behaviurist approach

• what is the behaviourist approach

  studying behaviour that can be observed and measured
• what did john b watson reject in the behaviourist approach?

  introspection

  as it involved too many vague concepts that were difficult to measure
• what do behaviourists try to maintain and rely on

  try to maintain more control and objectivity within research

  • relied on lab studies to achieve this
• what did they believe about behaviour

  behaviour is learned
• what did they describe a babys mind like

  a blank state
• what did they suggest by following darwin

  that the basic processes the govern learning are all the same species
• what did this mean in the behaviourist research

  animals replace humans as experimental subjects
• what are the two forms of learning behaviourists identified

  -classical conditioning

  • operant conditioning
• who came up with classical and operant conditioning

  operant- B F Skinner

  classical- pavlov
• what is classical conditioning

  learning through association
• how did Pavlov demonstrate classical conditioning

  he showed how dogs could be conditioned to salivate to the sound of the bell if that sound was repeatedly presented at the same time as they were given food
• before conditioning

  • the food(uconditioned stimulus) was given to the dog and the dog salivated( unconditioned response)
  • pavlov rang the bell(neutral stimulus) and the dog responded with no salivation(no conditioned response)
  • during conditioning- pavlov rang the bell and agve the food and the dog salivated
  • after- pavlov rang the bell(conditioned stimulus) and the dog responded with salivation(conditioned response)
• what is operant conditioning


  learning is an active process where humans and animals operate on the environment.

  behaviour is shaped by its consequences
• what is positive reinforcement


  receiving reward for certain behaviour

  e.g- praise from teacher for hw
• negative reinforcement


  occurs when animal or human avoids something unpleasant and the outcome is positive

  e.g-student hands in hw to not get told off by teacher
• punishment


  unpleasant consequence for behaviour

  e.g being shouted at for talking in lesson
• what is likely to increase likelihood of behaviour

  positive and negative reinforcement
• The skinner box


  -conducted experiments with rats or pigeons in skinner boxes

  -every time rat activated a lever within box it was rewarded with food

  -then animal continued behaviour

  • also showed how they could be conditioned to perform same behaviour to avoid unpleasant stimulus- electric shock