The Behaviorist Approach

Behaviorism

• Is interested in studying behaviour that can be observed and measured

 

In the 19th century, psychologists developed systematic methods to study mental processes such as thoughts and perceptions.

 

Behaviourists believe that behaviour is learned, they describe a baby’s mind  as a ‘blank slate’   (As john Locke proposed the idea of ‘tabula rasa’)

Following Darwin, behaviourists suggested that the basic processes that govern learning are the same in all species so they felt to use animals instead of human participants. Behaviourists identified two important forms of learning: classical conditioning and operant conditioning.

Classical conditioning (1)

Classical conditioning is learned through association and was first demonstrated by Ivan Pavlov (1927).  Pavlov showed how dogs could be conditioned to salivate to the sound of a bell.

 

First the sound of the bell was repeatedly presented at the same time as the dogs were given food.

 

Gradually pavlov’s dogs learned to associate the sound of the bell (Neutral stimulus) with the food (an unconditioned stimulus) and would produce the salvation response (unconditioned response) every time the sound was heard. 

Thus, Pavlov showed how a neural stimulus, in this case a bell, can come to elicit a new learned response (conditioned response) through association.

Operant conditioning (1)

B.F Skinner (1953) suggested that learning is not passive (as in classical conditioning) - it is an active process whereby humans and animals operate on their environment. In operant conditioning behaviour is shaped by its consequences

Positive reinforcement = is receiving a reward when a certain behaviour is performed, for example, praise from a teacher for answering a question correctly in class.

Positive and negative reinforcement increase the likelihood that behaviour will be repeated. Punishment decreases the likelihood that behaviour will be repeated

Operant conditioning (2)

Negative reinforcement = occurs when an animal (or human) avoids something unpleasant. The outcome is a positive experience (rewarding). For example, when a student hands in an essay so as not to be told off, the avoidance of something unpleasant is negative reinforcement.

 

A rat may learn through negative reinforcement that pressing a lever leads to avoidance of an electric shock.

 

Punishment =  is an unpleasant consequence of behaviour, a negative experience. For example, being told off by the teacher for talking during a lesson. (Finding a way to avoid being told off would be negative reinforcement.

A03 - Well controlled research

Strength of the behaviourist approach is that it is based on well controlled research.

 

Behaviourists focused on the measurement of observable behaviour within highly controlled lab settings.

 

By breaking down behaviour into basic stimulus - response units, all other possible extraneous variables where removed, allowing cause effect relationships to be established.

For instance, Skinner was able to clearly demonstrates how reinforcement influences animals behaviour. This suggests that behaviourist experiments have scientific credibility.

A03 - real world application

Strength of the behaviourist approach is that the principles of conditioning have been applied too real world behaviours and problems.

 

Example: Operant conditioning is the basis of token economy systems that have been used successfully in institutions such as prisons and psychiatric hospitals.  

 

These work by rewarding appropriate behaviour with tokens that can be exchanged for privileges. An example of the behaviourist approach being applied to therapy is through the behavioural approach to treating phobias, both flooding and desensitisation

This increases the value of the behaviourist approach behaviour it has wide spread application.

A03 - Environmental determinism (1)

One limitation of the behaviourist approach is that it sees all behaviour as learned past conditioning experiences and takes a parsimonious stance (incredibly simplistic).

 

Skinner suggested that everything we do is the sum total of our reinforcement history.

When something happens we may think ‘I made the decision to do that’ but according to skinner our past conditioning history determined the outcome.

A03 - Environmental determinism (2)

This ignored any possible influence that free will may have ion behaviour (skinner himself said that free will is an illusion)

 

This is an extreme position and ignores the influence of conscious decision making processes in behaviour (as suggested bye the way the cognitive approach)

Skinner was even ‘hung in effigy’ as the public were not keen on the idea that their behaviour could be controlled.