Behavioural Approach

Behavioural Approach

1. Classical Conditioning

   • This is learning by association. It is when two stimuli are paired together, the unconditioned stimuli, the unlearned stimuli, and the Neutral Stimuli. Eventually, the Neutral stimuli will produce the same response as the unconditioned stimuli when paired together repeatedly.
     • Pavlov
       • Aim- The aim of Pavlov's laboratory experiment was to show that dogs can salivate to the sound of a bell.
         • Procedure. Findings. Conclusion. Pavlov set up a laboratory experiment, in which the dogs were restrained in a harness, with a bowel of food in front of them. The unconditioned stimuli was the food, and the unconditioned response would be produced by the dog. When Pavlov paired the bell, the neutral stimuli with the unconditioned stimuli the food, the dog learned to associate the two together, and would produce a salivation response, known as a conditioned response every time. Pavlov was able to show how a neutral stimuli, the bell can come to elicit a new learned response, a conditioned response through association.
           • Oprant Conditioning
             • This is a form of learning which behaviour is shaped and maintained because of its consequences. Possible consequences include positive reinforcement, negetive reinforcement and punishment.
               • Reinforcement is a consequence of behaviour that increases the likelihood of that behaviour being repeated. Can be positive or negetive.
                 • Skinner
                   • Skinner conducted laboratory experiments with rats and pigeons, in specially designed cages, skinner boxes. Every time a rat activated a lever it was rewarded with food, and when a pigeon pecked a disc it was also rewarded with food. From then on the animals continued to perform that behaviour. Skinner also showed how rats and pigeons could be conditioned to perform the same behaviour to avoid an unpleasant stimulus, for example, an electric shock.
                     • Skinner had suggested that learning is an active process whereby humans and animals operate on their environment. In operant conditioning there are three types of consequences.
                       • Positive Reinforcement- this is when behaviour is repeated because of its reward and pleasantness. For example, answering a question correctly, a person would receive praise.
                         • Negetive Reinforcement- occurs when an animal or human avoids something unpleasant. For example, a student hands in their homework on time to prevent being told off.
                           • Punishment- Is an unpleasant consequence of behaviour, which decreases the likelihood of that behaviour being repeated.

2. The behavioural Approach is way of explaining behaviour, in terms of what is observable and in terms of learning.

3. The Behaviourist is only concerned with studying behaviour that can only be observed and measured. It is not interest in introspection.

   • Early behaviourists such as J whatson rejected introspection as it involved too many concepts that were vague and difficult to measure. As a result, Behaviourists tried to m maintain more control and objectivity within their research and relied on laboratory experiments, as the best way to achieve this. Darwin had suggested that animals and humans all have the same basic learning processes. This meant that the Behaviourist Approach used animals in laboratory experiments.

4. The Behavioural Approach Evaluation

   • The Behavioural Approach has shown scientific credibility, by focusing on the measurement of observable behaviour within highly controlled laboratory settings. This has enabled scientists to establish the cause and effect, making the scientific method replicable. As a consequence Behaviourism has been iiinfluential in the development of psychology as a scientific discipline, giving it greater credibility and status.
     • There is real life application, the principles of conditioning has been applied to a world range of behaviours and problems. For instance, operant conditioning is the basis of token economy systems in institutions such as prisons. These work by rewarding appropriate behaviour with tokens that can be exchanged for privileges. Classical conditioning has also been applied to the treatment of phobias. Such treatments have the advantage of treating people with impaired eyesight because the patient is required to talk about their problem.
       • From a behaviourists perspective animals are seen as passive and machine- like responders to the environment, with little or no conscious insight to their environment. Other approaches in psychology, such as the social learning theory and cognitive approach, have emphasised the importance of mental events during learning. These processes mediate between a stimuli and response, suggest people play a much more active role in their learning. This means that the behavioural theory may apply more to animals than humans.
         • The behavioural Theory suggests that all behaviour is determined by past experiences that have been conditioned. Skinner suggests that everything we do is the sum total of our environment history. This ignores any possibility of free will that influences our behaviour. Skinner suggests that any sense of free will is an illusion. When something has happened we iose the feeling of us making that decision, but according to skinner our past conditioning has made that decision for us.
           • Although the experiment took place in a laboratory experiment with control, it is unethical because the animals such as rats and pigeons were exposed to stress and aversive conditions, for example, in the Skinner box the rats were given electric shocks, and this could have affected how they reacted to the experimental situation.

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