Behaviorism

“Watch kids play then you will understand how humans learn, put the kids in schools then you can see the difference between learning and training” – Katie Datko

On this page, I will give an overview of the first theory covered in this course: Behaviorism, together with an application in a learning scenario. More specifically, the page contains the following sections:

  1. What behaviorism asserts
  2. Historical developments of the theory
  3. Situations that are, and are not suitable for applying behaviorism
  4. A learning scenario which applies the theory.

Part 1: What behaviorism asserts

According to Skinner (1976, 23): “The mentalistic problem can be avoided by going directly to the prior physical causes while bypassing intermediate feelings or states of mind. The quickest way to do this is to … consider only those facts which can be objectively observed in the behavior of one person in its relation to his [or her] prior environmental history.”

Behaviorism as a theory essentially asserts that the human mind can only be understood through direct, observable behaviors. Mental processes, being not readily observed or measured, are deemed irrelevant.

Crucial to the theory of bahaviorism are the concepts of stimulus and (appropriate) response. Simply put, if a learner accurately associates a stimulus (say, 2 x 2) to the appropriate response for that input (4, in this case), then learning is considered successful for that pair of stimulus – response (here, it means the learner has successfully learnt that 2 x 2 = 4). In behaviorism, then, the job of teachers is to train and strengthen such associations.

The basic techniques of behaviorism are reinforcement and punishment. While reinforcement uses rewards (such as high grades) to strengthen an association, punishments are used to curb certain behaviors by pairing them with unpleasant results (such as low grades). Incidentally, there is an entire field of artificial intelligence named reinforcement learning, which uses techniques from behaviorism to train machines.

Part 2: Historical development of the theory

There are a few key figures in the development of behaviorism:

  • Ivan Pavlov (1849 – 1936)
  • John B. Watson (1878 – 1958)
  • Burrhus F. Skinner (1904 – 1990)
  • Clark L. Hull (1884 – 1952)

Timeline:

  • 1897: Pavlov published his results of an experiment on conditioning after originally studying digestion in dogs.
  • 1913: Watson launches the behavioral school of psychology, publishing an article, Psychology as the behaviorist views it. 1897: Pavlov published his results of an experiment on conditioning after originally studying digestion in dogs.
  • 1920: Watson conditioned an orphan called Albert B (aka Little Albert) to fear a white rat.
  • 1936: Skinner wrote The Behavior of Organisms and introduced the concepts of operant conditioning and shaping.
  • 1943: Hull’s Principles of Behavior was published.
  • 1948: Skinner published Walden Two, in which he described a utopian society founded upon behaviorist principles.
  • 1971: Skinner published his book, Beyond Freedom and Dignity, where he argues that free will is an illusion.

Part 3: Situations that are, and are not suitable for applying behaviorism

Since its basic phenomenon is the association between stimulus and apropriate response, behaviorism is implicitly built on the assumptions that there is only one correct response for each stimulus and furthermore, the correct responses are known for sure before training. Therefore, situations that require training of a particular formula or procedure is highly suitable for a beviorist approach, whereas situations that require creativity and unconventional problem – solving are less so.

For example, CPR is a highly standardized medical procedure, and it is absolutely critical for every learner of CPR to get each step correctly. Hence a behaviorist approach is suitable and necessary. In contrast, music writing is extremely creative and it is clearly not a good idea to train student to conform to a fixed response.

Part 4: A learning scenario which applies the theory

Students in a classroom are learning how to correctly multiply two single digit numbers. They use an online learning platform and practice multiplying on the computers. The screens will show two single digit numbers and students have to type in the correct answer in no more than 30 seconds. When students get the correct answer, they are awarded with 10 points. They are also reminded of the multiplication table everytime they provide an incorrect answer (but they get no point).

Here we can clearly see the application of behaviorism. The expected association here is between the two numbers shown on screen (stimulus) and their correct product (response). Students are reinforced by scores given when answering correctly and information when answering incorrectly.

Since the multiplication table is a highly standardized procedure and obviously there is exactly one correct answer to a multiplication problem, I think that the use of behaviorism is justified in this case.

References:

Berkeley Graduate Division, Behaviorism. Retrieved from https://gsi.berkeley.edu/gsi-guide-contents/learning-theory-research/behaviorism/ (June 26, 2019)

Simply Psychology, Behaviorism. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/behaviorism.html (June 26, 2019)