Learning approaches: i) the behaviourist approach, including classical…

This lesson covers the behaviourist approach and social learning theory. Both explain learning through environmental influences, but they differ on whether internal mental processes matter. We'll look at classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning. Classical conditioning is learning by association. Before conditioning, food is an unconditioned stimulus that naturally produces salivation, an unconditioned response. A neutral stimulus, such as a bell, does not. During conditioning, the bell is paired with food. After conditioning, the bell alone becomes a conditioned stimulus and produces a conditioned response. Operant conditioning is learning through consequences. Skinner's research with rats showed that behaviour can be shaped by reinforcement. Positive reinforcement adds a pleasant stimulus, increasing behaviour. Negative reinforcement removes an unpleasant stimulus, also increasing behaviour. Punishment decreases behaviour. Social learning theory extends behaviourism to observational learning. Children may imitate aggressive models, as Bandura's Bobo doll study showed. Imitation is more likely when a child identifies with a role model. Vicarious reinforcement occurs when others are observed being rewarded, increasing the chance of imitation. Unlike traditional behaviourism, SLT includes mediational processes between stimulus and response. These are attention, retention, motor reproduction, and motivation. Attention is noticing the model. Retention is remembering the behaviour. Motor reproduction is being able to perform it. Motivation is the reason to imitate, including vicarious reinforcement. A common mistake is confusing negative reinforcement with punishment. Negative reinforcement increases behaviour by removing something unpleasant; punishment decreases behaviour. Also, do not use unconditioned and conditioned stimulus interchangeably. The unconditioned stimulus naturally produces the response before conditioning. And when evaluating SLT, explicitly mention mediational processes to show its cognitive difference from behaviourism. To recap: behaviourism explains learning through association and consequences. Classical conditioning pairs a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus. Operant conditioning uses reinforcement and punishment. Social learning theory adds imitation, identification, vicarious reinforcement, and mediational processes. These approaches also raise issues of environmental determinism, scientific methodology, nature versus nurture, and reductionism.