Behaviourism

• What is the behaviourist approach ?

  • 100% nature
  • Born as as blank slate for all experience
  • Argues that in order for psychology to be scientific it should focus on observable behaviour which can be objectively measured
  • doesn’t focus on cognitive processes which can only be inferred as they don’t help psychology to be scientific
  • It is valid to generalise from animal research to humans because human learning is the same as animal learning
• What are the two main forms of learning for the behaviourist approach?

  • operant conditioning + reinforcement
  • Classical conditioning
• What is Classical Conditioning ?

  • learning by association
  • Ivan Pavlov -dogs could be conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell, if that sound was repeatedly presented just before they were given food
  • Gradually the dogs learnt to associate the sound of the bell (stimulus) with the food
  • shows how a neutral stimulus can become a conditioned response
• Classical Conditioning case study

  • Little Albert
  • stimulus generalisation
  • conditioned to fear furry things e.g. rabbit, santa mask, fur coat
• Operant Conditioning -> reinforcement + punishment

  • positive reinforcement = adding a pleasant consequence to increase desired behaviour e.g. achievement points
  • negative reinforcement = taking away an unpleasant consequence to increase desired behaviour e.g. removing seating plans
  • punishment = adding something unpleasant or taking away something pleasant to decrease behaviour e.g. detentions or taking away free periods
• Operant Conditioning

  • B.F.Skinner - box
  • lever for food pellet = positive reinforcement
  • lever to avoid electric shock = negative reinforcement
• Strengths of the behaviourist approach

  • uses controlled research
  • focuses on observable behaviour within controlled lab settings
  • behaviourists have broken behaviour into stimulus response units allowing us to establish cause and effect
  • real world applications - token economy systems
• Weaknesses of the behaviourist approach

  • oversimplifies learning + ignores other influences on behaviour
  • Environmental determinism-> all behaviour determined by past experiences that have been conditioned
  • ignores influence of free will - skinner suggested free will was an illusion
  • Ignores conscious decision - conscious processes