Behaviourism

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In the early 20th century the leading educational theories and research were dominated by ** BEHAVIOURISM **. Here are some facts about this approach:


 * MAIN CONCEPT[[image:question-mark.jpg width="180" height="153" align="right"]] **

Behaviourism can be described as a theory of animal and human learning. It focuses on the behaviour of the learner and the changes which occur when learning takes place. To define the learning in the behaviouristic context we may say that it is the acquisition of a new behaviour or the modification of previous one by means of teaching, training or tutoring. Actions and reactions to a certain stimulus are the representations of the process of learning. The main assumption in behaviourism is that people (and animals) can be taught by the use of reward and punishment.


 * KEY FEATURES **

Researchers claimed that all the theories must have been supported by empirical data which was obtained through the measurement of behaviour. There was no place for researcher personal feelings or suspicions. The results should have been as objective as possible. Therefore, we can now find many experiments in support of this theory.
 * Psychology = science **

We are born as ‘blank pages’ which means that we are not born with any cognitive functions like memory, schemas or perception. We need to learn it from the environment and all that surround us.
 * Tabula Rasa **

Behaviourism challenges the idea of free will. The term free should supposedly mean the ability of a person to choose behaviour freely, without any intervention from environment or inheritance. However, the idea of behaviourism is that our behaviour originates from genetic inheritance and environmental effects.
 * Free will **

According to behaviouristic approach all behaviour can be explained without the need to consider internal mental states or consciousness. Stimulus cause the response. If the stimulus is reinforced it is more likely that the desired behaviour will take place. On the other hand, if the stimulus is not repeated, the desired behaviour may decrease. This process is called //extinction//.
 * Stimulus – Response **

It is a form of associative learning. A subject associate a behaviour or response with another to aid the learning process. This term is tightly connected with one of the famous researchers at that time namely John Watson. He based his work on Pavlov’s observations. Some of his statements may seem controversial nowadays. One of his famous sayings was about ‘creating’ a lawyer, doctor or any other specialist out of a random child if he was let to work and train on him. He also denied the existence of such crucial factors in our lives like mind and consciousness.
 * Classical Conditioning **

In addition to classical conditioning, in operant conditioning we need a stimulus that is reinforced. If the association between stimulus and the reward is significant, there is a better chance that conditioning will be sustained and that in will take place even in case of absence of the reward.
 * Operant Conditioning **

Find out from the video below how ** Sheldon ** is trying to condition ** Penny **. Is he going to be successful? (from the **'Big Bang Theory'** episode)

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 * Click ** on each picture to find out about famous researchers and their work on ** conditioning ** humans and animals.

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 * REINFORCEMENT & PUNISHMENT **

Let's find out more about these two terms!


 * CLICK HERE! **


 * DON'T CLICK HERE! **


 * LET ME READ ALL AT ONCE! **


 * SUMMARY **

Here is a short video as a quick reminder of what you have read here about behaviourism.

media type="youtube" key="RU0zEGWp56Y?rel=0" height="360" width="640" source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU0zEGWp56Y&list=FLEq69pr6hf5tLQiNN5ScTQw&index=1&feature=plpp_video


 * REFERENCES **

Baum, William M. (2005). //Understanding Behaviorism: Behavior, Culture, and Evolution//. Oxford: Blackwell. Brown, H. D. (2000). //Principles of language learning and teaching (4th ed.)//. New York: Longman. Mcleod, S. A. (2007). //Simply Psychology//. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/ Woollard, John. (2010). //Psychology for the Classroom: Behaviourism//. London: Routledge.