behaviourist approach

• main focus of the behaviourist approach is the influence of the environment and how behaviour is learned from experiences
• Humans are born as a blank slate
• Behaviours are learned through interactions with our environment
• Behaviours are passive (we do not think about them)
• Supports the nurture side of the nature/nurture debate
• Demonstrates environmental determinism (our behaviour is determined by our environment)
• Example from Psychology: Bandura’s (1963) study on observing role models
• Behaviour is learned through conditioning
• There are 2 types of conditioning
• Classical Conditioning: Learning through association
• Operant Conditioning: Learning through reinforcement and punishment
• Pavlov (1920)
• LeFrancois suggests classical conditioning can be used to improve student’s performance in education.
• Teachers should maximise pleasant stimuli with wall displays & laughter and minimise negative such as shouting.
• This will mean the students will have positive associations with school and learning and therefore positively influence their performance
• Behaviour is learned through conditioning
• Operant Conditioning – Learning through reinforcement and punishment
• Reinforcement : Increases the likelihood of a behaviour occurring again, can be positive or negative
• Positive Reinforcement: carrying out a behaviour to receive a reward
• Negative Reinforcement: carrying out a behaviour to avoid a negative consequence
• Punishment : Decreases the likelihood of a behaviour occurring again
• Skinner’s (1938)
• rat in the box
• Humans and animals learn in similar ways
• Pavlov (1920) established the concept of classical conditioning with his work on dogs
• This has been successful applied to the use of therapies for treating phobias in humans e.g. systematic desensitisation
• Operant conditioning was developed based on lab experiments with animals e.g. Skinner (1938)
• This has been successfully applied to token economy systems in schools and prisons where desirable behaviour is rewarded with tokens
• Application to the formation of a relationship
• Classical Conditioning

  Behaviourists suggest that relationships can be formed from learning to associate another person with a pleasant experience.
• In this way, a previously neutral stimulus (e.g. someone who we previously had no specific feelings about) can become positively valued because we begin to associate them with a pleasant event (unconditioned stimulus).
• Over time, we will begin to associate the positive emotions of the event with that person, leading to the formation of a relationship
• Once the relationship has been formed, the previously neutral person will become a conditioned stimulus and the positive emotions will become a conditioned response
• Operant Conditioning

  Behaviourists suggest that spending time with another person can be rewarding and leads to us forming a relationship with that person (positive reinforcement)
• It also allows us to avoid the negative consequences of rejection and loneliness (negative reinforcement)
• Example: Pet-owner relationships
• Processes of operant conditioning are often used in pet training, these help the formation of good pet-owner relationships.
• For example, training dogs usually involves rewarding good behaviour with a treat
• These rewards increases the contentment of both the owner and dog so good behaviour is likely to be repeated
• The presence of a pet is also generally associated with positive feelings such as companionship and loyalty (classical conditioning)