behaviourism

• Behaviourist approach: a way of explaining behaviour in terms of what is observable and in terms of learning
• Early behaviourists like John B Watson (1913) rejected introspection as it involved too many vague, difficult to measure concepts
• Behaviourists rely on lab experiments to maintain control and objectivity in their research
• Behaviourists also suggested that the basic processes that govern learning are the same in all species, meaning animals could replace humans in experiments
• Classical conditioning is learning through association
• Classical conditioning was first demonstrated in Pavlov’s research with dogs, where he classically conditioned them to associate the sound of a bell with food and therefore bring about a conditioned response of drooling
• BF Skinner (1953) suggested learning is an active process whereby humans and animals operate on their environment
• Operant conditioning is a form of learning in which behaviour is shaped and maintained by its consequences
• Possible consequences of behaviour include positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement or punishment
• In Skinner’s research, he operantly conditioned a rat to associate a lever - and the action of pressing a lever - with food
• The rat was fasted for a day before being placed in the box so it was very hungry. When the rat was near the lever, Skinner released a sugar pellet. When the rat accidentally touched the lever, Skinner released a sugar pellet. He continued doing so until the rat learned to press the lever and release the sugar pellets themselves
• Positive reinforcement - receiving a reward when a certain behaviour is performed
• Negative reinforcement - avoiding something unpleasant when a behaviour is performed
• Punishment - receiving an unpleasant consequence of behaviour
• Negative and positive reinforcement increases the likelihood that behaviour will be repeated
• Punishment decreases the likelihood that behaviour will be repeated
• Skinner’s use of the “Skinner Box” allowed him to manipulate the independent variable (consequence of behaviour) in order to study the effect of the dependent variable (rats behaviour)
• a strength of the behaviourist approach is the use of the experimental method (e.g Skinner's experiment) which increases reliability
• conditioning has real life application to a broad range of real-world behaviours, for example, operant conditioning is the basis of token economy systems that have successfully been used in institutions
• Animals are seen as passive and machine-like responders to the environment and don’t have complex thought processes like humans
• Other approaches such as social learning theory or the cognitive approach, have emphasised the importance of mental events during learning
• behaviourism is reductionist
• behaviourism has environmental determinism
• there are ethical and practical issues with animal experiments