Behaviourist approach

• Key assumptions the behaviourist approach


  1) Everyone is born as a blank slate, all behaviour is the result of environmental learning through association or consequence.

  
  

  2) Behaviourists are only interested in studying what can be directly observed (empirical evidence). Unlike the cognitive approach, it isn't concerned with mental processes or using introspection to look at behaviour.

  
  

  3) The basic processes that govern learning are the same in all species - animals can replace humans as experimental subjects. The biological approach is also open to extrapolating data from animal studies to explain human behaviour.

  
  

  4) Behaviourists try to maintain control and objectivity - use lab experiments. They adhere to the features of science.
• Classical Conditioning


  Learning through association. Animals, including humans, have innate reflexes consisting of an US and an UR.

  
  

  Pavolv's research - on dogs.

  
  

  Pavlov placed salivation tubes in the cheeks of dogs to collect saliva.

  
  

  The US of food elicits the UR of salivation.

  
  

  He noted the salivation amount from each dog first with just the food, and then in each pairing with the bell.

  
  

  Through repeated pairings, the NS of the bell became associated with the US of food, so the bell became a CS, eliciting the CR of salivation.

  
  

  This shows that a neutral stimulus can come to elicit a learned response through association.
• Seligman's theory of biological preparedness

  We are biologically prepared to learn associations that aid survival - such as associating smells and tastes that have potentially harmful substances.

  
  

  - eg: more ready to associate sickness with the taste of frogs legs than the music present at the time of illness.

  
  

  This adds an evolutionary dimension to learning which is overlooked by Skinner.
• Operant Conditioning


  Behaviour is shaped and maintained by its consequences.

  
  

  Behaviour that is positively reinforced - desirable consequence - will be repeated

  Likewise, behaviour that is negatively reinforced - avoiding something unpleasant - will be repeated.

  
  

  Behaviour that is positively punished (adding something unpleasant) or negatively punished (removal of something desired) is less likely to be repeated.

  
  

  Skinner felt punishment isn't as effective as reinforcement in modifying behaviour.
• Continual and partial reinforcement

  Continual reinforcement helps establish desired behaviour, partial reinforcement maintains trained behaviour.
• Skinner's research


  Rats placed in a box with a lever initially press the lever by accident (as they explore the environment) and a food pellet is released.

  
  

  When the rat sees the pellet and learns the lever press results in food (positive reinforcement), it will repeatedly press the lever.

  
  

  Animals placed in a box with an electrified floor will learn to press a button when a warning light flashes to avoid receiving an electric shock (negative reinforcement)
• Scientific credibility - P

  gives psychology scientific credibility
• Scientific credibility - E

  Behaviourists are focused on measuring observable behaviour within highly controlled lab settings.

  
  

  - highly controlled experimental method
• Scientific credibility


  This allows them to identify causal relationships between variables.

  
  

  Eg: Skinner's manipulation of the consequences of behaviour (IV) allowed him to measure the effects on behaviour (DV) to establish a cause and effect relationship.
• Scientific credibility - E

  Because behaviourists emphasise the importance of scientific processes like objectivity and replication, they're influential in the development of psychology as a scientific regime.
• Scientific credibility - L

  This increases support for the approach - gives psychology a greater credibility and status as a science.
• Real-life application - P

  There are successful practical applications which support the underlying assumptions of the behaviourist approach.
• Real-life application - E

  For example, operant conditioning is the basis of token economy systems used in institutions such as prisons, for example, to reward good behaviour - successful rehabilitation.

  
  

  The principles of classical conditioning have been applied to treatment of phobias - for example through exposure therapies such as SD, which aim to use counter-conditioning to help patients to unlearn their fear response.
• Real-life application - L


  This increases appropriateness of behaviourist approach.
• Environmentally deterministic - P

  The behaviourist approach sees humans and animals as passive, machine-like responders.
• Environmentally deterministic - E

  Skinner believed all behaviour is a total of our reinforcement history and free will is simply an illusion. This enforces the view that all our behaviour is environmentally determined.
• Environmentally deterministic - E

  Critics complain that treating human behaviour as a product of conditioning underplays important factos such as cognition and emotional states.

  
  

  Behaviourists would argue that internal states are scientifically untestable as they can't be directly observed.
• Environmentally deterministic - L

  This perhaps reduces the appropriateness of the approach, as it takes an overly deterministic position (hard determinism) - neglects to take into account a person's ability to reason and decide their actions according to their own free will.
• Reductionist


  Arguably, the behaviourist approach provides little conscious insight into behaviour - simply explains learning experiences by reducing them to simple stimulus-response associations.