Behaviourist Approach

Behaviourist Approach

1. Classical Conditioning

   • Pavlov
     • Pavlov taught his dogs to associate the sound of a bell with food, after he noticed they would salivate even before they could see the food.
       • He took a bell, and rang it so the dogs could hear, ensuring the sound produces no response. At this point, the bell is the neutral stimulus, the food is the unconditioned stimulus and salivating is the unconditioned response.
         • From that point, he would ring the bell every time he fed them, and eventually they started salivating at the sound of the bell, even without any food. Here, the bell has become the conditioned stimulus and salivating the conditioned response.
           • However, eventually, after ringing the bell several times, without the food, the dogs stopped salivating, this is known as extinction.
             • The dogs associate the sound of the bell with food, and therefore start salivating when they hear it, even without food present.

2. Operant Conditioning

   • Watson
     • Watson conducted a study on an 11 month old baby, in which he taught the boy to be afraid of a white rat, which then generalized into a fear of all furry, white things.
       • He presented the boy with different animals, which produced no fear response, eventually revealing a white rat. But every time the boy, Albert, reached for the rat, a loud banging noise would be heard, scaring the child.
         • Eventually, he stopped reaching for the rat, and would cry upon seeing it. The fear was generalized to other white furred animals, toys, clothes and even a white beard.
   • Skinner
     • Skinner thought behaviour was learned through its consequences, of which there are three types.
       • Positive Reinforcement: Being rewarded for certain behaviour, this strengthens behaviour as repetition is likely. For example, getting a gold star after doing well on a test.
       • Negative Reinforcement: The removal of something unpleasant is likely to cause the behaviour to be repeated. For example doing chores in order to avoid scolding.
       • Punishment: An undesired consequence of certain behaviour, will decrease the likelihood of repetition. For example, being yelled at for not doing your homework.
     • Skinner demonstrated the three consequences above through his Skinner Box. In which he had a lever that would produce food every time it was pressed.
       • He placed a rat inside the box, and each time the lever was pressed, the rat was rewarded with a food pellet. This is positive reinforcement, and the rat repeated this behaviour until it was full, resulting in extinction.
         • He also wired the floor of the box so the rat would be electrocuted as long as it was in contact with the floor, and only stopped when the lever was pressed. This shows negative reinforcement.
           • In another variation, the rat would be electrocuted everytime it pressed the lever, and so the behaviour decreased. This shows punishment.

3. AO1: Blue AO3: Green

4. The behaviourist approach has its strength in that, it records observable behaviour and is therefore objective, and is also a help in many behavioural therapies.

   • However, it disregards other ways of learning and free will, from the behaviourist perspective, animals and humans are seen as passive with no real autonomy
     • For example, in the social learning theory and the cognitive approach mental events during learning are emphasised.
       • Behaviour is changed when new information is presented, behaviour patterns can change through circumstances.
         • Focuses on simplistic behaviour and therefore lacks body when it comes to more complex human behaviour.
           • Majority of the experiments were done on animals, and therefore the results may apply more so to animals than humans.
             • Experiments in which variables are controlled and measured are an artificial environment.