The Behavioural Approach and SLT (Approaches)

Question 1

Method (Watson and Rayner 1920 ‘Little Albert’)

Answer 1

An 11-month-old boy showed no fear when presented with white, fluffy animals such as rats or rabbits.
Researchers created a conditioned response to these by striking a metal bar loudly behind Albert’s head when presented with these animals.
This was repeated twice at first, then five more times a week later.

Question 2

Results (Watson and Rayner 1920 ‘Little Albert’)

Answer 2

When he was shown a rat, he would start to cry. This was the same with other white, fluffy objects.

Question 3

Conclusion (Watson and Rayner 1920 ‘Little Albert’)

Answer 3

A fear response to white fluffy objects had been conditioned into Albert, showing that abnormal behaviour can be learned.

Question 4

Evaluation (Watson and Rayner 1920 ‘Little Albert’)

Answer 4

Very unethical

Not everybody develops a fear or phobia after a negative situation, so learning theory can’t be the full story.

Being a laboratory study it lacked ecological validity

Supports Pavlov’s idea of classical conditioning

Question 5

Assumptions of the Behavioural Approach

Answer 5

Psychology is a science: so behaviour must be measured in highly controlled environments to establish cause and effect.

When born our mind is a blank state

There is little difference between the learning that takes place in humans and in other animals: this means that research can be carried out on animals as well as humans

Behaviour is the result of stimulus: all behaviour can be reduced to a simple stimulus- response associations

All behaviour is learnt from the environment: We learn new behaviour through classical or operant conditioning

Question 6

Key concepts of the Behavioural Approach

Answer 6

Stimulus: anything internal or external, that brings about a response.

Response: any reaction in the presence of a stimulus.

Reinforcement: the process by which a response is strengthened

Question 7

Unconditioned Stimulus

Answer 7

the stimulus that causes the reflex response before conditioning. it is the stimulus that naturally produces the response

Question 8

Conditioned Stimulus

Answer 8

the stimulus which, after repeated pairings with the unconditioned stimulus, produces the response

Question 9

Unconditioned response

Answer 9

the innate (reflexive) response to a stimulus that has not been controlled

Question 10

Conditioned response

Answer 10

the response that occurs after exposure to the conditioned stimulus

Question 11

Pavlov’s classical conditioning (Pavlov’s dogs)

Answer 11

First, Pavlov established that meat caused the dog to salivate
-unconditioned stimulus (FOOD) = unconditioned response (SALIVA)

Then, he presented the tone with the food. Note that the dog is salivating in response to the food at this time
-unconditioned stimulus (FOOD) + neutral stimulus (BELL) = unconditioned response (SALIVA)

After several pairings of the tome and food, Pavlov found that the dog would salivate to the tone when it was presented alone
-conditioned stimulus (BELL) = conditioned response (SALIVA)

Question 12

Method (Skinner 1938 rats showing operant conditioning)

Answer 12

Rats were placed one at a time into a ‘Skinner Box’ which contained a variety of stimuli: a speaker, lights, a floor which gave an electric shock and a food dispenser which was operated with a lever.

A hungry rat was placed into the box and the time taken for the rates to learn that pressing the lever would release food was recorded.

Question 13

Results (Skinner 1938 rats showing operant conditioning)

Answer 13

Initially, the rat would run around the cage until it accidentally pressed the lever and it was rewarded with food.

The more the rat was put back into the box, the quicker they got at learning where the lever was.

Question 14

Conclusion (Skinner 1938 rats showing operant conditioning)

Answer 14

Rats can learn behaviour through operant conditioning. A behaviour such as pressing a lever can be positively reinforced by receiving food.

Question 15

Evaluation (Skinner 1938 rats showing operant conditioning)

Answer 15

Has influenced promoting the idea of behavioural psychology

It used animals, meaning that results may not be generalised to humans.

The sample size was small, reducing reliability of the results.

Question 16

Skinner and negative reinforcement

Answer 16

He repeated his study and showed that rats could learn to prevent an electric shock by pressing a lever when a light came on

Question 17

Positive Reinforcement

Answer 17

Increases the likelihood of a response occurring because it involves a reward for the behaviour

Question 18

Negative Reinforcement

Answer 18

Increases the likelihood of a response occurring because it involves the removal of, or escaping from, unpleasant consequences

Question 19

Punishment

Answer 19

The consequence is receiving something unpleasant which decreases the probability of a behaviour being repeated.

Question 20

Operant conditioning

Answer 20

Uses rewards and punishment to modify behaviour.
The associations between responses and consequences have to be made close together in time for learning to occur.
Operant conditioning has been applied to the treatment of behaviour.
Examples included social skills training for offenders, and token economy systems used in institutions whereby tokens are given as secondary reinforcement for good behaviour.

Question 21

Social Learning Theory

Answer 21

A way of explaining behaviour that includes both direct and indirect reinforcements, combining learning theory with the role of cognitive factors. Learning can occur simply through observing others- others known as models- in our environment

Question 22

Albert Bandura (1961)

Answer 22

Learning occurs from observing others. The mind, behaviour and the environment all play a role in learning behaviour. This deals with the major criticism of Behaviourist approach, which ignores mental processes, by taking account of cognitive processes.

Question 23

Vicarious reinforcement

Answer 23

we learn through modelling- modelling involves learning through the observation of other people (models), which may lead to imitation (repetition) of the behaviour, only if behaviour is rewarded.

Question 24

The four conditions for social learning

Answer 24

-Attention: the extent to which we notice certain behaviours
-Retention: The individual remembers what they have observed
-Motor Reproduction: The individual replicates the behaviour shown by the model/judges their ability to replicate it
-Motivation: The individual seeks to demonstrate the behaviour that they have observed/evaluating the outcome of imitating it

Question 25

Types of Models

Answer 25

Live Models: physically present in our environment, e.g. mother, teacher etc.

Symbolic Models: e.g. people in films, books, cartoons etc.
Symbolic Modelling is believed to have a bigger impact in societies where media is widely available

Question 26

Cumberbatch 2001

Answer 26

video nasties are more likely to frighten children them to make them aggressive towards others. Social deprivation, child abuse and early exposure to violence at home are more likely to desensitise them.

Question 27

Method (Bandura et al. 1961 imitation of aggressive models)

Answer 27

36 girls and 36 boys of a similar age were matched on ratings of aggressive behaviour shown in school in a match participant design.

In the first condition, children observed adult models playing aggressively with a bobo doll (e.g. hitting it with a mallet)..

In the second, children observed non-aggressive models playing with other toys and ignoring the bobo doll.

The third was a control condition in which children weren’t exposed to the models.

The children’s behaviour was observed for 20 minutes in a room containing aggressive toys (bobo doll, mallet) and non- aggressive toys such as a tea set and crayons.

Question 28

Results (Bandura et al. 1961 imitation of aggressive models)

Answer 28

Children exposed to aggressive models imitated lots of aggressive behaviour.

Children in the non-aggressive and controlled conditions showed little aggressive behaviour.

Aggressive behaviour was slightly higher in the control than in the non-aggressive condition.

Question 29

Conclusion (Bandura et al. 1961 imitation of aggressive models)

Answer 29

Aggressive behaviour is learnt through imitation of others behaving aggressively.

Question 30

Evaluation (Bandura et al. 1961 imitation of aggressive models)

Answer 30

Provides evidence for social learning theory.

Strict control of the variable so results are likely to be reliable and can be replicated.

Low ecological validity.

Limited sample- the children were from the same school.

It could be seen as unethical that children were encouraged to be violent

Question 31

Behaviourism

Answer 31

is concerned with observable behaviour, as opposed to internal events like thinking and emotion. Observable behaviour can be objectively and scientifically measured.

Question 32

Generalisation

Answer 32

when a stimuli similar to the original CS produces the CR

Question 33

Discrimination

Answer 33

When a stimuli similar to the CS doesn’t produce the CR. This can be achieved by withholding the UCS when the similar stimulus is used.

Question 34

Extinction

Answer 34

When the CR isn’t produced as a result of the CS because the CS is repeatedly presented without the UCS following it.

Question 35

Spontaneous recovery

Answer 35

When a previously extinct CR is produced in response to the CS. This happens when the CS is presented again after a period of time during which it has not been used.

Question 36

Higher order conditioning

Answer 36

When a new CS produces the CR because the animal associates it with the original CS. This can be achieved by consistently presenting the new CS before the original CS

Question 37

Evaluation of Conditioning

Answer 37

It ignores the role of observation, unlike SLT

Most research involves animals, meaning that results cannot always be generalised to humans

Different species have different capacities for learning by conditioning. Some may also learn by observation with no reinforcement involved.

Genetics seem to influence and limit what species can learn by conditioning

Using animals may be considered unethical