the behaviourist approach Flashcards
what is classical conditioning
how individuals learn a behaviour through association
what is the process of classical conditioning (pavlov’s dog)
-the food (unconditioned stimulus) causes the dog to drool (unconditioned response)
-the bell (neutral stimulus) has no effect on the dog (no response)
-the food and the bell are paired together which causes the dog to drool (unconditioned response)
- the dog then associates the bell with food even if food is not there (conditioned stimulus) and the dog begins to drool (conditioned response)
why is timing important in classical conditioning
conditioning is unsuccessful if there is a large interval between the unconditioned stimulus and neutral stimulus
what is extinction in classical conditioning
after a few times the conditioned stimulus is presented with no unconditioned stimulus, it doesn’t produce the conditioned response
what is spontaneous recovery
is the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus are paired again, association is made quickly
what is stimulus generalisation
once conditioned, animals will respond to stimuli that are similar to the conditioned stimulus
what is operant conditioning
learning behaviour through consequences
what is positive reinforcement
has the effect of increasing likelihood of the behaviour being repeated using pleasant consequences
what is negative reinforcement
decreases the likelihood of bad behaviour, the person will avoid something unpleasant
what is punishment
decreases the likelihood of repeated behaviour using consequences that are unpleasant
what does standardised mean
the experiments are the same every time- keeping it controlled in the lab, enabling it to be repeated over and over again
what are the limitations of skinners research
-lab experiments dont give realistic results
-lacks ecological validity
-cant be applied to real life situations
