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The learning approach Key info

Need to know

Friday 10th January 2025

The learning approach is split into behaviourism and social learning theory.
Behaviourism is further split into classical conditioning and operant conditioning
(conditioning means learning).

The learning approach argues all behaviour is learnt. Humans are born as blank
slates and through different methods, they learn how to behave. This is different to
the biological approach which would argue much of our behaviour is due to biology.
E.g. phobias. The learning approach would argue that we learn phobias, whereas bio
approach would argue that it’s something to do with our biology (brain structure,
chemicals, or genetic). This is part of the nature v nurture debate (is both).

Learning approach believes all animals learn the same way, so much of their
research is done using animals and applying it to humans (extrapolation).

Behaviourism:
Behaviourism develops from the 1910s/1920s. It developed as a reaction to Wundt
and Freud. Behaviourists argued you cannot scientifically study what is going on
inside the mind of a person, all you can measure is their behaviour. Behaviourists
argue their approach is scientific because it uses scientific methods eg lab
experiments and it measures objective empirical evidence.

Classical conditioning:
Learning through association
This is the theory we are born with some skills/things, and if we want to learn new
skills/things, they need to be learnt through association. For example, we are
naturally born with things that help us to survive eg fear, digestion.
CC was developed by Pavlov. He started as a biologist studying enzymes in the
saliva of dogs. He drilled holes in the side of their mouths and collected their saliva.
However, he noticed that when he walked into the lab, even without food, the dogs
still salivated. They had associated him with food.
Terminology:
Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)- this is any thing that triggers a natural response eg
food.
Unconditioned response (UCR)- natural response to UCS eg salivation
During learning, the new stimulus is called neutral (doesn’t mean anything yet). This
produces no response. However, when learning has taken place, the new thing, eg
the bell, becomes a conditioned stimulus and the response eg salivation becomes a
conditioned response.
 Operant conditioning:
OC is also a type of behaviourism. It is a learning theory that argues we learn
through consequence. OC argues if we want a behaviour repeated, we need to
reward it (reinforcement), and if we want a behaviour not repeated, we need to
punish it (behaviour consequence). Reinforcements can be positive or negative. A
positive reinforcement is when we add something as a reward eg a sticker, food,
money. Negative reinforcement is when we take something nasty away eg taking
away homework, removing fire alarm noise. Punishments can also be positive or
negative. Positive punishment is when you add a punishment eg hitting someone,
electrocuting them, or a detention. Negative punishment is where you take
something away as a punishment eg a students phone, Xbox.

AO3:
However, what a punishment or reward is, positive or negative, varies from person
to person, and sometimes it’s hard to work out if it’s positive or negative. Eg
removing a pupil from a lesson- for some students this would be a punishment and
for others it is a reward, or getting a certificate in an assembly.

OC was developed by Skinner and his box. Skinner had a rat in a box, red light and
green light, a speaker which would play different noises, a lever/button that would
dispense treats, and an electric grid/floor. The rats learnt through different
combinations (reinforcements/punishments) how to stop electric floor, how to get
treats etc.

AO3 of behaviourism- CC and OC:

Behaviourism aimed to use scientific methods and language in psychology e.g. lab
experiments -Pavlov and Skinner, standardised procedures, replication, evidence etc.
This aimed to bring more credibility to psychology.
Behaviourism is specially OC, has really practical applications to real life. This
makes it a useful theory eg token economy systems in prisons and schools,
parents may use it with their children, can be used in dog training.
However, some argue these systems are unethical because they are treating
humans like lab rats. This is a very mechanistic way of looking at human behaviour.
3 Behaviourism has a very deterministic of looking at human behaviour. It

suggests we are very predictable, and ignores the fact we have free will, choice,
and emotions. eg why is a certificate in an assembly a reward for some students,
but not for others. Each of us bring our own thoughts, feelings and experience to
the situation.
?
There are lots of ethical issues with the theory eg treating humans like lab rats,
applying the theory to different situations, eg in a psychiatric hospitals, and the
animals in the research were harmed psychologically and physically. Ultimately,
they were killed

is
⑧ IGMENTA
4 Also, is it valid to apply research on animals to human behaviour

Social Learning Theory

SLT along with behaviourism is a learning approach. It is interested in how humans
learn. However, behaviourism only cares about behaviour, it doesn’t care about
what’s going on inside people’s minds. SLT does care about what’s is going on inside
peoples minds when they learn. It calls these things mediational processes.
SLT developed in the 1960s after cognitive theory, which is interested in mental
processes. SLT combines behaviourism and the cognitive approach.

Behaviourism (CC and OC) argues we have to directly experience the associations or
consequences for learning to take place, whereas SLT argues we don’t need to
(indirect experience). We can see other people being rewarded or punished and learn
from their experience. SLT says we learn through observation and imitation (we
learn vicariously).

SLT was developed by Bandura in America in the 1960s. His research focused on
children and how they copy what they see.

Bandura (1961):
• Here, the hypothesis/question was will children copy what they see?
• Mixture of boys and girls
• All 3-5 years old
• Split into 2 independent groups (IGD)- control group just watch an adult in a
room with all toys and bobo, group 2 (experimental) observe adult performing
unique moves/words eg ‘soceroo’. Would the children copy what they saw?

Findings:
Children who saw aggressive adult were more likely to imitate aggression, what
they heard/saw. None of the children in the non aggressive group behaved
aggressively.
Girls were more likely to copy what the woman did, boys were more likely to copy
what the man did - gender role models
The children in the aggressive group were more likely to play with violent toys eg
guns, a bow and arrow, a slingshot, which the adults hadn’t played with

Bandura (1963):
Children were in 3 groups, all of them see adult being aggressive.
Group 1- these see adult being rewarded for aggression
Group 2- these see adult being punished for aggression
Group 3- these see no consequence
Findings:
Children who saw adult being rewarded were far more likely to imitate aggression,
next were the children who saw no consequence, and the least likely group to copy
were the ones who saw the adult being punished.
Bandura concluded that if children do observe violence, they need to see the
person being punished otherwise they think it’s ok (links to operant conditioning,
learning through consequence)

Mediational processes:
SLT combines behaviourism and the cognitive approach. It is interested in what is
going on in the mind when we observe and then imitate the behaviour we have seen.
These include attention, retention, motor reproduction and motivation.
• Attention- in order to imitate something, we have to have paid attention to it.
• Retention- in order to imitate something, at a later time we have to have
retained/remembered what we’ve seen.
• Motor reproduction- we need to have the physical motor skills to imitate what
we’ve observed
• Motivation- in order to imitate what we see, we need to be motivated/want to do
it. This links to self efficacy. This is our belief in ourselves. People with more self-
belief are more motivated to do stuff.
This also links to identification, we are more likely to imitate people we identify with
(people we look up to). This could be because of similar characteristics (gender,
ethnicity, class, age. Could be we think they’ve had a similar experience to us. We are
also more likely to identify with people we like so we tend to copy positive role
models.

AO3 of SLT:
There is supporting research evidence for SLT eg Bandura bobo doll. His research
was good because it was a lab experiment- controlled, standardisation, replication.
You can control your IV, cause and effect.
However, this isn’t good because it’s not very natural- lacks ecological validity-
they are not hitting a real person. What else were the children meant to do with a
bobo doll? Maybe the children were showing demand characteristics, and doing
what they thought Bandura wanted them to do. In real life, they might not act like
this.
SLT has useful applications for real life. Do children imitate what they observe eg
at home, in films? However, not all people/children do imitate what they observe eg
horror films. This is an oversimplified way of viewing human behaviour.
? Bandura found the boys were more aggressive than the girls. Maybe this is
because of biology (testosterone). However, 3-5 year old boys do not have
significantly different levels of testosterone to girls. However, maybe SLT can explain
this difference, maybe boys are exposed to more violence when they are younger.