The Cognitive Approaches of Challenged the Concept of Behavioral Theory - Essay Example

A child learns new behaviours or is able to modify existing behaviours, as a function of environmental events that either reward or punish that behaviour. Skinner’s learning theory is a move away from the traditional behaviourist approach of stimulus and response, as he differentiated between types of responses. When a response was elicited by a known stimulus it is considered to be associated with the known stimulus. Alternatively, responses that do not require a specific stimulus, which he termed operants, are independent of the stimulus.

Skinner emphasized that it was the operant response that could be strengthened or weakened by the use of personal, social or environmental rewards or punishments respectively. Skinner’s principles advocated the idea that learning could be ‘programmed,’ which fit with the 1960s initial explorations into computer-aided instruction. All that was required was for the student to practice, and to be provided with the ideal reinforcement (i.e., reward or punishment). Students were perceived to learn through processes of rote memorization and amount of practice.

A subject such as English has been greatly influenced by Skinner’s principles of reinforcement in terms of being better able to regulate student behaviours and learning achievements. Information is reduced by the teacher into smaller components (e.g., poetry, spelling, vocabulary), and organized by the teacher into a format believed that the student will understand and can systematically build on.