APPROACHES 16 MARKERS
Describe and Evaluate the behaviourist approach. (16 marks)
The behaviourist approach focuses on the influence of experience on our behaviour and
how we learn from our behaviours. Behaviourist psychologists believe that we are born a
‘blank slate’ and the person we become and the way we subsequently behaved is shaped
by our experiences. They also believe that we either learn through association or
consequences. Learning through association is classical conditioning, an example of this
would be animals learning to associate sounds with food, Pavlov conducted an experiment
in which a dog associated the sound of a bell to being fed. It started with the unconditioned
stimulus of food, a neutral stimulus of the bell sound and the unconditioned response of
the dog salivating due to the food. Every time the dog was given food, Pavlov would ring a
bell. This resulted in the neutral stimulus, the bell, becoming a conditioned stimulus and it
would cause a conditioned response (salivation) due to the fact that the dog would now
associate the sound of the bell with being fed. Learning through consequences and
reinforcement is operant conditioning, an example of this would be when being given
treats, behaviour is more likely to be repeated. Skinner conducted an experiment with mice
where he would give them food if they pulled a lever. Every time they pulled the lever they
would be given a treat, which meant that through the positive reinforcement of being
rewarded for a specific behaviour, the mice learnt to repeat this behaviour if they wanted
food. The other types of operant conditioning are negative reinforcement, an example
would be handing in an essay on time to avoid being told off, and punishments, where you
experience unpleasant consequences due to your behaviour, this also means that it is very
unlikely for the behaviour to be repeated again. Behaviourists favour experimental
methods as they are precise and objective measurements of behaviour that are conducted
in controlled conditions. They also use a lot of animal research as they view that there are
no significant qualitative differences between human and animal behaviour.
A strength of the behaviourist approach is that it adopts scientific methodology when
studying and explaining behaviour. An example of this would be Skinner’s box, Skinner
conducted his research on operant conditioning in a controlled lab environment where he
was able to control and study the behaviour of the mice and limit the chances of
extraneous variables interfering with his research. This improves the validity of his
research and therefore is a strength because it raises the status of psychology as a
science and increases the scientific validity of the approach.
A further strength would be that the behaviourist approach could be applies to a range of
real life situations. For example, classical conditioning is extremely important in the
treatment of phobias when people use systematic desensitisation. They are required to
use counter-conditioning which means they replace the unconditioned response of fear
with a conditioned response of relaxation. This is a strength because it effectively
manages to treat abnormal behaviour
However, a weakness of the approach is that it ignores other seemingly significant factors.
The behaviourist approach only looks at observable behaviour; it ignores cognitive and
emotional factors. This is a weakness because it means that it is not a complete
explanation for behaviour as factors such as cognitive thought processes could play an
extremely important role in the way that we behave.
Additionally, another limitation of the behaviourist approach is that is uses animal studies
and bases a lot of research on animal behaviours. For example, we don’t know that our
, brains work in the same way as the dog in Pavlov’s experiment due to the fact that we
have much more complex minds. This is a weakness because it is extremely hard to
generalise animal findings to human when explaining behaviour which lowers the validity
of the approach.
Describe and Evaluate the behaviourist approach. (16 marks)
The behaviourist approach focuses on the influence of experience on our behaviour and
how we learn from our behaviours. Behaviourist psychologists believe that we are born a
‘blank slate’ and the person we become and the way we subsequently behaved is shaped
by our experiences. They also believe that we either learn through association or
consequences. Learning through association is classical conditioning, an example of this
would be animals learning to associate sounds with food, Pavlov conducted an experiment
in which a dog associated the sound of a bell to being fed. It started with the unconditioned
stimulus of food, a neutral stimulus of the bell sound and the unconditioned response of
the dog salivating due to the food. Every time the dog was given food, Pavlov would ring a
bell. This resulted in the neutral stimulus, the bell, becoming a conditioned stimulus and it
would cause a conditioned response (salivation) due to the fact that the dog would now
associate the sound of the bell with being fed. Learning through consequences and
reinforcement is operant conditioning, an example of this would be when being given
treats, behaviour is more likely to be repeated. Skinner conducted an experiment with mice
where he would give them food if they pulled a lever. Every time they pulled the lever they
would be given a treat, which meant that through the positive reinforcement of being
rewarded for a specific behaviour, the mice learnt to repeat this behaviour if they wanted
food. The other types of operant conditioning are negative reinforcement, an example
would be handing in an essay on time to avoid being told off, and punishments, where you
experience unpleasant consequences due to your behaviour, this also means that it is very
unlikely for the behaviour to be repeated again. Behaviourists favour experimental
methods as they are precise and objective measurements of behaviour that are conducted
in controlled conditions. They also use a lot of animal research as they view that there are
no significant qualitative differences between human and animal behaviour.
A strength of the behaviourist approach is that it adopts scientific methodology when
studying and explaining behaviour. An example of this would be Skinner’s box, Skinner
conducted his research on operant conditioning in a controlled lab environment where he
was able to control and study the behaviour of the mice and limit the chances of
extraneous variables interfering with his research. This improves the validity of his
research and therefore is a strength because it raises the status of psychology as a
science and increases the scientific validity of the approach.
A further strength would be that the behaviourist approach could be applies to a range of
real life situations. For example, classical conditioning is extremely important in the
treatment of phobias when people use systematic desensitisation. They are required to
use counter-conditioning which means they replace the unconditioned response of fear
with a conditioned response of relaxation. This is a strength because it effectively
manages to treat abnormal behaviour
However, a weakness of the approach is that it ignores other seemingly significant factors.
The behaviourist approach only looks at observable behaviour; it ignores cognitive and
emotional factors. This is a weakness because it means that it is not a complete
explanation for behaviour as factors such as cognitive thought processes could play an
extremely important role in the way that we behave.
Additionally, another limitation of the behaviourist approach is that is uses animal studies
and bases a lot of research on animal behaviours. For example, we don’t know that our
, brains work in the same way as the dog in Pavlov’s experiment due to the fact that we
have much more complex minds. This is a weakness because it is extremely hard to
generalise animal findings to human when explaining behaviour which lowers the validity
of the approach.
