the learning approaches

main assumptions of behaviourism

• humans are born ‘tabulas rasa’ (as a blank state)

• human behaviour is learnt through experience (classical and operant conditioning)

• only observable behaviour can be studied scientifically

• it is valid to study animals as they share the same principles of learning and therefore conclusions can be extrapolated

classical conditioning

classical conditioning is known as stimulus-response psychology.

classical conditioning is learning by association when two stimuli are repeatedly paired together - an unconditioned stimulus (UCS - a stimuli that naturally creates a response) and a neutral stimulus (NS)

the neutral stimulus eventually becomes a conditioned stimulus as it produces the same response as the UCS now a conditioned response. learning has now taken place

Pavlov’s study into classical conditioning

Aim: to investigate stimulus-response association in dogs

method:

lab experiement

Pavlov paired the presentation of food (which naturally produced a saliva response - reflex) with a number of different neutral stimuli (e.g. a bell)(UCS + NS = UCS). Pavlov repeated this pairing several times.

eventually, pavlov presented the neural stimulus in isolation of the UCS.

he inserted a small test tube into the cheek of the dog to measure salivation.

results:

after a number of pairings, the dogs would salivate when they heard the bell ringing (without the presentation of food)

the dog had learned an association between the ball and the food and a new behaviour had been learnt

John Watson

John Watson believed we are born as a blank slate ‘tabula rasa’. watson proposed that the process of classical conditioning (based on pavlov’s observations) was able to explain all aspects of human psychology. for example, the acquisition of phobias as shown in the study of Little Albert, he was successfully conditioned to fear rats

operant conditioning

operant conditioning is a form of learning in which behaviour is shaped and maintained by its consequences. any behaviour that results in a desirable consequence will be more likely to happen again. whereas any behaviour that results in an undesirable consequence will be less likely to happen again.

there are three types of consequences:

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

• negative reinforcement = occurs when an animal (or human) avoids something unpleasant. e.g. when a student hands in an essay as not to be told off. or if someone has a phobia of bees they may avoid situations likely to involve bees so they dont experience the feeling of anxiety. the avoidance of something unpleasant is the negatove reinforcement

• punishment = an unpleasant consequence of behaviour, for example being shouted at by the teacher for talking during lesson

Skinner’s research on operant conditioning

aim: to investiagte operant conditioning in rats and pigeons

method: lab experiment. skinner placed animals in a ‘skinner box’

1. (positive reinforcement) the box contained a lever on the side, and as the rat moved about the box it would accidentally knock the lever. immediately after a food pellet would drop into a container next to the lever. skinner also tested to see what would happen if the food pellets stopped being released

2. (negative reinforcement) the rat was placed in a box and then subjected to an unpleasant electric shock. as the rat moved about the box it would accidentally knock the lever. immediately after it did so the electric current would be switched off

results:

1. the rat continued pressing the lever as it received a positive consequence and the behaviour has been reinforced. when the food pellet stopped being released then the rat stopped the behaviour as the reinforcer has been removed (extinction)

2. the rats quickly learned to go straight to the lever after a few times of being put in the box. the consequence of escaping the electric current ensured that they would repeat the action of pressing the lever

conclusion: behaviours are more likely to be repeated if they are reinforced and less likely to be repeated if punished. therefore, behaviour is learnt through the consequences of actions

evaluation of behaviourism

1. Research is scientific

   • a strength of the behaviourist approach is the use of scientific, empirical methods. both Pavlov and skinner use experimental methods which control conditions in an attempt to discover relationships between variables. this allowed pavlov to accurately measure the effects of the stimulus on the dog’s behaviour (physical collection of saliva). similarly skinner could manipulate the consequences of behaviour e.g. giving a food pellet to see the effect on the rats behaviour e.g. pressing a lever. thus allowing casual relationships to be established. this adds internal validity to the research and therefore validity to the behaviourist approach

2. use of animal research

   • despite the highly controlled methods used by those advocating a behaviourist approach the explanations received criticism because of the use of animals in research. critics claim that the reliance of pavlov one dogs and skinner on rats and pigeons is problematic as they can tell us very little about human behaviour. unlike non-human animals, human beings have more complex cognitive processes, emotions and motivation. by researching on animals and treating human beings as a product of conditioning means that evidence for the role of cognition is ignored suggesting the behaviourist approach is insufficient in fully explaining human behaviour

3. hard determinism (environmental)

   • the behaviourist approach is an example of environmental determinism as it suggests all behaviour has a cause from the environment. this is a type of hard determinism as it suggests behaviour and characteristics are caused by experience (conditioning) and therefore Skinner suggested that free will is an illusion. this determinist point of view is not favoured by many as it suggests individuals so not have a choice over their behaviour. if we consider the development of phobias, research by Di Nardo found that not everyone bitten by a dog develops a phobia of dogs, suggesting humans do have freewill or there must be an alternative explanation that behaviourists havent accounted for. the lack of consideration of freewill by the behaviourist approach reduces its ability to explain behaviour

4. application - contribution to the development of behavioural therapy

   • the behaviourist approach has made significant contribution in the real world. for example classical conditioning has led to treatment of phobias such as systematic desensitisation. this therapy involves being gradually exposed to a hierarchy of fears alongside using relaxation techniques. with the aim of replacing a fear response with another pleasant response. similarly operant conditioning forms the basis of token economy systems used in institutions such as prisons, where appropriate behaviour is rewarded with secondary reinforcers (tokens) which can be exchanged for privileges such as access to leisure facilities (primary reinforcer). this has been found effective at reducing undesirable behaviours and encouraging positive behaviour, contributing to the rehabilitation of service. both of the examples demonstrate the useful application of the conditioning theories and thus the behaviourist approach

Social learning theory

according to bandura, behaviourism does not take account of the cognitive aspects of learning, even though humans are more likely to have much more complex cognitive processes than animals. this is one of the major differences of SLT compared to behaviourism

social learning theory proposes that behaviour is learned from the environment through observing role models. in society, children are surrounded by many influential models, such as parents within the family, characters on childrens TV, friends within their peer group and teachers at school. these models provide examples of behaviour to observe and imitate

children pay attention to some of these people and encode their behaviour. this is more likely if the child perceives the model as similar to itself (identifies) e.g. same gender

at a later time they may imiate the behaviour they have observed. if a child imitates a model’s behaviour and the consequences are rewarding (direct reinforcement), the child is likely to continue performing the behaviour

Cognitive mediational processes

factors that determine whether we do or don’t imitate a behaviour are referred to as cognitive medtational factors. these include:

• Attention - learning can only take place if a model is attended to. more attention is paid to role models who have status and those that we can identify with e.g. individuals of the same gender

• Retention - learning will only take place if the behaviour we have observed is stored in memory

• Motor reproduction - this relates to the performance of the behaviour. the observer must be physically able to perform the behaviour for imitation to occur. for example, a child may want to imitate the skills of a footballer but lack the necessary ability required to reproduce the behaviour

• Motivational processes - for behaviour to be imitated, an individual needs the right motivation to do it. if an individual observed a model being positively reinforced for a behaviour (vicarious reinforcement) the behaviour would be more likely to be imitated as the consequences of imitation suggests we will be directly reinforced. then in the future when an appropriate opportunity arises, the individual will weigh up the chances of being directly reinforced. the individual might display the observed behaviour provided that the expectation of positive consequence is greater than the expectation of negative consequences

Bandura et al (1961)

aim: to find out if children would show more aggressive behaviour if exposed to an aggressive role model and less aggressive behaviour if exposed to a non-aggressive role model

method: 72 children split into 3 groups of 24 (12 boys, 12 girls)

condition 1 (aggressive) - children observed a video of an adult (role model) attack a five foot inflatable doll. the doll was kicked and punched and the attacker used aggressive statements such as ‘punch him in the nose’. bandura used males and females as role models
condition 2 (non-aggressive) - children observed an adult assembling a toy, showing no aggression
condition 3 (control) no adult model was observed
after this first stage each child was taken to a second room filled with toys and a bobo doll. the child was filmed playing with the toys for twenty minutes. bandura observed the children and recorded imitative aggression, partial imitation and non-imitative aggression

results: the children who observed the aggressive model displayed higher levels of aggressive behaviour to the doll than those in either of the other two conditions. children were more likely to directly imitate same sex role models. boys were also more physically aggressive in all conditions

conclusion: bandura concluded that behaviour can be learned by observation and imitation. individuals are more likely to imitate role models that they identify with e.g. those of the same gender.
in a later follow up version of the study - children were even more likely to imitate adults who they had seen be rewarded for being aggressive. which demonstrates the importance of vicarious reinforcement

evaluation of Bandura’s research

strength:

• experimental methods and internal validity

  • banduras research study was a laboratory experiment and therefore allowed for the precise control of variables such as the role model used and the time the children observed the behaviour. this allows for cause and effect to be established enhancing the validity of the findings and the validity of social learning theory. the experiment also used standardised procedures and instructions that allowed for it to be replicable. the research has been replicated with slight changes such as the use of a video instead of live role models and similar results were found, enhancing its reliability

weakness:

• artificial settings and ecological validity

  • a limitation of using laboratory studies such as banduras on imitation is that it has low ecological validity. the situation involved a child and an unfamiliar adult role model in an artificial setting with no interaction between adult and child. this is a limited social situation which is unlike real life modelling that takes place in a family or school context. also the imitation was measured almost immediately making this a snap shot study which cannot tell us about the long term effects of single exposure to the behaviour. this therefore challenges the ecological validity of banduras findings as support for social learning theory and the theory’s ability to explain learnt behaviour over time

evaluation of social learning theory (RIA)

• Research - supporting evidence

  • banduras experiment provides research support for a number of claims proposed by social learning theory. bandura found that a sample of children who had observed an adult act aggressively with a life-sized bobo doll later reproduced a good deal of physical and verbal aggression resembling that of the model, in comparison, with children who has observed a non-aggressive model, whom exhibited virtually no aggression towards the doll. in a later version of the study children who observed the models being rewarded for aggression were even more likely to be aggressive. furthermore the children displaying the highest levels of aggression were those that had observed a same-sex model interact aggressively. these findings clearly demonstrate the importance of observing role models in the learning of behaviour, but also that vicarious reinforcement and identification with the model increases the likelihood of imitation

• issues and debates - SLT provides a higher level of explanation

  • Social learning theory provides a more comprehensive explanation of human learning by recognising the role of mediational processes. this is an advantage of the approach over the behaviourist theories of classical and operant conditioning as SLT recognises that individuals are active in their processing and interpretation of an observed behaviour, and therefore make decisions about their behaviour. this means the theory is a more complete explanation of behaviour as it recognises the role of both learning and cognition. furthermore it can better explain the occurrence of individual differences in behavioural response to stimuli. it also can be complemented for considering that individuals do exert some level of control and free will over their behaviour supporting a soft determinism argument over a hard deterministic view.

• underestimation the role of nature

  • a criticism of social learning theory is that it makes little reference to the impact of biological factors on human learning and behaviour and therefore underestimates its contribution. the SLT supports the role of nurture as it suggests the origin of behaviour is our social environment. this underestimates the role of nature (biology) which suggests behaviour is innately determined. this may be a limitation of the SLT’s ability to fully explain behaviour. for example, the bobo doll experiments demonstrate that boys were more aggressive than girls in all of the conditions regardless of situation or the sex of the role model. critics argue that these differences should be best explained through biological factors such as hormones e.g. higher levels of testosterone in boys can be linked to aggression. this creates doubt over the social learning theory’s ability to fully explain all human behaviour

• application or alternative - reducing stereotypes

  • the principles of social learning theory have been usefully applied to enhance our understanding of the impact of observation and imitation on human behaviour. for example the theory can explain the development of gender typical behaviour through the observation of same sex role models in everyday life and the media. this theory has been able to explain the development of sex role stereotypes which has contributed to sexism and discrimination. the SLT’s explanatory power has led to positive social change including legislation informing advertising agencies to avoid gender stereotypes in the media. the theory is therefore useful in providing explanations for behaviour and when applied can have positive implications on society