The Behaviourist Approach
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- Created by: ernily
- Created on: 03-05-15 17:48
Assumptions
- Behaviour Can Be Explained Through The Role Of The Environment:
- We are all born as a 'tabula rasa' (blank slate) and the environment shapes us.
- Newborns are born neutral, and can only experience basic responses like crying, pain, and hunger. The environment moulds them.
- Our personalities and behaviour are determined by our environment; people have no free will over their own behaviour, we are shaped by the environment and our experiences.
- Behaviour Can Be Explained Through Operant Conditioning:
- Operant conditioning involves learning though consequence.
- The idea is that when people behave in a particular way and are rewarded for it, they will repeat it. If they are punished, they will stop doing it.
- Reinforcement increases behaviour.
- Punishment decreases behaviour.
- Positive is where something is given.
- Negative is where something is taken away.
- Skinner (1938) used rats and pigeons to demonstrate this assumption. He used food as the reinforcer.
- He gave the animals food in order to make them repeat a certain behaviour.
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Social Learning Theory Of Aggression
- Bandura believed that aggression is learnt by observing others.
- Children learn aggression by imitating role models, and observe and learn consequences by seeing others being punished (vicarious reinforcement).
- Bandura (1977) found there are four processes involved in social learning:
- Attention: They model must be observed, rather than just present.
- Retention: The observer must retain what they have seen.
- Reproduction: The observer must be capable of repeating the behaviour they have seen.
- Motivation: The observer must have a reason to perform.
- Models are likely to be the same gender, same age or older, of high status, and likeable.
- Bandura et al (1961) - Bobo Doll Study (Original)
- Young children, aged 3-5, watched an adult (both same and opposite sex) playing with toys, including a Bobo Doll.
- Half of the children observed the adult being aggressive, the other half observed the adult being nice.
- Children who observed the aggression reproduced this behaviour on the toys and Bobo Doll, whereas the other children did not.
- This supports the SLToA because the children are imitating the behaviour of the model. It goes through ARR, but not M.
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Social Learning Theory Of Aggression
- Bandura & Walters (1963) - Bobo Doll Study #2:
- Children were split into 3 groups:
- Group 1: Role model was rewarded for aggression.
- Group 2: Role model was punished for aggression.
- Group 3 (Control): There was no reaction to the aggression.
- Group 1 showed a high level of aggression.
- Group 2 showed a low level of aggression.
- Group 3 showed a medium level of aggression.
- Vicarious Learning: Children learned about likely consequences and adjusted their behaviour accordingly.
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Systematic Desensitisation
- The aim of the therapy is to extinguish a phobia by eradicating an undesirable behaviour and replacing it with a more desirable one.
- Step 1: The patient is taught deep muscle relaxation techniques.
- Step 2: The therapist and the patient construct an anxiety hierarchy.
- Step 3: The patient works through the hierarchy by gradual exposure, beginning with the least feared stimulus and working through to the most feared stimulus.
- Step 4: The patient eventually masters the feared situation.
- For example, if the patient is scared of dogs, they might start by thinking about dogs, then seeing the word dog, seeing a picture of a dog, and so on.
- This is known as counter conditioning, as the patient is taught a new association for the feared stimulus.
- There are two subtypes of systematic desensitisation:
- In Vivo: When the client has to relax while directly experiencing the feared stimuli.
- In Vitro: When the client has to visualise the feared stimuli.
- McGrath et al (1990) found that 75% of people with phobias responded positively to systematic desensitisation.
- Capafons (1998) treated 20 people with aerophobia using systematic desensitisation.
- Aerophobics who received SD reported lower levels of fear.
- However, two people didn't recover at all; shows that SD isn't 100% effective.
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Evaluating The Behaviourist Approach
STRENGTHS
- Deterministic:
- It assumes all behaviour is a product of cause and effect; it is effected by forces beyond our control.
- It allow us to find the cause of things; if psychology aims to be a science, then determinism is vital.
- Useful:
- It has many practical applications, especially in therapies.
- Principles of classical conditioning have been used in systematic desensitisation to help people overcome phobias.
- It is a strength because this therapy has been shown to be effective in helping people overcome phobias of snakes and also flying.
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Evaluating The Behaviourist Approach
WEAKNESSES
- Reductionist:
- This approach only focuses on how the environment shapes our behaviours; the role of external forces is exaggerated.
- How genetic material influences us is ignored, as well as our thoughts and feeling.
- It oversimplifies our behaviours.
- Deterministic:
- Implies that we don't have any control over our behaviour; we are all controlled by external factors.
- Suggests we have no free will, so we can't be held responsible for our actions.
- This raises ethical issues - can you really arrest somebody if they aren't responsible for what they do?
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Methodology - Lab Experiments On Humans
- This approach believes that only observable behaviour is worth studying.
- Scientific methods should be used to study behaviour if psychology is to be considered a science.
- STRENGTHS:
- They can establish cause and effect relationships because extraneous variables are controlled due to the artificial environment.
- Standardised procedures are used, so the experiment can be replicated to demonstrate validity.
- Quantitative data is collected, so it can be easily analysed.
- WEAKNESSES:
- Artificial environments are used, so they lack ecological validity.
- The participants may act unnaturally and try to guess the aim of the experiment, which leads to demand characteristics.
- The experimenter could, unknowingly, influence the participants, which leads to experimenter bias.
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Methodology - Lab Experiments On Animals
- Behaviourists believe that there are only quantitative differences between humans and animals, so animal experiments are okay (e.g. Pavlov's dog).
- STRENGTHS:
- Animal learning has been successfully applied to humans, for example; classical conditioning has been applied to systematic desensitisation.
- There is less emotional involvement with animals, so there is less chance of experimenter bias.
- Animals can't guess the aim of the study, so they aren't subject to demand characteristics.
- WEAKNESSES:
- Humans and animals are different, human behaviour is more complex. This means that there is an issue of generalisability.
- There are many ethical issues; animals can't give informed consent, and they have no right to withdraw. They also aren't given protection from harm.
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