Humans are born a blank slate

• what do behaviourists believe our mind is when we are born?

  Tabula rasa (blank slate)
• what is it believed we are not born with?

  built in mental content
• what does not drive our behaviour?

  internal events such as thinking & emotion
• what is believed behaviour is learned by?

  interactions with environment - we don't think about behaviour
• how do we respond to environmental stimuli?

  passively
• what is central to this assumption?

  support for nurture over nature
• what has a greater impact on our behaviour?

  environmental factors over innate & biological factors
• what is nurture over nature known as?

  environmental determinism
• what is the example for blank slate?

  criminal behaviour
• what are the two ways criminal behaviour is learned?

  observational learning

  vicarious reinforcement
• how is criminal behaviour learned through observation & imitation?

  child grows up around criminal activity so more likely to imitate in future
• how is criminal behaviour learned through vicarious reinforcement?

  if child sees peer commit crime & be rewarded imitate same behaviour to get reward
• what does vicarious reinforcement also explain?

  why some avoid crimes to avoid prison