Lecture 9

Behaviourism

Learning

A relatively permanent change in an individuals behaviour

Changes in the amount or type of knowledge we have or the way in which we reason with the world

Behaviourism

Emphasises learning

They are interested in observable responses to changes in the environment

Critiques of behaviourism

Doesn’t account for complex internal cognitive processing

Behaviourism - basic assumptions

• Empirical data

• Controlled observation and measurement

• A person’s environment determines their behaviour

• A person’s environment determines their behaviour

• Child is a passive learner

• Our mind is ‘tabula rasa’

• Behaviour is the result of stimulus - response

• Behaviour is learnt from the environment

Behaviourism - key figures

• Pavlov

• Thorndike

• Watson

• Skinner

Pavlov

• Pavlovian learning - classical conditioning

• ‘Psychic learning’

• Learning based on association

Pavlov - considering ethics

• Animal research

• Discomfort and death

Thorndike

• Cat in the box

• The Law of Effect

The Law of Effect

A given stimulus calls forth a given response if the sequence has been regularly followed by a satisfying state of affairs

Watson

• Little Albert

• Reflections

Little Albert experiment

The acquisition of irrational fears through learning - classical conditioning

Watson - reflections

• Rejection of eugenics

• Tabula rasa

• Emphasis on the role of the environment

Skinner

• Radical behaviourism

• Learning principles

• Operant conditioning

Radical behaviourism

Rejects notion of a mental interior

Learning is due to the selection of a behaviour by its consequences

Learning principles

Positive reinforcement

Negative reinforcement

Reinforcers

Punishers

Positive reinforcement

Process of adding a pleasant stimulus to strengthen behaviour and increase likelihood of it occurring again

Negative reinforcement

Process of removing an unpleasant stimulus to strengthen behaviour and increase the likelihood of it happening again

Reinforcers

Responses from the environment that increase the probability of a behaviour being repeated

Punishers

Response from the environment that decrease the likelihood of a behaviour being repeated

Operant conditioning

Distinguish the process from classical conditioning

The behaviour is followed by a consequence and the nature of the consequence modifies the organisms tendency to repeat the behaviour in the future

Modelling

Imitation is a powerful way of learning

Imitation speaks of the importance of the environment of influencing behaviour

Behaviourism in action

Education

Criticisms of behaviourism

• Concepts developed from animal research

• Behaviourism situated the learner as passive

• Rewards, punishers and conditioning

• Is learning this simple?

• Role of motivation

• Can be behaviourism explain language acquisition

External motivation

• Less confident learners

• Unsure if their efforts can achieve their learning goal

• More reliant on external motivation - the approval of others

• Depend on others to set targets

• Measure success on how others rank their achievements

BUT subcultures

Not all students conform to school norms

Skills progression

Children can match their current level of ability with their performance

Acknowledgement of progress brings personal satisfaction and self confidence

Intrinsic motivation

Progress that comes with practice provides the motivation to keep trying

Mastery orientation

Children who are intrinsically motivated are sometimes referred to as having mastery orientation

Problem with external motivation

Less likely to recognise that success is in their control

Nativism

Language acquisition

Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

An innate, language specific mechanism in the human brain