Behaviourist Approach Core Content and Evaluationn

What do behaviourists believe

Much of human behaviour could be explained in terms of basic form of learning knows as conditioning

Types of conditioning

Classical and operant conditioning

Assumptions

• only interested in studying behaviour that is observable and measurable - not concerned with mental processes

• Only observable behaviour in labs where they can be controlled and measured

• Behaviourist believe human learning is more complex form of animal learning

• All behaviour is learned

Classical conditioning

Learning by association, when neutral stimulus is consistently paired with an unconditioned stimulus so that eventually produces a conditional response

Process of classical conditioning

• Neutral stimulus reflex is the unconditioned stimulus

• Natural response to the stimulus is the unconditioned response

• For conditioning to take place, neutral stimulus which does not produce an unconditioned response needs to be presented before the unconditional stimulus

• After many pairings of the UCS and NS changes in the NS now procures same response in the absence of the UCS

• The NS is now referred to a conditioned stimulus and the response to it produces a conditioned response

How did Pavlov use this

• investigated salivary reflex in dogs

• Used food and a bell to get dog to salivate at bell though the unconditional stimulus of food

Four important features of classical conditioning

Timing

Extinction

Spontaneous recovery

Stimulus generalisation

Timing

Will not happen if the NS is presented after the UCS or there is too big a time interval between the presentations

Extinction

If you later present the CS in the absence of the UCS many times the CS looses its ability to produce the CR

Spontaneous recovery

Following extinction if the CS and UCS are then paired together again, the link between them is made much more quickly

Stimulus generalisation

Once an animal has been conditioned they will also respond to other stimuli that are similar to the CS

Basic idea behind skinners theory of operant conditioning

Organisms spontaneously produce different behaviours these produce consequences which can be positive or negative. It will be repeated if inforced

What is operant conditioning

Learning through reinforcement or punishment. If a behaviour is followed by a desirable consequence it is more likely to be repeated

5 factors of Operant conditioning

Punishment

Reinforcement

Positive reinforcement

Negative reinforcement

Schedules of reinforcement

Punishment

Decreases likelyhood of behaviour being repeated

This can be positive, adding something unpleasant

Or negative, taking away something positive like a phone

Reinforcement

Something in the environment the strengths a particular behaviour so makes it more likely to recur

Positive reinforcement

Occurs when a behaviour produces a pleasant or satisfying consquences

Negative reinforcement

When you remove something unpleasant from your environment to restore cal ( switching off a button to turn of an alarm noise)

Schedules of reinforcement

Although continuous reinforcement schedule

• most effective way to establish a response

• Partial reinforcement, rewarded some of the time, is more effective to maintain a response and avoid extinction)

How did skinner test operant conditioning

Created skinners box a put a rat inside it

How did skinner show positive reinforcement

• Put hungry rat in his box

• Box contained lever on the side as rat moved he would knock the lever and a food pellet would be given

• Rat quickly learned to go straight to lever after a few times of being put in box

How did skinners box show negative reinforcement

• place rat in skinners box

• Subjecting it to an electric current

• Rat moved about the box it would turn a lever

• Electric current switched off

• Rats learned to go to lever after a few times

• Consequence of escaping current ensured action would be repeated

How has classical conditioning helped treatments for phobias

• led to development of treatments associated with phobias - systematic desensitisation works by eliminating learned anxious response (CR) associated with a feared object (CS)

• Eliminate the learned anxious response with something relaxing

Criticisms of the Classical Conditioning

-may only be appropriate with some learning

• Relationship between the controlled stimulus and the uncontrolled stimulus are more difficult to establish

• Seligman proposed that animals are more likely to learn associations that are significant in terms of their survival needs (smell of meat in presence of food) but unprepared to learn associations that are not significant in this respect ( associating a bel with sound of food)

• Classical conditioning May be more appropriate in learning of specific types of association that is linked to species evolutionary history

Strength of skinners research

• reliance of experimental method, using controlled conditions to discover causation between variables

• Reliance on skinners box was good example of this approach in practice

• Manipulating the consequences of behaviour, he was able to accurately measure the effects on the rat’s behaviour

• Allows him to establish causation between consequences of behaviour and the future frequency of occupancy

Critisism of Skinners and Pavlov research

• Critics say its hard to generalise findings from non humans to human participants

• Social relationships and brain complexity vary between species

• Experiment does not take into account cognitive factors

• Impacts ability to establish behaviours they vary from societal views. Therefore a limitation of their studies is it’s simplicity as it does not mimic life in the wild