Would it be overstating the obvious to say that the behaviorist learning theory blows my mind? Behaviorism lies in black or white, right or wrong. Self-reports have no room at the table with behaviorism; all data must be absolutely observable. This is starting to sound like Data from Star Trek!
Behaviorism can be classical conditioning, as demonstrated by Pavlov’s dog experiment (Harasim, 2012, p. 32). Here you thought when you heard a bell an angle just got their wings; nope, Rover just got dinner. Operant conditioning (Skinner’s work; Harasim, 2012, p. 32) describes “reinforcement of a behavior by a reward or punishment.” Under the behavioral theory the stimulus results in a response, and there is nothing in between. The mind is a big black box that is pretty much vacant.
I have two observations about behaviorism. First, students LOVE it. They LOVE having one right answer. This pretty much is new information they have learned by rote memorization and successfully spit back out. Recall test questions are the easiest to write, and the easiest to take. Check out this link:
http://www.vignetteslearning.com/vignettes/i-choose-c-video.php
Second, LIFE is not behaviorist. Look at any patient with an addiction (food, drugs, playing the ponies, smoking) and there is SO much angst between the stimulus (“oh that pizza looks good, but I’m really trying to lose that last 10 pounds”) and the response. Something’s cooking between those ears! So, I find it hard to believe anyone really embraced the behaviorist learning theory – move over for the cognitivist (and constructivist!).
Ref: Harasim, L. (2012). Learning theory and online technologies. New York, NY: Routledge.
Behaviorism can be classical conditioning, as demonstrated by Pavlov’s dog experiment (Harasim, 2012, p. 32). Here you thought when you heard a bell an angle just got their wings; nope, Rover just got dinner. Operant conditioning (Skinner’s work; Harasim, 2012, p. 32) describes “reinforcement of a behavior by a reward or punishment.” Under the behavioral theory the stimulus results in a response, and there is nothing in between. The mind is a big black box that is pretty much vacant.
I have two observations about behaviorism. First, students LOVE it. They LOVE having one right answer. This pretty much is new information they have learned by rote memorization and successfully spit back out. Recall test questions are the easiest to write, and the easiest to take. Check out this link:
http://www.vignetteslearning.com/vignettes/i-choose-c-video.php
Second, LIFE is not behaviorist. Look at any patient with an addiction (food, drugs, playing the ponies, smoking) and there is SO much angst between the stimulus (“oh that pizza looks good, but I’m really trying to lose that last 10 pounds”) and the response. Something’s cooking between those ears! So, I find it hard to believe anyone really embraced the behaviorist learning theory – move over for the cognitivist (and constructivist!).
Ref: Harasim, L. (2012). Learning theory and online technologies. New York, NY: Routledge.
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