Behaviourism: the learning approach

• The behaviourist approach is only interested in studying behaviour that can be observed and measured.
• Behaviourists suggest that the basic processes that govern learning are the same in all species, meaning that animals could replace humans as experimental subjects.
• What were the 2 important forms of learning that behaviourists identified?

  • classical conditioning
  • operant conditioning
• who researched classical conditioning?

  Ivan Pavlov
• why did the dogs salivate in Pavlov's study?

  the dogs learned to associate the sound of the bell with the food and would produce a salivation response
• Pavlov's findings

  that a neutral stimulus can come to elicit a new learned responses (conditioned response) through association
• who researched Operant conditioning?

  BF Skinner
• Skinner suggested that learning is an active process whereby humans and animals operate in their environment
• what are the 3 types of consequences and behaviour?

  • Positive reinforcement
  • Negative reinforcement
  • Punishment
• positive reinforcement

  receiving a reward when a certain behaviour is performed
• negative reinforcement

  Avoiding something unpleasant
• Punishment

  an unpleasant consequence of behaviour
• Positive and negative reinforcment increase the likelihood that the behaviour will be repeated
• punishment decreases the likelihood the behaviour will be repeated
• A strength of the behaviourist approach is that it has Scientific credibility and real-life application.
• How does the behaviourist approach have Scientific credibility?

  • was able to bring the language and methods of natural sciences into psychology by focusing on the measurement of observable behaviour in highly controlled lab settings
  • influential in the development of psychology as a scientific discipline
  • giving it greater credibility and status
• How does the Behaviourist approach have real-world application?

  • principles of conditioning have been applied to a broad range of real-world behaviours and problems
  • operant conditioning is the basis of token economy systems
  • classical conditioning as been associated with the treatment of phobias (systematic desensitisation)
• 2 limitations of the Behaviourist approach are that it has a mechanistic view of behaviour and is environmentally reductionist.
• How does the behaviourist approach have a mechanistic view of behaviour?

  • behaviourist approach suggests that animals and humans are seen as passive (machine-like) responders to the environment - having little to no conscious insight
  • other approaches such as SLT or CA emphasise the importance of mental events during learning - suggesting that people have a much more active role
  • leaning theory might apply less to humans and more to animals
• How does the learning theory have environmental determinism?

  • sees all behaviour as determined by past experiences that have been conditioned
  • "Everything we do is a total of our reinforcement history"
  • ignores the possible influences of free will
  • Skinner suggested that any sense of free will is simply an illusion.