The Behaviourist Approach

Question 1

What does the behaviourist approach believe?

Answer 1

That all behaviour is learnt, nothing is innate.

Question 2

Who does this approach offer hope for? Why?

Answer 2

People with maladaptive behaviour and psychopathology. This is because the approach believes that everything is learnt and so can be unlearned using the same processes.

Question 3

What does the behaviourist approach argue that the mind is?

Answer 3

A blank slate.

Thoughts are not important in learning becasue learning is an automatic response.

Question 4

What two phases is this approach made up of? Who were they founded by?

Answer 4

1. Classical Conditioning - Watson.
2. Operant Conditioning - B.F Skinner.

Question 5

Classical conditioning is learning via…

Answer 5

Association.

• A nuetral stimulus becomes assocaited with an unconditioned stimulus, prducuing a conditioned respone; the learned behaviour.

Question 6

Explain Pavlov’s investigation with dogs.

Answer 6

• When he presented the dog with food (UCS) it produced an unconditioned response (UCR) of salivation, whilst when presented with a tuning fork (NS), it produced no response.
• However, when Pavlov paired the NS and UCS together multiple times, the dogs learned to associate the NS with the UCS.
• The tuning fork had become a conditioned stimulus (CS), which produced a conditioned response (CR) of salivation, even when food was not present.

Question 7

Explain the Little Albert Case Study.

Answer 7

• Albert was exposed to a loud noise, which scared him (UCR). The sound was an unconditioned stimulus because no learning had to take place in order for him to be frightened.
• The unconditioned stimulus of noise was then paired with a white rat. Albert was not previously scared of the white rat and so it was a neutral stimulus.
• However, after repeated pairings, Albert showed fear when the rat was present with no accompanying loud noise.
• Therefore, the rat had become the conditioned stimulus and could produce the conditioned response of fear and crying.

Question 8

Operant conditioning is learning via…

Answer 8

Reinforcement.

• Behaviour can be increased via rewards or decreased via punishments.

Question 9

Explain the two types of reinforcement.

Answer 9

1. Postive - Behaviour performed results in a pleasant consequence, meaning the behaviour is more likely to be repeated.
2. Negative - Behaviour performed allows you to avoid something unpleasant, meaning the behaviour is likely to be repeated.

Question 10

Define punishment.

Answer 10

A behaviour reults in an unpleasant consequence, meaning the behaviour is less likely to be repeated.

Question 11

Explain Skinner’s Box.

Answer 11

• Skinner trained a mouse to press a leaver using positive reinforcement.
• Box is divided in half; mouse recieves sugar pellet when enters the half with leaver; repreated untul mouse learns to enter half intentionally.
• Box is divided in quarters; mouse recieves sugar pellet when enters the quarter with leaver; repeated until mouse learns to enter quarter intentionally.
• Mouse must touch leaver with any part of body to recieve sugar pellet; repeated until done intentionally.
• Mouse must use paws to press leaver; eventually learns to press leaver when it wants a sugar pellet.

Question 12

List 2 strengths of the behaviourist approach.

Answer 12

1. Practical Applications.
2. Scientific Methods.

Question 13

List 3 criticisms of the behaviourist approach.

Answer 13

1. Use of Animals.
2. Non-Observable Behaviour.
3. Biological Preparedness.

Question 14

Explain what is meant by the evaluation point ‘practical applications.’

Answer 14

• Classical conditioning.
• Strength is the application to the treatment of phobias.
• It has led to the developmet of systematic desensitisation; reduced anxiety associated with phobias.
• Treatment works by using principles of classical conditioning to replace learned repsonse (anxiety) with another response (relaxation).

Question 15

Explain what is meant by the evaluation point ‘scientific methods’.

Answer 15

• Operant conditioning.
• Strength is the use of experimental methods.
• Skinner’s resreach uses controlled conditiones to discover the casual relationship between two or more vairables.
• Skinner’s Box allowed him to manipulate the consequences of behaviour to measure the effect on the rats behaviour.
• Allowed him to establish a cause and effect relationship between positive and negative reinforcement and the likelihood of future behaviour.

Question 16

Explain what is meant by the evaluation point ‘use of animals’.

Answer 16

• Weakness is the reliance on non-human animals.
• Claims that Skinner’s reliance on rats and pigeons means we are unable to draw conclusions in relation to human behaviour.
• Some psychologists argue that humans have free will and our behaviour is not shaped by classical or operant conditioning.
• May be unable to generalise the findings from animals to humans.

Question 17

Explain what is meant by the evaluation point ‘non-observable behaviour’.

Answer 17

• Weakness is that it ignores other psychological explanations.
• Behaviourist approach ignores cognitive and emotional factors; suggesting humans are a product of conditioning alone.
• Many psychologists argue that human interaction is far more complicated than a simple stimulus-reinforcement relationship.
• Behaviourist explanation may not provide a complete explanation of complex human behaviour (e.g love).

Question 18

Explain what is meant by the evaluation point ‘biological preparedness’.

Answer 18

• Weakness is that classical conditioning comes from other theories of learning.
• Seligman proposed the concept of preparedness to explain why some relationships are easier to establish than others.
• E.g Animals are prepared to learn associations that are significant in terms of their survival.
• Suggests that species have different capabilities to learn through the process of classical conditioning.