The learning approach : Behaviourism Flashcards
Diagram of classical conditioning
What does the behavioural approach assume?
All behaviour is learned from the environment
What is classical conditioning?
Learning through association
Explain classical conditioning in Pavlov’s dogs
BEFORE CONDITIONING
Food (UCS) - Dog Salivate (UCR)
DURING CONDITIONING
Bell (NS) + Food (UCS) - Dog Salivate (UCR)
AFTER CONDITIONING
Bell (CS) - Dog Salivate (CR)
What did Pavolv dogs show about classical conditioning?
Showed neutral stimulus (bell) can come to elict a new learned response (conditioned response) through assocation
Where is behavioural studies taken place in?
Controlled lab studies
Behaviourists maintain more control and objects within their research to achieve this with lab studies
What is operant conditioning?
Describe how consequences of an action can make that action more or less likely to be repeated
People learn new behaviours through the consequences of the behaviour they do
If behaviour is followed by reinforcement then the likelihood of that behaviour being repeated increases in the future (behaviour is strengthened)
What term operant conditioning used by?
B.F. Skinner
What is positive reinforcement?
Consequences which are pleasant and which bring about a repetition of behaviour
What is an example of positive reinforcement?
Praise given to a child after they do well
OR
Food given to a hungry animal
What is negative reinforcement?
Behaviour is repeated in order to escape an unpleasant consequence
Example of negative reinforcement
Studying for an exam to avoid getting a poor grade
What is punishment?
If a behaviour is followed by a punishment/consequence then the likelihood of that behaviour repeated in future decreases (behaviour is weakened)
Example of punishment
Person having a phobia of spiders
Punishment is facing spiders
Tom’s parent took away his car keys because of his bad grade
What is this?
Punishment
Lisa is given sweets when she is quiet in church
What is this?
Positive reinforcement
Sam’s parents send him to his room every time he talks to his imaginary friend
What is this?
Punishment
Annie develops a phobia of school because she is bullied by an older girl
Punishment - being anxious, punished at school
Negative reinforcement - get bullied at school
Positive reinforcement -avoiding school
Jordan’s gran gave him a hug and kiss for getting good exam results
What is this?
Positive reinforcement
Susan always gets her own way when she shouts at people
What is this?
Negative reinforcement
What is the research involving operant conditioning?
Skinner
Skinner box
What is the positive reinforcement of Skinner’s research
Skinner box?
- Food is given once the light is on and the lever is pressed. Rat repeats the behaviour of pressing lever as he gets his reward which is food and satisfied.
- Rat presses lever to prevent being electrified (reward of not being hurt)
What is the negative reinforcement of Skiner’s research?
Skinner box
- Rat learns as he presses lever repeatedly to avoid being electrocuted
Limitation of behaviourism
Animal research has ethical and practical issues
- Although experimental procedures such as Skinner box allowed behaviourists to maintain a high degree of control over their research subjects, critics have drawn attention to the ethical issues involved
- The animals involved were exposed to stressful and aversive conditions and may have affected how they reacted to the experimental situation.
- This means the validity of the findings from these studies might be questioned because the observed behaviour was not ‘normal’
A strength of behaviourism
gave psychology scientific credibility
- The approach focused on the careful measurement of observable behaviour within controlled lab settings
- Behaviourists emphasised the importance of scientific processes such as objectivity and replication
- This brought the language and the methods of natural sciences into psychology, giving the subject greater credibility and status
A second strength to behaviourism
The laws of learning developed by behaviourists have real-life application
- The principles of conditioning have been applied to a broad range of real-world behaviours and problems
- Token economy system reward behaviour with tokens that are exchanged for privileges (operant conditioning)
- Successfully used in prisons and psychiatric wards
- Treatments like these are suitable for patients who lack ‘insight’ into their condition and are not capable of talking about their problems
A second limitation behaviourist approach portrays a mechanistic view
- Animals and humans are seen as passive and machine-like responders to the environment, with little conscious insight into their behaviour
- Other approaches such as social learning theory and cognitive approach, have placed much more emphasis on the mental events that occur during learning
- The processes that mediate between stimulus and response suggest that human plays much more active role in their learning
