Behaviorism is how people act. The behaviorist perspective is that it is more important to understand the observable behaviors rather than the thought process. Behaviorism can be taught or conditioned and there are two types of conditioning; Classical conditioning and operant conditioning.
classical conditioning
The theorists responsible for the research on classical conditioning are Ivan Pavlov and John Watson. In Pavlov's research, he used 3 phases of conditioning, preconditioning, conditioning, and post conditioning, and focused on creating involuntary responses to stimuli presented.
I'm going to share a few terms that will be helpful in understanding Pavlov's experiment:
Pavlov's experiment was that he presented meat (unconditioned stimulus) to a dog during the preconditioning phase and the dog began to salivate (unconditioned response). Next, during the conditioning phase, when he presented the meat (unconditioned stimulus) to the dog he also rang a bell (neutral stimulus) creating a connection between the two and the dog clearly began to salivate (unconditioned response), but clearly still because of the meat. This was process that was repeated. Eventually, during the post-conditioning phase, Pavlov stopped presenting the meat, but he continued to ring the bell (conditioned stimulus), and the dog began to salivate (conditioned/learned response).
classical conditioning
The theorists responsible for the research on classical conditioning are Ivan Pavlov and John Watson. In Pavlov's research, he used 3 phases of conditioning, preconditioning, conditioning, and post conditioning, and focused on creating involuntary responses to stimuli presented.
I'm going to share a few terms that will be helpful in understanding Pavlov's experiment:
- unconditioned stimulus- natural motivation that triggers an unconditioned response
- unconditioned response- natural reaction to an unconditioned stimulus
- neutral stimulus- in conditioning this is paired with an unconditioned stimulus to create a connection
- conditioned stimulus- previously the neutral stimulus
- conditioned response- this is the response that was learned from the conditioning and a response to the controlled (neutral) stimulus
Pavlov's experiment was that he presented meat (unconditioned stimulus) to a dog during the preconditioning phase and the dog began to salivate (unconditioned response). Next, during the conditioning phase, when he presented the meat (unconditioned stimulus) to the dog he also rang a bell (neutral stimulus) creating a connection between the two and the dog clearly began to salivate (unconditioned response), but clearly still because of the meat. This was process that was repeated. Eventually, during the post-conditioning phase, Pavlov stopped presenting the meat, but he continued to ring the bell (conditioned stimulus), and the dog began to salivate (conditioned/learned response).
John Watson believed that emotional responses could be learned. and he tested his theory in The Little Albert Experiment. This experiment consisted of conditioning 9 month old "Albert' to fear a white rat and other similar animals he once enjoyed. Watson did this by introducing a loud noise that scared little Albert every time the animal was present and eventually the child feared the animals due to thinking the noise would also be present. So in this experiment the loud noise was the unconditioned stimulus and fear was the unconditioned response. The rat was the neutral stimulus that was combined with the loud noise (UCS) which produced fear (UCR). The conditioned stimulus was the rat and the conditioned response was the fear. John Watson proved that emotions can be conditioned.
Operant Conditioning
B.F. Skinner believed that human action could be controlled through consequences and that either reinforcements, punishments or both could change behavior. Operant conditioning creates a mindset of wanting to repeat the actions that get reinforced and decline the actions that get punished.
There are two types of reinforcements:
From a classroom perspective, positive reinforcement could be giving a student their choice of a sticker when they say kind words to a friend and negative reinforcement in the classroom could be giving the students a test free week for good behavior on a field trip. The positive reinforcement added something good...the sticker. The negative reinforcement removed something not favorable...tests.
Skinner also believed that punishments might create a decline in unfavorable behavior. There are two types of punishments:
Again in the school setting, Punishment I may be used in P.E. if a child does not follow instructions and they are punished with 20 extra push-ups and Punishment II could be the removal of recess due to excess talking during instructional Math time. These do not eliminate the behavior, but may decrease them.
B.F. Skinner believed that human action could be controlled through consequences and that either reinforcements, punishments or both could change behavior. Operant conditioning creates a mindset of wanting to repeat the actions that get reinforced and decline the actions that get punished.
There are two types of reinforcements:
- positive reinforcement- adding something good
- negative reinforcement- removing something not favorable
From a classroom perspective, positive reinforcement could be giving a student their choice of a sticker when they say kind words to a friend and negative reinforcement in the classroom could be giving the students a test free week for good behavior on a field trip. The positive reinforcement added something good...the sticker. The negative reinforcement removed something not favorable...tests.
Skinner also believed that punishments might create a decline in unfavorable behavior. There are two types of punishments:
- Punishment I- adding something unfavorable
- Punishment II- removing something good
Again in the school setting, Punishment I may be used in P.E. if a child does not follow instructions and they are punished with 20 extra push-ups and Punishment II could be the removal of recess due to excess talking during instructional Math time. These do not eliminate the behavior, but may decrease them.