BEHAVIORISM

Behaviorism learning theory uses the right rewards and punishments to control learners’ behaviors and teach them new skills. Once a popular theory in the early 20th century, behaviorism is now negatively criticized mostly. Behaviorism believes learning occurs through the teacher’s rewards and punishments that lead to changes in behavior (Duchesne et al., 2014). Duchesne et al. (2014, p. 160) state that behaviorism is a theory that “views learning as a ‘cause and effect’ mechanism, in which external factors lead to a response, and over time, this response becomes a learned behavior.” Learning is only considered to occur when we can observe it, so one must observe it to confirm that the reward is awarded and the learning is complete.

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Classical Conditioning is a type of behaviorism concerned with involuntary responses to a direct and repeated stimulus. It is associated with the theorists Pavlov and Watson.

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Russian physiologist, Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) published results from an experiment involving stimulus-response in dogs (1897). Most of his experiments in the late 19th century and early 20th century were conducted on dogs, also known as Pavlov’s Dogs, to respond to the stimulus of a bell ringing by salivating due to its association with food, expanding upon Pavlov's work in Classical Conditioning.

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American Psychologist, John B. Watson (1878-1958) expanded Pavlov’s findings and established the psychological field of behaviorism. Watson sought to understand behavior by only measuring observable behaviors and events. He popularized behaviorism as a scientific theory.

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Operant Conditioning is another type of behaviorism for voluntary response to stimuli and it is associated with the theorist Skinner. 

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In the 1930s, American Psychologist B. F. Skinner (1904-1990) introduced the concept of Operant Conditioning in his first book, "The Behavior of Organisms". Behavior is theorized to be the result of positive reinforcements or rewards, and negative reinforcements or punishments (McLeod, 2018). Skinner's theory is applied to learning when periodic positive or negative reinforcement is provided based on the response to the stimulus. Skinner is also known for creating Skinner Boxes, known as operant chambers. These are the box-like structure that is large enough to fit a small animal such as a bird or rodent, which allow the observer to study and record its responses to different stimuli.

CONNECTIONS TO TEACHING AND LEARNING

Operant Conditioning modifies behaviors by reinforcing desired behaviors and punishing unwanted behaviors. Gray and McBlain (2012, p. 36) state that operant conditioning theory believes “learning occurs when behavior is either rewarded or punished.”

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Applying in the teaching and learning context, the question is the stimulus and the learner's answer is the response. 

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Positive reinforcement is a rewarding behavior from the teacher if the learner is able to display the desired behavior, the motivation is extrinsic here. Negative reinforcement is the punishing behavior from the teacher if the learner is wrong, so something the learner values is taken away. This learning method is popular as "skill & drill", with constant repetition. 

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Positive reinforcements work better, thus continuous reinforcements by the teacher result in fast learning. This makes the reinforcement schedule important in learning.

STRENGTHS & LIMITATIONS OF BEHAVIORISM IN EDUCATION