BEHAVIOURAL

PSYCHOLOGY
 WHAT IS IT?

Definition: Gathering evidence through

experimentation to understand
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changes in
human behaviour
 Why might humans rely on what we learn vs.
our instincts?

Humans have learned to survive in different

environments; and learn to adapt continuously
Behavioural Psychologists are concerned with methods to control human behaviour
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 IVAN PAVLOV
(1849-1936)

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 “
▹ What’s Pavlov known for?

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 THE DOG EXPERIMENT
UNCONDITIONED CONDITIONED CONDITIONED
RESPONSE RESPONSE STIMULUS
Drooling when food is seen Using a BELL whenever the dog THE BELL
received food.
- Dog associates bell with
receiving food.
UNCONDITIONED - Dog drools at the sound RESULT
of the bell
STIMULUS - (CONDITIONED CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
RESPONSE ACHIEVED)
food

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PAVLOV’S
DOG

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 Do later
PAVLOV’S
LEGACY

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 REFLECT
Why would Pavlov go on to win nobel prizes but Watson
in his “Little Albert” experiment - where the child was
conditioned to fear white furry things -be ethically
questioned?
B.F. SKINNER
(1904-1990)

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 “
▹ Behaviour Psychologist from Harvard
▹ Skinner argued that the goal of a science of
psychology was to predict and control an
organism’s behaviour from its current
stimulus situation and its history of
reinforcement

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 THE SKINNER BOX EXPERIMENT
THE EXPERIMENT
The rat receives a food pellet
when a bar inside the box is
pressed.
Rat continues to pres the bar as
long as food is received.
NO MORE FOOD = No more
pressing on the bar.
NO MORE REINFORCEMENT
changes the behaviour
WHAT DO WE LEARN?
What do we understand about
behaviour from this experiment?
Behaviour can be learned
LEGACY
How is this experiment used to
help people? Also used to treat
anxiety. Phobias and panic
disorders.
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DID YOU KNOW… YOUR TURN:
We have ALL Give THREE (3)
FOR EXAMPLE:
additional examples
experienced Standing when we that show classical
CLASSICAL hear the NATIONAL conditioning and
CONDITIONING. ANTHEM ONE (1) example of
operant conditioning.

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 “
Operant conditioning (skinner) is
concerned with the use of positive and
negative reinforcement to
encourage/discourage behaviours

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 OPERANT CONDITIONING
POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT
- Receiving a smile of
praise for doing a job
well done
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NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT
- Negative reinforcement
- Involves the removal of
negative condition to
strengthen a behavior
- Punishment
- Involves either presenting or
taking away a stimulus to
weaken a behavior
 OPERANT CONDITIONING

➔ It is found that rewards are MORE effective than

negative reinforcement in promoting behaviour
➔ Where punishment is concerned, once it is over it
does not conclude that the undesired behavior
will stop
◆ One is just more aware of what will happen
as a result but doesn’t mean they will stop
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the behaviour.