Behaviourist Explanation of Abnormality

Classical Conditioning -  Stimulus-Response

Operant Conditioning -  Positive and Negative Reinforcement

Social Learning Theory -  Observation and Immitation 

Classical Conditioning: Fear of Heights -

Go to top of high building (UCS)

Feeling sick, dizzy, etc (UCR)

Associate highness with feeling sick, etc (CR)

Leads to vertigo!

Operant Conditioning -

Reinforce childhood aggression with attention, etc = Repeated!! 

Social Learning Theory: Phobias -

Child sees a model respond fearfully to a stimulus - Copied later in life. See + Do.

R - Reductionist: oversimplifies a complex issue (-)
I - Ignores causes: the explanation focuses solely on the symptoms and no on the   cause. (-)

F - Focus on behaviour: The explanation focuses on whether behaviour is adaptive or maladaptive and believes maladaptive behaviour can be replaced by adaptive.

F - Focus on functioning: if the behaviour poses no problem, it is not considered a mental disorder.