Drive Reduction Theory Essay

The behaviourist perspective was established by B.F. Skinner during the twentieth century (Burton, et al., 2012). Ivan Pavlov and John Watson also made significant contributions to the establishment of the behaviourist perspective (Burton, et al.). Behaviourists argue that all behaviour is a product of learning as a result of environmental stimuli (Burton, et al.). B.F. Skinner theorised that organisms are motivated by external punishment and reinforcement (Burton, et al.). That is, the presence of a punishment during certain behaviours can motivate an individual to decrease the reoccurrence of that behaviour. Just as the presence of a reinforcement can motivate an individual to repeat the behaviour more frequently. Drive-reduction theory argues that a primary or secondary drive motivates an individual to perform actions that will reduce the drive (Burton, et al.). Reduction of the drive is a form of reinforcement leading to the individual repeating the action more frequently (Burton, et al.).
According to the drive reduction theory, sleep is a primary drive which is reduced, and thus, reinforced by the act of sleeping. A behavioural sleep
An incentive is an external stimulus that competes with the primary drive to sleep (Burton, et al.). If the individual deems the incentive to be more enticing than the primary drive to sleep, then sleep will be avoided leading to sleep deprivation. This phenomena would be studied experimentally by manipulating the use of incentives to compete with the motivation for sleep. The biological variable, hours of sleep would be measured by direct observation and the use of a video camera. The theoretical variable, presence of an incentive would be measured by an incentive schedule. It is hypothesised that a negative correlation would be found between incentives and hours of