Behaviourism

The Behavioural Approach

• All animals are born with a blank slate and all behaviours are learned from interaction with the environment (experiences).
• this approach is not interested in mental processes - only things that can be observed and measured (rejected Wundt's introspection as highly subjective)
• animals can replace humans in research because we have the same learning mechanisms
• we learn through classical and operant conditioning - our behaviour is determined by stimuli and outcomes in the environment (environmental determinism)

Classical Conditioning

• learning by association
• Ivan Pavlov conditioned dogs to salivate when a bell rings:
• Before conditioning: UCS = food, UCR = salivation
• NS produces no response, NS = bell
• During conditioning: NS bell + UCS food = UCS, constant pairing
• After conditioning: CS = bell produces CR = salivation
• Pavlov showed how a neutral stimulus (bell) can produce a new learned (conditioned) response through associating it with an UCS which has already produced an UCR.

Operant Conditioning

• learning by consequences
• BF Skinner put his rat into a Skinner box with a special lever and an electrified floor.
• when a rat pressed the lever, it was rewarded with food. A desirable consequence led to behaviour being repeated. The rat was positively reinforced to press the lever again.
• if pressing the lever meant the animal avoided an electric shock, the behaviour would also be repeated to get rid of the unpleasant. The rat was negatively reinforced to escape from pain.
• if pressing the lever produced a shock, then the behaviour would be stopped. Punishment is an unpleasant consequence of behaviour which is likely to stop that behaviour.

Evaluation

• + One strength is scientific credibility. The approach conducted well-controlled lab experiments and empirical research. It also used reductionism to break the behaviour into basic stimulus and response units which helped to establish cause-and-effect relationship and control extraneous variables. For example, Skinner showed how reinforcement directly influenced his rat to repeat certain behaviours. This matters because this approach claims psychology is a scientific discipline.
• However, a limitation is environmental determinism. Behaviourists argue that our behaviour is determined by stimuli and outcomes in the environment, leaving for us no choice to act against it. Skinner suggested that the idea of free will is an illusion and our past conditioning determines our behaviour. Furthermore, although a person may smoke a cigarette to fit into a social group and therefore be environmentally determined, there is other possibilities like genetic predisposition to smoke. This matters because Behaviourism ignores important factors like conscious-decision making and other approaches like the biological, meaning it is oversimplified.

Evaluation

• + One strength is real-world application. For example, classical conditioning explained phobias formation and therefore provide treatments. It suggests that we can unlearn our phobias by replacing negative association with our fearful object with a positive UCS to produce a new CR. Additionally, operant conditioning developed Token economy systems in institutions which could be exchanged for privileges. In psychiatric hospitals, doctors can reinforce a positive behaviour of patients (for example, taking more care of themselves) by rewarding them. This can also produce a quicker recovery. This matters because Behaviourism is a valuable approach.
• - A limitation is the use of animal research. Skinner used rats and Pavlov used dogs. For example, Skinner tested his rat into the box which is very to the human environment. Moreover, the rats and humans' brains are physically different, they have different needs or values, and fears. For instance, a human loves cats and fears to be fired, whereas a rat's most horrible fear is cats. This matters because animals and humans are different, meaning the behaviourist approach lacks generalisability. Although some research showed similar behaviour between humans and animals, there are further issues. Skinner hurt rats with an electrified floor, whereas Pavlov kept the dogs hungry. This matters because the researchers were not able to protect animals from harm and distress, meaning that their approach lacks ethics.

Application question

• 1. Operant Conditioning means that we learn a behaviour through the consequences of it. Positive reinforcement suggests that we repeat a behaviour to get a reward, whereas Negative reinforcement suggests that we want to get rid of something unpleasant. John is 'addicted' to online 'gambling' and repeatedly 'spends a lot of time and money on this'. This might be due to a positive reinforcement to get money reward.
• 2. If Joel will lose next time, he is likely to stop his behaviour. This means that he will be punished by loosing his money by 'gambling'.