behaviourist approach

• In behaviourist research, animals replace humans as experimental subjects
• Classical conditioning


  Learning through association, first demonstrated by Ivan Pavlov
• Classical conditioning


  1. Pavlov showed how dogs could be conditioned to salivate to the sound of a bell if that sound was repeatedly presented at the same time as the presentation of food

  2. Pavlov's dogs learned to associate the bell with the food
• explain behaviourist approach


  -Only interested in studying behaviour that can be observed and measured.

  -behaviourists rejected introspection as it involved too many concepts that were vague and difficult to measure

  -tried to maintain control and objectivity within research so relied on lab studies to achieve this

  -Believe behaviour is learned, describe a baby's mind as a 'blank slate' that is written on by experience

  -believe basic processes that govern learning are same in all species so replace humans with animals in research -two forms of learning: classical and operant conditioning
• describe classical conditioning


  -learning through association, first demonstrated by pavlov

  -showed how dogs could be conditioned to salivate to sound of a bell if it was repeatedly presented at the same time they were given food

  -pavlovs dogs learned to associate sound of a bell(stimulus) with the food(another stimulus) and would produce salivation response everytime they heard the sound

  -thus pavlov was able to show how a neutral stimulus can come to elicit a new learned reponse through association
• explain operant conditioning


  -skinner suggested learning is an active process where humans & animals operate on environment. behaviour is shaped by its consequences

  -postive reinforcement: receiving a reward for a certain behaviour

  -negative reinforcement: when someone avoids smth unpleasant, the outcome is a positive experience

  -punishment: an unpleasant consequence of behaviour
• what increases the likelyhood that a behaviour will be repeated

  positive and negative reinforcement
• describe the skinner box

  -everytime rat activated a lever within box it was rewarded with a food pellet

  -from then on the rat would continue to perform behaviour

  -skinner also showed how rats and pigeons could be conditioned to perform same behaviour to avoid an unpleasant stimulus e.g electrical shock