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The Behaviourist Approach - Coggle Diagram
The Behaviourist Approach
Assumptions
only interested in studying behaviour that can be observed and measured
it's not interested in investigating mental processes of the mind (believes them to be irrelevant)
behaviourist try to maintain as much objectivity and control as possible within their research by having highly controlled lab studies.
believe all behaviour is learned. they describe babies minds as 'blank slates' which is written on by experience.
believe basic learning processes are the same in all species (so animals can replace humans in research)
key researcher = John B Watson (1913)
- he rejects introspection as it's vague and too difficult to measure
identified 2 important forms of learning
B.F Skinner
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operant conditioning (learning via consequences)
positive reinforcement
= receiving a reward for a certain behaviour e.g. getting a sweet for answering the question correctly in class.
positive and negative reinforcement increase the likelihood of a behaviour reoccurring.
punishment decreases the likelihood of a behaviour reoccurring.
negative reinforcement
= when a person (or animal) avoids something unpleasant to have a positive outcome e.g. handing in the homework to not get shouted at (handing in the homework has been negatively reinforced so the person gets the positive experience of not being shouted at).
punishment
= an unpleasant consequence of behaviour e.g. being shouted at by a teacher for not doing your homework (doing your homework to avoid being shouted at would be negative reinforcement)
Ivan Pavlov
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Classical conditioning (learning through association)
BEFORE CONDITIONING
Unconditioned stimulus (food) = unconditioned response (salivation)
neutral stimulus (bell) = no response (no salivation)
DURING CONDITIONING
unconditioned stimulus (food) + neutral stimulus (bell) = unconditioned response (salivation)
AFTER CONDITIONING
conditioned stimulus (bell) = conditioned response (salivation)
Evaluation
well-controlled research
P: behaviourist approach is based on well controlled research.
E: behaviourist focus on measurement of observable behaviour within controlled lab settings. breaking down behaviour into basic stimulus response units = extraneous variables removed = cause & effect relationship established
e.g. skinner was able to clearly demonstrate how reinforcement influenced animal's behaviour
E: strength - suggests behaviour experiments have scientific credibility.
counterpoint
P: however, behaviourist have over simplified the learning process.
E: by reducing human behaviour to such simple components, they may have ignored an important influence on learning (i.e. human thought).
other approaches (i.e. SLT, & cognitive) have drawn attention to mental processes involved in learning.
E: weakness - suggests learning is more complex than observable behaviour alone & that private mental processes are also essential.
real-world application
P: principle of conditioning have been applied to real-world behaviours & problems
E: operant conditioning is basis of token economy systems used successfully in institutions such as prisons & psych wards. work by rewarding good behaviour with tokens that can be exchanged for privileges.
E: strength - increases value of behaviourist approach because it has widespread application
Environmental Determinism
P: sees all behaviour as conditioned by past experiences
E: skinner said everything we do is sum of our reinforcement history. when something happens we may think 'i made the decision to do that' but skinner believes our reinforcement history determined that outcome. this ignores any possible influence of free will on behaviour.
E: weakness - ignores influence if conscious decision-making processes on behaviour
ethical issues
P: despite procedures such as skinners box allowing behaviourist to maintain high degree of control over their experimental 'subjects', many have questioned the ethics of conducting such investigations.
E: animals were housed in harsh, cramped conditions and deliberately kept below their natural weight so they w ere always hungry
E: weakness - other approaches such as SLT & cognitive disagree with behaviourism decreasing the validity of the research and therefore what we learn from studies such as skinners box do not justify the way animals were treated.
The Skinner Box Experiment
skinner conducted experiments with rats and sometimes pigeons in specially designed cages called Skinner Boxes.
every time the rat activated a lever (or picked at a disc in the case of the pigeon) within the box it was rewarded with a food pellet. from then on the animal would continue to perform the behaviour. this showed
positive reinforcement
skinner also showed how rats and pigeons could be conditioned to perform the same behaviour to avoid and unpleasant stimulus for example and electric shock -
negative reinforcement