The behaviourist perspective
The behaviourist perspective is grounded on the idea that we can understand any type of behaviour by examining what individuals have learnt. This includes various personality traits such as confidence, shyness, being helpful, pessimistic or optimistic. Behaviourist theorist claim behaviour is a resulting factor of experience. Two very important figures who have both had a great hand in developing most of the ideas explained by this perspective is Pavlov and Skinner. Although both theorist had very different procedures in which they took to investigate their ideas, they both came to the conclusion that nearly all types of behaviour is produced as the result of learning.
The first theory of learning was developed and introduced by Russian psychologist, Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936), which he called ‘Classical Conditioning’. His initial study was based on the investigation of dogs and their digestive system. Pavlov had them secured and attached monitors in their stomach area and mouth to measure the rate of saliva that they produced. He noticed that one day that his dogs produced a high rate of saliva when his lab assistant entered the room with a bowl of food, rather than producing saliva whilst they ate. This was an unusual result as dogs usually produce saliva when food has touched their tongue. Pavlov guessed that the dogs had learnt to associate the lab assistant to their food. He then developed this idea further by looking at all the consisting factors: * The food uncontrollably caused the response of salivation (this response is a natural response, as salivation cannot be learnt) * He called this the unconditional response. ‘Unconditional’ meaning ‘not learnt’ * As food also produces the automatic response of salivation, he called this ‘unconditional stimulus’
Pavlov decided that whilst he presented the dogs their food, he would accompany it with a ring of a bell which he called a ‘neutral stimulus’ (‘neutral’ because it had no significance to the dogs and therefore did not produce a response. After several times of doing this, the dog had learnt to associate the bell with food, to the point where when Pavlov rang the bell without the food being present the dogs would still salivate. Thus meaning that that the dogs had learnt the conditioned response of salivation to the conditioned stimulus that being the bell.
‘Operant conditioning’ is also another type of learning that was developed and introduced by Frederick Skinner (1904-1990). In contrast to Pavlov, Skinner worked closely with rats to determine the key principles of learning and acquiring new behaviour. In order put his ideas into drive, he used a device known as the Skinner box. In this box was a lever which is attached to food, so when pressed the food would be released, by this it would reinforce the behaviour of repeatedly pressing the lever in the understanding that more food be released. When the rat is placed in this box, it moves around persistently sniffing, eventually it unconsciously presses the lever, after multiple times of performing this action. By doing this, it will learn that by pressing the lever the consequences will be good (Release of food). Therefore this consequence means that the behaviour is likely to be repeated. There are two types of reinforcement; Positive and negative. Skinner explored negative reinforcement by surging a low electrical current through the floor of the box, the current would be stopped if the rat pressed the lever. The act of lever pressing was therefore negative reinforcement. In the context of school, by doing homework students avoid negative consequences such as detention which encourages them to repeat the behaviour of doing homework.
Punishment is where unwanted behaviour is followed by an unpleasant consequence. Skinner also explored this by giving the rat an electric shock every time it pressed the lever. The result of the electric shock was undesirable for the rat, so therefore it learnt not to press the lever as it associated it with this negative experience.
It is argued that the behaviourist theory is too deterministic. It assumes that all individuals will be swayed by all rewards, punishment and the negative consequences that follows an action. For example, in a school setting where points are given out for good behaviour, the theory doesn’t explain why some children still misbehave and fail to comply. However, the social learning theory may do a better job at explaining the reasons as to why this is the case. The social learning theory is based around the idea that our behaviour is influenced by various factors such as peers, siblings, parents, sports, celebrities etc. Social learning theorists view role models as a prominent feature in one’s life. Although imitating behaviour from anyone is possible, the probability of imitating behaviour from someone who is considered influential is much higher. By watching the behaviour of those we value, we are more likely to copy that behaviour. For example, because Rihanna shaved the side of her hair and started dying it wild colours, many females were influenced by this behaviour, simply because Rihanna is their role-model. However, if shaving and dying your hair flamboyant colours was related to a model we looked down on such as punks or EMOs then it would be less likely for people to imitate it.
There a many features about an individual that influences us to copy their behaviour such as: * Gender * Similarity to ourselves * Prestige * Status * Fame * Competence
Our behaviour is constantly being shaped by the influence of those around us, despite the fact that we are infiltrated by the idea that we are truly individuals in our behaviour and beliefs. This was evidently demonstrated in the research conducted by social psychologist Solomon Asch during the 1950s. Asch took a great interest in an idea called ‘majority influence’, a term which is used to describe the change of an individual’s public behaviour or view point as a result of the presence of others, simply because they do not want to be seen as an outcast from the rest of the crowd. As humans we all have the powerful urge to go along with what others around us are saying, doing and thinking in order to fit in and gain a sense of belonging. Ash put his idea to test by using a group of confederates (people who are acting according to the instructions they are given by the experimenter) who were joined by a naïve participant (a genuine candidate that is unaware of the purpose of the experiment) with the belief that they were participating in a visual test. The experimenter explained that the task involved all participants having to state which lines matched the target line that they were presented with.
In the understanding of the genuine participants they were very much unaware that the other participants were confederates (actors); to them they were all genuine candidates facing the same task. The seating of the participants were in a horseshoe arrangement with the genuine participant always being the last to state their judgement of the lines. The procedure always begun with each confederate participant intentionally stating the wrong answer going in the order of the horseshoe arrangement right through to the end, where it’d be the turn of the genuine candidate to state their judgement. This perceptual trial was repeated 18 times and 12 out of the 18 times the genuine participants all gave the same wrong answers as the confederates even though the correct answer was very visibly obvious. His final result revealed that out 123 naive participants, 28 per cent gave an incorrect answer eight or more times. This evidently shows the extent of which an individual’s behaviour or opinion can be influenced by those around them.
One’s culture and society can also effect and have and influential hand in the shaping of their behaviour. The term ‘culture’ refers the shared norms, values, language, practices and customs of a group. Although the main idea which surrounds culture is that different countries have a specific culture that accompanies their identity that we tend to forget that even different sub-groups within society have a culture among themselves, despite their ethnic backgrounds. For example, people from different socioeconomic groups within the UK will share different features of culture, such as those who value coming together as a family to have dinner, in comparison to those who would rather sit in front of the television with their food on their lap; as well as the appropriate way of speaking to elders or the ways in which money is spent, and what is seen as valuable or mundane. Watson (1970) established how the amount of eye contact made between individuals varied between countries. He found that great use of eye contact was seen as disrespectful by some Africans and East Asians, whereas for Latin-Americans and Indians the use of eye contact was looked upon as desirable. The extent to which independence is valued also depends on one’s cultural upbringing. For example in most European culture and the USA, self-dependence, boldness and individuality is highly valued and praised and parents see themselves as responsible for implanting such characteristics into their children. In contrast, collectivism is highly valued and emphasised in Asian culture. In such cultures, individuals are socialised into being selfless and putting the needs of others before their own. Therefore in a culture such as this, a 40-year old man still living in his parents’ home is seen as normal and admiral behaviour whereas in the western culture this would most likely be looked down upon and seen as a very pathetic situation.
The self-fulfilling prophecy is another very important concept in the social learning perspective. It holds a big impact in determining the behaviour of individuals and the behaviour they choose to express towards others. For example if an individual believes themselves to be a likeable, valuable and pleasant it is likely that they’ll be polite, cheerful and positive towards those around in order to maintain that image they believe themselves to have. Therefore as a response those who will come in contact with that individual will also perceive them as pleasant and in return will reflect their positive nature, thus confirming the individual’s self-image. On the other hand, if an individual is filled with anger and resentment for those around, as well as perceiving the world as being against them, they’re certainly more likely to express more violent, argumentative and quarrelsome behaviour which will encourage those around to reflect such a nature in their response which in result confirms the views, that individual has for themselves. This is where the role theory comes into light, specifically because there are some similarities between the role theory and the self-fulfilling prophecy, in the sense that because we live and are raised in a particular culture it is almost inevitable for us to be influenced by others. These influences help us to adopt and distinguish apart the different roles within society and try to live up to the expectations that surround that role. For example a nurse, is expected to be warm, practical, qualified, compassionate and selfless, putting the needs of others before their own, whereas in comparison we would also expect a surgeon to be practical and qualified but we wouldn’t anticipate him or her to be warm or compassionate. Just the same as a woman taking her children out for the day would be her fulfilling the role of a mother, but if that same woman were to be at work she would be taking up the role of a colleague, manager or professional and would have to live up to the assumptions that surround that specific role.
The social learning theory explains how our behaviour is learnt from those in a daily environment, however In addition to this, psychologist Albert Bandura developed the idea known as observational learning, which explains that we can also learn new behaviours form by observing either those around us or in the media. The person in which behaviour is imitated from is called the role model and the process in which imitating occurs is known as modelling. Bandura conducted a study using children as his central….
Unlike the social learning theory which explains the shaping of one’s behaviour, relying heavily on their social environment and cultural background, as well as modelling the behaviour of those they consider important and favourable, the psychodynamic approach sees our childhood experiences being the key factor to explaining why individuals behave the way they do. Key developers of this this approach are Austrian psychologist Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) who established the psychodynamic psychology and the treatment, psychoanalysis; with Erik Erikson adapting certain features of Freud’s Ideas to make additional inputs to the approach. Freud’s idea emphasises greatly on the importance of the unconscious mind. Freud was of the first theorists to develop to develop and centre his attention on the idea that we are not always aware of our thoughts. He suggested that what we are aware of is represented in our conscious mind, however many of our memories, past experiences and feelings are stored in the part of our minds that he calls the ‘unconscious’. We’re not always able to access contents from that part of our mind but so very often they ‘leak out’ in our dreams and even slips out in the course of our speech. Freud explained his theory in the metaphoric context of an iceberg; he believed that our conscious mind is like the tip of the iceberg, which represents the thoughts that are available to the awareness of an individual. Parts of the unconscious mind which can be accessed, Freud called ‘the pre-conscious’, this contains the information that is not always at the forefront of our minds but can be easily retrieved (e.g. what you had for breakfast).
Through Freud’s psychodynamic theory, he explained the importance of early experience in determining one’s behaviour later on in life. This is further illustrated in Freud’s development theory of psychosexual stages. This is where at each stage, the individuals energy is focused on a part of the body which is relevant to the particular stage. If the needs of the developing child is met successfully at each stage they’ll be able to move onto the next, however if the needs at one stage are not met it will result in conflict or unsatisfactory consequences that could leave them stuck in that stage, where they will adopt certain ways of being, personality traits and characteristics that they will carry with them into their adult life.
Another prominent factor of early experience is the development of ego defence mechanisms. The use of defence mechanism allows individuals to block out events that have been traumatic for them. Examples of defence mechanisms are; regression, repression, denial and displacement.
The final most important feature of early development is that of the mind, he calls this the ‘psyche’. The psyche is divided into three parts. The ‘ID’ is the part that is completely and exists at birth, it is very demanding, focusing on what it wants, and it also consists of loving, sexual and aggressive drives. The superego is formed during the socialisation period, which holds all the norms, values and beliefs are continuously taught and enforced. It takes on a partly conscious part of our mind. The super ego plays the role in balancing out with the id, whilst the ego is balancing out both the ego and the id.

The humanistic approach looks at life experiences and its effect on behaviour from the viewpoint of the individual. It looks closely at the concept of ‘free will’ and the belief that we are very capable of making decisions. Two psychologist whose ideas have been key in developing this approach are Abraham Marslow and Carl Rogers. Abraham is an American psychologist who insinuated the idea that as individuals we are look for ways to become the best we can possibly be either spiritually, intellectually, socially or emotionally. He called this ‘self-actualisation’, he developed a theory known as the hierarchy of needs with which he explained that every human needs certain basic needs to be met before they can move onto the next stage of their life. Marslow explained that until this drive to reach full potential is met we will never conquer self-actualisation (complete satisfaction with life)

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In order to decide what the most effective method to use when providing treatment and therapy lessons for young people to overcome behaviour disorders, it is important that staff have an in depth knowledge about the psychological perspectives and which ones do a better job at explaining behaviour more than others. All the perspectives have their own strengths and weakness associated with their theories which explain behaviour, the only difficulty is that not all the perspectives agree with one another. The behaviourist perspective focuses primarily on how we learn and the ways in which punishment and rewards can alter our learning and behaviour. It explains that we learn behaviour through the processes used Pavlov’s classical conditioning and Frederick’s operant conditioning a