Behaviourist

• Behaviourist Approach -

  • rejects the introspection due to it being subjective
  • focuses on empirical methodology (observable & measurable)
  • use lab experiments
  • can use all species as we all have basic learning processes
  • born as a 'tabula rasa'
• Pavlov's Dogs CC (through association) -

  Dogs were conditioned to salivate at the sound of the bell if that bell was constantly present at the same time as them being fed. They began to associate the bell with the time of being fed so began to salivate.
• Skinner's Rats OC (through consequence) -

  positive and negative reinforcement, rats were taught to press the lever there were 2 conditions:

  1. lever meant that food was released and this was positive reinforcement as they would keep pulling the lever they'd keep getting the reward.
  2. the rats were on a plate getting shocks but if they pulled the lever they would avoid being shocked and this was negative reinforcement as they kept pulling the lever to avoid shocks.
• AO3 -

  • Little Albert Case study - supports the idea of CC, however, there are ethical issues, idiographic, individual differences and can't generalise to the population.
  • RLA - token economies used in prisons, schools, hopsitals etc. to improve behaviour of individuals. Also there are treatments such as flooding, SD these all improve the quality of life in individuals and help them better reintegrate into society.
• • High internal validity due to the use of lab experiments. Isolation of variables, manipulate the IV to see the effect on the DV and eliminate EV's. Allows cause and effect to be established high replicability which improves reliability.
  • However research using animals cannot be extrapolated doesn't tell us about human behaviour and we cannot deduce complex human behaviour to that of an animal. The animals may have been under duress and reacted differently in their natural environment.
  • Ethical guidelines broken using animals, protection from harm during Skinner e.g. electric shocks.
• Pavlov's Research -

  • detail of Pavlov’s classical conditioning experiments into salivation reflex in dogs
  • knowledge of Pavlovian concepts in the context of Pavlov’s experiments: unconditioned stimulus; conditioned stimulus; unconditioned response; conditioned response
  • detail of Pavlovian theory – learning by association; temporal association/contiguity.