C1: Behaviourist Assumptions Flashcards
1
Q
What are the behaviourist assumptions?
A
- Humans are born like a blank slate
- Humans and animals learn in similar ways
- Behaviour learned through conditioning
2
Q
Humans are born like a blank slate intro (2)
A
- We are not born with built-in material content; internal events eg thinking an emotion do not drive our behaviour
- All behaviour is learned from interactions with the environment, we respond passively to environment stimuli.
3
Q
What is ‘tabula rasa’ Latin for?
A
Blank slate
4
Q
What idea does blank slate assumption support? (2)
A
The idea of nurture over nature
- The view that social and environmental factors have the greatest influence on behaviour over and above innate and biological factors
5
Q
how can the humans are born like a blank slate assumption be deemed environmental determinism? (3) give examples too.
A
- It lies at the extreme end of the nature-nurture debate, ignoring factors such as genetics, physiological factors and evolution in explaining behaviour.
- Our behaviour is determined by the behaviour we grow up in (the associations we make early on in life) eg dentists=pain and the early rewards/punishments provided by our environment (eg getting smacked for bad behaviour)
- These rewards/punishments pre-determine our later reactions to other people and situations
6
Q
What are the two types of conditioning
A
Operant and classical.
7
Q
Define classical conditioning
A
New behaviours are learned through association
8
Q
Pavlov’s study of salivation in dogs (classical conditioning) (3)
A
- Before conditioning, food is the unconditioned stimulus, and salivation is the unconditioned response.
- During conditioning, a neutral stimulus eg the sound of a bell, is presented along side the unconditioned stimulus, and this is repeated several times. Association occurs at this point.
- After conditioning, the bell is now the conditioned stimulus which produces a conditioned response - salivation.
