Behaviourist Approach

• What are behaviourists interested in?

  Studying behaviour that can be observed and measured.
• What is Behaviourist Approach?

  The belief that behaviour is learned and we are born Tabula Rasa 'Blank Slates' and we learn behaviours through experiences.
• What are the two types of conditioning?

  • Classical
  • Operant
• Who brought about Classical conditioning?

  Ivan Pavlov
• What was Classical conditioning?

  Learning through association.
• What was Pavlov's Dog experiment?

  Pavlov showed dogs could be conditioned to salivate to the sound of a bell if the sound was repeated at the same time as they were given food.

  Gradually, Pavlov's dogs learned to associate the sound of the bell(a stimulus) with the food(another stimulus) and would produce the salivation every time they heard the sound.

  Pavlov was able to show how a neutral stimulus, in this case a bell, can come to elicit a new learned response(conditioned response) through association.
• Who brought about Operant Conditioning?

  B.F Skinner
• What was Operant Conditioning?

  Learning through consequences/reinforcement.
• What is Positive Reinforcement?

  Receiving a reward when a certain behaviour is performed, for example a praise from a teacher for answering a question correctly in class.
• What is Negative Reinforcement?

  Occurs when an animal or a human avoids something unpleasant. The outcome is a positive experience.

  For example, when a student hands in an essay so as not to be told off, the avoidance of something unpleasant is the negative reinforcement.
• What is a Punishment?

  An unpleasant consequence of behaviour which decreases the likelihood of an act being repeated.

  For example, being shouted at by a teacher for talking during a lesson.
• Write the order of the concepts of classical conditioning:

  • Unconditioned Stimuli(US)
  • Unconditioned Response(UR)
  • Neutral Stimuli(NS)
  • Conditioned Stimuli(CS)
  • Conditioned Response(CR)
• What type of experiments do Behaviourists prefer?

  Lab experiments as they want it to be observable and measurable.
• What was the purpose of Pavlov's Dog experiment?

  To explore how organisms can learn to associate stimuli.

  Experiment highlighted the learning process through association of Stimuli and laid the foundation for understanding how behaviours can be modified through conditioning.
• What was the Neutral Stimulus(NS) in Pavlov's experiment?

  The bell.
• What was the Unconditioned Stimulus(US)?

  The food.
• What was the Conditioned Response(CR) of the dogs to the Unconditioned Stimulus(US)?

  Salivation.
• What did Pavlov's Study reveal about Behaviour?

  • Behaviour is learned through association.
  • Classical Conditioning demonstrates how stimuli can influence response.
• Describe Skinner's Positive Reinforcement Experiment:

  Skinner conducted experiments in specially designed cages(called Skinner Boxes) with rats and pigeons. The hungry rat or pigeon would curiously look round the box and come across a lever. When the animal were to press the lever it would be rewarded with a food pellet. From then the animal would continuously go back to the lever so that they could be positively reinforced. The animals would continue to perform the behaviour to receive the reward.
• Describe Skinner's Negative Reinforcement Experiment:

  Skinner conducted the same experiment with the specially designed cages(Skinner Boxes) and the rats and pigeons. However, the rat or pigeon would be curiously looking round the box until they came across the lever. But when they pressed this lever they would get an electric shock. To avoid the electric shock the rats and pigeons would avoid the lever to avoid the punishment. This shows negative reinforcement as the rats and pigeons are now avoiding the lever so that they don't get shocked.
• What are two strengths of this approach?

  1. Behaviourist experiments have scientific credibility.
  2. There is real life applications which we can apply it to.
• What are two weaknesses of this approach?

  1. Views human behaviour in a mechanistic way.
  2. There is ethical and practical issues to Pavlov and Skinner's research.
• Who is the research done on?

  Lots of research is conducted on animals, so results from these studies are generalised to humans to explain human behaviour.