Behaviourism

• Assumptions - Explaining Behaviour


  Mental processes are not worthy of studying (Not as important as the environment)
• Assumptions - Scientific method 


  Focuses on psychology as a science - observable and measurable
• Assumptions - Animal Research 


  Assumes humans are animal, so generalise
• Assumption - Free Will 


  Believe Free will is an illusion and every behaviour is explainable
• Pavlov - Classical Conditioning 


  Pavlov‘s dog was conditioned to salivate at the sounds of a bell if it was repeatedly presented with food

  Pavlov was able to show how a neutral stimulus (bell) can elicits a conditioned response through association
• Pavlov - Extinction 


  Occurs when the conditioned response slowly disappears if one stimulus is presented without the other
• Pavlov - Spontaneous Recovery 


  Occurs when the dog would randomly salivate at the sound of the bell, even after extinction

  Learning may randomly reappear
• Pavlov - Stimulus Generalisation


  Occurs when the bell may change tone and volume and still produces the conditioned response

  Learning can transfer to other similar stimuli
• Pavlov - Law of Temporal Contiguity (Timing)


  The unconditioned stimulus and neutral stimulus must come together in quick time to produce the response
• Skinner - Operant Conditioning 


  Behaviour is maintained by its consequences

  Skinners Box - Rat activated lever within box, rewarded with food pellet, continued to perform behaviour

  Rats and Pigeons could be conditioned to perform the same behaviour to avoid unpleasant stimulus
• Skinner - Positive Reinforcement


  Receiving a reward when certain behaviour is performed
• Skinner - Negative Reinforcement 


  The avoidance of something unpleasant
• Skinner - Punishment 


  Unpleasant consequences of behaviour
• Skinner - Schedules of Reinforcement 


  Continuous reinforcement - every time they pressed the lever, helps to stop extinction

  Rewarding randomly - variables schedules of reinforcement
• Strength - Scientific

  Focuses on the measurement of observable behaviours within highly controlled setting

  Emphasised importance of scientific processes - objectivity and replication

  Influential in the development of psychology as a scientific discipline - greater credibility and status

  However - lacks ecological validity and mundane realism, only focusing on observable behaviours
• Strength -Real World Application

  Operant Conditioning - basis of token economy used in institutions, works through rewarding appropriate behaviours with tokens that can be exchanged for privileges
• Weakness - Use of Animals 


  Experiments, such as skinners box, enables behaviourists to maintain a high degree of control over their ‘subjects’ - could be unethical

  Animals involved were exposed to stressful and aversive conditions, which could affect their behaviour

  Differences in biology may make it non-generalisable
• Weakness - reductionism 


  Ignores all other approaches - believes only the environment is responsible for our actions, ignoring biology and emotions