6. Pavlov (1927)
AO1
• Pavlov (1927) started from the idea that
there are some things that a dog does
not need to learn.
• For example, dogs don’t learn to
salivate whenever they see food. This
reflex is ‘hard wired’ into the dog.
• In behaviourism terms, it is an
unconditioned response (i.e. a stimulus-
response connection that required no
learning). Passive learning
AO2
Supporting study: Watson and Raynor
(1920) “little Albert”
• He thought children have fear of
noises because he/her has learned
it from their parents.

7. Operant conditioning
• Learning through rewards and punishments.
• Behaviour will likely to be repeated which has reinforced.
• And tend to be avoided with punishment.
• E.g. an individual may be rewarded for having panic attacks by
receiving attention from family and friends – this would lead to
the behaviour being reinforced and increasing in later life.

8. Skinner(1957)
AO1
- Skinner (1957) demonstrated
that cats could be taught voluntary
responses by reward and
punishment of behaviour.
- Different patterns of behaviour
are taught through use of different
schedules of reinforcement.
• Skinner's study of behavior in
cats was conducted under
carefully controlled laboratory
conditions.
AO2
• Cannot generalise it ton
human species as he used
animals.
• Lab experiment
therefore it has a low
ecological validity.

9. Evaluation of operant conditioning
• It does not take into account the role of inherited and cognitive
factors in learning.
• Kohler (1924) found that primates often seem to solve problems in
a flash of insight rather than be trial and error learning.
• We cannot generalize from studies on animals to humans as their
anatomy and physiology is different from humans.

10. Observational/social learning theory (AO1)
Social Learning is when behaviour is
observed and copied.
• For example girl watches mother
(role model) who has OCD washing
ritualistically every item in house
daily.
• Girl cleans own things in same way
– copying mum!

11. Behavioural therapies
AO1
• Its based on the principle of classical
conditioning.
• Is done by forming a hierarchy of fear,
that are ranked from least fearful to
most fearful.
• The patient works their way up starting
at the least unpleasant and practicing
their relaxation technique as they go.
AO2
• It is then most effective treatment.
• It is a very robust therapy.
• Rothbaum compared the effectiveness
of a standard exposure treatment to
one which used virtual reality in treating
people with fear of flying.

13. Evaluation of behavioural approach to
abnormality
• The behavioural approach can provide a convincing explanation that some
mental disorders are learnt e.g. someone who is on a diet.
•Another problem with this approach is because it explains all behaviour as
a learning process i.e. the way we are brought up and live our lives (nurture
).
•It does not take into account the contribution made by genetic inheritance
or chemical imbalance (nature ).
•This approach does not take into account humans ability to think and
influence on what happens to them.