learning approach (behaviourist and social learning theory)

what are the assumptions of the behaviourist approach

• everyone is born with a blank slate (tabula rasa)

• our behaviour is learned from our environment (environmentalism)

• behaviour can be understood by classical and operant conditioning (reward and reinforcement)

• repeated behaviours become internalised and automatic

• all behaviour can be observed

what is classical conditioning

where people learn through association

occurs when a neutral stimulus is substituted for the original unconditioned stimulus to produce a conditioned response

how people acquire phobias  

what did pavlov (1927) research and what was his procedure

researched classical conditioning

he set up the following procedure:

1. the dog is given food as usual (UCS)

2. the dog salivates when it sees and smells the food (UCR)

3. a bell is sounded (NS) every time the dog is given food (UCS)

4. a bell is sounded every time the food is presented (the pairing of NS and UCS)

5. after repeated pairings, the dog salivates when it hears the bell

6. the bell has become the CS

7. the dog salivating to the sound of the bell has become the CR

8. the dog continues to salivate to the bell however when Pavlov stopped pairing the bell and the food he found that the CR decreased and gradually disappeared (known as 'extinction')

how did watson and rayner (1920) create a phobia in little albert

• before the experiment they ran baseline tests to check albert was healthy happy etc.

• after the experiment he was left with a phobia of anything white, fluffy, soft toys etc as through classical conditioning he associated a loud frightening noise with a rabbit reminding him of distress

what are the strengths of classical conditioning and pavlov’s research

• use of scientific methods (e.g. lab experiments)

  • has good reliability as it uses hypothesis testing to ensure it can be repeated

• takes a nomothetic approach

  • establishes general laws which can be applied universally to all people

what are the limitations of classical conditioning and pavlov’s research

• does not explain all behaviour so has limited external behaviour

  • eg spontaneous decisions or behaviour that rejects conditioning

• highly deterministic (environmental determinism)

  • assumes that people are controlled by environmental forces and have little control over their destiny limiting people’s free will and seeing them in more mechanical terms

what is operant conditioning

learning from a system of rewards and punishments

the idea that if behaviour leads to reward it will be repeated, if behaviour has negative consequences, it will not be repeated

what are the 2 types of reinforcement

positive reinforcement - performing a behaviour to experience rewards eg completing homework to receive praise from a teacher

negative reinforcement - performing a behaviour to avoid unpleasant consequences eg completing homework on time to avoid detention

what are the 2 types of punishment

positive punishment - adding an unpleasant stimulus right after behaviour to decrease the chance of behaviour being repeated

negative punishment - taking away something pleasant after the behaviour so the respondent will not want to do it again

what did skinner (1953) research and what was his procedure

suggested that learning is an active process where animals and humans operate upon their environment

• skinner devised a box known as the 'skinner Box' 

  • he placed one rat at a time inside the box

  • each box contained different stimuli, including a lever that released food (the rat's reward) and an electroplated floor (the rat's punishment)

  • positive reinforcement was demonstrated by placing a hungry rat in the box

    • the rat accidentally triggered the lever as it explored the box

    • upon triggering the lever, food was delivered (reward)

    • rats quickly learned (it only took them a few tries) to go straight to the lever

    • kept repeating the action

  • negative reinforcement was demonstrated by placing a rat in the box and then subjecting it to an unpleasant electric shock (punishment)

    • rat accidentally triggered the lever as it explored the box

    • upon triggering the lever the electric current was switched off (unpleasant sensations stopped)

    • rats quickly learned to trigger the lever immediately as soon as they were placed in the box

    • kept repeating theaction to avoid the consequence

what are the strengths of operant conditioning and skinner’s research

• good application to the explanation and maintenance of phobias

  eg people with social phobias avoid socialising, the more this is repeated, the more the person feels relieved and secure

• good reliability as skinner used standardised procedures in controlled conditions increasing falsifiability

what are the weaknesses of operant conditioning and skinner’s research

• does not explain why people repeat behaviours that are damaging and unpleasant

• skinner’s research is over simplistic (environmental reductionism) as human’s are much more complex and sophisticated than animals

what is social learning theory

people learning behvaiours based on their environement and learning from people in it with some free will

what are the main assumptions of social learning theory

• learning occurs indirectly

• learning is related to consequences of behaviour (vicarius reinforcement)

• cognitive processes play an important role in learning

• identification with role model is important

• children model aggressive behaviour

how does imitation, identification and modelling link to social learning theory

eg

• child observes behaviour of an identified role model

• if the behaviour is observed frequently the child imitates that behaviour

• the imitated behaviour is performed in different contexts

• it is more likely that a child will imitate the behaviour of role models with whom they identify or who have similar characteristics to them

what is vicarious reinforcement and give an example of how it happens

reinforcement that is indirect as it involves a level of cognition (people have to process what they have seen and imagine themselves getting a similar reward)

for example

• the child observes a specific behaviour from a role model e.g. an aggressive parent

• the child sees that the aggressive parent is rewarded e.g. they have power over the other parent

• the aggressive parent experiences positive direct reinforcement e.g. they got what they wanted, they feel good

• the child identifies with the aggressive parent and  internalises what they have just seen, wanting that feeling

  vicarious reinforcement has  taken place

  • the child has observed the reward gained by the aggressive parent and is motivated to behave similarly to gain such a reward for themselves

  • the child may then go on to behave aggressively towards other children, particularly those who appear to be vulnerable

what are the four mediational processes

learning

attention - noticing the behaviour

retention - remembering the behaviour

performance

reproduction - imitating the behaviour

motivation - desire to do behaviour and be rewarded for it

what are the strengths of social learning theory

• less reductionist and deterministic than behaviourism as it implies that individuals have some choice over their behaviour

• good external validity as it has good application to concepts such as token economies in prisons where they are rewarded for good behaviour, making them want to continue good behaviour

what are the limitations of social learning theory

• does not acknowledge how some behaviours are not imitated (eg a child with an aggressive parent may never be violent to anyone) so is a limited explanation and doesn’t acknowledge individual differences

• lacks ecological validity as research consists of lab experiments that may not be true to social contexts

what was the aim of banduras experiment (1961)

investigated SLT and specifically the effect of observed aggression and same sex modelling on children’s behaviour

what was the procedure of bandura’s experiment

72 ppts even number of girls and boys aged 3-5

• before the experiment nursery staff rated each child’s aggression to devise a matched pairs design so each condition had an equal balance

• an adult male or female model was observed per condition with a large inflatable doll named Bobo

• there were three conditions of the IV:

  • aggressive model

  • non‐aggressive model

  • control group

• there was an equal number of times in which a same-sex model or opposite-sex model was used per condition

• each child observed the behaviour of the model for 10 minutes

• after this period of observation, each child was taken down a corridor and to another room

• each child was told that they could not play with the toys in the new room as they were being saved for other children to build up anger

• each child was then taken to a room containing a Bobo Doll, aggressive toys such as a mallet and a dart gun and non-aggressive toys such as farm toys and crayons

• the ppts were observed using a one-way mirror for a duration of 20 minutes

what were the findings and conclusion of bandura’s experiment

• children who had observed aggressive behaviour were more likely to be aggressive towards the Bobo doll

• boys were more physically aggressive whilst girls were more verbally aggressive

• children were more likely to imitate the behaviour of the same-sex role model

  so we can conclude that

  • aggression can be learned via SLT

  • imitation of aggression can occur after only a single exposure to the aggressive act

  • aggression may be observed in one setting and imitated in a different setting

what were the strengths of bandura’s research

• well controlled standardised procedure that could be easily replicated to check for consistency and reliability

• good external validity as it can be applied to other settings and behaviours such as children’s exposure to violence on tv

• andsager et al (2010) found similarity to a model in an anti-alcohol ad was positively correlated with the effectiveness off the message

what were the limitations of bandura’s research

• lacks ecological validity as aggression is not usually learnt in lab conditions

• ethical issues such as the ratings being intrusive, alarm and distress of children form seeing an aggressive adult or the continuity of the aggression outside of the experiment