behaviourist approach

• what is the behaviourist approach

  born with an 'blank slate' that is 'written on' through experiences, behaviour is learned from the environment
• what is classical conditioning

  learning a new behaviour through association, pavlov's dogs

  1)UCS (food) -> UCR (drool)

  2)UCS (food) + NS (bell)

  3)CS (bell, old NS) -> CR (drool, old UCR)
• what is operant conditioning

  consequences of a behaviour decide whether we continue that behaviour or not

  skinner's rats -> positive and negative reinforcement and punishment, rat presses lever and gets food so continues to press it, rat presses lever and gets shocked so stops pressing it
• what is positive reinforcement

  receiving a reward for a behaviour so it continues
• what is negative reinforcement

  a behaviour removes something unpleasant so it continues
• what is positive punishment

  behaviour stops as it causes an unpleasant consequence
• negative punishment

  behaviour stops because it takes away a good thing
• what are strengths of behaviourism

  strengths:

  • research is well controlled and scientific methods are used
  • real world application, phobias can be acquired through classical conditioning
• what are limitations of behaviourism

  limitations:

  • research isn't generalisable as it's based on animals who don't have the same behaviour sets as humans