The Behaviourist Approach - Psychology

The behaviourist approach was interested in studying behaviour that could be observed. They liked to do this by carrying out controlled experiments in lab settings. 

They rejected the previous work of Wundt and introspection as it was too vague and difficult to measure.

Behaviourists believe that all babies begin life with a blank slate and from there, ALL behaviour is learned, therefore we are products of our environment. 

Behaviourist Watson famously said;

"Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select - doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations and the race of his ancestors” (Watson, 1924, p. 104).

Classical Conditioning - Pavlov

Pavlov showed how dogs could be conditioned to salivate to the sound of a bell after being given food along with the bell for a period of time. The dogs then began to associate the sound of the bell with food and would salivate to the sound of the bell alone, even when no food was present.

The bell was a neutral stimulus was now able to elicit a conditioned response. The dogs were conditioned to salivate to the sound of the bell which before the experiment was just a bell, an entirely neutral sound that meant nothing to the dogs.

Pavlov showed that repeated exposure to an event leads to a learned and uncontrollable behaviour. 

Evaluation

1. Strength - Pavlov showed how a neutral stimulus could trigger a conditioned response through association and was able to back this up with evidence from his lab experiment

2. Strength - it was a lab based experiment which means it was conducted under well controlled lab conditions with all other extraneous variables removed

3. Limitation - a limitation is that Pavlov used animals and generalised that humans would behave, react and respond in the same way as dogs. By doing this he assumes that all animals are the same.

Operant Conditioning

Psychologist Skinner claimed that people and animals learn through consequences 

Positive reinforcement - receiving a reward when certain behaviour is performed

Negative reinforcement - when an animal or human avoids something unpleasant 

Punishment - this is an unpleasant consequence of a certain behaviour 

Positive and negative reinforcement increase the likelihood that a behaviour will be repeated but punishment decreases the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated. 

How does Skinner's theory compare to your school's behaviour policy?

Evaluation

1. Skinner was able to show through his well controlled lab experiment that behaviour could be conditioned through consequences

2. It shows how positive reinforcement can be used to shape the behaviour of prisoners (and school pupils)

3. Real world application - like the above prisoners and pupils example, I can think of things from my past that have conditioned me, for example, I hate cinnamon as I once ate it when I was ill and it brings back memories and associations. Similarly I can recall the song that was playing on my first day of secondary school and it too bring back associations that come with the song.