Element 2 - Behaviourist approach

What are the 5 theoretical approaches to learning?

• behaviourist

• cognitivist

• constructivist

• humanist

• connectivist

What are the key principles of the behaviourist approach?

• Behaviour is shaped by external stimuli, rather than internal cognitive processes.

• Positive and negative reinforcement can modify behaviour and learning (operant conditioning).

• Continuity is central to long term associations.

Who are the key theorists for the behaviourist approach?

• Bandura

• Pavlov

• Skinner

• Thorndike

• Watson

What did Bandura suggest?

Social learning/cognitive theory

• Children learn by watching others.

• Copying their ‘role models’ = modelling role models actions.

• Children see that some actions may be rewarded or punished = influences their behaviour.

• There are factors that will affect whether or not a child will copy what they’ve seen.

• Child doesn’t have strong self-efficacy = may have no motivation to learn new skill.

• Did Bobo doll experiment.

What was Bandura’s Bobo doll experiment?

He showed 3 groups of children a film.

Group A - adult acting aggressive to doll.

Group B - adult acting aggressive to doll, was rewarded with sweets by another adult.

Group C - adult acting aggressive to doll, was told off by another adult.

Afterwards, each child in a playroom with a bobo doll, reactions were recorded.

Group C = less aggressive to doll

Group A + B = little difference in aggressiveness, showed they were less influenced by the reward.

Follow up experiment = asked to demonstrate how doll was attacked. reward given. little difference between groups, showed could all imitate seen behaviour.

What are Bandura’s factors that will affect whether or not a child will copy what they’ve seen?

• Attention, was child focusing on what adult was doing.

• Retention, can child remember / how much they can remember what they saw.

• Reproduction, does child have the skills to repeat what they saw.

• Motivation, is child keen to repeat what they saw + believe they have the capacity to do so (self-efficacy).

How does Bandura link to educational practice?

Children more likely to show interest in learning something when they see an adult doing it.

Adults use this theory when teaching skills by demonstrating a skill then encouraging children to do it.

Adults working with children = seen as role models so are expected to show appropriate behaviours.

What are the criticisms of Bandura’s social cognitive theory?

• only focuses on the external stimuli.

• doesn’t focus on the child being an independent learner

What did Pavlov suggest?

Classical conditioning = external stimuli occurs before or at time of action.

Did the dog salivation experiment.

What was Pavlov’s dog salivation experiment?

Noticed just before dogs about to be fed, they produce lots of saliva.

He wondered why.

Before dogs were fed, heard a buzzer.

After a while, dogs produced saliva when heard buzzer, called a ‘conditioned response’.

When buzzer went off but no food was given afterwards, the response gradually faded away, called extinction.

How does Pavlov link to educational practice?

His work was built on by others, led to operant conditioning.

What are the criticisms of Pavlov’s work?

Limited to animals, not humans

What did Skinner suggest?

Operant conditioning = external stimuli occurs after the time of action.

• We actively learn.

• We learn through exploring the environment, then draw conclusions based on the consequences of their behaviour.

• He divided the consequences into 3 groups:

1- positive reinforces

2- negative reinforcers

3- punishments

• Unpredictable reinforcement is more effective than continual reinforcement, as it teaches them to not expect it, so should always do the behaviour just in case the reinforcement is given.

• Immediate positive reinforcement is more effective than delayed reinforcement, as the behaviour is more strongly linked to the reinforcement.

What are positive reinforcers?

Likely to make us repeat a positive behaviour if we receive something we desire.

Encourages new learning

E.g. praise, stickers, sweets, gaining adults attention.

What are negative reinforcers?

Likely to make us repeat a behaviour, usually in order to stop something from happening.

E.g. parent continually nags child to tidy room, child will get tired of being nagged, child may tidy their room.

What are punishments?

Likely to stop us from repeating a behaviour.

E.g. a shock from an electric fence will make us stay away from it.

What are primary reinforcers?

Give us instant pleasure/satisfaction, or meet a need.

E.g. chocolate after positive behaviour

What are secondary reinforcers?

Do not, themselves, give us satisfaction, but can build up to give us this satisfaction later.

Require a certain level of cognitive development to be effective.

E.g. star charts, each star builds up to eventually get a reward.

What are Skinner’s links to educational practice?

Rewards are often given for behaviour, and also achievements.

Star charts are often used to improve behaviour of individuals.

Praise is given to encourage behaviour, and encourage effort.

What are the criticisms of operant conditioning?

Children should be encouraged to learn because they enjoy it, not to receive rewards.

Research suggests that self motivation = more effective than short term praise and rewards.

Assumes that children are passive learners and cannot take responsibility or be involved in their own learning.

What did Thorndike suggest?

Operant conditioning

• consequences of a behaviour influence subsequent behaviour, he called this the law of effect.

• did the cat escaping out the box experiment

What is Thorndike’s cat experiment?

Cats were put in box, had a lever that allowed cats to leave.

Could see fish outside of the box, from inside.

Were able to eat fish once escaped.

Took 5 mins, soon reduced to less than 5 secs after repetition of behaviour.

He suggested that cats learned to operate the lever because their behaviour had been rewarded.

\

What are the positives and criticisms of Thorndike’s work?

\+ was the starting point for later work on operant conditioning on human learning and behaviour.

\-limited to animals, not humans.

What did Watson suggest?

Classical conditioning = external stimuli happens before or at time of action.

• showed it was possible to use classical conditioning on humans.

• ‘Little Albert’ was made scared of rats experiment.

What is Watson’s ‘Little Albert’ experiment?

Baby had no fear of rats.

Every time baby went to touch rat, loud sound made.

Loud sound alarmed the baby.

After short time, baby was frightened when he saw a rat.

How does Watson link to educational practice?

May help adults understand the response of a child who may show a fear of an object or situation, because it’s associated with a trauma they’ve experienced.

E.g. child who faced abuse, being hit with shoes by parents, may show anxiety and fear when an adult changes the child’s shoes at nursery.