Behavioural

• Basic assumptions:

  • Behaviourist believe all behaviour is learned and it is learned via stimulus-response reactions. Behaviourists identified two important forms of learning classical and operant conditioning
  • Only interested in studying behaviour that can be observed and measured, behaviour should be measured in a scientific way via lab experiments
  • Basic processes that govern learning are the same in all species, animals could replace humans as subjects
• Classical conditioning - Pavlov, learning by association

  Pavlov demonstrated learning can occur through association. He demonstrated this in dogs who were taught to salivate to the sound of a bell
• Food (UCS) = Salivation (UCR)

  Food (UCS) + Ringing bell (NS) = Salivation (UCR)

  Ringing bell (CS) = Salivation (CR)
• Operant conditioning - Skinner, learning by consequences of actions

  Skinner argued that learning occurs by the consequences of our actions

  There are two types of reinforcement - positive and negative
• Positive reinforcement - this is receiving a positive reward for a behaviour. This increases the likelihood that the behaviour will be repeated.
• Negative reinforcement - this is where behaviour is reinforced for avoiding something unpleasant and negative.
• Punishment - an unpleasant consequence of behaviour for example being shouted at by your teacher during a lesson

  Punishment decreases the likelihood of the behaviour being repeated
• The work of Skinner

  Skinner showed how positive reinforcement worked by placing a hungry rat into his box.

  The box contained a lever and as the rat moved around it would knock the lever, immediately a food pellet would drop

  The rats quickly learned to go straight to the lever to get more food
• Skinner box - the consequences of receiving food if they pressed the lever ensured that they would repeat the action again.
• AO3

  Studies behaviour in a scientific way which meant psychology was seen as a scientific discipline, giving it scientific credibility
• AO3 - real life applications

  The principles of operant and classical conditioning have been widely applied in many real life situations

  For example token economy systems in schools, prisons and psychiatric wards
• AO3 - use of animals

  Studies have used animals which has allowed greater control to test the process of learning through classical and operant conditioning in a scientific way
• AO3 - environmentally deterministic

  The approach views human behaviour as mechanistic suggesting we have little freedom to think independently or excursive free will in what we do.

  It assumes the environment determines our behaviour when stimuli occur and we just respond like robots
• AO3 - animals

  The animals used in the studies to support the behaviourist approach were exposed to stressful and aversive conditions which may have affected their responses in the situations which may mean the research is unreliable and therefore also the approach
• AO3 - environmentally reductionist

  The approach reduces the explanation of behaviour down to environmental causes such as stimulus response

  It therefore ignores holism (taking into account all the factors that could also contribute to behaviour)