Behaviourism_1

Behaviourism_1

1. Treats psychology as an objective science, focuses only on directly observable, measurable events and behaviours

2. Classical conditioning: Pavlov's Dog, J.B. Watson's Little Albert study

3. Operant conditioning: All behaviour is learned and maintained by consequences. B.F. Skinner used his skinner box with rats and pigeons to show this

   • It uses reinforcement to increase the frequency of a behaviour, and punishment to decrease the frequency of a behaviour
     • For punishment to be effective it must be immediate (contingent) severe and consistently applied.

4. ABA = applied behavioural analysis. This is a method of teaching where tasks are broken up into small manageable steps. At each step positive behaviour is reinforced, such as maintaining eye contact or social interaction

   • This is used a lot with children will learning difficulties, disabilities and children with autism