The Learning approach - Behaviourist

Question 1

What is the behaviourist approach?

Answer 1

Explaining behaviour in terms of what is visible and in terms of learning

Question 2

What are the assumptions of the behaviourists?

Answer 2

• All behaviours learnt from our environment
• Focus on observable behaviours
• Animals and humans learn in the same way
• Psychology should be scientific and objective

Question 3

What is classical conditioning?

Answer 3

Learning by association

Question 4

What is operant conditioning?

Answer 4

Learning by reinforcement and consequences

Question 5

What is reinforcement?

Answer 5

Consequence of behaviour which increases the likelihood of the behaviour being repeated and can be either negative or positive

Question 6

What is punishment?

Answer 6

Consequence of behaviour which decreases the likelihood of the behaviour being repeated

Question 7

What type of conditioning did Pavlov look into?

Answer 7

Classical

Question 8

What type of conditioning did Skinner look into?

Answer 8

Operant

Question 9

Outline Pavlov’s methodology and results

Answer 9

• When the dogs were first presented with food they salivated which is an unconditioned response to an unconditioned stimulus
• Pavlov then sounded the bell (neutral stimulus) before giving the food
• The dog began to salivate (conditioned response) at the sound of the bell (conditioned stimulus) without the presence of food

Question 10

Outline Skinner’s methodology and results

Answer 10

• If the rat pressed a lever in a box, food would be presented (positive reinforcement) and the behaviour would be repeated then
• If the rat pressed a different button, they’d get an electric shock (punishment) and the behaviour wasn’t repeated

Question 11

What role does the behaviourist approach have in gaining scientific credibility?

Answer 11

Bring in scientific methodology and language

Controlled lab settings which allowed for replication

Question 12

What are the real life applications of the behaviourist approach?

Answer 12

Token economies in prison and psychiatric wards

Treatment of phobias

Question 13

What type of determinism is seen in the behaviourist approach?

Answer 13

Environmental determinism

Question 14

What is environmental determinism?

Answer 14

Sees all behaviour as determined by past experiences that have been conditioned

Question 15

Why is the behaviourist approach a mechanistic view of behaviour?

Answer 15

Animals are seen as passive with little to no conscious insight into their behaviours but humans are very different to this

Question 16

What are the issues with carrying out animal studies and generalising the findings to humans?

Answer 16

They may not be entirely generalisable as they are different species to us and wont learn in the exact same way
Ethical issues - psychological harm may be caused to animals