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The Behavioural Approach (Assumptions (Only studies behaviour that is…
The Behavioural Approach
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Classical conditioning
Pavlov's dogs
- Food given to dog, god salivates.
- Food is unconditioned stimulus & salivating is unconditioned response.
- Bell (neutral stimulus) is sounded before food.
- Bell becomes conditioned stimulus & salivating becomes conditioned response.
- Dog now salivates upon hearing bell sound.
Operant conditioning
Negative reinforcement: Behaviour that avoids something unpleasant, e.g. In Skinner's experiment, rat pressed a lever to avoid electric shock.
Punishment: Unpleasant consequence of behaviour, e.g. Grounded for not doing homework.
Positive reinforcement: receiving reward for behaviour, e.g. Praise from parents for doing a chore at home.
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Reinforcements increase chances of behaviour being repeated, punishment decreases this chance.
Evaluations
Many studies on animals, this can't be completely generalised to humans.
Skinner's study also have ethical issues, as animals in stressed conditions.
Mechanistic view of behaviour, sees humans as passive with little conscious thought, compared to cognitive or learning theory.
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Practical application, e.g. Token economy systems in forensic & schizophrenia, flooding & systematic desensitisation.
Environmental determinism as argues that all behaviour has been conditioned, therefore no free will.
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The Skinner Box
A:
- Hungry rat in cage.
- Activating a lever causes food pellet to drop.
- Rat learns to repeat this behaviour - positive reinforcement.
B:
- Rat given electric current.
- Activating lever stopped current.
- Rat learns to repeat behaviour - negative reinforcement.