A01 and A03

• 1st A01- assumptions

  • Only interested in studying behaviour that can be observed + measured. Not concerned with investigating mental processes of the mind.
  • John B Watson rejected introspection as involved too many concepts that were vague and difficult to measure. As a result behaviourists maintained more control and objectivity within research and relied on lab experiments to achieve this.
  • Following Darwen behaviourists suggested the basic processes that govern learning are the same in all species. This meant in behaviourist research animals could replace humans as experimental subjects.
• 2nd A01-classical conditioning

  • Means learning through association and introduced by Pavlov. Who revealed that dogs could be conditioned to salivate to the sound of a bell if that sound was repeatedly presented at the same time they were given food. Etc.
  • Now Pavlov was able to show how a neutral stimulus, in this case a bell can come to elicit a new learned response (CR) through association.
• 3rd A01- operant conditioning

  • Skinner suggested that learning is an active process whereby humans and animals operate on their environment. There are three types of consequences of behaviour.
  • positive reinforcement , negative and punishment.
  • positive and negative reinforcement increase the likelihood that behaviour will be repeated. The opposite with punishment.
• 1st A03- scientific credibility

  • P- behaviourism brought the languages and methods of the natural sciences to psychology
  • E- Focused on the measurement of observable behaviour within highly controlled lab settings.
  • E- It emphasised scientific processes like objectivity and replication. E.g. Pavlov and Skinner's experiments.
  • L- behaviourism was influential in the development of psychology as a scientific discipline, giving it greater credibility and status.
• 2nd A03- real life application

  • P-principles of conditioning have been applied to a broad range of real world behaviours and problems.
  • E- Operant conditioning- basis of token economy systems- used successfully in institutions and prisons. Classical conditioning- applied to the treatment of phobias.
  • E- Treatments like these have advantages of requiring less effort from patient- don't have to think about their problems. Good for patients who lack insight.
  • L- Behaviourism has helped many.
• 3rd A03- mechanistic view of behaviour

  • P- mechanistic
  • E- Animals are seen as passive and machine-like responders to the environment, with little or no conscious insight into their behaviour. E.g. operant conditioning
  • E- Other approaches like SLT and cognitive have emphasised the importance of mental events during learning.
  • L- These processes between stimulus and response, suggest people play an active role in their own learning. Learning theory may apply less to human than to animal behaviour.
• Limitation- ethical issues

  • P- ethical and practical issues in animal experiments
  • E- experimental procedures e.g. Skinner box, enabled behaviourists to have high degree of control over 'subjects'
  • E- Critics like SLT and cognitive psychologists questioned ethics- realise how cognitive factors mediate between stimulus and response. Animals exposed to stressful conditions- affected how they reacted to experimental situation.
  • L- Danger of anthropomorphism in applying findings from animal case studies to human behaviour. Demand characteristics not present in animals.