The behaviourist perspective
It looks to understand people in terms of the rewards and punishments they receive. They
are looking at what precedes a behaviour and what follows it. They believe they can use
these observations to understand behaviour and can then change stimuli and rewards in
order to change behaviour
Key concepts:
Classical conditioning- Pavlov trained dogs to salivate when they heard the sound of
a bell because the sound was associated with food. Learning by association.
Learning by trial and success- investigating how animals learned new behaviours.
They found the consequence of a successful behaviour is that it is more likely to
recur in similar circumstances
Operant conditioning- learning by consequences. A stimulus is said to be reinforcing
a behaviour it is associated with appears more frequently and a stimulus is said to be
punishing if a behaviour it is associated with appears less frequently
Black box psychology- the perspective looks at stimuli (what goes into the box) and
responses (what comes out of the box) but it doesn’t look at what goes on inside the
box. The cognitive revolution moved on from this behaviourist perspective by
looking inside the box. Cognitive area is still a behaviourist perspective but it goes
beyond looking at stimuli and responses
Similarities:
Social- both acknowledge to role of situational factors in development (Milgram,
Chaney)
Cognitive- Both make use of laboratory conditions (Moray, Bandura)
Developmental- both acknowledge the role of nurture and environmental factors in
development (Bandura, Lee)
Biological- Both make use of laboratory conditions and high control (Bandura,
Sperry)
Psychodynamic- both are very deterministic and eliminate the role of free will (freud,
Bandura)
Individual differences- both have practical applications to help people making them
useful (Chaney, Baron-Cohen)
Differences:
Behaviourism is very scientific and uses high control (Bandura) but social uses field
experiments which are less scientific (Piliavin)
Behaviourism is very scientific and is only interested in stimulus-response (Chaney)
while cognitive is less scientific ad interested in internal processes (Loftus and
Palmer)
Behaviourism is very scientific and uses high level of control and quantitative data
(bandura) but some developmental studies are less scientific and collect qualitative
data (Kohlberg)
Biological focuses on nature (Casey) but behaviourism focuses on nurture (bandura)
It looks to understand people in terms of the rewards and punishments they receive. They
are looking at what precedes a behaviour and what follows it. They believe they can use
these observations to understand behaviour and can then change stimuli and rewards in
order to change behaviour
Key concepts:
Classical conditioning- Pavlov trained dogs to salivate when they heard the sound of
a bell because the sound was associated with food. Learning by association.
Learning by trial and success- investigating how animals learned new behaviours.
They found the consequence of a successful behaviour is that it is more likely to
recur in similar circumstances
Operant conditioning- learning by consequences. A stimulus is said to be reinforcing
a behaviour it is associated with appears more frequently and a stimulus is said to be
punishing if a behaviour it is associated with appears less frequently
Black box psychology- the perspective looks at stimuli (what goes into the box) and
responses (what comes out of the box) but it doesn’t look at what goes on inside the
box. The cognitive revolution moved on from this behaviourist perspective by
looking inside the box. Cognitive area is still a behaviourist perspective but it goes
beyond looking at stimuli and responses
Similarities:
Social- both acknowledge to role of situational factors in development (Milgram,
Chaney)
Cognitive- Both make use of laboratory conditions (Moray, Bandura)
Developmental- both acknowledge the role of nurture and environmental factors in
development (Bandura, Lee)
Biological- Both make use of laboratory conditions and high control (Bandura,
Sperry)
Psychodynamic- both are very deterministic and eliminate the role of free will (freud,
Bandura)
Individual differences- both have practical applications to help people making them
useful (Chaney, Baron-Cohen)
Differences:
Behaviourism is very scientific and uses high control (Bandura) but social uses field
experiments which are less scientific (Piliavin)
Behaviourism is very scientific and is only interested in stimulus-response (Chaney)
while cognitive is less scientific ad interested in internal processes (Loftus and
Palmer)
Behaviourism is very scientific and uses high level of control and quantitative data
(bandura) but some developmental studies are less scientific and collect qualitative
data (Kohlberg)
Biological focuses on nature (Casey) but behaviourism focuses on nurture (bandura)
