The Behaviourist Approach Flashcards
What is the behaviourist approach?
- A way of explaining behaviour in terms of what is observable and in terms of learning
Early behavioursits such as John B watson rejeced introspection as it involved too many concepts that were vague & difficult to measure. AAR behaviourists tried to maintain more control & objectivity within their research 7 relied on lab studies
What is classical conditioning?
- Learning by assoication
- Occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired together
- UCS & NS
What was Pavolv’s research?
- Showed dogs how to be conditioned to salivate to the sound of a bell
- If that sound was repeatedly presented at the same time as they were given food
- Gradually, Pavlov’s dogs learned to associate the sound of a bell (stimulus) with the food (another stimulus)
- And would produce the salivation response everytime they heard the sound.
Thus Pavlov was able to show how a neutral stimulus, (bell) can come to elict a new learned response.
What is operant conditioning?
- A form of learning in which behaviour is shaped and maintained by its concequences.
- Possible consequences of behaviour include reinforcement (postive/negative) & punishment
What did Skinner’s research test?
- Operant conditioning
What was the proceudre for Skinner’s Box?
- A rat or pigeon would be put into the Skinner box in which temp,light & noise could be kept constant
- On one wall of the box there would be a lever & a hopper that could deliver a food pellet to the animal when the lever was pressed.
- Initially rat is likely to wander around the box aimlessly until it accidentally presses the lever & receives a food pellet.
- Skinner would leave the animal in the box and measure how frequently the animal pressed the lever over time. The frequency should indicate the strength of the conditioning of the behaviour. This would then be repeated with other animals.
Also did this w negative reinforcement w electric shocks
Give one strength of the behaviourist approach?
- OS is that it is based on well-controlled research
- Behaviourists focused on the measurement of observable behaviour within highly controlled lab settings
- By breaking down behaviour into basic stimulus-response units, all other possible extraenuous variables were removed allowing cause & effect relationships to be estab
This suggests that behaviourist experiments have scientific credibility
What is the counterpoint to the behaviourist approach having well-controlled research?
- Problem is that behaviourists may have over simplified the learning process
- By reducing behaviour to such simple components behaviourists may have ignored an important influence on learning that of human thought
- Other approaches such as SLT & cognitive approach have drawn attention to mental processes involved in learning
Suggests that behaviourist experiments have scientific credibility
Give another strength of the behaviourist approach.
- OS of behaviourist approach is that principles of conditioning have been applied to real-world behaviours & problems.
- For example, operant conditioning is the basis of token economy systems that have been used successfully in insitutions such as prisons & psychiatric wards
- These work by rewarding appropriate behaviour with tokens that can be exchanged for privileges.
This increases the value of the behaviourist appraoch because it has widespread application
Give one limitation of the behaviourist approach.
- OL is that it sees all behaviour as conditioned by past conditioning experiences
- When something happens we may think ‘I made the decision to do that’ but according to Skinner our past conditioning history determined the outcome
- This ignores any possible influence that free will may have on behaviour
This is an extreme position & ignores the influence of conscious decision-making processes on behaviour (as suggested by the cognitive approach)
