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Behaviorism

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An insight to Behaviorism:

There are various theories discussed and formed to understand the development of humans. One of the dominant theories among these theories is Behaviorism. From the work of a psychologist named John B. Watson, in around 1870s, the behaviorism was originated (Coon, 2005). He was impressed by the work of Ivan Pavlov and was influenced by him. Before his experiments and notion came into existence, psychologists were concerned with the development of mind and mental processes. However, he opposed to this view and strongly believed that psychology should not be concerned with how mind and mental processes work, instead psychology should be concerned with behavior.  He believed that we need something stable, something that can be measured to understand the human development (Cohen, 2009). That prospect that could be measured according to him was the behavior of human. Thereby this notion of human development was formed. The main argument of behaviorists is that behavior should be studied because it could be dealt directly. It is something we could see and measure. However, mind and mental processes in the psychology should be ignored since it could not be dealt directly. It is something which could result in inconsistency (Henton & Iversen, 2011). Behaviorism emphasized the importance of psychologists studying only the observable behavior. One of the proponents of this theory was B.F.Skinner, whose experiment was named as Operant Conditioning. He believed that behavior can be conditioned. His experiment on Operant Conditioning will be further discussed by giving a brief to his experiment and his principles, positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement and punishment. Furthermore, the relationship between different developmental stages and learning through Operant Conditioning would be discussed and also how to apply this to the classroom will be examined.

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Operant Conditioning by B.F.Skinner:

Skinner was one of the influential psychologists in behaviorism. He made his reputations by testing and taking a step above the experiments of Watson and Pavlov, another two influential psychologists. He dismissed the notion that organisms were passive and they do not have any control over their behavior. He believed that we behave in certain ways because if we act in certain ways it provides us a particular consequence (Coon, Mitterer, Talbot, & Vanchella, 2010.). He further believed that our behaviors are determined by the pleasant and unpleasant consequences of our behavior. Therefore, according to him organisms are clearly a thing which could be operated in any way we want if we provide them a pleasant consequence of that particular action. Skinner did several experiments to explain his notion using animals such as mice and pigeons. He carried these experiments in a box which was named as “Skinner box” where the behavior can be measured and controlled (Cohen, 2009). The experiment which was used the rat will be further demonstrated.

Fig.1: Skinner box

            Skinner placed a hungry rat in the box like the one shown in Fig.1. Inside the box was a bar connected to a pallet (food) dispenser. The rat was all alone in the box therefore he was running here and there exploring the box. When the rat was running around, exploring the box in different angles, at some point he found a bar in the box. He then pressed the bar; not knowing what would be the consequence. But when he pressed the bar, a small food pallet was released. The hungry rat ate the food pallet and the behavior was soon again continued. It was because the rat was hungry and was in need for food and by pressing the bar his desired response was made, a pallet of food. Thereby he wants to repeat the response and therefore he made the action, pressing the bar. After this behavior of the rat, Skinner concluded that a behavior reinforced by a pleasant consequence increases the probability of that behavior occurring in the future (Henton & Iversen, 2011) since in his experiment, the food reinforces bar pressing and soon the rate of pressing the bar increased.

            Skinner wanted to know the consequence if he stopped giving the food even if the rat pressed the bar. Therefore, he disconnected the food dispenser. When the rat pressed the bar there was no food released. But before skinner offered food every time the rat pressed the bar. By not providing the food even if the rat pressed the bar, the action, pressing the bar was less frequent and finally at some point the action totally was diminished. After this response of the rat, skinner was quite sure of his experiment. He then concluded that if a pleasant consequence is rewarded to particular behavior, then the behavior increases and in similar way, if an unpleasant consequence is followed by the particular behavior, the behavior decreases (Henton & Iversen, 2011).

            Skinner then varied the experiment by linking it to the light. The condition was that the food will be released only by pressing the bar when the light was on but if the light was off there will not be any food rewarded. Soon the rat figured out this condition and he began pressing the bar when the light was on and avoided pressing the bar when the light was off. Based on this experiment, Skinner was assured that animal is active and the occurrence of increase of response is followed by its consequence, reinforce (Cohen, 2009). He introduced the word “operant” after this experiment which means that organisms operate on the environment.

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Principles of Operant Conditioning:

There are mainly two principles to Operant Conditioning, Reinforcement and Punishment. Reinforcement can be further categorized as negative and positive reinforcement. First of all, let us look at what actually is reinforcement. According to (Yunus, Razali, & Jantan ( 2011), reinforcement is defined as any event that increases the probability of response. Therefore, reinforcement is something which will increase the response that is made by the organism. It is important to distinguish between positive and negative reinforcement. Here is a video to further understand reinforcement theory.

Positive reinforcement:

            A positive reinforce is a stimulus which will increase the probability of the particular behavior occurring in the future (Henton & Iversen, 2011). If we look at the experiment by skinner, a positive reinforcement was made. The behavior was pressing the bar, a desired response was given to that behavior, a food pallet and therefore the action continued. Here the positive reinforcement is made through rewarding the food which increased the behavior happening again.

Negative reinforcement:

            A negative reinforcement is a stimulus which when removed would increase the probability of particular action or behavior occurring in the future (Cohen, 2009). The behavior will be more frequent or will increase if we remove the particular action. The objective of negative reinforcement is to increase the probability of particular action occurring in the future. In the Skinner box, at first there was an electric shock introduced when the rat jumped around, but when the rat started to press the bar, the shock was switched off which made the action, pressing the bar increase.

Punishment:

            Punishment is often regarded as negative reinforcement. But these two are separate elements. The objective of punishment is to decrease the probability of particular action occurring in the future, while the objective of negative reinforcement is to increase the probability of particular action occurring in the future (Cohen, 2009). For instance, if the rat was given an electric shock every time the rat pressed the bar, there is unlikely probability that he will repeat this behavior.

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Relationship between the different developmental stages and learning:

There are mainly three 3 stages of developmental, Early childhood (0-6 years), Middle Childhood (7-12 years) and Adolescence (13-21 years) (Yunus, Razali, & Jantan, 2011). At this point, it is needed to highlight the fact that the behavioral perspective denies the notion of people universally pass through a series of stages. Behaviorism emphasizes the effect of environmental stimuli which people are to be exposed. In Operant conditioning, whether the child or adult repeating a behavior is backed up by the fact that the behavior is followed by reinforcement.

 Early childhood (0-6 years):

            It is one of the most crucial stages in the development of a human. From this stage onwards, human actions can be molded in any way we want. At this stage the most basic elements of the life like walking, jumping, speaking and so on and so forth is learned (Yunus, Razali, & Jantan, 2011). At this stage even, operant conditioning plays an important role. For example let us take an example of a child who is trying to draw a bird. When the child draws a several lines in a paper, in an unorganized pattern, the parent claps and laughs which makes the child to repeat the behavior again. As explained by the skinner in his experiment, the rat repeated the behavior because he got a desired response. The child has got a desired response even when the child drew several lines, therefore the child will be reinforced to repeat the action again. But, if there is no response to the action the child did, the behavior will be diminished.

Middle Childhood (7-12 years):

           The middle childhood is the phase where children are more exposed to the environment surrounding them. Children develop in terms of cognitive, emotional, physical and so on so forth. Here the important factor to highlight is that in this stage, the conditioning process will be much easier and much needed. Every child is unique in certain ways, but if they are conditioned in the proper manner the child will be a productive child to the society (Yunus, Razali, & Jantan, 2011). In this stage, for example a child does not want to socialize, but the socializing can be improved if the child is given a desired response from socializing. For example a child likes to reads books, by sending her to a community where the people are also interested in reading books, the child will be interested to be with them since she is getting to read books and get information about books if she is with them. Therefore, the behavior will be reinforced, similar way if they have different interests, the behavior will be diminished. It is unlikely that she will want to socialize.

Adolescence (13-21 years):

            At this stage, the behavior of the individual is more matured and more influenced by the environment which is surrounding them (Yunus, Razali, & Jantan, 2011). At this stage, some may think that the behavior cannot be molded since the individual has become mature and he has his own thoughts and ideas. But according to the Operant conditioning, the things that are happening in the mind of the individual is not much cared for, instead is the behavior that is important and that can be shaped in any way we want, given the correct response. For example, an individual choosing a career to study, if he is assured of the benefits of that particular career, then he will be more willing to choose that carrier. The individual is reinforced on his decision. However, if we point out the limitations and overweigh the limitations over the pros, then the likely possibility is that the individual will no longer have interest in choosing that career. Therefore, the action is something that is revolved around the consequence of that particular action.

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