THE BEHAVIOURIST APPROACH

•JOHN B. WATSON•

~BASIC ASSUMPTIONS~

  • Rejects the idea of introspection

  • ALL behaviour is learnt (a baby’s mind is a blank slate)

~CLASSICAL CONDITIONING~

(introduced by Pavlov - learning through association)

  1. Neutral Stimulus (NS) → No Conditioned Response

  2. Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) → Unconditioned Response (UCR)

  3. Neutral Stimulus (NS) + Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS) → Unconditioned Response (UCR)

  4. Conditioned Stimulus (CS) → Conditioned Response (CR)

~OPERANT CONDITIONING~

(introduced by SKINNER - learning though consequence)

Positive Reinforcement → receiving a reward when a certain behaviour is performed (e.g. getting a sweet from the teacher for doing your homework)

Negative Reinforcement → when a human or animal is avoiding something negative that leads to a positive behaviour (e.g. completing your homework so that you avoid getting a detention)

Punishment → the unpleasant consequence of an undesirable behaviour (e.g. getting a detention for not completing your homework)

Positive and Negative Reinforcement increases the likelihood that behaviour will be repeated, while punishment decreases that likelihood

EVALUATION

→ IGNORES THE INFLUENCE OF NATURE ON BEHAVIOUR

  • One limitation of the behaviourist approach, is that it places too much emphasis on nurture, while ignoring the influence of nature on behaviour.

  • Behaviourists believe that humans are a blank state, and that behaviour is learnt through classical and operant conditioning.

  • For example, fears are learnt through the association of stimulus and response (classical conditioning).

  • Research today argues that behaviour can be best explained using both nature and nurture together

  • Therefore, as this approach only focuses on nurture, it lacks ecological validity.

→ IT IS ENVIRONMENTALLY REDUCTIONIST

  • One strength of the behaviourist approach, is that it is reductionist, which is praised for forming the basis of scientific research.

  • This is due to the fact that often the investigations use scientific testing.

  • For example, in classical conditioning studies, phobias can be broken down into stimulus and response.

  • These findings increase the scientific credibility of the approach, as these results were produced as a result of a scientific investigation.

→ IT IS ENVIRONMENTALLY DETERMINISTIC

  • Another limitation of the behaviourist approach, is that it is deterministic.

  • For example, the behaviourist approach sees all behaviour as conditioned by past conditioning experience. (e.g. Skinner suggested that everything we do is the sum total of our reinforcement history)

  • This approach can be criticised as it ignores the influence of conscious decision-making processes on behaviour.

  • This leads to a lack in ecological validity.

→ IT IS NOMOTHETIC

  • Another limitation of the behaviourist approach, is that it overlooks the richness of human experience.

  • In this approach, Skinners researches into operant conditioning using the Skinner Box, testing the concept of positive reinforcement with rats.

  • The lab studies lack external validity, and make it difficult to generalise the findings outside of the research environment.