The behaviourist perspective (pavlov)

Assumptions (1)

behaviour is learned from experience, only observable behaviour is measured scientifically & only those behaviours should be studied. Thought processes are subjective & difficult to test

(2)

valid to study behaviour of animals as they share same principles of learning (classical & operant conditioning)

(3)

according to the approach individuals are as a tabula rusa (blank slate) so there is no genetic influence on behaviour

unconditioned response (UCR)

an automatic, natural & unlearned reflex or reaction that occurs in response to a specific unconditioned stimulus (UCS) without any prior conditioning/learning

unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

something that naturally & automatically triggers a response without prior learning/conditioning

neutral stimulus (NS)

something that doesn't initially trigger a specific emotional or psychological response

conditioned stimulus (CS)

an initially neutral stimulus that after being repeatedly paired with an unconditioned stimulus acquires the ability to trigger a learned response

conditioned response (CR)

an automatic response established by training to an ordinarily neutral stimulus.

stimulus generalisation (1)

a psychological phenomenon in classical or operant conditioning where an organism responds to a new stimulus in a way similar to how it responds to the original, previously conditioned stimulus

(2)

happens when the new stimulus shares characteristics with the original, leading the organism to apply its learned behaviour or association to the similar, novel stimulation

example

when a child who is afraid of their family's fluffy dog also becomes afraid of other hairy animals, like a rabbit/cat because they share similar characteristics with the original fear-inducing stimulus

stimulus discrimination

the ability to respond differently to similar but distinct stimuli, meaning an organism learns to react specifically to one stimulus & ignore others. the stimulus isn't associated with the conditioned response as its too different from the original stimulus

little albert experiment

wouldn't associate a large brown dog with fear as its characteristics aren't similar enough to a rat's

how did pavlov develop his theory of classical conditioning (1)

stemmed from his work on the digestive system of dogs when he noticed the dogs were salivating to the sound of his assistants' footsteps when they were on the way to feed them

(2)

food alone would have caused the salivating reflex to occur (UCR) without learning, but salivation to the sound of the footsteps pavlov argued was a learned behaviour (CR)

(3)

pavlov believed the dogs were demonstrating a learned association between the sound (CS) & food (UCS)

(4)

pavlov went on to conduct a series of experiments where he paired food with bells & buzzers to show the dogs could learn through association to respond to other sounds as well

(5)

pavlov showed this learning would be generalised in that the animals also responded to similar stimuli to the original eg bells & buzzers with different tones. they could also discriminate between different stimuli ie to tell the difference between them