behaviourist

• overall assumptions of the behaviourist app?

  • behaviour is learnt through experience
  • focuses on behaviour that can be measured/observed
  • we are born as blank slates/tabula rasa
• what is classical conditioning?

  • association
  • learn to associate a reflex response to a neutral stimuli
• watson & raynor's little albert study?

  • (neutral stimulus) white rat was paired with (unconditioned stimulus) loud noise & caused (unconditioned response) fear
  • repeated this 6 times - baby had learnt to associate noise with being scared
  • so when presented with (newly conditioned stimulus) white rat alone (conditioned response) fear was created
• what did little albert develop a fear of?

  fluffy white objects by learning through association
• explain pavlov's study?

  • he noticed that dogs began salivating for food when his assistant came in the lab to feed them
• what was the aim of pavlov's study?

  • to see if dogs could be conditioned to salivate to the sound of a ringing bell
• what was pavlov's method?

  • rung a bell whilst presenting the dog with food
  • repeated several times
• what was the result of the pavlov's study?

  • dogs learnt to associate sound of bell with food & began salivating to just sound of bell even when no food is present
• what is operant conditioning?

  • reinforcement
  • if we are reinforced for behaviour it makes it more likely that we will repeat it
• explain positive reinforcement?

  • getting a reward for behaving in a certain way
  • so you are more likely to repeat the behaviour
• explain negative reinforcement?

  • removing a negative stimuli
  • taking something bad away
  • e.g taking painkillers for a headache & you will repeat this again
• is punishment a type of reinforcement?

  no
• explain punishment?

  • receiving a negative consequence as a result of displaying a behaviour
  • makes it less likely you will repeat that behaviour
• what is the skinner box?

  • box made up of a lever which could release a food pellet
  • light & speaker were for visual & auditory signals
  • floor was electric grid
• explain skinner's study?

  • positive - if rat pushed lever was given a food pellet
  • negative: - if rat pushed lever, it stopped the electric current from the grid
  • both cases rat learnt very quickly to push the lever & repeat that behaviour
• 2 * of behaviourist

  1. scientific
  2. practical applications
• 3 X of behaviourist

  1. ethical issues
  2. cannot generalise
  3. deterministic
• * scientific?

  • focuses on observable behaviour that can be physically seen & measured
  • eg when dog salivates can be measured in ml
  • internal
  • uses empirical methods so can establish a cause & effect relationship between behaviour & way we have learnt it
  • as methods are more objective thus more accurate
• * practical applications?

  • has helped us in real world
  • eg schools use positive reinforcement in school by giving a reward through stickers
  • also used in prisons as token economy system - rewarding patients for good behaviour through exchanging tokens for something they want eg visiting time
  • ecological
  • shows these principles can be reinforced in real life to help explain real world behaviour & improve society
• X using animals?

  • pro - allows us to research behaviour without using humans as subjects which could break the bps guidelines of protection of p from harm
  • con - if it is too unethical for humans, then should not be used on animals either
  • credibility
  • there are more ethical ways to study behaviour opposed to use of animal studies implemented by behavioural pyschologists
• X not generalisable to humans?

  • both operant & classical use animals in their research
  • humans are much more complex than animals
  • our behaviour will not be the same as animals due to our increased intellectual ability & social interactions
  • population
  • cannot be certain that behaviour is always learnt through reinforcement & that this will be same for all species
• X deterministic?

  • behaviour is pre determined & not in our control
  • pro - allows us predict & determine future behaviour
  • eg we develop phobia after frightening experience & therefore not in our control
  • con - neglects individual differences & will respond differently to reinforcement
  • neglects free will & suggests that everyone responds to reinforcement in the same way
  • will be unhelpful when trying to treat disordered behaviour