The Behaviourist Approach Flashcards
Who founded The Behaviourist Approach?
JB Watson in 1915
What does the Behaviourist Approach reject and focus on?
- It rejects the vagueness of introspection
- It focuses on how we are a product of our learning, experience and environment
What are the assumptions of the Behaviourist Approach?
- Behaviourism is primarily concerned with observable behaviour, as opposed to internal events like thinking and emotion
- When born, our mind is a blank slate
- There is little difference between the learning that takes place in humans and that in other animals
- Behaviour is the result of a stimulus - response
What is Tabula rasa?
You are born as a blank slate
What is a stimulus?
Anything, internal or external, that brings about a response
What is a response?
Any reaction in the presence of the stimulus
What is reinforcement?
The process by which a response is strengthened
To study behaviour is….
Objective
State JB Watson’s famous quote.
“Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select: Doctor, Lawyer, Artist, Master Chief and yes even beggar man and thief. Regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations and race of his ancestors”
What is a UCS?
An unconditioned stimulus
What is a UCR?
An unconditioned response
What is a NS?
A neutral stimulus
What is a CR?
A conditioned Response
What is a CS?
A conditioned Stimulus
What is classical conditioning?
- Learning through association and refers to the conditioning of reflexes and involves associating a new stimulus with an innate bodily reflex
Who was Ivan Pavlov?
An individual who accidentally discovered classical conditioning when he realised that his dogs could associate food with another stimulus, causing them to salivate when the other stimulus occurs.
Explain Classical Conditioning with Pavlov’s dogs as the example
- First Pavlov established that food (Unconditioned Stimulus) caused the dog to salivate (Unconditioned Response)
- Then Pavlov established that a tone did not cause the dog to salivate
- He then presented the tone with the food. After a number of trials the dog is salivating in response to the food at this time
- Unconditioned Stimulus (FOOD) + Neutral Stimulus (BELL) = Unconditioned Response (SALIVA)
- After several pairings of the tone and food, Pavlov found that the dog would Salivate to the tone when it was presented alone
- Conditioned Stimulus (BELL) = Conditioned Response (SALIVA)
Explain Classical Conditioning with Pavlov’s dogs as the example (Abbreviated)
- Food (UCS) = Salivation (UCR).
- Food (UCS) + Bell (NS) = Salivation (UCR).
- Bell (CS) = Salivation (CR).
What is the rule on the Neutral stimulus?
The Neutral Stimulus will always become the Conditioned Stimulus
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 classical conditioning?
- Spider (UCS) = Fear (UCR).
- Spider (UCS) + Lift (NS) = Fear (UCR).
- Lift (CS) = Fear (CR)
What is an advantage of classical conditioning?
- Provided therapies for conditions such as phobias and addictions.
What is a disadvantage of classical conditioning?
- Dogs (unlike humans) can’t talk and don’t have conscious thoughts
- There is ambiguity on whether the same experiment on humans would produce the same results
Who conducted the Case Study of Little Albert?
Watson and Rayner (1920)
What was the aim of the Little Albert Case Study?
To investigate whether an emotional response, such as fear, could be conditioned in a human being
What was the method/design of the Little Albert Case Study?
- The participant was Albert (11 months old)
- Watson and Rayner would place a white rat in front of Albert but when Albert went to reach the rat, Watson simultaneously would strike a metal bar with a hammer, creating a loud noise
- This was repeated for many weeks
What were the results of the Little Albert Case Study?
Watson and Rayner found that when the rat was presented alone, Albert became frightened and tried to get away from the rat
What was the conclusion of the Little Albert Case Study?
Watson and Rayner demonstrated that behaviour is learnt and that a phobia of rats could be conditioned in a human being
What was the evaluation of the Little Albert Case Study?
- The study raises huge ethical implications as Little Albert showed evidence of fear months after the experiment
- But it does show Classical Conditioning in Humans
Explain Classical Conditioning with Little Albert as the example (Abbreviated)
- Neutral Stimulus (NS) = No fear of rats (before conditioning)
- A loud bang (UCS) = Causes fear and anxiety (UCR) (before conditioning)
- Rat (NS) and loud bang (UCS) = fear (UCR) (during conditioning)
- Rat (CS) = fear (CR) (evidence of conditioning)
Who conducted Operant Conditioning?
B.F. Skinner
What is Operant Conditioning?
Learning through the consequences of behavioural responses
What is Positive Reinforcement?
Receiving something pleasant when a behaviour is performed that increases the chance the behaviour is repeated.e.g. a dog getting a treat for sitting when commanded to do so
What is Negative Reinforcement?
Avoiding or removing something unpleasant when a behaviour is performed that increases the chance that the behaviour is repeated.e.g. student does homework to avoid punishment (detention)
What is Punishment?
Anything which has the effect of decreasing the likelihood of the behaviour being repeated by using consequences that are unpleasant e.g. getting a detention for not doing homework so to avoid punishment do homework in future
How did Skinner show Positive reinforcement in his experiment?
- 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 knock the lever.
- Immediately it did so a food pellet would drop into a container next to the lever.
- The rats quickly learned to go straight to the lever after a few times of being put in the box.
How did Skinner show Negative reinforcement in his experiment?
- A rat was placed in a Skinner box and then was subjected to unpleasant electric shocks which caused it discomfort.
- As the rat moved about the box it would accidentally knock the lever.
- Immediately it did so the electric current would be switched off/prevent electric shock.
-The rats quickly learned to go straight to the lever after a few times of being put in the box.
What are Strengths of the Behaviourist Approach?
- Very scientific with its experimental methodology: theories are testable and supported by experimental research.
-Behaviourist explanations can be applied to the real world to explain every day behaviour (e.g. phobias)
What are the limitations of the Behaviourist Approach?
-Much of the data has been obtained from species such as rats dogs and pigeons.
-Lack of ecological validity.
