Behaviorist Flashcards
(18 cards)
What does the behaviourist approach focus on?
The behaviourist approach is only interested in studying behaviour that can be observed and measured. It is not concerned with investigating mental processes of the mind, which were seen as irrelevant.
Why did Watson reject introspection?
John B. Watson (1913) rejected introspection because it involved too many concepts that were vague and difficult to measure.
What type of research methods did behaviourists favour?
Behaviourists favoured lab studies as they allow more control and objectivity in research.
What do behaviourists believe about how behaviour is acquired?
Behaviourists believe all behaviour is learned. They describe a baby’s mind as a ‘blank slate’ written on by experience.
What did behaviourists believe about the laws of learning?
Following Darwin, they believed the basic processes that govern learning are the same in all species, allowing the use of animals in research.
What are the two key types of learning identified by behaviourists?
Classical conditioning and operant conditioning.
What is classical conditioning?
Classical conditioning is learning through association, first demonstrated by Ivan Pavlov (1927).
Describe Pavlov’s experiment.
Pavlov conditioned dogs to salivate to the sound of a bell by pairing the sound with food. Eventually, the dogs salivated to the bell alone.
What did Pavlov show through his experiment?
A neutral stimulus (bell) can become a conditioned stimulus and produce a conditioned response (salivation) through repeated association.
What is operant conditioning?
Operant conditioning is learning in which behaviour is shaped by its consequences.
What is positive reinforcement?
Receiving a reward when a behaviour is performed (e.g., praise for answering correctly).
What is negative reinforcement?
Avoiding something unpleasant, leading to a positive outcome (e.g., handing in homework to avoid being told off).
What is punishment?
An unpleasant consequence of behaviour (e.g., being shouted at for misbehaving).
How do reinforcement and punishment affect behaviour?
Positive and negative reinforcement increase the likelihood of repeated behaviour, while punishment decreases it.
PEEL – Strength: Well-controlled research
P: One strength of the behaviourist approach is that it is based on well-controlled research. E: Behaviourists focused on the measurement of observable behaviour within highly controlled lab settings. E: By breaking down behaviour into basic stimulus-response units, all possible extraneous variables were removed, allowing cause-and-effect relationships to be established. For instance, Skinner was able to clearly demonstrate how reinforcement influenced an animal’s behaviour. L: This suggests that behaviourist experiments have scientific credibility.
PEEL – Limitation: Oversimplification of learning
P: However, the problem with this is that behaviourists may have oversimplified the learning process. E: By reducing behaviour to such simple components, behaviourists may have ignored an important influence on learning – that of human thought. E: Other approaches, such as social learning theory and the cognitive approach, have drawn attention to the mental processes involved in learning. L: This suggests that learning is more complex than observable behaviour alone, and that private mental processes are also essential.
PEEL – Strength: Real-world application
P: Another strength of the behaviourist approach is that the principles of conditioning have been applied to real-world behaviours and problems. E: For example, operant conditioning is the basis of token economy systems that have been used successfully in institutions, such as prisons and psychiatric wards. These work by rewarding appropriate behaviour with tokens that can be exchanged for privileges. E: For an example of how classical conditioning has been applied to the treatment of phobias, see Year 1 book page 148. L: This increases the value of the behaviourist approach because it has widespread application.
PEEL – Limitation: Environmental determinism
P: One limitation of the behaviourist approach is that it sees all behaviour as conditioned by past conditioning experiences. E: Skinner suggested that everything we do is the sum total of our reinforcement history. When something happens we may think ‘I made the decision to do that’, but, according to Skinner, our past conditioning history determined the outcome. E: This ignores any possible influence that free will may have on behaviour (Skinner himself said that free will is an illusion). L: This is an extreme position and ignores the influence of conscious decision-making processes on behaviour (as suggested by the cognitive approach).
