Skinner's Classical Conditioning

After perceiving Classical conditioning as being too simple to be a complete explanation of human behaviour, Skinner developed an idea, based off Thorndike’s law of effect, that is very important to the Behavioural approach: Operant conditioning. Skinner believed the best way to understand human behaviour is to identify the cause of action and its consequences. From his idea, Skinner studied operant conditioning by conducting experiments using rats, which he placed in a ‘Skinner Box’. This experiment resulted in Skinner developing schedules (or intervals) of reinforcement (continuous and partial) that could be used to create any desired behaviour. He discovered that behaviour that is reinforced tends to reoccur by the individual, and behaviour …show more content…
He did not invent the three levels of the mind (unconscious, conscious or conscience); however, he did make them well-known. According to Freud, bad thoughts, feelings and memories couldn’t be banished from the mind, but they could be ‘repressed’ from consciousness. Freud believed the unconscious was divided into three parts: Id, Ego, and Superego. The Id, the most primitive of the three structures, is concerned with instant gratification of basic physical urges. This structure operates unconsciously. For example, at boxing day sales, a customer might be so obsessed with getting a good deal that they shoved others of their way, not thinking twice about hurting people if it meant they could get what they wanted. The Superego represented our conscience and counteracted the Id with moral and ethical thoughts. For example, an individual saw $5 lying on the ground at school, and decided to hand it in, as they hope that whoever lost it would ask about it in the office. The Ego stands in between both to balance our primitive needs and our moral/ethical beliefs. The id, ego and superego work together in creating a behaviour. The id creates demands, the ego adds the need of reality with the super ego adds morality to the action which is taken. Freud also believed that the nature of the conflicts between the id, ego and superego change over time as an individual grows from child to adult. He maintained that these conflicts …show more content…
Stress is a reaction to a stimulus that disturbs our physical or mental equilibrium which Selye called The General Adaption Syndrome. A stressor is the stimulus (or threat) that causes stress, for example, exam, divorce, death, loss of job. Selye believed that stress affects an individuals ability to cope and adapt to the pressures of injury and disease. Selye conducted studies on rats and discovered that the same physical responses occurred in animals when they were in stress. Through his research, Selye noticed that the human body adapts to external stressors in terms of a biological pattern that is actually predictable, so that internal balance could be maintained. The body makes use of its hormonal system (fight or flight response), to retain internal balance under stress. With this fight or flight response, the body resorts to releasing hormones that would enable the individual to combat stress immediately. This battle of the body against stress is the main idea of the General Adaptation Syndrome. This model is separated into three phases which describe the body’s response to stress. The alarm reaction is where the body detects the external stimulus or stressor, the adaptation phase is when the body engages in defensive countermeasures against the stressor and the exhaustion stage is when the body begins to run out of defenses. A little bit of stress, known as “acute stress” or “eustress”, can be exciting as it keeps an