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The Learning Approach
(Behaviourism)
Watson (1878-1958)
•What claim is Watson making about human
nature?
"Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed,
and my own specified world to bring them up and
I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train
him to become any type of specialist I might
select-- doctor, lawyer, merchant-chief, and yes,
even beggarman and thief, regardless of his
talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations,
and race of his ancestors."(Watson, 1930)
What is it all about?
We are born as “blank
slates” (tabula rasa)
All we have at birth is the
capacity to learn
All behaviour is learned
from the environment
Focus of the approach:
observable behaviour
Some definitions....
Stimulus :
Any change in the environment that an organism registers.
Response :
Any behaviour that the organism emits as a consequence of a
stimulus.
Reflex:
A consistent connection between a stimulus and a response.
Classical conditioning
Learning by association
That’s a
reflex
Dog hears the lab
technician
What’s
going
on?
How does it work?
Before conditioning
Bell: Neutral stimulus (NS)
Food: unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
Salivation: unconditioned Response (UCR)
During conditioning
Pairing
Bell: Neutral stimulus (NS)
Food: unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
Salivation: unconditioned Response (UCR)
After conditioning
Bell: Conditioned stimulus (CS)
Salivation: Conditioned response (CR)
Work it out....
A child is afraid of spiders. One day he is in a lift
and notices a spider. Now he is afraid of lifts.
Neutral stimulus (NS)?
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)?
Unconditioned response (UCR)?
Conditioned stimulus (CS)?
Conditioned response(CR)?
Classical conditioning
Learning by association
Operant conditioning
Learning by consequences
Key Theorists
Thorndike (1849-1936)
• Looked at behaviour in
animals – noticed that
they learnt from
repeated actions
• Animals and humans
learn to repeat actions
that produce good
effects and avoid
actions that have bad
outcomes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=BDujDOLre-8
Operant conditioning
“Behaviour is shaped and maintained by its
consequences.” (B.F.Skinner)
Consequence
Reinforcement
Punishment
Psychlotron.org.uk
Behaviour
Likelihood
of
repetition
Operant conditioning
“Behaviour is shaped and maintained by its
consequences.” (B.F.Skinner)
Consequence
Reinforcement
Punishment

Psychlotron.org.uk
Behaviour
Likelihood
of
repetition
Operant conditioning
“Behaviour is shaped and maintained by its
consequences.” (B.F.Skinner)
Consequence
Reinforcement
Punishment

Psychlotron.org.uk
Behaviour
Likelihood
of
repetition
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X
6zS7v9nSpo&feature=related
Ratatouille
By chance he
presses the lever
Ratatouille is hungry
and perform various
exploratory behaviours
I’ll do that
again
A pellet of food
appears!
Some definitions....
Reinforcement :
Positive
reinforcement :
Negative
reinforcement :
Punishment :
Anything which has the effect of increasing the likelihood
of the behaviour being repeated
Anything which has the effect of increasing the likelihood
of the behaviour being repeated by using consequences
that are pleasant when they happen i.e. food for
Ratatouille
Anything which has the effect of increasing the likelihood
of the behaviour being repeated by using consequences
that are pleasant when they stop - like being electrocuted
continuoulsy!
Anything which has the effect of decreasing the likelihood
of the behaviour being repeated by using consequences
that are unpleasant when happen i.e. an immediate shock!
Schedules of reinforcement
• When and how often we reinforce a behaviour
can have a significant impact on the strength
and rate of the response.
2 types of schedules
• Continuous reinforcement: the desired behaviour is
reinforced every single time it occurs.
• Partial reinforcement: the response is reinforced
only part of the time.
1. Fixed ratio schedules: the response is reinforced only
after a specified number of responses.
2. Variable-ratio schedules occur when a response is
reinforced after an unpredictable number of
responses.
3. Fixed-interval schedules the first response is
rewarded only after a specified amount of time has
elapsed
4. Variable-interval schedules occur when a response is
rewarded after an unpredictable amount of time has
passed.
Which schedule of reinforcement
produces the fastest learning?
Shaping
• Selective reinforcement of successive closer
approximations to a target behaviour.
Social learning
Learning by observation and imitation
Bandura (1977) believed that four
criteria need too be met for
imitation to occur
1. Attention to the role model
2. Retention of the observed
behaviour
3. Reproduction of the target
behaviour
4. Motivation to imitate the
observed behaviour
Who makes an effective role
model?
Same gender
Same age
Higher status
Admired or/and respected
Why do we imitate?
Vicarious reinforcements
What???
Observe behaviour
being reinforced in
other people
Bandura (1961)
And now lets think!
• Which type of learning best explains the way
you learn?
Which of your behaviours have been learned
through association?
Which role models do you imitate?
Strengths of the Learning approach
Advantages
• Focus on observable and measureable
behaviour
• Research methods are scientific, easy to
replicate and test
• Helped identify Ψ as a scientific discipline
Disadvantages
• Fails to explain why people are sometimes
frightened of things of which they have no
experience
• Doesn’t take innate factors into account
• No role for free will …everything is stimulus
response
• Doesn’t take into account cognitive abilities –
the eureka moment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySMh1mB
i3cI
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