Behaviourism

Behaviourists argued that psychology should only study behaviour, that is observable and objective-unlike thoughts and feelings (mental processes of the mind)

ASSUMPTIONS IN BEHAVIOURISM:

• Behaviourism is concerned with how environmental factors (stimuli) affect observable behaviour (response)

• Behaviourism is learnt through conditioning- this is a form of teaching

• There are 2 types of conditioning:

  • classical conditioning- involves learning by association

  • operant conditioning- involves learning through reinforcement and the consequences of behaviour

• Behaviourism also believes in scientific methodology (e.g controlled experiments), and that only observable behaviour should be studied because this can be measured objectively

• Behaviourism rejects the idea that people have free will (eg can make independent decisions), and believes that the environment determines ALL behaviour

• Behaviourists suggest that the basic processes that govern learning are all the same in all species (animals could replace humans in research

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING:

What is classical conditioning:

• a theory of learning that examines how a response is associated with a stimulus to cause conditioning.

• Classical conditioning is learning through association and was discovered by Pavlov, a Russian physiologist.

KEYWORDS:

• neutral stimulus (NS)- something in environment which does not INITIALLY cause a response

  • eg a dog would not normally salivate in response to a bell

• unconditioned stimulus (UCS)- anything that naturally has the power to produce a response in a human or animal

  • eg the smell of food

• unconditioned response (UCR)- natural reflex to an unconditioned stimulus

  • eg salivation in response to the presence of food

• conditioned stimulus (CS)- neutral stimulus becomes the conditioned stimulus when it acquires the ability to produce a specific response in the human or animal

  • eg the bell

• conditioned response (CR)- learnt response to something that doesn‘t naturally have the power to produce a response in a human or animal

PAVLOV’S EXAMPLE:

UCS (FOOD) —> UCR (SALIVATION)

UCS (FOOD) + NS (BELL) —> UCR (SALIVATION)

CS (BELL) —> CR (SALIVATION)

Through looking into natural responses and neutral stimuli Pavlov managed to condition dogs to salivate to the sound of a bell through repeated association of the bell and food.

Watson and Rayner conducted their famous, yet ethically dubious, study ‘Little Albert’ to show that classical conditioning can be applied to humans too

OPERANT CONDITIONING:

What is operant conditioning?

• It is learning behaviours through rewards & punishment (reinforcement) to increase certain behaviours and decrease others

• Behaviour can be trained, eg encouraging you to behave in a particular way with a reward & stopping you from doing something in particular with a punishment

Definitions:

• reinforcement- receiving a reward for a certain behaviour, increasing likelihood of the behaviour being repeated

• punishment- an unpleasant consequence of a behaviour

• positive reinforcement- a consequence of a behaviour that increases the likelihood of that behaviour being repeated

  • when a desirable behaviour results in the addition of something pleasant e.g. you get praise (reward) for doing your homework well

• negative reinforcement- avoiding something unpleasant

  • when a desirable behaviour results in subtraction of something unpleasant e.g. you do your homework to avoid getting a detention (no punishment)

EVALUATIONS:

• strength