BEHAVIOURIST PERSPECTIVE
Main assumption:
- Believes that all behaviour is learnt and acquired through experience and interaction with
the environment.
- It also argues that in order for psychology to be scientific it should focus on observable
behaviour which can be objectively measured rather than on things like cognitive processes
which can only be inferred as they cannot be seen directly.
- How a person is raised and what they learn from their surroundings is thought to be more
important than the abilities that a person has inherited.
Principles and Concepts:
- All behaviour is learnt and acquired through experience and interaction with the environment
- Behaviourism is primarily concerned with observable behaviour, as opposed to internal
events like thinking and emotion. Observable (i.e. external) behaviour can be objectively and
scientifically measured
- When born our mind is a blank slate
- Behaviour is the result of stimulus – response (i.e. all behaviour, no matter how complex,
can be reduced to a simple stimulus – response association)
- Laws of learning are universal across all species
- Classical and operant conditioning
Classical Conditioning:
● Learning by association refers to the conditioning of reflexes and involves associating a new
stimulus with an innate bodily reflex.
● It involves pairing a response naturally caused by one stimulus with another, previously
neutral stimulus.
● Conditioning of reflex-associating stimulus with innate bodily reflex.
Operant Conditioning:
● Consequences of behaviour shapes learning.
● Actions that lead to desirable consequences will be repeated; undesirable consequences
reduce behaviour (law of effect).
● Skinner reduced reinforcement.
Example:
Pavlov’s dogs
1. Before conditioning - food → salivation
2. Before conditioning - tuning fork → no salivation
3. During conditioning - tuning fork + food → salivation
4. After conditioning - tuning fork → salivation
Main assumption:
- Believes that all behaviour is learnt and acquired through experience and interaction with
the environment.
- It also argues that in order for psychology to be scientific it should focus on observable
behaviour which can be objectively measured rather than on things like cognitive processes
which can only be inferred as they cannot be seen directly.
- How a person is raised and what they learn from their surroundings is thought to be more
important than the abilities that a person has inherited.
Principles and Concepts:
- All behaviour is learnt and acquired through experience and interaction with the environment
- Behaviourism is primarily concerned with observable behaviour, as opposed to internal
events like thinking and emotion. Observable (i.e. external) behaviour can be objectively and
scientifically measured
- When born our mind is a blank slate
- Behaviour is the result of stimulus – response (i.e. all behaviour, no matter how complex,
can be reduced to a simple stimulus – response association)
- Laws of learning are universal across all species
- Classical and operant conditioning
Classical Conditioning:
● Learning by association refers to the conditioning of reflexes and involves associating a new
stimulus with an innate bodily reflex.
● It involves pairing a response naturally caused by one stimulus with another, previously
neutral stimulus.
● Conditioning of reflex-associating stimulus with innate bodily reflex.
Operant Conditioning:
● Consequences of behaviour shapes learning.
● Actions that lead to desirable consequences will be repeated; undesirable consequences
reduce behaviour (law of effect).
● Skinner reduced reinforcement.
Example:
Pavlov’s dogs
1. Before conditioning - food → salivation
2. Before conditioning - tuning fork → no salivation
3. During conditioning - tuning fork + food → salivation
4. After conditioning - tuning fork → salivation
