BEHAVIOURAL APPROACH

• Behaviourists believe that people are products of their environment and that all learning and behaviour is under the control of our environment.
• They only use observable behaviours to make their assumptions and any internal processes should be eliminated.
• The behavioural approach is reductionist as it breaks up behaviour into stimulus and response.
• Classical conditioning is learning by association and occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired together – unconditioned stimulus (UCS) and neutral stimulus (NS) to produce a conditioned response (CR). 
• Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) - an element in the experiment that causes an automatic response 
• Unconditioned response (UCR) - reflex or automatic response to the UCS 
• Neutral stimulus (NS) - stimulus that does not cause a reaction at first 
• Conditioned stimulus (CS) - stimulus that is repeatedly paired with the unconditioned stimulus until it eventually causes the same response 
• Conditioned response (CR) - response learned through conditioning  
• Pavlov’s dog experiment: 

  UCS (food) ---> UCR (salivating) 

  NS (bell) ---> UCS (food) ---> UCR (salivating) 

  CS (bell) ---> CR (salivating) 
• Operant conditioning is learning by reinforcement/consequence 
• Positive reinforcement – repeating good actions to receive a good reward 
• Negative reinforcement – performing an action to avoid an unpleasant experience 
• Punishment – if you do a bad action then there will be a bad consequence 
• In the skinner box there was lever and every time the rat pulled the lever it received food (reward). The rat continued to repeat the behaviour as it kept receiving more food – positive reinforcement. 
• Secondly there was an electrified grid on the floor of the box. When the rat pressed the lever, the shocks stopped so the rat repeatedly pulled the lever – negative reinforcement. 
• ✅Based on well controlled research in a controlled environment in a lab. Behaviourists focus on observable behaviours in controlled settings. Extraneous variables were removed allowing causal relationships to be established and Pavlov and Skinner were able to prove the effects of conditioning on animals' behaviours – gives psychology scientific credibility. 
• ✅Real world application – the principles of conditioning have been used in real life situations for example in prisons and schools to encourage positive behaviours – increases the value of the approach. 
• ❌Oversimplified the learning process – mechanistic view which means that behaviourists act in a machine-like way and ignores the influence of human thought – people have a more active role in their learning than behaviourists suggest. 
• ❌Environmental determinism – all behaviour is influenced by the environment and ignores any influence of free will. 
• ❌ Extrapolation – animal studies cannot be applied to human beings – questions the ethics of Skinner and Pavlov's research as the animals were exposed to stressful situations.