Some notes on behaviourism

(This is in no way intended to constitute a proper introduction, but to accompany the selective discussion in class.)

3 February 2010

See also www.learningandteaching.info/learning/behaviour.htm and links from there.

JSA

Behavioural objectives

JSA

On completion of this session you should be able to:• Describe two features which distinguish behaviourism from

other approaches to learning• Name three major figures in the development of

behaviourist theory and specify their contributions• Name the two major strands of behaviourism• Describe the experimental basis of :

Classical conditioning Operant conditioning

• Give two examples of how each can be applied to teaching and learning in education

• Give one example of how the social environment of the classroom may hinder the application of behavioural principles

This is how the “instructional designers” (behaviourists allowed out into the real

world) tell us we should plan our sessions.

That was a mouthful …why?• Behaviourism’s influence on education has been

to make all tasks very explicit• Described in “behavioural outcomes/objectives”

which: Are expressed in active verbs describing directly

observable behaviour Are pre-determined before you start teaching

• What impact might such a discipline have?• Think about it for a minute.

JSA a.k.a. “SMART” (Look it up)

Behaviourism is (was?)

• Attempt to put psychology on a scientific footing

• …by rejecting references to mind or mental states Or anything which could not be directly

observed

• To create a science of behaviour

JSA

Its influence has seriously declined in the past quarter-century with the “cognitive

revolution”

Characterised by:

• Rigorous experimental methodology

• Usually using animalsbut• In laboratory situations, and• Naïve application to human beings

JSA

Figures in the history of behaviourism

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John Broadus Watson

• 1878-1958• “Founder” of

Behavio(u)rism Environmental

emphasis Rejects “mind”

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• Professor of Psychology at Johns Hopkins University

• Believer in the power of the environment: “Give me a dozen healthy infants ... and my own

specified world to bring them up in, and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select — doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and yes, even beggar-man and thief— regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies,

abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors.”• Left university in 1920 after a scandal to sell rubber boots, but

became the boss of a powerful advertising agency.

JSA

He wrote this in 1906, I believe. Behaviourism has often been

associated with conservatism and the political right. Not so here. Watson was either very radical, very naive,

or very arrogant. Or all three.

Edward Lee Thorndike

• 1874-1949• Animal Intelligence

(1911)• Trial and error• Law of Effect• Law of Exercise

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• Law of Effect: “A response is more or less likely to

occur depending on whether it produces a satisfying or annoying state of affairs” (1898)

• and Law of Exercise: Learning improves with practice

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He would not have been allowed to get away with this subjective language by later

hard-line behaviourists

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov

• 1849-1936• Physiologist: Nobel

prize 1904• Worked on

conditioned reflexes from 1897

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Classical Conditioning• Unconditioned

Stimulus Unconditioned Response

• Unconditioned Stimulus together with Conditioned Stimulus Unconditioned Response

• Conditioned Stimulus Conditioned Response

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Burrhus F Skinner

• 1904-1990• Most prominent

behaviourist• Operant

conditioning

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Some people call him a “neo-behaviourist”. He does make

some allowance for the way the capabilities of the “organism” affect the Stimulus-Response process but as far as he was concerned he was the Real

Thing

Operant conditioning

• Behaviour which is reinforced is more likely to be repeated. This behaviour can be shaped by

progressively more specific reinforcement

Reinforcement of desired behaviour is more effective than punishment of undesired behaviour

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• Lack of reinforcement leads to extinction

• The schedule of reinforcement is complex

• Reinforcement depends on the value of the reinforcer to the subject

• Reinforcement can be the removal of a noxious stimulus (“negative reinforcement”) ”anticipatory-avoidance learning”

• Loss of connection between reinforcement and action leads to passivity and fatalism (“learned helplessness”)

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Applications

• Break down learning into behavioural steps

• Reinforce for success Do not punish for lack of success

• Establish (“stamp in”) each step before proceeding

• Gradually “fade out” reinforcement As secondary reinforcers take over

• Overall process known as Behaviour Modification.

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Skinner’s project

• Teaching machines and instructional technology

• Perfect communities— Walden Two (1948)

• Beyond Freedom and Dignity (1973)

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Critique

• Limited by self-imposed constraints of diminishing relevance

• Limited applicability in real-world human learning

• Project undermined by “Cognitive Revolution” from mid-70s onwards: Understanding of genetic influences Ability to trace brain activity Chomsky on language

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Significant points

• It works, but it is not the whole story• It is minute-to-minute stuff• It is (properly) reflex stuff• It happens willy-nilly

JSA

Did we meet the objectives?On completion of this session you should be

able to:• Describe two features which distinguish

behaviourism from other approaches to learning• Name three major figures in the development of

behaviourist theory and specify their contributions• Name the two major strands of behaviourism• Describe the experimental basis of :

Classical conditioning Operant conditioning

• Give two examples of how each can be applied to teaching and learning in education

• Give one example of how the social environment of the classroom may hinder the application of behavioural principles

JSA

I hope not. If we did I have wasted my time and yours.

Discuss!

JSA