Psychological Perspectives Task 1 AC 1.1 The Behaviourist perspective The behaviourist perspective was a dominant approach in psychology for the first half of the 20th century and has left psychology with some useful techniques. The main assumption of the behaviourist perspective is that all behaviour is learned and shaped by the environment. The behaviourist perspective 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 mental processes which can only be inferred. These can only be inferred as the mental process is something which cannot be measured or observed, so anything that is connected to the brain and isn’t to do with the actual …show more content…
Classical conditioning explains how people learn behaviours through association and operant conditioning explains how the consequences of behaviours shape behaviour. Classical conditioning is related to learning by association, and refers to the conditioning of reflexes. During Pavlov’s experiment, it was determined that new external stimuli such as sights as sounds, with the original stimuli could be associated with reflexes. Operant conditioning involves learning through the consequences of behavioural responses. Skinner adapted the principles which were investigated by Thorndike, to explain how many aspects of human behaviour are acquired. There is also a type of learning called social learning which other behaviourists believe is connected to the behaviourist theory. An example of this is in the Bandura et al. Study. In this study it is demonstrated how aggression is learned and shaped by role models. The psychodynamic theory The psychodynamic perspective was originally developed by Sigmund Freud but includes ideas from many other people who have developed Freud’s …show more content…
The id is the combination of pleasure seeking desires and we are born with it. The ego develops later and it controls the desires of the id. The superego is the moralistic part of personality which develops as a child interacts with significant others such as its parents. The superego can be seen as the conscience. It is the role of the ego to maintain a balance between the id and the superego. Freud believed that children pass through five stages of development, known as the psychosexual stages because of Freud 's emphasis on sexuality as the basic drive in development. These stages are: the oral stage, the anal stage, the phallic stage, the latency period and finally the genital stage. The phallic stage, from three to five years old was the stage where the child 's sexual identification was established. During this stage Freud hypothesised that a young boy would experience what he called the Oedipus complex. This would provide the child with highly disturbing conflicts, which had to be resolved by the child identifying with the same-sexed
Skinner argues that ‘learning is accelerated by reinforcement: a stimulus that increases the probability of a response’ called ‘operant conditioning’ and it is not reliant on what triggered the response but...
Ivan Pavlov developed a theory called classical conditioning which proposes that learning process occurs through associations between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus. Classical conditioning involves placing a neutral signal before a naturally occurring reflex like associating the food with the bell in Pavlov experiment. In classical conditioning, behavior is learnt by association where a stimulus that was originally neutral can become a trigger for substance use or cravings due to repeated associations between those stimuli and substance use (Pavlov, 1927).
The behavioristic approach to psychology relies on the premise of behavior as a reflection of the mind, though influenced by outside forces. Such forces exert influence upon free will, affecting a change in behavior, through association (relationships of ideas) or reinforcement (support of ideas).
The behaviorist theory is a theory of psychology that emerged in the early twentieth century that was a response to a number of predictions regarding observable behaviors. A majority of the theory concerned itself on the behavior of animals and humans, on the physical, observable behavior, not the unobservable events. Psychologists believe that us as learners start off with a clean slate and our behavior is shaped by the environment we are brought and raised in, therefore, our behavior is formed by positive and negative factors we create while growing in our environment. Our observable behavior is linked to our thinking and our emotions we give off. Psychologists have studied that there is little difference recorded from the thoughts and emotions that take place in a humans mind and from an animals. An individual has no free will and their environment determines the type of the behavior they have. Everyone’s environment they live in is teaching the behavior individuals have. Internally, our behaviors are a result of stimuli. The stimulus causes the reaction and what reaction that wil...
In 1913 a new movement in psychology appeared, Behaviorism. “Introduced by John Broadus Watson when he published the classic article Psychology as the behaviorist views it.” Consequently, Behaviorism (also called the behaviorist approach) was the primary paradigm in psychology between 1920 to 1950 and is based on a number of underlying ‘rules’: Psychology should be seen as a science; Behaviorism is primarily concerned with observable behavior, as opposed to internal events, like thinking and emotion; People have no free will – a person’s environment determines their behavior; Behavior is the result of stimulus resulting in a response; and All behavior is learned from the environment. How we process these stimuli and learn from our surrounds
The psychodynamic approach lends itself to being a controversial yet highly influential theory in the history of psychology. The theory has become one of the most significant psychological approaches and its originator, Sigmund Freud, has become a major influence in modern psychology. The psychodynamic approach largely focuses on motivation and past experiences which develop and individual’s personality. Freud used the iceberg metaphor to outline the three states of consciousness and argued that only twenty percent of the mind represents the conscious. In addition he theorised that there was a pre-conscious mind which represents general memory. Finally, the unconscious mind which is essentially the reservoir of repressed or hidden experiences and desire.
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), is the founder of the psychodynamic approach. He proposed that human behaviour is influenced by unconscious thoughts, formed in early development and childhood (Gross 2005) and that all behaviour has a cause or reason, meaning the unconscious part of the mind to be constant conflict with the conscious (McLeod 2015). Freud put forward the theory that human consciousness is made up of three parts, the tripartite personality, consisting of the id, ego and super ego (Gross 2005). Freud
Skinner believed that all behavior is determined and operant behavior is the idea that operant behavior is the idea that we expect something because we preformed a certain behavior. Skinner also believed that operant conditioning’s purpose was to bring a change positive or or negative to any behavior.
Classical conditioning refers to a type of learning in which a previously neutral stimuli took on the ability to stimulate a conditioned response in an individual (Gormezano & Moore, 1966). To prove that environment was more impactful than genetics, Watson conducted an experiment on an infant, little Albert. Initially, Albert showed little fear towards rats. When Watson repeatedly exposed Albert to the rat accompanied by a loud noise, the latter began to develop fear towards not just the rat but also other furry animals. Watson successfully showed that the acquisition of a phobia can be explained by classical conditioning (Watson & Watson, 1921). Regardless of their genes, the associations of the right stimuli can result in the development of a new behaviour in any individual.
...ngs. Psychological behaviorism also does not account for learning without reinforcement or punishment. Not everything that we learn is a result of some kind of positive/negative reinforcement or punishment. Lastly, even if a behavior pattern is established it can be changed easily and humans and animals can re-adapt with changes in environment.
The Phallic Stage =) the child learn to differentiate between the male and the female gender and becomes aware of sexuality. He clarified during that stage a child experience the Oedipus complex, meaning that young boys have very strong feelings toward their mother and as a result, they developed jealousy toward their father. They feeling can be so strong that they want to kill their father. The Elektra complex which reveals girl attraction for the father will result in a feeling of distaste for toward their mother.
Classical conditioning and operant conditioning both played a key role in the history of the study of learning, but, as argued by B.F Skinner, there are key differences to be noted between the two (Gleitman, Gross, Reisberg, 2011).
Operant conditioning is a system of learning that transpires through punishment and rewards for behaviors (Kalat, 2011). Through this, a connection linking a behavior and a consequence is made. For instance a kid could be told that she will not get recess privileges if she talks in class. This possibility of being punished leads to decrease in disruptive behaviors from her. The major components of operant condition are punishment and reinforcement (Kalat, 2011).
Behavioral perspective is the theory that the majority of all behavior is learned from the environment after birth. Freewill is considered to be an illusion, because our environment determines behavior. Behaviorists believe that only behavior should be observed, not our minds, since we cannot see into other people’s minds. There is no way to know if a person is honestly answering a question so it is irrelevant. Behaviorists use strict laboratory experiments, usually on animals, such as rats or pigeons. They test animals because the laws of learning are universal, there are only a quantitative difference between animals and humans, and animals are practically and ethically more convenient to test.
Behaviorism is a learning theory or a developmental theory that measures observable behaviors that are produced by the learner’s response to stimuli. On one end of the spectrum behaviorism is known as an attitude. At the other end, it is known as a doctrine. According to the behavioral views of human development, behaviorists argued that to focus attention on unobservable constructs, such as emotions, thoughts, or the unconscious, was an unscientific approach.(Craig & Dunn, Ex.: 2010)