Question

Learning from the Behaviorist Perspective

A)Define/ explain what learning is.

b) Explain what behaviorism, or the behaviorist perspective, is.

c) Classical Conditioning (C.C.) - Define it.

Answer 1

• a)Psychologists often define learning as a relatively permanent change in behavior as a result of experience.
• One of the first thinkers to study how learning influences behavior was the psychologist John B. Watson who suggested that all behaviors are a result of the learning process.
• The school of thought that emerged from Watson's work was known as behaviorism. The behavioral school of thought proposed studying internal thoughts, memories, and other mental processes was too subjective.
• The three major types of learning described by behavioral psychology are classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning.
• b)Behaviorism was the school of thought in psychology that sought to measure only observable behaviors. Founded by John B. Watson and outlined in his seminal 1913 paper Psychology as the Behaviorist View It, the behaviorist standpoint held that psychology was an experimental and objective science and that internal mental processes should not be considered because they could not be directly observed and measured.
• Behaviorism, also known as behavioral psychology, is a theory of learning based on the idea that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning. Conditioning occurs through interaction with the environment. Behaviorists believe that our responses to environmental stimuli shape our actions.
• According to this school of thought, behavior can be studied in a systematic and observable manner regardless of internal mental states.
• Basically, only observable behavior should be considered—cognitions, emotions, and moods are far too subjective.
• c)Classical conditioning is a technique frequently used in behavioral training in which a neutral stimulus is paired with a naturally occurring stimulus. Eventually, the neutral stimulus comes to evoke the same response as the naturally occurring stimulus, even without the naturally occurring stimulus presenting itself.
• The associated stimulus is now known as the conditioned stimulus and the learned behavior is known as the conditioned response.
  
• The classical conditioning process works by developing an association between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus.
• In physiologist Ivan Pavlov's classic experiments, dogs associated the presentation of food (something that naturally and automatically triggers a salivation response) with the sound of a bell, at first, and then the sight of a lab assistant's white coat. Eventually, the lab coat alone elicited a salivation response from the dogs.
• During the first part of the classical conditioning process, known as acquisition, a response is established and strengthened. Factors such as the prominence of the stimuli and the timing of presentation can play an important role in how quickly an association is formed.
• When an association disappears, this is known as extinction, causing the behavior to weaken gradually or vanish. Factors such as the strength of the original response can play a role in how quickly extinction occurs. The longer a response has been conditioned, for example, the longer it may take for it to become extinct.