Behaviourism Behaviourism was first formulated around the beginning of the 20 th century (the same time as Freud’s theories). Radical behaviourists believe all behaviour is learned and that we are born as ‘Tabula Rasa’ (a blank slate).

Behaviourism Behaviourism is also known as Black Box Psychology. Researchers are only interested in responses to stimuli and not in the thoughts, feelings and motivations behind behaviours. Behaviourism includes: Classical Conditioning Operant Conditioning Social Learning Theory

Classical Conditioning New behaviours are learnt through associations. For example if every time you heard the phone ring someone gave you a ‘tenner’, you would learn to associate the phone with getting money.

Classical Conditioning The most well known psychologist who examined classical conditioning was Ivan Pavlov (1902).

Classical Conditioning Pavlov taught dogs to associate the sound of a bell with food. The dogs would salivate when they heard a bell ringing.

Classical Conditioning

Operant Conditioning New behaviours are learned through reinforcement. For example if you want your dog to sit on command, you might reward your dog when it obeys; this is known as positive reinforcement.

Operant Conditioning The most well known psychologist who examined operant conditioning was Skinner (1938). Skinner taught rats & cats to escape electric shocks by pressing levers.

Operant Conditioning A Skinner Box

Operant Conditioning

Social Learning Theory New behaviours are learnt through observation. For example people may observe characters on the television as role models and copy their behaviour.

Social Learning Theory The most well known psychologist who examined social learning theory was Bandura (1961).

Social Learning Theory Bandura (1961) demonstrated that children who watch a role model behave aggressively were likely to imitate that behaviour. The next slide is a video clip of Bandura’s research.

Social Learning Theory