the behavioursit approach

What are the three assumptions

• Humans are born like a blank slate

• Behaviour learned through conditioning

• Humans and animals learn in similar ways

Explain asssumption 1

Humans are born like a blank slate

• it is believed that when we are born out mind is a ‘tabula rosa’ which is the Latin term for blank slate and our behaviour is determined by the environment we grew up in (environmental determinism)

• It support the idea of nurture over nature and that social and environmental factors have the greatest influence over our behaviour

Assumption 1 comp 3 example

Humans are born like a blank slate - criminal behaviour

• As the mind is a blank slate and individuals learn criminal behaviour though observation and imitation of friends, peers and the community which is an example of environmental determinism

Describe assumption 2 and link to comp 3 behaviour

behaviour learned through conditioning

• Classical conditioning is learned through association

• Pavlov- conditioning dogs to make a bell a conditioned stimulus to food which produces the conditioned response of salivation

• Operant conditioning is learned through reinforcement, to increase the chance of the behaviour occurring again and and punishment, to decrease the likelihood of the behaviour occurring again

• ASD - it can be used with children to improve communication skills where they use picture cards instead of spoken words and can then exchange these for desired times (positive reinforcement)

Explain assumption 3

Humans and animals learn in similar ways

• the laws of learning are the same for both human and non-human animals so therefore we are able to study animal learning to make generalisations about human behaviour

• For example, Pavlov found that dogs could be conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell and this could be applied to humans for example in therapies to overcome phobias

Assumption 3 comp 3 example

Bullying

• a certain brain circuit makes male mice want to bully others and this can also be applied to understand bullying in human behaviour

What is the therapy

Systematic desensitisation

3 main components of systematic desensitisation (SD)

• counter conditioning

• desensitisation hierarchy

• Different forms of SD

Describe the main components of SD intro

• Helps people to ‘unlearn’ learned behaviour and is based on the idea that most forms of mental illness occurs through faulty learning

• Links to the 2nd assumption ‘behaviour learned through conditioning’ - in particular classical conditioning as it uses the idea of a stimulus-response association

Describe the main components of SD first component

counterconditioning

• This involves learning relaxation techniques for example breathing and distraction techniques

• The aim is to acquire a new stimulus-response link to respond to the stimulus with relaxation instead of fear

• This works as a result of reciprocal inhibition which is the idea that we cannot experience two contrasting emotions at the same time (fear and relaxation)

Describe the second component of SD

desensitisation hierarchy

• this is a series of gradual steps where the client and therapist work out a hierarchy of feared stimuli from least to most fearful and the client then experiences these gradually at their own pace

One example of this could be having a fear of trains and making a desensitisation hierarchy like this:

1. Saying the word ‘train’ out loud

2. Looking at a picture of a train

3. Listening to the sound of a train

4. Standing outside a train station

5. Standing on a train platform

6. Sitting inside a stationary train for 2 minutes

7. Riding on a train for 10 minutes

• the final aim at the end of the experience would be to complete number 7

Describe the third component of SD

different forms of SD

• one type is in vivo desensitisation where clients confront their feared situations directly by learning to relax in the presence of the object

• One example of this would be the client learning to relax when on a train journey if they had a fear of trains

• another form of SD is in vitro desensitisation where the clients imagines the presence of the object

• for example the same client imagining themselves on a train journey

• Menzies and Clarke found that in vivo desensitisation is more successful

Evaluate the effectiveness of SD 10 marker

+research support

• Capafons et al found that clients with a fear of flying showed less psychological signs of fear after a 12-25 week SD programme

• Shows that fear can be reduced by gradually exposing individuals to the feared situation or object

• Boosts the validity as there is evidence of it improving psychological symptoms in the real world

• Therapy is more likely to be credible and adopted in clinical practice

-treats the symptoms not the underlying cause

• it treats the fear of flying yet not the foot cause of why that individual is scared of flying

• The fear is likely to return if the root cause is not dealt with

• Reduces the overall effectiveness as it’s likely to only provide a short-term benefit

• Doesn’t provide a long-term solution and can’t boost well-being in the future

-time consuming

• Can take several weeks or months as you have to learn relaxation techniques, create a desensitisation heirarchy and experience these gradually

• Some clients may lose motivation and drop out

• Decrease reliability as it will provide inconsistent results as it won’t be fully effective on those that drop out

-not effective for all phobias

• successfully treat simple phobias but less effective for complex phobias such as social anxiety

evaluate the effectiveness of SD main points

+research support

-treats the symptoms not the underlying cause

-time consuming

-not effective for all phobias

evaluate the ethics of SD 10 marker

+clients are usually able to provide valid consent

• SD is mainly used for phobias and not problems such as depression and schizophrenia

• clients are in a ‘healthy’ enough state of mind to understand what the therapy entails and be aware of the potential side effects

• meet the ethical requirement of obtaining valid consent as clients can make an informed decision if they wish to take part in the therapy

-power relationship may affect consent

• although they agreed to take part in the therapy they may feel pressured into continuing because they view the therapist as an authority figure

• continue despite not wanting to, more psychological harm

• reduces the validity of the consent

• ethical guidelines require participants to have the right to withdraw without pressure

+anxiety controlled

• unlike flooding it works gradually through a hierarchy at the clients pace

• client is relaxed before progressing, minimises distress

• enhances ethical acceptability as clients experience less psychological harm

• therapies that minimise harm uphold ethical standards and increase patients compliance and trust

-some stress is unavoidable

• even though clients are introduced gradually they are still exposed to object or situations that they fear

• cannot completely eliminate stress

evaluate the ethics of SD main points

+clients are usually able to provide valid consent

-power relationship may affect consent

+anxiety controlled

-some stress is unavoidable

what is the classical evidence

Watson and Rayner

Describe the methodology of Watson and Rayner

• It involved one participant - a male infant aged 9 months (Little Albert)

• It was not a case study because it only focused on his response to conditioning

• A case study would be a more in-depth detail on the individuals life

• It was not an experiment as there was only one condition so no IV or DV

• It was a controlled observation as it was conducted in controlled conditions (a well-lit dark room)

• Albert was placed on a mattress that was on top of a table

Describe the procedures of Watson and Rayner

emotional tests:

• 9 months old

• Presented with a white rat, dog, monkey, masks with and without hair, cotton wool, burning newspaper etc

• Loud noise created with a hammer upon a suspended steel bar

Establishing a conditioned emotional response:

• 11 months and 3 days old

• Presented with a white rat and the bar struck at the same time

Testing a conditioned emotional response:

• 11 months and 10 days old

• Presented with white rat and no sound

• then 5 lots of joint stimulation (white rat and bar)

Generalisation:

• 11 months and 15 days old

• Presented with the blocks, rat, rabbit, dog, seal fur coat, cotton wool and John Watsons hair

• Also presented with wooden blocks

Changing the environment:

• 11 months and 20 days old

• joint stimulation in the new environment

The effect of time:

• 12 months and 21 days old

• Presented with fur objects and blocks in the lab

Describe the findings of Watson and Rayner

Emotional tests:

• no fear to objects before conditioning

• Bar was struck and on the third time he broke into a crying fit

Establishing a conditioned emotional response:

• when the bar was struck he jumped and fell forward but didn’t cry

• The second time he fell forward whimpering a little

testing the conditioned emotional response:

• He didn’t reach for the rat

• His cautious behaviour was tested by giving him some blocks which he played with happily

• He was shown the rat again and he began to cry and crawl away

Generalisation:

• played happily with the blocks

• immediately responded with fear to the rat

• Reaction to the rabbit was as extreme to the rat as he burst into tears and crawled away

• His reaction to the dog and fur coat wasn’t as violent

• Played with John Watsons hair and the cotton wool and it’s paper package

Changing the environment:

• responses to the rat, rabbit and dog were less extreme

• After further ‘freshening up’ conditioned fear response was stronger

The effect of time:

• responded to test objects differently to control objects

• Avoided and whimpered at fur objects

Describe the conclusions of Watson and Rayner

• Shows the ease that a fear response can be created

• two ‘joint stimulation’ can create the conditioned emotional response

• Seven was enough to bring about the complete reaction

• Demonstrated learned responses generalise to similar stimuli

• Suspected persistance of early conditioned responses would only be found in people ‘constitutionally inferior’

Evaluate the methodology and procedures of Watson and Rayner

+baseline test was done

• Albert’s responses to stimuli were tested before the study

• They could be sure that his later fearful responses were because of what was done during the study

• Increases internal validity as a cause and effect relationship can be established

+the study was filmed

• future psychologists would be able to view the original footage to see the detailed procedure

• The study could be replicated

• Increases reliability as the results can be checked

-the sample

• only involved one participant - a 9 month old boy who was a calm and even-tempered baby

• he is not representative of all 1 year olds

• Findings can’t be generalised, creates a non-generalisable study

+high level of control

• controlled environment meant that extraneous variables could be controlled for

Evaluate the methodology and procedures of Watson and Rayner main points

+baseline test was done

+study was filmed

-the sample

+high level of control