Behaviorism and Learning - Term Paper Example

? Behaviorism American Intercontal EDU622-1204B-03 Pamela Awbrey 20th November In psychology, behaviorismis the fundamental concept. Due to this fact, there has been extensive research and experiments done in this area. Many practitioners and theorists have put forward their theories and experiments in order to validate the phenomenon of Behaviorism. Generally, it has been observed that behaviors are derived from perceptions. Most of the practitioners have supported this statement through one way or other. This paper briefly discusses the experiments of renowned theorist in the field of psychology. It is believed that at the time of birth, human mind is tabula rasa which means a blank slate. As the mind starts to grow up and gathers information from the outside world (unconditioned stimuli), the behavior of the child starts to shape (conditioned response). By considering the consequences of the experiments discussed in this paper, it can be stated that behaviors are derived from perception and therefore, it can be stated that unconditioned stimuli leads to conditioned response. Summarize behaviorism and how it has affected the understanding of learning. Be sure to include the following information: Introduction The fundamental principle upon which behaviorism operates is ‘stimulus-response’. Its basic concept states that all behaviors are caused primarily by external stimuli. Behaviorism assumes that a learner is, in essence, a passive subject which responds to external stimuli. Under the theory of behaviorism, it is believed that at birth, human mind is tabula rasa which means a clean slate and behavior is shaped as soon as the mind starts to conceive external information and stimuli. These external stimuli can be either positive or negative. Both negative and positive reinforcement increase the tendency and probability that this certain behavior will occur again. In contrast to this, punishment reduces the likelihood that the certain behavior will occur again. Learning, therefore, is defined as change in subject’s behavior. Lots of early experiments were done to animals and generalized to humans (Learning Theories Knowledgebase, 2012). A Brief History of Behaviorism Theory A lot of practitioners have contributed to the theory of behaviorism. Out of all those, some major contributors of behaviorism are: Pavlov (1897) - In order to investigate the behaviorism theory, Pavlov conducted a research studying digestion in dogs. Watson (1913) – Watson published an article naming “Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It” and initiated a behavioral school of psychology. Watson and Rayner (1920) – programmed an orphan called Little Albert aka Albert B in order to scare the white rat. Thorndike (1905) – formulated the “Law of Effect” Skinner (1936) – Skinner was the first one who introduced the concepts of shaping and conditioning. Skinner wrote “The Behavior of Organisms”. Clark Hull’s (1943) – published “Principles of Behavior”. B.F. Skinner (1948) – formalized Walden Two in which he explained the foundation of utopian society upon behaviorist principles. Bandura (1963) – combines the concepts of behavioral and cognitive framework in his book called as “Social Learning Theory and Personality Development”. B.F Skinner (1971) – argues upon the concept that ‘free will is an illusion’ in his book named as “Beyond Freedom and Dignity” (McLeod, 2007). Main Components of Behaviorism Theory The two major components of Behaviorism Theory are: i. Classic Conditioning Classical conditioning is the fundamental response to stimuli. It is that conditioning in which a programmed or conditioned stimuli is paired with unconditioned stimulus until the conditioned stimulus becomes sufficient enough to educe the response ii. Operant Conditioning Operant conditioning has the basic notion of responding to the results of our actions. Operant conditioning is that component of the theory in which behavior is strengthened when reinforcement is done and weakened when punishment is done. Description of Behaviorist Experiments Practitioners have validated the theory of behaviorism by performing certain experiment. The experiments of Watson, Skinner and Pavlov are of vital importance when it comes to testing behaviorism. i. John Watson’s Experiment of “Little Albert” In 1927, Watson and Rayner performed a study in which a 9 month old boy to whom they called “Little Albert”. He was encountered with an intense fear of rats. When Little Albert commences to catch the white rat, Watson made loud noise which scares the boy. Through Classical Conditioning, Watson converted the fear of noise to the fear of rats and Little Albert associates the fear of noise with that of White Rat. Little Albert, then, started to fear all the species which have fur, because the white rat had fur. This is called as Second Order Conditioning. The experiments and theories of behaviorism of Watson had huge impact on schools of thought, due to which psychology started to dominate the schools of thought for next fifty years (Mischel, 1993). ii. Pavlov’s Experiment of “Salivation of Dogs” In 1980s, Pavlov started to study the digestion functions of dogs. He investigates that dogs salivate prior the presentation of the food. He began to utilize a specific tone for food in order to attract dogs. Pavlov found out that the dogs would salivate just at the tone of the food and even before the food was being presented. Pavlov comprehended that this is a learned behavior and not a natural behavior. For the conditioned stimuli of the tone, the unconditioned response of the dogs (salivation) changed into conditioned response. Pavlov thus coined the term Classical Conditioning (Beecroft, 1966). iii. B.F. Skinner’s Experiment of “Skinner Box” Skinner was an American psychologist who was widely influenced by the work of Watson and Pavlov. He conducted an experiment where animals could be studied. The baseline of the experiment was to examine the effect of punishment or reinforcement on behavior. If the consequence is positive, then there are chances of repetition of the same behavior however if the consequence is negative then the likelihood of repeating the old behavior is not so probable. For this purpose, he experimented using a soundproof, small chamber. This device is called as Skinner box. Simple responses (key pecks, lever presses), simple stimuli (sounds and lights) and simple reinforcers (water and food) were arranged in order to studying the behavior of pigeons and rats. Each time the lever was pressed by the pigeons or rats, the food was released to them. The animals learned to received the positive reinforcement i.e. food by pressing the level. When pressing lever produced electric shocks, the animals stopped pressing the lever due to the results of receiving shock. This type of operant conditioning (punishment and rewards) is also utilized to elicit expected behavior from children (Goodwin, 2008). How behaviorism develops new behaviors All the above mentioned experiments indicate that the theory of behaviorism can play a key role in changing behaviors of individuals. There are various ways of doing so. Re-conditioning of old behaviors can be done through: i. Learning ii. Classical Conditioning (associating conditioned stimulus to an unconditioned response) and iii. Operant Conditioning (punishment and reward or principle of stimulus-response) New behaviors can only be developed when old behaviors are removed. As long as old behaviors are present, there can be no room for developing new behaviors. In order to eradicate the root cause of old behavior, strong and repetitive conditioning of new behavior needs to be done. Works Cited Beecroft, R. S. (1966). Classical Conditioning. Goleta, CA: Psychonomic Press. Goodwin, J. C. (2008). A History of modern psychology. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons. Learning Theories Knowledgebase. (2012, November). Behaviorism . Retrieved November 20, 2012, from Learning Theories: http://www.learning-theories.com/behaviorism.html McLeod, S. A. (2007). Behaviorism. Retrieved November 20, 2012, from Simply Psychology: http://www.simplypsychology.org/behaviorism.html Mischel, W. (1993). Introduction to Personality. New York: Harcourt Brace. Read More