behaviourist approach

• classical conditioning

  learning by association - occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired together, an unconditioned stimulus and a new neutral stimulus, the neutral stimulus eventually produces the same response that was produced by the unconditioned stimulus alone
• classical conditioning - Pavlov's dogs

  before conditioning - the unconditioned stimulus (food) produced an unconditioned response (salivation)

  during conditioning - the unconditioned stimulus was repeatedly paired with a neutral stimulus (a bell) to produce the same unconditioned response of salivation

  an association was made between the unconditioned stimulus and neutral stimulus

  after conditioning - the neutral stimulus became the conditioned stimulus producing the conditioned response of salivation
• operant conditioning

  a form of learning in which behaviour is shaped and maintained with consequences including reinforcement (positive or negative) and punishment
• operant conditioning - Skinner's research

  positive reinforcement - receiving a reward when a certain behaviour is performed, when the rats in the box pressed a lever they were rewarded with a pellet of food, more likely to be rewarded

  negative reinforcement - avoiding something unpleasant and the outcome in a positive experience, the rats press a lever to stop an electric shock
• behaviourist approach evaluation strengths

  research support - research from Little Albert who was classically conditioned to have a phobia of white rats by associating the rat with a loud noise creating his phobia

  
  

  real life applications: can explain how phobias are formed and applied to treatments such as systematic desensitisation which is based on classical conditioning and shown to be an effective treatment for phobias
• behaviourist approach evaluation limitation

  it does not take into account the influence of biological factors such as the level of dopamine or genetic factors

  
  

  it is deterministic as it sees all behaviour as the product of past reinforcement leaving no room for free will or conscious choices meaning its a limited explanation for human behaviour