The Behaviourist Approach (learning approach)

• What is the behaviourist approach?

  Studying behaviour that can be observed and measured. They tried to maintain more control and objectivity within their research and relied on lab experiments as the best way to achieve this, (John B Watson (1913) rejected introspection as it was too difficult to measure).
• When did this approach emerge?

  At the beginning of the 20th century and became the dominant approach in psychology for half of that century.
• Assumption 1 - Blank slate

  • Blank slate - when we are born our mind is like a 'tabula rasa.' We are not born equipped with the ability to think, and emotions/ feelings have no influence over our behaviour. What we learn through our interactions with the environment determines our behaviour. We are completely passive and do not have any conscious thought about our behaviour.
• Assumption 2 - Behaviour learnt through conditioning

  • Classical Conditioning – Associating two things together to give the same response to both. E.g. Pavlov - 3 steps: Pavlov presented his dogs with food (US) which resulted in the dogs salivating (UR). Pavlov then introduced a bell (NS) at the same time as presenting the food (US). Over time, the bell and the food became associated in the dogs’ minds until eventually, when Pavlov rang the bell (CS), it resulted in the dogs salivating (CR).
• Assumption 3: Humans and animals learn in similar ways

  • According to the behaviourist approach, the principles by which animals and humans learn are the same. Behaviourists believe that the only difference between animals and humans is quantitative and regards structure such as brain size. As a result, findings from animal studies can be applied to predict and make generalisations about human behaviour. For example, Pavlov used dogs to develop the concept of classical conditioning and Skinner used pigeons to develop the principles of operant conditioning.
• What are the two forms of learning, according to behaviourists?

  • Classical conditioning - learning through association, first demonstrated by Ivan Pavlov. Pavlov was able to show how a neutral stimulus (the bell) could come to elicit a new learned response (conditioned response) through association.
• What are the two forms of learning, according to behaviourists? (2)

  • Operant conditioning - B. F. Skinner (1953): Learning is an active process whereby humans and animals operate on their environment. There are 3 types of consequences in behaviour; positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement and punishment.
• Coming from a behaviourist perspective, explain why animals could replace human as experimental subjects:


  Behaviourism commonly used animals in experiments under the assumption that what was learned using animal models could, to some degree, be applied to human behaviour. In the days of BF Skinner humans were viewed as being driven solely by stimulus/patterned responses like “Pavlovian” animals - we were just large rats, the usual study subjects, that could be subjected to all sorts of tortures that would be unethical in human subjects (hence the use of animals).