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Unit 8 Psychological perspective
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P1 Explain the principal psychological perspectives.Perspectives of psychology explain behaviours that are set on a particular set of
beliefs and ideas.in this task we will be looking into all the psychological perspectives
what they entail and what they are all about.
There are six different types of psychological perspective they include;
Behaviourist perspective
The behaviourist perspective argues that humans are born similar to a blank slate
and that the environment shapes behaviour. the behaviourist perspective is a theory
of psychology that states human beings behaviours are learned and not naturally
acquired, It emphasizes on the fact that when born our mind is a blank slate that
means all human behaviours are learned through the interaction with the
environment. Human beings are born similar to a blank slate means when born
human beings they are ignorant but the environment they are brought up in shapes
their characteristics, behaviour and defines them as a person. The behaviourist
perspective believes that humans have no natural knowledge from birth and that all
characteristics and traits are the results of a person’s environment and other forces
that shape it. The behaviour of the identical twins supports the theory of the
behaviourist perspective They were identical twins that grew up in different
environments, they acted differently which supports the behaviourist approach that
all humans are born similar to a blank slate and behaviours are learned through
interaction with the environment. Different environments there grew up in shaped up
personalities, characteristics even though they are identical twins, they acted
differently due to different environments. They can be similar due to genes and the
fact that there are identical twins e.g their physical features, the colour of hair, the
colour of the eye. But they cannot have the same behaviours. Looking at two famous
studies that support the behaviourist perspective,
PAVLOV DOG; As a learning procedure called classical conditioning, Pavlo decided
to test his dog, Pavlov realised that his dog will salivate when he smelled or heard
food it is normal as saliva helps to digest food, he started feeding the dogs and
ringing the bell at the same time, he started to realise that if he rang the bell even
, without food the dog will start to salivate, the dog has been conditioned to salivate
even without food.
Classical conditioning explains that learned responses to neutral stimuli, the bell is
the neutral stimulus because normally it does not salivate when it hears the bell but
the dog learns that when a bell rings it will get food and so the dog salivated when
the bell rang.
SKINNER’S THEORY;
Skinner’s theory known as OPERANT CONDITIONING is based on the fact that
changes in behaviour are as a result of an individual response to events that occur in
the environment they find themselves in , In skinner’s theory he kept a rat in a box
and the box in which he kept the rat contains a lever which when the rat presses it
brings out food, Skinner wanted to see if the rat could learn the behaviour of
pressing the lever, the rat accidentally presses the lever and food are released, when
the rat has accidentally hit the lever many times, it learns that pressing the lever
gives it food, it repeats the behaviour of pressing the lever to receive more food.
When the behaviour causes something rewarding and pleasurable it is known as
POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT.
When a behaviour removes something unpleasant it is known as NEGATIVE
REINFORCEMENT, In the second theory skinner changed the box to have a small
electric current that could be stopped when the lever was pressed, the rat learnt that
pressing the lever would stop the current, so pressing the lever removed the
electrocution, the rat was negatively reinforced to press the lever
PUNISHMENT causes something that is horrible, Skinner changed the box to give
an electric shock when the lever is pressed, the rats learned that pressing the lever
caused electric shock which is horrible, through punishment he learnt not to press
the lever.
Operant conditioning:
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