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Behaviourism is a theory of animal and human learning that focuses
upon the behaviour of the learner and the change in behaviour that occurs when learning
takes place. Learning in the context of behaviourism can be defined as the acquisition
of a new behaviour or the modification of behaviour as a result of teaching, training
or tutoring.
Wollard, 2010
Behaviourism is...underpinned by the principles of stimulus-response,
and all behaviour is explained without the need to consider internal mental states
or consciousness. However, those internal states such as belief, motivation and satisfaction
can be represented bypatterns of behaviour.
Wollard, 2010
Behaviour modification
[B]ehaviour...is changed by positively reinforcing (rewarding)
an appropriate behaviour but ignoring inappropriate behaviour.
Woollard, 2010
Modern
behaviourism
Modern behaviourism asserts that:
A simple stimulus-response is the foundation of all behaviour;
From birth a person's motivation and behaviour is influenced by environment,
experiences, and actions of other people;
Human learning behaviours are inferred from animal learning behaviour under
experimental conditions;
Interventions should be based on objective observation;
New behaviour is generated through classical or operant conditioning or
modelling;
Old behaviour is modified through rewards and punishments;
Outward behaviours reflect internal states; and
Some rewards are internal.
(Wollard, 2010)
Behaviourists
and key dates
The behaviourists and their key ideas:
Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)
Classical conditioning
Edward Thorndike (1874-1949)
Law of effect (behaviour rewarded positively strengthens the response)
John Watson (1878-1954)
Stimulus–response theory; coined 'Behaviourism'
Burrhus Frederick Skinner (1904-1990)
Operant conditioning
Albert Bandura (born 1925)
Social learning theory
Observational learning
(Pound, 2008)
Behaviourism: John Watson's contribution
John Watson promoted behaviourism in its most radical form in which the role of
the mind as
an object of study is denied and all behaviour is explained as a response to chains
of stimuli (from the environment).
Albert
Bandura
Bandura's 'reciprocal determinism' incorporated into the radical behaviourist approach
– which focused on stimulus-response, measurable behaviours and learning through reinforcement
– a belief that:
Human behaviour influences the environment (eg internal motivation, self-efficacy,
attention, memory);
Human behaviour influences others' behaviour (eg role models; children's
selective observation and imitation).
(Tilstone and Layton, 2004; Wollard, 2010; also Bee and Boyd, 2010)
Operant conditioning: Burrhus Skinner's impact
Operant conditioning is the process of 'shaping' responses towards a target behaviour
by successively rewarding the achievement of sub-targets building up to the desired
target behaviour.
Skinner demonstrated how behaviours can be reinforced through reward (positive
reinforcement) or through the ending of something unpleasant (negative reinforcement).
(Tilstone and Layton, 2004)
Behaviourism:
Lovaas and autism
Ivar Lovaas (1927-2010) used Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) approaches with children with autism at a time when society
considered them ineducable.
However, his methods were controversially aversive and would be considered abusive
today. He also made flawed claims of 47% 'recovery' for children educated using his
methods (Copeland, 2010).
Notwithstanding, this context, Copeland writes:
ABA has been
used successfully with tens of thousands of children with autism...to eliminate unwanted
behaviors (self-injury, for example), and to promote desired behaviors, including
communication, adaptive skills, and at least the outward forms of social behavior
(http://www.lovaas.com/).
Copeland, 2010
Theory based
approaches and strategies
Education has generalised a number of strategies and approaches from behaviourism.
These include:
Systematic approaches;
The importance of observation;
Task analysis;
Accurate record keeping and analysis;
Structured evaluation;
Antecedent/Behaviour/Consequence (ABC)
analysis;
Techniques in developing new skills (eg prompting, shaping,
modelling, chaining); and
Rewards (eg token economies).
(Tilstone and Layton, 2004)
Summarise the approaches used in your classroom that are drawn from the behaviourist
tradition.
Take a particular example and describe how an intervention was implemented based
on the 'systematic approaches' principles listed on this slide.
Ethics
Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and
misguided men.
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