Behaviorism 12 mark essay
Outline and evaluate the behaviorist approach
Behaviorism is a psychological approach that focuses on the behavior of individuals rather than
the mind. Behaviorism believes all behavior is a response to a stimulus, additionally it teaches
behavior is learnt through ‘conditioning’ behavior.
This conditioning is split up into two forms, Firstly, ‘classical conditioning; that was studied by
Pavlov suggests behavior is learnt through association. He theorized through studying dogs
salivation. Pavlov wanted to understand why dogs salivated to the assistants who gave them
food, so began to ring a bell whenever they were fed, after a while, the dogs began to salivate to
the sound of the bell. Pavlov theorized that the dogs had associated the sound of the bell with
getting food, so therefore salivated to the bell.
Additionally, there is another form of conditioning known as operant conditioning. This theorizes
that all behavior is due to reward or reinforcement. This was studied by Skinner who designed
Skinner cages for rats. When a rat would activate a lever, it would be rewarded by food. This
would strengthen the stimulus to response connections, meaning the rats would press the lever
more. Furthermore, he also taught negative reinforcement through giving an electric shock every
time the rats didn’t press the lever. They learnt to press to the lever to avoid the shock.
The behaviorist approach is very dominant in the psychological field due to its real world
applications. This is seen through aversion therapy, where people are taught to associate a bad
habit (eg biting nails) with something negative (bad tasting nail varnish) so they will stop the
behavior. It is also seen through token economy in prisons where prisoners are rewarded for
good behavior with tokens that they can trade for a reward.
One strength of the behaviorist approach is that it is very scientific, this is because behavior is
observable and measurable. This is a strength as evidence can be clearly presented.
A limitation of the approach is that is uses animals in its research, such as Skinners rats and
Pavlov’s dogs. This is a limitations as it assumes the learning laws are universal between
animals and humans.
Another limitation is that it treats symptoms, not causes, such as aversion therapy to stop biting
nails. This is a limitations as it doesn’t treat the underlying reason for the behavior, meaning it
may come back.
Furthermore, another limitation of the approach would be that it ignores biology, such as family
history and genetics. This is a limitation as it presumes that all behavior is learnt and genetics
play not part.
Outline and evaluate the behaviorist approach
Behaviorism is a psychological approach that focuses on the behavior of individuals rather than
the mind. Behaviorism believes all behavior is a response to a stimulus, additionally it teaches
behavior is learnt through ‘conditioning’ behavior.
This conditioning is split up into two forms, Firstly, ‘classical conditioning; that was studied by
Pavlov suggests behavior is learnt through association. He theorized through studying dogs
salivation. Pavlov wanted to understand why dogs salivated to the assistants who gave them
food, so began to ring a bell whenever they were fed, after a while, the dogs began to salivate to
the sound of the bell. Pavlov theorized that the dogs had associated the sound of the bell with
getting food, so therefore salivated to the bell.
Additionally, there is another form of conditioning known as operant conditioning. This theorizes
that all behavior is due to reward or reinforcement. This was studied by Skinner who designed
Skinner cages for rats. When a rat would activate a lever, it would be rewarded by food. This
would strengthen the stimulus to response connections, meaning the rats would press the lever
more. Furthermore, he also taught negative reinforcement through giving an electric shock every
time the rats didn’t press the lever. They learnt to press to the lever to avoid the shock.
The behaviorist approach is very dominant in the psychological field due to its real world
applications. This is seen through aversion therapy, where people are taught to associate a bad
habit (eg biting nails) with something negative (bad tasting nail varnish) so they will stop the
behavior. It is also seen through token economy in prisons where prisoners are rewarded for
good behavior with tokens that they can trade for a reward.
One strength of the behaviorist approach is that it is very scientific, this is because behavior is
observable and measurable. This is a strength as evidence can be clearly presented.
A limitation of the approach is that is uses animals in its research, such as Skinners rats and
Pavlov’s dogs. This is a limitations as it assumes the learning laws are universal between
animals and humans.
Another limitation is that it treats symptoms, not causes, such as aversion therapy to stop biting
nails. This is a limitations as it doesn’t treat the underlying reason for the behavior, meaning it
may come back.
Furthermore, another limitation of the approach would be that it ignores biology, such as family
history and genetics. This is a limitation as it presumes that all behavior is learnt and genetics
play not part.
