The Behaviorist Approach

The Behaviorist Approach: look at the behavior of a person(s) without examining biology, emotion or feelings

1. the 3 assumptions
   1. humans are born as Black Slates; tubual rasa
      1. environmental determinism: the theory that the environment shapes us into who we are and that we have no say in it
      2. no innate traites
   2. behaviour is learned through conditioning
      1. classical conditioning: the thery that we learn through association
         1. created by Ivan Pavlov
            1. got dogs to react to a ringing bell the same way as they did to food
               1. - provided the dog(s) with food when he rung the bell-
                  1. - eventually began to associate hearing the bell with food
                     1. - took him 5-10 days depending on the dog
         2. only works if you pair two stimuli
      2. operant conditioning: the idea that we learn behavior through rewards and punishment
         1. created by BF Skinner
         2. 2 ways to control behavior
            1. reinforcement, when you want a behavior to continue
               1. positive
                  1. rewarding good behavior by giving something
               2. negative
                  1. taking something (unpleasant) away when good behavior takes place
            2. punishment, when you want a behavior to stop
               1. positive
                  1. adding something unpleasant to stop/prevent a behavior
               2. negative
                  1. taking away something pleasant to stop/ prevent a behavior
   3. humans and animals learn in similar ways
      1. both can have trained behaviours
      2. humans can learn more complex behaviours
         1. done in the same way still
      3. all animal behavior can be applied to humans as a result
      4. relationship forms through association between animal and humans
2. Watson and Rayner 1920
   1. methodology: case study
      1. not an experiment as there is only on condition
      2. it is a controlled observation as everything was controlled by researchers and the participant was observed for actions/reactions
   2. Research Procedures:
      1. Aim and context
         1. wanted to see if they could create an irrational fear through conditioning
            1. needed to be new and none threatening
         2. The sample
            1. one person; Baby/ Little Albert
               1. Healthy;well developed; solid; unemotional; stable; showed little fear to determining test; rarely cried
            2. Pre-test procedures
               1. showed little emotion
                  1. liked a rat
                     1. did not like steel and hammer
               2. Session 1
                  1. emotional response tested again
                     1. when reaching for the rat steel bar hit with hammer; out of sight
                        1. done twice
                           1. he cried and showed fear each time
                  2. Session 2
                     1. tested one week later
                        1. initially afraid of the rat
                           1. 5 pairing of the rat and the sound
                              1. showed a great deal of fear
                     2. Session 3
                        1. generalisation
                           1. 5 days later was presented with white fluffy/furry objects
                              1. showed fear
                        2. Session 4
                           1. changed the environment: university lecture hall
                              1. 5 days later he was tested again to 'freshen up the fear'
                                 1. tested in the lecture hall
                                    1. showed fear but not as strong
                           2. Session 5
                              1. taken back to the laboratory a month later
                                 1. showed fear but not as strong
                                 2. during the month he was taken home to him mum: little/no control
   3. Conclusion: people with those sort of phobias are constitutionally 'inferior' (dumb)
      1. aimed to counter-condition Albert but couldn't as mother took him away
         1. possible methods
            1. constant exposure
            2. reconditioning, associate pleseantly
   4. The Freudian Position
      1. he sucked his thumb when scared as a form of sexual stimulation
      2. Watson an Rayner disagree
      3. if Albert went for therapy in his 20s it would be proposed that his fear of furry things is because he was scolded for playing with his mothers pubic hair and was violently scolded for it
   5. Extra
      1. in between tests Albert could play with wooden blocks
      2. when scared he would suck his thumb: was focibly removed before next test which can upset him further
      3. His life in the hospital could have pre-conditioned him to a fear of loud noises
   6. harm
      1. created fear in a young child
         1. made the experience worse by removing his thumb so that he could have the full effects of the feared stimuli
      2. negative reinforcement:
         1. believed he should not suck his thumb
            1. sucking thumb provided comfort
               1. young age could mean he stops looking for comfort
3. the contemporary debate
   1. as children get older they spend less time with parents and more time with friends
      1. can teach us positive attributes with praise and acceptance
         1. can discourage negative attributes through exclusion and mockery
         2. encourages people to socialise
      2. not all peer groups are desirable and individuals can be influenced to do negative things
      3. not as effective on introverts
   2. recent psychologists say that ignoring a behavior is the best way to prevent it
      1. shouting can be seen as positive reinforcement as it gives them attention
         1. taking away pocket money has been seen as the best method of punsihment
            1. methods as such as the naughty step have been proven to work
               1. weaknesses: not always effective; cant keep them there; may get too emotional ; inconsistencies may occur; makes children reflect on what they have one but now all children have the capacity to reflect ; can create a fear of the step
                  1. morris 2014- inability to reflect can cause emotional damage
            2. Gill 1998: found that parents using pocket money as a motivator had children doing up to 20% of house chores
   3. conditioning at school
      1. use positive reinforcement: eg gold stars
         1. McAllister Et Al found that teacher praise and approval reduced inappropriate talking in a high school
      2. classical conditioning: make classrooms welcoming so they seem more enjoyable to encourage learning
      3. extrinsic motivation- from rewards
         1. intrinsic motivation- from within
            1. guilt from misbehaving; end goals; not wanting to disappoint; morals; shame; fear of losing
      4. lepper et al 1973: children were told they would be rewarded if they drew a nice picture; gave up in half the time as opposed to those who weren't told they'd be rewarded
         1. Dweck 1975: children who were praised more in school would give up on tests more easily than those who weren't
            1. lewis 1995: schools in different cultures shown more success in giving praise and rewarded rarely (eg Japan)
               1. LeFrancois 2000: suggest classical conditioning maximise pleasant stimuli to improve performance and minimsie unpleasant stimuli such as shouting
   4. conditioning vunerble groups of children
      1. used to help 'normalise' children to help treat them like 'neurotypicals'
      2. Lovaas 1987 developed applied behavior analysis (ABA) to increase the amount of social interactions for children with autism
         1. targeted behaviours can include self-care and speech
            1. some use one-to-one therapy where they reward the child for most positive behavior and gradually reduce the rewards until they are only rewarded for behaviours closets to the ideal target
         2. Robinson et al 1981 showed that the use of the token economy can improve performance in reading and vocabulary tasks of hyperactive children
            1. the token economy gives rewards for desirable behaviors
4. Therapy: systematic desensitisation
   1. believe that a phobia is conditioned, not born with
      1. fear is a result of maladaptive learning (faulty or bad) and it must be corrected
   2. Joseph Wolpe came up with the idea
      1. Based on classical conditioning and reciprocal inhibition
         1. reciprocal inhibition: the idea that the body is not able to be in two contradicting states; i.e relaxed and stressed
         2. known as counter-conditioning
            1. using conditioning to change a behavior that is already conditioned into an individual
         3. gradual therapy with gradual exposure to the feared stimuli
   3. Two ways to expose an individual to their phobia
      1. in vitro
         1. imagine the stimuli, or covertly exposed
            1. can include virtual/electronically
      2. in vivo
         1. direct exposure , not covert
   4. In order to help phobias you must first be able to find a method of relaxation for the individual to use between stages
      1. you then must create a hierarchy a fears, starting with something that would rate a low fear level and ending with the worse exposure which rates high
         1. the hierarchy must be agreed by both client and therapist- full consent
            1. work through the hierarchy with the client, the only way the client can move up is when they are able to achieve a full state of relaxation whilst facing that stage of the hierarchy
               1. if they cannot reach full relaxation then they can even move back down the hierarchy until they have mastered the other stages again
   5. operant conditioning: mowrer 1947
      1. people can maintain a phobia by avoiding it, by doing they they receive rewards
         1. rewards: it allows a calm feeling as they avoid the stressful situation of facing their phobia
            1. positive reinforcement
         2. encourages the phobia as people avoid it and don't fix it
   6. Flooding is an alternative
      1. don't use the hierarchy but expose the client to their fear and they have overcome it
         1. seen as unethical and criticised
   7. cannot be used on the depressed or schizopherinic
      1. has been known to resurface other phobias and symptoms
   8. examples:
      1. wolpe 1958
         1. created a fear in cats; placed in cages and given an electric shock. got rid of it then by using food to desensitise the cats
      2. wolpe 1973
         1. wolpe 1964
            1. treated a boy with a fear and compulsion of urine and washing. worked
         2. treated a woman for a fear of insects; failed and needed counselling; fear is argued to be a representation of her marital issues, can be argues it was conditioned through association. husband was nicknamed after an insect
5. Evaluation
   1. what good has it done
      1. understand irrational fears; school application
   2. what bad has it done
      1. can create trauma for individuals
         1. theories and tests can be unethical
   3. common debates: nature vs nurture; idiographic vs nomothetic; determinism vs free will; reductionism vs holism
      1. idiographic vs nomothetic
         1. idiographic: look at an individual
         2. nomothetic: looks at groups/ masses
      2. determinism vs free will
         1. determinism: can predict peoples behavior
         2. free will: cannot generalise people
      3. nature vs nurture
         1. nurture: how you are raised and your environment
            1. nature: how genetic influence people
      4. reductionism vs holism
         1. break down of complex concepts into single factors
         2. complex systems cannot be narrowed down
   4. strengths:
      1. do not focus on past and childhood
      2. used in school; therapy for phobias; training animals; parenting; torture; work place
   5. weaknesses
      1. misses out emotions and thoughts
         1. has a scientific approach: uses experiments
      2. doesn't take in other factors
      3. doesn't always work; wolpe 1973