Behaviourist Approach

What are the 5 key assumptions of the behaviourist approach? (tabula rasa, conditioning, what is studied, methods, who is studied)

humans are born a blank slate with no innate personality or characteristics everything is learned through experiences and environment, all learning takes place through classical conditioning and operant conditioning, only observable behaviour should be studied, only scientific methods are used, studying animals is valid as they have the same learning principles as humans so animal study findings can be generalised to humans

What was Ivan Pavlov’s aim? (2)

To investigate whether dogs could be conditioned using classical conditioning, to see if a neutral stimulus can be conditioned to produce a conditioned response

What method did Pavlov use? (3)

bell rang (neutral stimulus) before presenting food (unconditioned stimulus) repeatedly, observing dog’s reaction to the bell alone, pairing bell with food several times

What were the results of Pavlov’s study? (2)

dogs began to salivate when they heard the bell even without the food, so a conditioned response had been produced

What conclusions could be made from Pavlov’s study? (2)

a neutral stimulus could become a conditioned stimulus triggering a conditioned response when it has been repeatedly associated with an unconditioned stimulus, demonstrates process of classical conditioning as behaviour is learnt through association

What was the aim of Skinner’s study? (2)

To investigate how animals respond to operant conditioning, learning through consequence

What method did Skinner use for stage 1? (3)

Skinner’s box provides a controlled environment, rats/mice/pigeons in box and press lever receiving food in response, repeat pulling the lever and getting food

What method did Skinner use for stage 2? (3)

a light was added, when it flashed green and the rat pushed the lever they received food, when it flashed red and the rat pushed the lever they got an electric shock

What method did Skinner use for stage 3?

when a speaker buzzed the rat had to push the lever within 3 seconds or they would get an electric shock

What were the results from Skinner’s study? (2)

rats learned quickly when to press the lever to get food and when to avoid pulling the lever to avoid the electric shock, due to the consequences of their behaviour

What conclusion can be made from Skinner’s study?

Behaviour can occur through positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement and punishment

What is punishment?

unpleasant consequences stops behaviour being repeated

What is negative reinforcement?

preventing an unpleasant consequence after the desired behaviour to increase the likelihood of that behaviour being repeated

What is positive reinforcement?

adding a pleasant consequence after a behaviour to increase frequency of that behaviour

What was the aim of Watson and Rayner’s Little Albert study?

To investigate whether a phobia could be created in an infant using classical conditioning

What method did Watson and Rayner do? (2)

child initially curious and wanted to play with white rat, then experimenters repeatedly paired exposure to the rat with the sound of a metal rod being hit to produce a loud sound

What were the results from Watson and Rayner’s study? (4)

after repeatedly pairing loud sound with rat, child began to cry and crawl away every time the rat was brought to him, the rat was now the conditioned stimulus, the fear was the conditioned response

What conclusions can be made from Watson and Rayner’s study? (2)

classical conditioning explains phobia formation in humans, as well as attachment falling in love and mental illnesses

What is important to note about Little Albert? (2)

phobia never reversed in Little Albert as mother withdrew him as she had not given fully informed consent, Albert died age 6 so there was no way to tell if his phobia was retained