WJEC A Level Psychology Behaviourist Approach Exam Questions

About WJEC A Level Psychology Behaviourist Approach

WJEC Unit 1 presents behaviourism as the approach that refuses to speculate about the mind and studies only observable behaviour and the environment that shapes it. You learn three assumptions, then use one to explain the formation of a relationship, for instance by showing how rewards or pleasant associations draw two people together. One therapy (systematic desensitisation or aversion therapy) must be described and evaluated, and the classic research is Watson and Rayner (1920), 'Conditioned emotional reactions'. Exam answers need exact conditioning vocabulary, the sequence of Albert's sessions, and a balanced view of how far a single infant case can support claims about human learning.

What you need to know

• Humans and animals learn in similar ways Behaviourists argue the same laws of learning apply across species, which is why Pavlov's dogs and Skinner's rats and pigeons are used to explain human behaviour. Critics reply that human language and thought make learning more complex.
• Conditioning Classical conditioning is learning by association: a neutral stimulus repeatedly paired with an unconditioned stimulus comes to trigger the response on its own. Operant conditioning is learning by consequences: reinforcement (positive or negative) makes a behaviour more likely, punishment makes it less likely.
• The blank slate Locke's tabula rasa idea: we are born without innate knowledge or personality, so differences between people come from different histories of reinforcement and association.
• Applying it to relationships Byrne and Clore's (1970) reinforcement-affect model combines both forms: we like people who directly reward us (operant), and we also like people who are simply present when we feel good, because they become associated with that positive mood (classical). A classmate who sits beside you in an enjoyable lesson can become linked with good feelings and a friendship begins.
• Watson and Rayner (1920): before and during At about nine months Albert was tested with a white rat, rabbit, dog, monkey, masks, cotton wool and burning newspaper and showed no fear. At around 11 months the rat was presented and a steel bar was struck with a hammer behind his head; after seven pairings across two sessions a week apart he cried and crawled away from the rat alone.
• Watson and Rayner (1920): after Albert showed fear of a rabbit, a dog, a fur coat and a Santa Claus mask (stimulus generalisation) but played with his building blocks normally. His responses persisted in a different room and, in weaker form, a month later. He left the hospital before any deconditioning was attempted.
• Systematic desensitisation Wolpe's therapy for phobias uses counterconditioning. The client learns deep muscle relaxation, builds a hierarchy of feared situations from least to most anxiety-provoking, and works up it while relaxed, relying on reciprocal inhibition (two incompatible states cannot exist together).
• Aversion therapy An unwanted behaviour is paired with an unpleasant stimulus so it becomes associated with discomfort, for example an emetic drug with alcohol. Covert sensitisation is a gentler form where the unpleasant consequences are only imagined.

Common mistakes in Behaviourist Approach

• Explaining Little Albert with operant terms such as reinforcement. Albert's fear was produced by classical conditioning, pairing two stimuli, not by consequences of his behaviour.
• Saying Albert was frightened by the rat biting or scratching him. The unconditioned stimulus was the sudden loud noise of a hammer striking a steel bar.
• Confusing generalisation with discrimination. Generalisation is responding to similar stimuli (the rabbit, the fur coat); discrimination is responding only to the original stimulus.
• Describing systematic desensitisation as exposing the client to their worst fear first. That is flooding; desensitisation starts at the bottom of the hierarchy and moves up only when the client stays relaxed.
• Applying conditioning to relationships without naming the reinforcer or the association. Say exactly what is rewarding or what the person is paired with, then show how this leads to attraction.

Try three Behaviourist Approach exam-style questions