t have conscious thoughts, human behaviour is more complex.
-Deterministic: ignores motives and personality. George Best was able to keep drinking in spite of aversion therapy, which suggests that there is more to human behaviour than just stimulus-response.

Question 18

Who conducted the case study on Little Albert?

Answer 18

Watson & Rayner (1920).

Question 19

What was the aim of the Little Albert case study?

Answer 19

To investigate whether an emotional response (e.g. fear) can be conditioned in a human being.

Question 20

What was the method for the Little Albert case study?

Answer 20

*Watson & Rayner would place a white rat in front of in front of Albert.
*When Albert went to reach the rat, Watson would simultaneously strike a metal bar with a hammer, creating a loud noise.
*After a few trials, when the rat was presented alone, Albert became frightened and tried to get away from the rat.

Question 21

What was the conculsion of the Little Albert case study?

Answer 21

Behaviour is learnt, and phobias (e.g. rats) can be conditioned in a human being.

Question 22

What was the evaluation of the Little Albert case study?

Answer 22

-Low external validity, isn’t generalisable as it was performed on one baby.
-Little Albert showed evidence of fear months after the experiment, although it faded as the fear wasn’t reinforced.
-No operationalised DV (no measurement of the fear response).

Question 23

What is operant conditioning?

Answer 23

Learning through consequences.

Question 24

What is positive reinforcement?

Answer 24

Anything that increases the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated by using pleasant consequences (e.g. a dog getting a treat for sitting when commanded to do so).

Question 25

What is negative reinforcement?

Answer 25

Anything that increases the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated by removing unpleasant consequences (e.g. student does homework to avoid detention).

Question 26

What is punishment?

Answer 26

Anything that decreases the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated by using unpleasant consequences (e.g. getting a detention for not doing homework, so doing it next time to avoid punishment).

Question 27

In Skinner’s experiments, where did he place his animals?

Answer 27

A Skinner box.

Question 28

How did Skinner show positive reinforcement in his experiment?

Answer 28

A hungry rat was placed in a Skinner box.
The box contained a lever in the side, and as the rat moved about the box, it would accidentally switch the lever.
Immediately, a food pellet would drop into a container next to the lever.
After a few trials, the rats learned to go straight to the lever.

Question 29

How did Skinner show negative reinforcement in his experiment?

Answer 29

A rat was placed in a Skinner box, and then was subjected to unpleasant electric shocks, causing it discomfort.
As the rat moved about the box, it would accidentally knock the lever, and the electric current would be switched off.
After a few trials, the rats learned to go straight to the lever.

Question 30

What does operant conditioning do to behaviour?

Answer 30

Behaviour shaping.

Question 31

What are some strengths of the behaviourist approach?

Answer 31

-Systematic desensitisation, aversion therapy.
-Real life application (e.g. phobias).

Question 32

What are the limitations of the behaviourist approach?

Answer 32

-Much of the data has been obtained from animals such as rats, dogs and pigeons, who don’t have conscious thoughts (unlike humans).
-Deterministic.

Question 33

Outline Skinner’s research into reinforcement (3 marks)

Answer 33

-Skinner researched positive & negative reinforcement by placing rats in a ‘Skinner box’.

-When a rat accidentally switches a lever in the box, a food pellet drops into the box. After a few trials, the animal realises that a reward is given after the action. This is positive reinforcement.

-For negative reinforcement, an electric shock occurs in the box. The rat could accidentally switch a lever, and it would stop the shocks. The rat quickly realised that no shock would occur after this action after a few trials.

Question 34

Outline Pavlov’s research into classical conditioning and describe how classical conditioning might explain a child’s fear of school (6 marks)

Answer 34

-Pavlov accidentally discovered classical conditioning when researching dogs and their salivary glands. He paired food (UCS) with the bell (NS) causing them to salivate (UCR). Through learning by association, the dogs allowed to salivate (CR) over the bell (CS) alone after a few trials.
-School is initially a NS.
-The child feels fear (UCR) when faced with an event such as bullying (UCS).
-Over time, the child learns to feel fear (CR) over school (CS) as the child now expects bullying to occur in school.