2) behaviourist approach

What is the key assumption of behaviourist?

That all behaviour is learnt

What is empiricism?

Empiricism is the idea that knowledge should be gained through observation, measurement, and experimentation, rather than through intuition or opinion. In psychology, this means theories are tested using scientific evidence.

How do behaviourist think we are born?

‘Tabula rasa’ or blank slates

Why do behaviourist think that the mind is irrelevant?

Because we cannot directly observe what people are thinking and the only measurable is gained from observing behaviour directly

Why are behaviourist environmentally deterministic?

Because there is no freewill and our behaviour is controlled by forces in the environment and can only be changed by changing the environment

How do humans and animals learn?

Animals and humans learn in the same as through simple stimulus response associations

What can experimental results be used for according to behaviourist?

To make laws about human behaviour

What is classical conditioning?

A way of learning from our environment where w associate two stimuli so that one comes to cause the same response as the other

What research shows classical conditioning?

Pavlov’s dog experiment

What did Pavlov discover?

That any object or even which the dogs learned to associate with food would trigger the same response.

What as the unconditioned stimulus?

The food

What was the neutral stimulus that became a conditioned stimulus?

The bell

What was the unconditioned response that become a conditioned response to the bell

Salivation

What was research to support classical conditioning in humans?

Little Albert experiment

Outline the little Albert experiment

An 11 month old child showed fear to a loud noise behind him. The experimenters made a loud noise whilst presenting him with a white rat. Albert developed a fear of rats and all white furry things (known as generalisation)

How does classical conditioning have useful application?

it is an effective treatment for phobias (systematic desensitisation)

Why is it a limitation that classical conditioning is reductionist?

By breaking down behaviour into single explanation such as stimulus response associations it oversimplifies behaviour and ignores other things that could affect it. Social learning theory is more holistic

why is it a limitation that Pavlov used a dog?

Findings cannot be applied for humans however little Albert experiment shows that it does apply to humans

What is the law of effect?

A response is followed by a pleasant consequence becomes more probable and a response that is followed by unfavourable consequences becomes less probable.

What is reinforcement?

When positive outcomes for behaviour are introduced In order to encourage that behaviour to continue

What is punishment?

Where a negative outcomes are introduced in order to discourage a behaviour

What is positive reinforcement?

Something is added to increase the like hood of the behaviour being repeated

What is negative reinforcement?

When something is taken to increase the lolehood of the behaviour

What is positive punishment

When something is added to decrease the like hood of a behaviour

What is negative reinforcement?

When something is taken from the environment to decrease the likehood of the behaviour

Why does the Skinner box have high internal validity?

Because it allows complete control of the organisms environment

What’s the procedure of the Skinner box?

A rat or pigeon would be put into a highly controlled Skinner box. A hopper would deliver a food pellet to the animal when it pressed the lever. He would measure the frequency the animal pressed the lever, which indicates the strength of the condition. This would be repeated with other animals

How does Skinner’s box have a real-world application to gambling and addiction?

Variable-ratio reinforcement gives unpredictable rewards, encouraging persistent behaviour. This explains why unpredictable wins can keep people gambling despite repeated losses.

What is variable ratio reinforcement?

Variable-ratio reinforcement is when a reward is given after an unpredictable number of responses, causing persistent behaviour.

Why is the Skinner box having high internal validity and being able to establish a casual relationship a strength?

It shows that operant condition can be used to shape behaviour

How did operant condition have useful application?

Development of token economy- a system where desirable behaviour be reinforced with the use of tokens

What has skinner research being criticised for?

The use of non-humans animals, which means they cannot be generalised to humans

Why are behaviourist approaches deterministic?

They ignore the concept of freewill. Skinner argues that free will is an illusion.

Why are is it a strength that behaviourism is empiricist?

Makes psychology a lot more scientific allowing for a cause and effect relationship to be discovered between stimuli and behaviour

Why are behaviourist approach reductionist?

They ignore other factors that effect behaviour and simplify it to simple stimulus-response mechanism