The behaviourist approach - classical conditioning

The behaviourist approach - classical conditioning

1. learning through association

2. Pavlov (1927)

   • he revealed that dogs can be conditioned to salviate
   • before conditioning: unconditioned stimulus (UCS )- food bowl --> unconditioned response (UCR) of silivation
     • during conditioning: neutral stimulus is paired consistently with the UCS
       • after conditioning: NS is now the conditioned stimulus, it produces a conditioned response (salivation)

3. when a neutral stimulus is consistently paired with an UCS so that it eventually takes on the properties of this stimulus and is able to produce a CR

4. strength

   • scientific
     • This is because it's based on empirical evidence carried out by controlled experiments.
   • applied to real life sitatuions
     • eg if we hear the lunch bell at school, we feel a sense of hunger even if we aren't hungry.
   • systematic desensitisation
     • behavioral technique commonly used to treat fear, anxiety disorders and phobias
       • aims to remove the fear response of a phobia, and substitute a relaxation response to the conditional stimulus gradually using counter conditioning.

5. weakness

   • deterministic
     • doesn't allow a degree of free will will in the individual
       • underestimates the uniqueness of human beings and their freedom to choose their own destiny.
   • nature vs nurture
   • reductionist
     • too simple to explain human behaviour
     • belief that human behavior can be explained by breaking it down into smaller component parts