the behaviourist approach

• Assumptions:

  • Human behaviour can be explained through conditioning and is shaped/learned by the environment
  • only interested in studying learning that can be observed
  • Conditioning includes making a learned association between stimuli and a response
  • Believe that our minds are blank when we are born and their is no genetic influence on our behaviour
  • Basic processes that govern learning are the same in all species meaning that animals could replace humans
  • There are two types of conditioning that explain human behaviour, which are classical and operant conditioning
• Classical conditioning originated through the work of Pavlov and occurs through learning by association. It is when a neutral stimulus is consistently paired with an unconditioned stimulus so it eventually takes on the properties of the stimulus and is able to produce a conditioned response
• Pavlov research (1927)

  Pavlov was able to show how association works in his study on dogs. Pavlov revealed that dogs could be conditioned to salivate to the sound of a bell if the sound was repeatedly presented at the same time as the dog was given food. Gradually, Pavlov's dog learned to associate the sound of the bell with the food and would produce the salivation response every time they heard the sound.
• Pavlov's experiment

  In his experiment whenever he brought food (unconditioned stimulus) for the dogs they would start salivating (unconditioned response). Pavlov wondered if he could associate the dog to salivate to another stimuli. In this case, a bell was a neutral stimulus and by Pavlov's association it became a conditioned stimulus and the dog would salivate whenever he heard it (conditioned response).
• Operant conditioning is a form of learning in which behaviour is shaped and maintained by its consequences. Possible consequences of behaviour include:

  • Positive reinforcement: is receiving a reward when a certain behaviour is performed
  • Negative reinforcement: occurs when an animal/ human avoids something unpleasant
  • Punishment: is an unpleasant consequence of behaviour
• Operant conditioning was shown in an experiment called Skinner's box. In the box, Skinner placed one rat at a time. Each box contained different stimuli, including a lever that released the roof and an electroplated floor. Rats were placed in these boxes consequently and would learn how to release food by pressing a lever (reward= positive reinforcement). The rats also learned to avoid the electric shock (punishment) by pressing the lever when the light came on (avoiding punishment= negative reinforcement)
• Skinner's research (1953)

  He used rats to show how shaping and continuous reinforcement meant that the rat learnt how to acquire food.
• Strength: can be easily applicated to real life situations. This can be seen through a behaviourist ideology that learnt behaviour can be unlearned. This shows that the ability to modify behaviour can be advantageous to today's society, because of effective ways in eliminating phobias and overcome anxiety are by changing association which triggers the conditioned response. Therefore, the behavioural approach can be utilised to support people overcome fears which affect their life.
• Weakness: it incorporates animals into its testing. This is seen when Skinner uses rats for his experiment 'Skinners Box', this is to investigate how they learn because researchers believe that animals are the same as humans. However, this is simply not true because humans show much more complex behaviour therefore the findings cannot be generalised and applied to humans. It lacks external validity, due to human behaviour is not so easily determined by positive or negative reinforcement. But some may argue that testing on animals is much more ethical than experimenting on humans.
• Weakness: it is too environmentally deterministic. This can be seen through Skinner's beliefs that free will is an illusion and that we have learnt through our environment. This means that the legal system will face problems because how can someone be blamed for their actions if they are not in control of them. This shows that as the behavioural approach suggests, we have learnt behaviour from past experiences,it cannot be applied to the justice system because it technically convicts an innocent person
• Strength: considered scientific as it concentrates on behaviour that is observable. If behaviour is observed we can replicate it to check for reliability. The methods have lots of control and high internal validity giving consistent findings. This allows the reduction of confounding variables, increasing the scientific credibility of psychology. For example, in Pavlov and Skinner's research, conditions and variables could be manipulated to assess the assumptions of classical and operant conditioning.
• Continuing the strength (considered scientific):

  This is a strength because it allowed Skinner to establish a cause and effect relationship between the consequence of a behaviour and the future frequency of its occurrence.