Outline and Evaluate the Behavioural Approach to Psychopathology

A weakness of this approach is that it is a reductionist. For example, it reduces human behavior down to just individual processes but a human is a product of all these processes not just individual parts.

A behaviourist perspective suggests that all behaviour is observable, objective and learnt from experience. It is believed that behaviour can be learnt and reinforced through operant conditioning and unconscious physical response can be learnt through classical conditioning.

The Behaviourist approach believe that human beings are able to learn all types of behaviours through the environment they grow up in, its believes that we learn these behaviours through using theories, such as, Ivan Pavlov’s Classical Conditioning and Burrhus Frederic Skinner’s Operant Conditioning.

The Biological Approach is the theory that all the knowledge we have is innate, and our behaviour is caused by activity in the CNS. Obviously, this is the polar opposite of the behaviourist

Founded by John B Watson in 1915 the behaviourist approach studies observed behavioural responses of humans and animals. The behaviourist approach believes we learn to behave in response to our environment, either by stimulus-response association, or as a result of reinforcement.

The first learning theory was approached by the theorist Pavlov. The theory he approached was classical conditioning. This theory is pairing a reflex response with a stimuli. A reflex is an automatic reaction and a stimuli is anything in the environment. Pavlov then carried out an experiment with a dog to prove his theory; Pavlov knew that when animals see food they’re automatic reflex is to salivate, he also wanted to

In Psychology learning is seen as a change in behaviour caused by an experience. Behaviorism, is seen as a learning theory; an attempt to explain how people or animals learn by studying their behaviour. The Behaviourists Approach has two theories to help explain how we learn, Classical conditioning and operant conditioning. In this task I will attempt to describe and evaluate this approach.

As the Behaviourist approach differs so greatly in comparison to the Psychodynamic approach, people have mixed opinions on both approaches. As no one can ever fully understand the complexity of the human mind, neither the behaviourist nor psychodynamic approach will ever be completely correct. As both approaches vary, we can conclude they have both been successful and incorrect in many cases. Psychologists have studied the mind for decades and these approaches give us a foundation in understanding the human

There are three theories that make up the behaviorist approach, which are classical and operant conditioning, Social Learning and information transmission. Classical conditioning is concerned with a classical, neutral and conditioned

Classical conditioning is the theory that involves a subject learning a new behavior by the process of association. A naturally occuring stimulus (the unconditioned stimulus) is paired with a response (the unconditioned response). Then, a neutral stimulus (the conditioned stimulus) is paired with the unconditioned stimulus and eventually the conditioned stimulus produces the initial response of the unconditioned stimulus without the unconditioned stimulus being present. The response, therefore, becomes the conditioned response. This study had a major influence on the psychological study of behaviorism. “Behaviorism is based on the assumption that learning occurs through interactions with the environment” (Cherry 1). Classical conditioning

Whereas the psychodynamic model began looking at the clinical work of physicians the behavioural model began in laboratories experimenting on behavioural conditioning, using stimuli and rewards, observing how their manipulations affected the responses of the individual they were studying. This model unlike the psychodynamic model can be tested and it is because of this that this model holds more weighting than the psychodynamic model when trying to understand ‘abnormal’ behaviour. However this model is not without its weaknesses as there is no evidence that individuals that display ‘abnormal’ behaviour are victims of improper conditioning. Behaviourists would argue that ‘abnormal’ functioning is learnt behaviour, and not environmental or genetic, the

a result of what has been learnt, which is to say that it is the

Classical conditioning says that we learn behaviours by associating the response to the stimulus. An example of this can be found from the work of Ivan Pavlov. In the 1890s Pavlov, a Russian physiologist, carried out some experiments with a dogs. He noticed that when a dog eats food, they salivate: this is an unconditional response to an

One strength of the Behavioural approach is that it is scientific. This is a strength because we can measure and observe behaviour which means we get reliable results. One major weakness of the Behavioural approach is that it ignores internal functions such as thoughts, cognition etc. For example, a large part of depression is made up of the thoughts and emotions of an individual, but

Behaviorism has been credited with providing clear predictions that can be scientifically tested and yield explanations that can be supported by evidence. For instance, in the application of Applied Behavioral Analysis in improving clients’ behaviors, the functions of individuals problematic behaviors can be evaluated and modified using behavior change principles including reinforcement. Similarly, behaviorism emphasizes the objective measurement of behaviors through providing clear and conceptual definitions, and its therapy is applicable to real life situations as in the case of anxiety. Conversely, studies incorporated into behaviorism allow for appropriate comparisons between animals and humans as in the Case of Watson’s, Thorndike’s and Pavlov’s studies respectively.