Behaviorism
Most of us these days would like to believe that a theory of learning like behaviorism doesn’t exist, that it is a long-gone theory only existing in the mind of a few out of touch psychologists. In fact, most of us cringe at the thought that humans could, and perhaps do, learn and behave like dogs, rats and pigeons, that we salivate at the thought of food, or that we are a product of a biology that we cannot purge. Most of use would, however be more comfortable with behaviorism if we understood it better.
Essentially, behaviorism is the idea of stimulus-response, that if X occurs, Y will follow. We live our lives every day with this principle and do hundreds of things based on the stimulus-response model. If I touch fire, it will hurt, so I pull my hand away; hit my knee with a small hammer, and it will jerk. It is simple enough. Carried further, we can achieve a conditioned response, where we have learned to have a response. If the light turns red, then I stop my car. And, carried yet further, if there is a stimulus, I will have a response, and if I am reinforced for having that response, the frequency of that response will be reinforced.
Ivan Pavlov’s work with his dog and classic conditioning, the idea that you could condition a reflex, signaled the beginning of behaviorism. He found that he could give food to a dog and it would salivate, ring a bell instead of giving food and the dog would salivate as well. The stimulus, food, generated a response, but the response could be conditioned as well. John Watson, a colorful character who had trouble with his love life and his professional career, continued in this vane and was really the first to put behaviorism into the American vocabulary. His experimental subjects were not dogs, but rats, whom he trained to do real-life learning tasks for food rewards (behaviorism.html). He believed that mental concepts had little or no impact on behavior. Because of career missteps, Watson wrote mainly from a layperson’s perspective, but managed to apply his theories of behaviorism to everyday issues such as advertising. He is, however, referred to as the father of behaviorism.
B.F. Skinner, on the other hand, took behaviorism one step further with his experiments on reinforcement. He believed that behaviorism was not all about reflexes; rather, reinforcement of a response was responsible for learning. This is called operant conditioning. Skinner believed that both positive and negative reinforcement existed, and that behavior could be shaped until it approximated the target behavior. He later applied this theory to learning. Behaviorist theories of learning are, “. . . relatively simple to understand because it relies only on observable behavior and describes several universal laws of behavior. Its positive and negative reinforcement techniques can be very effective--both in animals, and in treatments for human disorders such as autism and antisocial behavior. Behaviorism often is used by teachers, who reward or punish student behaviors,” (Funderstanding, 2002)
Obviously, there are many criticisms of behaviorism. The theory cannot account for all kinds of learning, nor can it explain some learning. Additionally, the human idea of free will and responsibility for actions is lost. "The central tenet 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," (Cohen, 1987).
Instructional technology has had a long partnership with behaviorism. Skinner was one of the first to apply his theories of behaviorism to instruction with his teaching machine, a machine that rewarded the learner every time a correct answer was given. This teaching machine later grew into Programmed Instruction, and is still a part of many of today’s computer assisted learning, particularly in the filed of language learning.
References
Funderstanding (2002). Introduction to Behaviorism. [WWW document]. Retrieved September 20, 2002 from http://www.funderstanding.com/behaviorism.cfm.
Cohen, David. "Behaviorism," in The Oxford Companion to the Mind, Richard L. Gregory, ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987), p. 71.