1. The Learning Approach
(Behaviourism)

2. Watson ( )
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)

3. 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

4. Some definitions.... Stimulus : Response : Reflex:
Any change in the environment that an organism registers.
Response :
Any behaviour that the organism emits as a consequence of a stimulus.
A consistent connection between a stimulus and a response.
Reflex:

5. Classical conditioning
Learning by association
Ivan Pavlov:
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1904

6. Dog hears the lab technician
That’s a reflex
What’s going on?
Dog hears the lab technician

7. How does it work? Before conditioning Bell: Neutral stimulus (NS)
Food: unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
Salivation: unconditioned Response (UCR)
During conditioning
Bell: Neutral stimulus (NS)
Pairing
Food: unconditioned stimulus (UCS)
Salivation: unconditioned Response (UCR)
After conditioning
Bell: Conditioned stimulus (CS)
Salivation: Conditioned response (CR)

8. 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.
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)?
Neutral stimulus (NS)?
Unconditioned response (UCR)?
Conditioned stimulus (CS)?
Conditioned response(CR)?

9. 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

10. Inducing a phobia: Little Albert

11. Learning by consequences
Operant conditioning
Learning by consequences
Burrhus Frederic Skinner ( )

12. 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!

13. Some definitions.... Reinforcement : Positive reinforcement :
Anything which has the effect of increasing the likelihood of the behaviour being repeated
Positive reinforcement :
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
Negative reinforcement :
Anything which has the effect of increasing the likelihood of the behaviour being repeated by using consequences that are pleasant when they stop
Anything which has the effect of decreasing the likelihood of the behaviour being repeated by using consequences that are unpleasant when happen
Punishment :

14. 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.

15. Fixed ratio schedules: the response is reinforced only after a specified number of responses.
Variable-ratio schedules occur when a response is reinforced after an unpredictable number of responses.
Fixed-interval schedules the first response is rewarded only after a specified amount of time has elapsed
Variable-interval schedules occur when a response is rewarded after an unpredictable amount of time has passed.

16. Which schedule of reinforcement produces the fastest learning?

17. Social learning
Learning by and
observation
imitation

18. 1. Attention to the role model
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

19. Who makes an effective role model?
Same gender
Same age
Higher status
Admired or/and respected

20. Observe behaviour being reinforced in other people
Why do we imitate?
Vicarious reinforcements
What???
Observe behaviour being reinforced in other people

21. Bandura (1961)

22. And now lets think! Does this account for the way you learn?
Does this explain gender development?
Can this be applied to everyday life? i.e. Some of your behaviour and your teacher’s behaviour?
More points of evaluation?

23. Advantages
Focus on observable and measureable behaviour
Research methods are scientific, easy to replicate and test
Helped identify Ψ as a scientific discipline

24. Disadvantages
Fails to explain why people are sometimes frightened of things they have no experience of
Doesn’t take innate factors into account
No role for free will
Doesn’t take into account cognitive abilities

25. Top five things you have learned today.