behavioural approach - classical

• There are two learning approaches within Psychology.

  Both argue that behaviour is learnt, however this both have different views on how this occurs.

  • Behaviourism
  • Social learning theory
• The behaviourist approach is a way of explaining behaviour in terms of what is observable and in terms of learning
• behaviourism Assumptions:

  • We are born as a blank slate and everything we become is due to learning from our environment through conditioning
  • We should focus on observable behaviour that can be objectively measured (scientific)
  • It is valid to study the behaviour of animals as they share the same principles of learning
• All behaviour is learnt through conditioning:

  • Classical conditioning – through association
  • Operant conditioning – through consequences (reinforcement and punishment)
• strength -

  Watsons and Rayner showed that phobias could be learned in the ‘little Albert’ experiment where an association between a rabbit and scary noise was formed.

  This supports the idea that behaviour can be learnt through association (classical conditioning)
• Classical conditioning suggests we learn through association .e.g. Pavlov’s dog