Behaviorist Approach

    Cards (12)

    • Operant Conditioning - Skinner Boxes
    • Classical Conditioning - Pavlov's Dogs
    • The behavioural approach is based on the idea that all behaviours are learned through conditioning.
    • evaluation summary:
      • uses well controlled research in lab studies
      • real world application in token economies/systematic desensitisation (classical conditioning)
      • ignores influence of free will
      • use of animals = applicaiton/ethics
    • controlled lab studies allowed behaviorists broke down behaviour into stimulus-response units and studied casual relationships
    • why might using just observation be a bad thing?
      oversimplifies learning and ignores social influences on behaviour
      ignores mental processes
      more complex
    • what are token economies based on?
      Operant conditioning
    • why does the behaviourist approach suffer from environmental determinism?
      believes behaviour is a product of past experiences that have been conditioned
    • why is using animal studies to base study off a bad thing?
      Humans have different social norms and moral values
      mediate the effects of the environment therefore we might behave differently from animals
      so the laws and principles derived from these experiments might apply more to animals than to humans.
      also ethical concerns
    • Pavlovs dog research:
      food produced salivation
      rang a bell when food was given
      bell became associated with food causing salivation
      • neutral stimulus elicited to produce a new learned response through association
    • what is positive reinforcement?
      receiving reward when behaviour is performed
    • negative reinforcement?

      avoiding something unpleasant when a behavior is performed