Behaviorism

Behaviorism

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  Behaviorism
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  Introduction • Behaviorism refersto a psychological approach which emphasizes scientific and objective methods of investigation. The approach is only concerned with observable stimulus-response behaviors, and states all behaviors are learned through interaction with the environment. [email protected] 2
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  Basic Assumptions • Allbehavior is learned from the environment: Behaviorism emphasizes the role of environmental factors in influencing behavior, to the near exclusion of innate or inherited factors. This amounts essentially to a focus on learning. We learn new behavior through classical or operant conditioning (collectively known as 'learning theory').Therefore, when born our mind is 'tabula rasa' (a blank slate). • There is little difference between the learning that takes place in humans and that in other animals: There's no fundamental (qualitative) distinction between human and animal behavior. Therefore, research can be carried out on animals as well as humans (i.e., comparative psychology).Consequently, rats and pigeons became the primary source of data for behaviorists, as their environments could be easily controlled. [email protected] 3
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  Basic Assumptions • Behavioris the result of stimulus-response: All behavior, no matter how complex, can be reduced to a simple stimulus-response association). Watson described the purpose of psychology as: To predict, given the stimulus, what reaction will take place; or, given the reaction, state what the situation or stimulus is that has caused the reaction.' [email protected] 4
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  Types of Behaviorism •Methodological Behaviorism • Radical Behaviorism • Radical behaviorism was founded by B.F Skinner and agreed with the assumption of methodological behaviorism that the goal of psychology should be to predict and control behavior. • Skinner, like Watson, also recognized the role of internal mental events, and while he agreed such private events could not be used to explain behavior, he proposed they should be explained in the analysis of behavior. • Another important distinction between methodological and radical behaviorism concerns the extent to which environmental factors influence behavior. Watson's (1913) methodological behaviorism asserts the mind is tabula rasa (a blank slate) at birth. In contrast, radical behaviorism accepts the view that organisms are born with innate behaviors, and thus recognizes the role of genes and biological components in behavior. [email protected] 5
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  Skinner - OperantConditioning • Introduction Skinner is regarded as the father of Operant Conditioning. B.F. Skinner (1938) coined the term operant conditioning; it means roughly changing of behavior by the use of reinforcement which is given after the desired response. Skinner identified some types of responses or operant that can follow behavior. [email protected] 6
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  Types of Responses •1 Reinforcement: Responses from the environment that increase the probability of a behavior being repeated. Reinforcement can be either positive or negative. • Positive Reinforcement • Positive reinforcement strengthens a behavior by providing a consequence an individual finds rewarding. For example, if your teacher gives you Rupee 1000 each time you complete your homework (i.e., a reward) you will be more likely to repeat this behavior in the future, thus strengthening the behavior of completing your homework. [email protected] 7
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  Types of Responses NegativeReinforcement • The removal of an unpleasant reinforcer can also strengthen behavior. This is known as negative reinforcement because it is the removal of an adverse stimulus which is ‘rewarding’ to the animal or person. Negative reinforcement strengthens behavior because it stops or removes an unpleasant experience. • For example, if you do not complete your homework, you give your teacher Rupee 1000. You will complete your homework to avoid paying Rupee 1000, thus strengthening the behavior of completing your homework. [email protected] 8
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  Types of Responses •2 Punishment • Punishment is defined as the opposite of reinforcement since it is designed to weaken or eliminate a response rather than increase it. It is an aversive event that decreases the behavior that it follows. • Like reinforcement, punishment can work either by directly applying an unpleasant stimulus like a shock after a response or by removing a potentially rewarding stimulus, for instance, deducting someone’s pocket money to punish undesirable behavior. [email protected] 9
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  Areas of Application •1 Educational Applications • In the conventional learning situation, operant conditioning applies largely to issues of class and student management, rather than to learning content. It is very relevant to shaping skill performance. • A simple way to shape behavior is to provide feedback on learner performance, e.g., compliments, approval, encouragement, and affirmation. A variable-ratio produces the highest response rate for students learning a new task, whereby initially reinforcement (e.g., praise) occurs at frequent intervals, and as the performance improves reinforcement occurs less frequently, until eventually only exceptional outcomes are reinforced. • For example, if a teacher wanted to encourage students to answer questions in class they should praise them for every attempt (regardless of whether their answer is correct). Gradually the teacher will only praise the students when their answer is correct, and over time only exceptional answers will be praised. [email protected] 10
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  Areas of Application •2 Behavior Shaping • A further important contribution made by Skinner (1951) is the notion of behavior shaping through successive approximation. Skinner argues that the principles of operant conditioning can be used to produce extremely complex behavior if rewards and punishments are delivered in such a way as to encourage move an organism closer and closer to the desired behavior each time. • To do this, the conditions (or contingencies) required to receive the reward should shift each time the organism moves a step closer to the desired behavior. • According to Skinner, most animal and human behavior (including language) can be explained as a product of this type of successive approximation. [email protected] 11
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  Limitations • Humanism rejectsthe scientific method of using experiments to measure and control variables because it creates an artificial environment and has low ecological validity. • Humanistic psychology also assumes that humans have free will (personal agency) to make their own decisions in life and do not follow the deterministic laws of science. Humanism also rejects the nomothetic approach of behaviorism as they view humans as being unique and believe humans cannot be compared with animals. [email protected] 12
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  Conclusion • An obviousadvantage of behaviorism is its ability to define behavior clearly and to measure changes in behavior. According to the law of parsimony, the fewer assumptions a theory makes, the better and the more credible it is. Behaviorism, therefore, looks for simple explanations of human behavior from a very scientific standpoint. • However, behaviorism only provides a partial account of human behavior, that which can be objectively viewed. Important factors like emotions, expectations, higher-level motivation are not considered or explained. Accepting a behaviorist explanation could prevent further research from other perspective that could uncover important factors. [email protected] 13