The Behaviourist Approach Flashcards
What is the basic belief of behaviourism
Humans are born as a blank slate and all behaviour is learnt
Who are the two figures of the behaviourist approach
Skinner and Pavlov
What becomes the condition stimulus
The neutral stimulus
What are the four features of classical conditioning
Timing, extinction, stimulus generalisation, spontaneous recovery
How does skinner’s box work and what principles does it show
Positive reinforcement-Pressing a lever in the box would cause the release of a food pellet for the rat. The rat learns this and this increases the chance of the rat pressing the lever again
Negative reinforcement-The rat received an electric shock from the base of the box. Pressing the lever stopped it. The rats learns that pressing the lever provides a relief from the pain or discomfort which increases the likelihood of the rat pressing the lever again.
What is positive reinforcement
A stimulus that increases the probability that a behaviour will be repeated because it is pleasurable
What is negative reinforcement
A stimulus that increases the probability that a behaviour will be repeated because it leads to an escape from an unpleasant situation and is experienced as rewarding
What is postive punishment
Adding and undesirable stimulus after an unwanted behaviour to discourage a person from repeating the behaviour
What is negative punishment
The removal of a pleasant stimulus to decrease a behaviour eg. A child’s favourite toy is removed as a result of bad behaviour
What type of therapy has evolved from classical conditioning
Systematic desensitisation
Is the behaviourist approach nature or nurture
Nurture- learning
A strength of the behaviourist approach
The use of animals was influential to this time-more control over the processes and reduces demand characteristics or individual differences
However- animal research cannot be easily generalised to human behaviour
