the behaviourist approach

Question 1

the behaviourist approach is focuses on what

Answer 1

observable events, such as stimuli and responses, and the conditions under which learning would be most likely to occur. Because of the focus on learning, it is sometimes referred to as the learning theory. Behaviourist believe that much of human behaviour could be explained in the terms of a. basic form of learning known as conditioning.

Question 2

what are the two key components in the behaviourist approach

Answer 2

classical conditioning - pavlov

operant conditioning - skinner

Question 3

what is classical conditioning

Answer 3

pavlov investigated the salivary reflex in dogs when he noticed that animals not only salivated when food was places in their mouths, but also reacted to stimuli that coincided with the presentation of food, such as the presence of the bowl or person who fed them.
The natural stimulus in any reflex is known as UCS and the natural response is the UCR. During the acquisition phase, a NS is presented shortly before the UCS. After many pairings of NS+UCS, the NS is now the CS and in response is the CR

Question 4

what animal did pavlov use to demonstrate his theory of constantly pairing the UCS with the NS to create a CS and CR

Answer 4

the dogs
by ringing the bell (NS) shortly before every meal (UCS) which resulted in the dog salvation (UCR)the bell became the bell became the CS with the salivating being the CR

Question 5

what is operant conditioning

Answer 5

Skinner proposed the idea that organisms spontaneously produced different behaviours, and these behaviours produced consequences for that organism, some of which were negative (undesirable) and some of which were positive (desirable). Whether or not the organism repeated that behaviour is dependent on the nature of the consequence, i.e It is reinforced.
He discovered two types of reinforcement =
Positive - when behaviours produce a response which is satisfying or pleasant for the organism
negative - when behaviours produce a response which is undesirable and remove something aversive (unpleasant)

Question 6

what was the study skinner did to investigate operant conditioning

Answer 6

skinner developed a special cage called a Skinner box, which he used on rats. The rat moves around the cage, and when is accidentally presses the lever, a food pellet (the reinforcer) falls into the cage. In no time at all the hungry rat begins pressing the lever in order to obtain food. If the food pellets stop, the rat presses the lever a few more times and then abandons it (extinction)

Question 7

what is the positive evaluation for the behaviourist approach

Answer 7

• classical conditioning has led to the treatments for the reduction in anxiety associated with various phobias. SD and flooding etc. by eliminating the learned anxious response that is associated with a feared object.
• skinners experiment is Highly reliant in terms of its experimental method, which uses controlled conditions in an attempt to discover a possible causal relationship between two or more variables. Also got good application as it used along side classical conditioning to sustain the newly association with what was the feared association in phobias.

Question 8

what are the limitations of the behaviourist approach

Answer 8

• the fact that both experiments were done on non-human animals, means it has little relation to explaining human behaviour. Although aspects of the explanations have helped us understand areas of human behaviour but not all, for instance evolutionary behaviour, as the behaviourist approach says we are born with ‘blank slates’.
  Furthermore, it is environmentally determinist and ignores biological factors which have been found to have a significant role in explaining some human behaviours.