Dakota State University

Behaviorism
In Education
Ben Kullos
4/5/2013
EPSY 302
Dr. Mark Hawkes

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The Educational Theory of Behaviorism
Within the endless amount of theories of learning and education, one sticks out among
the rest. Behaviorism, also known as traditional learning theory, uses changes in observable
behavior as a measurement. John Watson is considered the father of Behaviorism. His article
Psychology as a Behaviorist Views It laid the foundation for other theorist to build upon. The
goal of the theory was to make psychology of learning more concrete and scientific. Rather than
thoughts or emotions, actions could now be studied and analyzed. The theory states actions are
responses to stimuli. The response is selected due to prior conditioning. Behaviorism at its core
is comprised of two major concepts vital to the success of teachers. Classical conditioning and
operant conditioning both show how without the theory, learning in schools and control of the
classroom would be nearly impossible.
First, classical conditioning makes use of involuntary actions such as a heart rate, but
usually is associated with emotions. The roots of Watsons beliefs can be tracked to Ivan Pavlov
(1849-1936). Pavlov was observing the process of salivation and its relation to the stomach when
he stumbled upon an event that would help solidify Watsons theory. Pavlov would ring a bell
when giving the dogs food. He took note that the dogs began to salivate at the sound of the
ringing. The bell became a conditioned stimulus and was followed by a conditioned response of
salivating. The ringing of bell alone would then cause the dogs to respond by salivating even
though no food was present. Pavlov did find if the bell rang and no food appeared, the dogs
would eventually not respond with the conditioned reflex. John Watson took the sample
experiment to the human level. His goal was to demonstrate how emotional reactions could be
conditioned using the classical approach. Watson used a nine month old child as the basis of the
experiment. The child, Albert B, was exposed to several unconditioned stimuli including a white
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rat, rabbit, money, masks, and burning newspaper. Albert showed no signs of fear towards any of
the objects. The next time the white rat was presented, Watson struck a metal pipe causing Albert
to cry. When the white rat was again presented, the child cried immediately without the striking
of the pipe. As in Pavlovs experiment, Watson was able to produce a conditioned response out
of his subject. The white rat, which had no effect on the child before, was coupled with the loud
sound and then the desired response was given. Both experiments provide concrete evidence of
the stability and predictability of classical conditioning. A teachers understanding of these basic
principles will lead to highly effective teaching strategies. An example of taking advantage of
classical conditioning could be students knowing when to perform a task based on a simple
gesture and word. Upon the first day of class, students are unfamiliar with a teachers routine.
Say for instance a teacher turns on his or her smart board and begins with the days lesson. The
students however, continue to talk until the teacher quiets down the class and asks for notebooks
to be taken out. The next day, the smart board is turned on, and once again the teacher begins the
lesson. Although less of the students are talking, again the students must be silenced, and
reminded to take out their notebooks. Upon day three, the smart board is turned on and without
hesitation the children silently take out their notebooks. The unconditioned stimulus was the
teacher asking that the students be quiet. The conditioned stimulus was the act of turning on the
smart board. By pairing the two stimuli together, the students were then able to associate being
quiet and taking out notebooks with the teachers gesture of turning on the smart board. Classical
conditioning is a key element to any teachers routine. In order for students to learn and be on
task, they must first feel comfortable in the routine the teacher has set. Classical conditioning
leads to effective and efficient teaching. As classical conditioning sets the foundation for
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routines, operant conditioning allows teachers the opportunity to condition desired voluntary
behaviors.
Operant conditioning results in behavioral changes due to a response from a
consequence. In another way, these behaviors are results of the demands of their environment.
The term operant conditioning is credited to Burrhus Frederic "B. F." Skinner. Skinners theory
was based upon his findings through his operant conditioning chamber, or as some called,
Skinner box. In the box, a food tray laid in the middle with a lever on the side. A rat could hit the
lever; a food pellet would be presented on the tray. He observed that after the rat seemingly
accidently bumped into the lever, the rate at which the lever was hit increased dramatically.
Skinner claimed if consequences were undesirable, the act in most cases would decrease.
Conversely, if the consequence was a desirable one, in this case food, the act would increase in
frequency. He proceeded to call the concept reinforcements. Operant conditioning consists of
three major notions, reinforcements, punishment, and shaping. Reinforcement is a process
following an event with a second event mean to increase the frequency of the first event. A
reinforcer is the second event. There are many different classifications of reinforcers, but they
consist manly positive and negative reinforcers. A positive reinforcer used the presentation of
stimulus to increase the likelihood of a given response. The stimulus is not necessarily pleasant,
but instead is just the act of adding something new to the situation. For example, most students
will work to earn the praise of a teacher, and create a positive reinforcer of praise from the
teacher. On the other hand, a student will act out in class just to get scolded. Scolding is being
presented, and therefore is still a positive reinforcer. The praise or scolding is referred to as a
social reinforcer. Social reinforcers are used when gesturing something such as a smile or
attention. Along with social, there are concrete reinforcers. These are actual objects such as a
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snack, sticker, or toy. Lastly, activity reinforcement is an opportunity to engage in a favorite
activity. Using an activity can prove very useful in positive reinforcing. Allowing a student to
participate in his or her favorite activity will greatly increase the desired act. Opposite to
positive, negative reinforcement uses the removal of stimulus, usually undesirable to increase a
response. Once again, negative does not necessarily imply a judgment of any kind. For instance,
a teacher can tell his or her class at the end of every week there will be a quiz. If every student
turns in their homework however, there will be no quiz. Because the unpleasant quiz is being
taken away from the students, the response of completing homework is now reinforced. As
reinforcement increases a response, punishment works to decrease response. Punishment is
broken down into presentational and removal punishment. Presentational, as in the name, uses an
added stimulus, usually undesired, to decrease the frequency of an act. A common example of
presentational punishment would be a student talking without raising his or her hand and being
scolded by a teacher. The teacher is presenting the stimuli of scolding to the student, and
therefore is less likely to repeat the act of talking out of turn. Earlier a similar situation was
explained for positive reinforcement. The same can be said for both because it depends on the
student. If the child is not seeking scolding or negative attention, then the act will occur less
frequently. If the student is hoping for any kind of attention good or bad however, the act will
continue. The other half of punishment is by removal. Removal punishment takes away a
stimulus, usually one that the student finds pleasurable. When having students participate in
some kind of hands on activity, there is always a chance for misbehavior. If a student is acting
out, removal punishment takes him or her away from the activity they find enjoyable. By placing
a student in a time out for a given time, punishment by removal has been completed, and
therefore the student is less likely to repeat the act. The last part of operant conditioning is
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shaping. Shaping can best be described as the small steps between the final result response and
the initial start. Going back to B.F. Skinners operant box, the theory of shaping is confirmed.
The goal was to have the rat press the lever which allowed a pellet of food to fall. Before the
final result was accomplished, the rat first needed to know to go near the lever. He was then
rewarded for that small step. Next the rat learned to touch the lever, and then eventually to press
the lever down. Those three intermittent steps are the process of shaping to achieve a greater
goal. Say for example, a teachers long term goal is for a given student to be able to read one
page out loud. The shaping method would allow the teacher to condition the student to read only
a few sentences, then a paragraph, and finally the whole page. The small steps make what
seemed as a daunting task now more manageable.
Behaviorism uses classical and operant conditioning to control the frequency of a
response. Mostly any situation in the classroom uses these theories to teach and control the
classroom. Without the collaboration of B.F. Skinner, John Watson, and Ivan Pavlov, the theory
of behaviorism would not exist. More importantly, classroom routines, daily objectives, and
learning in general would cease to exist.


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