the behaviourist approach

• What do behaviourists argue?


  As a learning theory, behaviourists argue that behaviour is learnt through experiences and interactions with the environment.
• Assumptions of the behaviourist approach

  All behaviours are learned from our environment.

  Focuses on observable behaviour.

  Animals and humans learn in the same ways, so behaviourists carry out experiments on animals and extrapolate the results to humans.

  Psychology should be scientific and objective.
• Classical conditioning - Pavlov


  Learning through association.
• Classical conditioning - Pavlov's Dogs


  Pavlov showed that dogs could be conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell if that sound was repeatedly presented at the same time that they were given food.

  UCS: Food

  UCR: Salivation

  NS: Bell

  CS: Bell

  CR: Salivation

  The dogs had learned to associate the bell with the food and the sound of the bell and salivation was triggered by the sound of the bell.
• Operant conditioning - Skinner


  Learning through punishment and reinforcement.

  Learning is an active process.
• Operant conditioning - Positive reinforcement


  Receiving a reward.

  Pleasant consequences = behaviour being repeated.
• Operant conditioning - Negative reinforcement


  Removing an unpleasant stimulus to encourage the behaviour.
• Operant conditioning - Punishment


  Discourages behaviour due to unpleasant consequence.

  Positive - adding an unpleasant stimulus following an undesired behaviour.

  Negative - removing a pleasant stimulus.
• Operant conditioning - Skinner's Rats


  Rats were conditioned to press a lever to recieve food (positive reinforcement).

  Rats were condition to press a lever which then caused an electric shock to the rats (negative reinforcement).
• Operant conditioning - Extinction


  Extinction occurs when the conditioned stimulus is no longer paired with the unconditioned stimulus, so the conditioned response becomes extinct/disappears.
• Operant conditioning - Behaviour shaping


  It is possible to train animals to perform complex behaviours through operant conditioning. First, simple behaviours are rewarded, then behaviours that are closer to the desired behaviours are rewarded.
• + Supporting evidence


  E - Watson and Rayner classically conditioned an 11 month old boy (Little Albert) to fear rats by presenting them with a loud noise.

  E - The fact that Little Albert learned to fear white fluffy animals supports the role of Classical Conditioning in learning behaviour.

  L - However, this was unhelpful in later life as he was not only afraid of white fluffy animals, but he was also afraid of anything white and fluffy (including Santa's beard).
• + Practical applications


  E - The behaviourist approach has allowed successful therapies, such as flooding, and counter-conditioning treatments, such as the token economy systems in prisons.

  E - The fact that flooding is effective suggests that behaviours must have be learnt by classical conditioning for them to be unlearned.

  L - Therefore, these applications suggest the behaviourist principles have validity.
• / Reductionist


  E - It attempts to reduce complex behaviours down to learning through our environment through association, rewards and punishment.

  E - Is an over-simplification of complex human behaviours.

  L - Therefore, the theory does not acknowledge the effect of nature to our behaviour.
• / Animal research


  E - Studies looking at operant and classical conditioning both used animals (dogs and rats).

  E - Animals, such as rats and dogs, are physiologically different to humans.

  L - Therefore, findings from animal studies can be criticised for extrapolation and the findings cannot be generalised to humans.