behaviourist approach

• Behaviourist approach

  Proposes that everyone is born as a 'blank slate' which life writes upon, and all behaviour is learned from the environment
• Behaviourist approach

  • Behaviour can be understood using a stimulus-response approach
  • Reinforcement is key in terms of whether a behaviour will be repeated or not
  • Only observable behaviours can be measured and investigated
  • Using lab-based, scientific methods is the best way to study behaviour
  • Animal research may be used as a basis for understanding human behaviour
  • Repeated behaviours become internalised and automatic
• Classical conditioning and operant conditioning underpin the principles of behaviourism
• Research using the behaviourist approach

  • Pavlov's use of dogs to explore the mechanisms of classical conditioning
  • Skinner's use of rats and other animals to explore the mechanisms of operant conditioning
• Strengths of the behaviourist approach

  • The use of scientific methods means that research into behaviourism has good reliability
  • Behaviourism takes a nomothetic approach which is a strength as it seeks to establish general laws of behaviour which can be applied universally
• Weaknesses of the behaviourist approach

  • The behaviourist approach is overly simplistic, offering a reductionist view of behaviour which ignores key factors such as personality, cognition, culture
  • Scientific methodology is not necessarily the best way to study human behaviour: humans are more nuanced and sophisticated than a single quantitative finding may suggest
• Classical conditioning (CC)

  Learning via association
• Mechanism of classical conditioning

  1. Neutral stimulus is substituted for the original unconditioned stimulus to produce a conditioned response

  2. Unconditioned stimulus produces a natural, unforced response

  3. Pairing of neutral and unconditioned stimuli leads to the neutral stimulus becoming the conditioned stimulus and the response becoming the conditioned response

  4. Conditioned response decreases and disappears when pairing is stopped (extinction)
• Operant conditioning (OC)

  Learning via consequence
• Operant conditioning

  • Some behaviours will be repeated based on their positive consequences
  • Some behaviours will not be repeated based on their negative consequences
  • Consequences are learned through positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, and punishment
• Operant conditioning research using animals

  1. Rat is placed in a Skinner box with a lever

  2. Pressing the lever dispenses a food reward (positive reinforcement)

  3. Rat learns to press the lever via schedules of reinforcement (ratios or intervals)
• Strengths of classical and operant conditioning

  • It is more ethical to use animals in research than it is to use humans
  • Operant conditioning has good application to educational settings and prisons
• Weaknesses of classical and operant conditioning

  • Conditioning cannot explain all behaviour, such as spontaneous, original, or self-destructive behaviour
  • Findings from animal research cannot be easily generalised to human behaviour
• Behaviourism and determinism

  Behaviourism is highly deterministic as it assumes a specific response will follow a specific stimulus or that only rewarded behaviours will be repeated, leaving little room for free will
• Behaviourism and reductionism

  Behaviourism is reductionist as it does not consider the role of other significant influences on behaviour such as genes, personality, and culture
• Positive reinforcement

  Receiving a reward when performing a certain behaviour
• Negative reinforcement

  Performing a certain behaviour to avoid something negative
• Punishment

  Receiving an unpleasant consequence for your behaviour
• Positive and negative reinforcement encourage behaviour, whereas punishment discourages behaviour
• Skinner's work

  • Suggested learning is an active process where humans and animals operate in their environment
  • Studied how animals learn from the consequences of their actions
  • Devised the Skinner box experiment to explore operant conditioning in rats