BEHAVIORISM HOW IT WORKS IN THE CLASSROOM

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BEHAVIORISMHOW IT WORKS IN THE CLASSROOM

• Irina Leonov
• Kathleen Coolman
• Kori Cohen
• Morgan Carey
• Sarah Dummer
• Tyler Bayer

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Roots of Behaviorism

• John B. Watson
• Ivan Pavlov
• B.F Skinner
• Launched in 1913

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John Broadus Watson (1878- 1958)

• Watson was born to a large, poor, rural family in
  South Carolina.
• Influenced by the Nobel Prize-winning (1904) work
  of Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)

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B.F. Skinner

• Born in Susquhanna, PA.
• He was a teacher, psychologist and inventor
• Studied and taught at Harvard

Photo taken in 1971 by Joyce Dopkeen - New York
Times/Hulton Archive/Getty Images (Accessed July
30, 2009 from http//www.britannica.com/EBchecked/
topic-art/334034/109857/BF-Skinner-1971)
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Ivan Pavlov

• Born on September 14, 1849 in Ryazan, Russia
• Russian physiologist
• Research on the physiology of digestion would
  earn him the Nobel Prize

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How it works

• Focuses on the learning of behaviors
• Goal was to predict and control behavior
• All behavior can be explained through the process
  of learning.
• Emphasizes the role of experience in a persons
  life, shaping development from childhood into
  adulthood.
• Psychology of development should study behavior
  rather than speculate about unobservable
  behavior.

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Social, Emotional Cognitive

• Emphasizes the role of more experienced people in
  the process of learning.
• Zone of Proximal Development
• Cognitive development should be studied through
  the observations of behavior.

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Two Types of Conditioning

• Classical Conditioning

• Operant Conditioning

• Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (18491936)

• B.F Skinner (190490)
• Thorndike

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Classical Conditioning

• When a natural stimulus is replaced by a new or
  conditioned stimulus and still produces the
  original response.

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Before Conditioning

• Unconditioned
  Unconditioned
• Stimulus
  Response
• Neutral
  No
• Stimulus
  Response

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During Conditioning

• Neutral Unconditioned
  Unconditioned
• Stimulus Stimulus
  Response

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After Conditioning

• Neutral
  Conditioned
• Stimulus
  Response
• When alone, the neutral stimulus now produces the
  original response. Therefore, the neutral
  stimulus has become the conditioned stimulus
  producing the conditioned response.

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Operant Conditioning

• When behavior is maximized if followed by
  reinforcement, or minimized if followed by
  punishment.
• The act operates on the environment to produce
  rewarding or punishing stimuli.
• - David G. Myers

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Conditioning.jpg
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Criticisms of Behaviorism

• Behaviorism is naturalistic. This means that the
  material world is the ultimate reality, and
  everything can be explained in terms of natural
  laws. Man has no soul and no mind, only a brain
  that responds to external stimuli.

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Criticisms of Behaviorism cont.

• Behaviorism teaches that man is nothing more than
  a machine that responds to conditioning. One
  writer has summarized behaviorism in this way
  The central principle of behaviorism is that
  thoughts, feelings, and intentions, mental
  processes all, do not determine what we do. Our
  behavior is the product of our conditioning. We
  are biological machines and do not consciously
  act rather we react to stimuli.

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Criticisms of Behaviorism cont.

• Consistently, behaviorism teaches that we are not
  responsible for our actions. If we are mere
  machines, without minds or souls, reacting to
  stimuli and operating on our environment to
  attain certain ends, then anything we do is
  inevitable. Sociobiology, a type of behaviorism,
  compares man to a computer Garbage in, garbage
  out

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Criticisms of Behaviorism cont.

• Behaviorism is manipulative. It seeks not merely
  to understand human behavior, but to predict and
  control it. From his theories, Skinner developed
  the idea of shaping. By controlling rewards and
  punishments, you can shape the behavior of
  another person.

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Behaviorism in the Classroom

• Classroom behavior management
• Small rewards can motivate students
• Games with a point system can be used in
  memorization tasks
• Keep a pleasant environment during class to avoid
  conditioning kids to dislike certain subjects
• Use behaviorist methods (rewards or punishment)
  to practice what has already been taught, not to
  teach

students.ou.edu/.../images/JHerb20Classroom.JPG
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Social Studies

• Behaviorism does little to develop analytical and
  comprehension skills, so it may be of limited use
  in the social studies classroom
• Helpful in memorization of facts or important
  dates, but this type of information should only
  play a supporting role in understanding the
  larger concepts being studied.

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Mathematics

• Behaviorism is especially applicable to memory
  tasks that may be required in math class
• Reward system will motivate kids to answer
  correctly, but will not directly aid in
  understanding concepts

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mathematics.jpg
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References

• Babkin, B.P. (1949). Pavlov A Biography.
  Toronto, Canada The University of Chicago Press.
  
• "behaviourism n."  A Dictionary of Psychology.
  Edited by Andrew M. Colman. Oxford University
  Press 2009. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford
  University Press.  Portland State University.  11
  August 2009  lthttp//www.oxfordreference.com/views
  /ENTRY.html?subviewMainentryt87.e951gt
• Gauvain, Mary, E. Mavis Hetherington, Virginia
  Otis Locke, and Ross D. Parke. Child Psychology A
  Contemporary Viewpoint Sixth 6th Edition. New
  York Mcgraw Hill, 2006.
• Myers, David G. (2004). Psychology Seventh
  Edition Modules. New York Worth Publishers.
• O'Donnell, J. M. (1985). The origins of
  behaviorism American psychology, 1870-1920.New
  York New York University Press.
• Phillips, D. C., and Jonas F. Soltis.
  Perspectives on Learning (Thinking About
  Education Series). New York Teachers College
  Press, 2004.

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