The Behaviourist Approach

What is the behaviourist approach?

A way of explaining behaviour in terms of what is observable and in terms of learning

What are the assumptions of the behaviourist approach?

1. Only studies behaviour that can be observed and measured

2. Not concerned with investigating mental processes of the mind

3. Rely on lab studies to maintain control and objectivity

4. Believe all behaviour is learned; describe baby’s mind as ‘blank slate', written on by experience

5. Following Darwin, suggest basic processes that govern learning are same in all species → animals replace humans as experimental subjects

6. Identified 2 important forms of learning: classical/operant conditioning

Which research supports classical conditioning?

1. Pavlov (1927) → classical = learning through association

2. Showed how dog’s could be conditioned to salivate to the sound of a bell if that sound was repeatedly presented at the same time as they were given food

3. Pavlov’s dogs learned to associate the sound of the bell (NS) with the food (UCS) and would produce the salivation response every time they heard the sound

4. Pavlov able to show how a NS (bell) can come to elicit a new learned response (CR) through association

Which research supports operant conditioning?

1. Skinner (1953) suggested learning is an active process whereby humans/animals operate on their environment → operant = behaviour shaped by consequences

2. Positive reinforcement = receiving reward when certain behaviour is performed

3. Negative reinforcement = occurs when animal/human avoids something unpleasant, the outcome is a positive experience (e.g. rat may learn through negative reinforcement that pressing a lever leads to avoidance of an electric shock)

4. Punishment = unpleasant consequence of behaviour

5. Pos/neg reinforcement increase likelihood that behaviour will be repeated, punishment decreases likelihood 

Skinner’s Research: Procedure

1. Conducted experiments with rats (and sometimes pigeons) in specially designed cages called Skinner Boxes

2. Every time rat activated lever within the box (or pecked a disc if pigeon) it was rewarded with a food pellet

3. Animal would continue to perform behaviour

4. Skinner also showed how rats/pigeons could be conditioned to perform the same behaviour to avoid an unpleasant stimulus (e.g. electric shock)

AO3: Well-controlled research

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

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

3. E.g. Skinner able to demonstrate how reinforcement influenced animal’s behaviour

4. Suggests behaviourist experiments have scientific credibility

AO3: Well-controlled research CP

1. Learning process oversimplified

2. By reducing behaviour to simple components, ignored important influence on learning - that of human thought

3. Other approaches such as social learning theory and cognitive approach have drawn attention to mental processes involved in learning

4. Suggests learning more complex than observable behaviour alone, private mental processes also essential

AO3: RWA

1. Operant conditioning = basis of token economy systems, used successfully in institutions (prisons, psychwards)

2. These work by rewarding appropriate behaviour with tokens that can be exchnaged for privileges

3. Increases value of behaviourist approach as has widespread application

AO3: Environmetal Determinism

1. Weakness → sees all behaviour as conditioned by past conditioning experiences

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

3. When something happens we may think “I made the decision to do that” but according to Skinner, our past conditioning history determined the outcome

4. Ignores possible influence that free will may have on behaviour

5. Extreme position, ignores influence of conscious decision-making processes on behaviour (suggested by cog approach)

AO3: Ethical Issues

1. Although Skinner Box allowed behaviourists to maintain high degree of control over their experimental ‘subjects’, many have questioned ethics of conducting such investigations

2. Animals housed in harsh, cramped conditions and deliberately kept below their natural weight so they were always hungry

3. Does what we learn from studies such as Skinner Box justify the way animals were treated?