Behaviourist

• Operant conditioning is the process by which behaviour is strengthened or weakened through its consequences.
• The behaviourist approach explains behaviour in terms of what is being observed and in terms of what is being learned.
• Classical conditioning is learning through association of an involuntary reflex response with a new stimulus (unconditional/ neutral).
• Reinforcement is the consequences of behaviour that increases the likelihood of the behaviour being replicated.
• Pavlov in his digestive research showed how dogs could salivate to the sound of a bell (NS) if it was repeatedly paired with food (UCS) to the point where they would salivate even when the bell (CS) was not paired with food. Suggests they had formed temporal resolution between sound of researchers walking down hall and food.
• The extinction phase is when the conditioned response is no longer elicited by the unconditioned stimulus after repeated pairings without it.
• Spontaneous recovery is the reappearance of a conditioned response in the absence of any new reinforcer.
• Generalization occurs when there is a small difference in the presented stimulus and the original conditioned stimulus. (e.g. Pavlov's dog heard bell of a similar tone)
• Discrimination happens when a conditioned response does not occur when there is a difference between PS and OCS.
• Skinner (Operant conditioning) said that learning is an active process and behaviour is learned through reinforcement.
• Positive reinforcement is when a behaviour is followed by something pleasant (e.g. praise)

  Negative reinforcement is when a behaviour is followed by the removal of something unpleasant (e.g. doing something to avoid trouble)

  Punishment is when a behaviour is followed by something unpleasant (e.g. detention)
• Schedules are used to control how often a behaviour will be rewarded. Fixed ratio schedules require a certain number of responses before a reward is given, while variable ratio schedules vary the number of responses required before a reward is given.
• Fixed interval schedule rewards behaviours at fixed intervals regardless of whether they have occurred or not. Variable interval schedule varies the time between rewards.
• Strength - Behaviourism introduced language, methods and rigour of natural sciences by focussing on measurement of observable behaviour within highly controlled lab settings, enabling replication increasing reliability and establishing cause-effect relationships. Therefore, also attracts more funding and research opportunities.
• Limitations of the behaviourist approach:

  • Much data has been obtained from animals and so the issue of generalising to humans is a problem as humans are much more intelligent and have complex social lives, reducing validity. Therefore, explains animal behaviour better than human behaviour. The research is also ethically unsound as the animals were exposed to stressful conditions.
• Strength - CC has been successfully applied to understanding of phobias - result of earlier unpleasant learning experiences- treating phobias through systematic desensitisation, which requires little effort compared to talking therapies and suits those who lack insight into their condition. Aversion therapy is used to treat addictions by creating a phobia of the addiction.
• What are the differences between classical conditioning and operant conditioning?


  CC focuses on acquisition of involuntary responses while OC focuses on maintenance of voluntary responses.
• Environmental determinism: Behaviour is a result of experience in which behaviour can be predicted and controlled by the environment. (IDA'S)
• W - Overly reductionist as the stimulus-response mechanism is too simple to explain abstract complex human behaviour and ignores other factors like genes and internal mental processes that could play a role.
• A Skinner box, also known as an operant conditioning chamber, is a device used to objectively record an animal’s behavior in a compressed time frame. An animal can be rewarded or punished for engaging in certain behaviors, such as lever pressing (for rats) or key pecking (for pigeons).