Behaviourist

Behaviourist 

• they believe that behaviour is learned

• describe a baby’s mind as a “blank slate” and your life experiences are added on to this “slate”

• classical conditioning and operant conditioning

classical conditioning

• learning through association 

Pavlov’s experiment 

Before conditioning

• food = unconditioned stimulus

• dog drooling = unconditioned response (it’s normal for dogs to drool for food)

Process of conditioning

• neutral stimulus = bell (but dog has no initial reaction to the bell)

• Pavlov then rings the bell and then gives food to the dogs - he repeats this many times 

• the dogs then associate the bell with food

After conditioning

• conditioned stimulus = bell

• conditioned response = dogs drooling because they expect food 

= dogs associate the bell with food 

operant conditioning 

• learning through reinforcement 

Positive reinforcement

• receiving a reward when a certain behaviour is performed

Negative reinforcement

• when someone avoids something unpleasant

• the outcome is a positive experience 

Skinner’s experiment 

• rats were placed into these cages called “Skinner boxes”

• the rat accidentally pressed the lever = food came out

  • rat understood that every time it presses the lever food would come out

  • positive reinforcement = gaining something good

• sometimes electric shocks were given

  • rats accidentally pressed the lever = shock stopped

  • rat understood that every time it pressed the lever shock would stop

  • negative reinforcement = stopping something bad

strength - well controlled research

• the experiments were conducted within a controlled lab setting

• extraneous variables were removed, so cause and effect could easily be established

• suggests that behaviourist approach experiments are scientifically reliable 

strength - real world application 

• operant conditioning is the basis of the Token Economy System

  • encouraging people to do good behaviour through “tokens” which can be exchanged for privileges e.g. privilege of going outside in prison

  • used in institutions like psychiatric wards and prisons

• increases the value of the behaviourist approach due to its application being used world wide

Reductionist

• reduced the idea of learning behaviour to simple components

• behaviourists like Pavlov and Skinner ignored free will - e.g. you have free will to go against the reinforcements

• suggests that learning is more complex than portrayed