Summary
Summary Approaches - Behaviourist and Humanistic
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- Approaches
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- AQA
Content regarding Behaviourist and Humanistic Approach
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Behaviourist Approach - 1913Assumptions
1. ‘Tabula rosa’ → Born as a blank slate, shaped by environmental determinism.
2. Focus on observable behaviour that can be objectively measured to be scientific
3. Lab Experiments are the best
Keywords
Behaviourism - Exploring behaviour in terms of what is observable and in terms of learning.
Classical Conditioning - Two stimuli repeatedly paired together to produce a response
Operant Conditioning - Behaviour is shaped and maintained by its consequences
Reinforcement - Consequence of behaviour that increases the likelihood of repetition
Punishment - Unpleasant consequence following an undesired behaviour.
UCS - Situation which causes an automatic response → UCR - Unlearned response
NS - Item that does not cause any response naturally
CS - Associated NS and elicits the original response → CR - Automatic response to NS
Classical Conditioning
Learning through association : PAVLOV’S DOGS
Dogs can be conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell.
Timing - If time interval too great or after the UCS, can’t be
done
Extinction - CR is not established as a response if CS is
absent of CR.
Spontaneous Recovery - Following extinction, if paired
together again, association link is made more quickly.
Stimulus Generalisation - Can also respond to other stimuli
similar to the CS.
US = UCR NS + US = UCR CS = CR
Food = salivation Bell + Food = Salivation Bell = Salvation
Little Albert : Watson and Raynor
9 month old Albert was classically conditioned to have
a fear of white rats, pairing the rat with loud noises.
Albert then feared white rats and other generalisable
stimuli to the white rat - fur, white cat, etc.
Ungeneralisable as it was a case study on one child
Unethical as they didn’t have to condition him to have
a fear - psychological harm.
Good validity as done on humans, and observable
, Operant conditioning
Learning through reinforcement/punishment : Skinner’s box
REINFORCEMENT :
- Positive reinforcement :
Starved rat was positively reinforced to pull the lever to receive food.
Starved pigeon learnt to peck disk to receive food
- Negative Reinforcement
Rat rewarded with no electric shocks when rat pulled lever of an electric floor
Schedules of Reinforcement: Impact on strength and rate of response
- Continuous: Every time, more effective for a particular response
- Partial: Only some times, effective in maintaining response and avoiding extinction.
Evaluation
Strengths
+ Supporting Evidence of Little Albert
- Criticism of this study are found above
+ Inspired by Edward Thorndike “Law of Effect” → Any behaviour that is followed by
a pleasant consequence is likely to be repeated, and any action followed by
unpleasant consequence will be stopped
+ Based on well-controlled research within a controlled laboratory setting → scientific
credibility. Influential on the development of psychology as a scientific discipline.
+ Causality can be established without extraneous variables
+ Applied to range of real-world situations
+ CC in Systematic Desensitisation to treat phobias
+ OC in Token Economy, rewarding behaviour with tokens to encourage
Weaknesses
- Environmentally deterministic
- Ignore the influence of conscious decision making (free will) in making processes in
behaviour
- Extrapolation as Pavolv experimented on dogs and Skinner on rats and pigeons.
- Cognitively and physiologically different to animals; different norms and
values the mediate effects of environment → Behave differently
- Biologically reductionist
- Ignorance of other levels of explanation, cognitive factors and emotional state
- Ignorant of humans other factor in shaping behaviour rather than just
conditioning
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