Behavioral Learning Theory

With reference to chosen theory of learning (behaviourist, social learning) discuss its application to patient education in context of general nursing.

Operant conditioning applies to many areas in both everyday life and in the criminal justice system. If you are late to work every day to work or you don’t complete work that is assigned to you than you can be demoted, have a decrease in pay or possibly lose your job. All of these are consequences to behaviors that have been displayed over time.

In Psychology learning is seen as a change in behaviour caused by an experience. Behaviorism, is seen as a learning theory; an attempt to explain how people or animals learn by studying their behaviour. The Behaviourists Approach has two theories to help explain how we learn, Classical conditioning and operant conditioning. In this task I will attempt to describe and evaluate this approach.

Behaviour for learning refers to the pressure on schools to constantly attempt to raise attainments (Department for Children, Schools and Families 2009). This has come about because of schools trying to raise standards for their students that can be identified in the teaching standards which promotes the raising of standard for students. Adams (2009) says 97 percent of new qualified teachers believe managing student behaviour is one of the most important issues for them in the teaching field. Behaviour cannot be separated from learning as they are intrinsically linked together (Ellis and Tod, 2009). Behaviour for learning therefore becomes one of the most important issue for newly qualified teachers and trainee teachers. This reflective writing will look at how the trainee teacher will building relationships in the classrooms as a means of promoting behaviour for learning.

Behaviorism believes that when we are born, our mind is a sort of blank slate, and over time our experiences and environment influence a persons behavior over time, this is where things such a classical conditioning comes in to play. For example if we receive positive reinforcement for an action, we are statically more likely to repeat that action as we have now associated the behavior with a positive reinforcement, the same would apply to a action that we received a negative reinforce or punishment for, we would then be less likely to repeat that behavior or action because we have now associated it a negative reinforce or punishment.

Behaviorism is one of the most used theories in education. Due to it can fit in both a classroom setting and at home. Educators had sought out the reason why for many years. But due to each child learns a different way so should the educator. Behaviorism was study by many great Psychologists over the years. Just to name some that had done work and publish books on the subject are, John Watson, Ivan Pavlov, Clark Hull, and B.F. Skinner.

The behavioral theory was backed by followers called behaviorists that stated that people are born as a ‘blank slate’ and that each behavior is learned in some way or another (Carroll, 2009, p. 25). Behaviorists believe that in order to understand behavior, it is necessary to measure and observe it first must be understood (Carroll, 2009, p. 25). Although they believe that behavior must be observed, the behavioral theory does not allow the inclusion of any feelings, emotions, or any other unmeasurable states that a human can produce (Carroll, 2009, p. 25). These states would throw off the data because not every person feels the same and it would be difficult to

Behaviorism and social learning theory are examples of two mechanistic theories that focus on explaining children’s behavior. Social learning theory emphasizes observational learning and imitation. On the other hand, behaviorism is rooted in focusing on how the environment impacts development. The environment shapes the child’s development as the child strives to adapt to the environment. Both theories deal with explaining behavior and consist of similarities, but are composed of different elements of explaining behavior.

can be used to strengthen existing behaviors, as well as learn new ones. Principles of behaviorism can be

Behaviorism is the branch of psychology associated today with numerous psychologists but one of the most prominent behavioral psychologists of all time, B.F. Skinner really taught people that any behavior is usually immediately affected by its consequences. I having a young child I have seen Skinners theories work in many different facets during my short stint of being a parent. Skinner is a theorist who made his reputation by studying how an individual's behavior might change by responding to his/her environment. The great Skinner wrote "Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten",(Skinner, 1964) thus basically meaning that most over and over again behaviors we as

Higgins’ punishments were in the form of endless repetitions of certain phonological features. She was also denied food as a punishment. He also used derision and rude manners with her to mark the

“Behaviorism is predominantly concerned with evident and measurable aspects of human behavior. In defining behaviour, behaviourist-learning theories emphasise changes in behavior that result from stimulus-response links made by the learner. Behaviour is directed by stimuli. An individual selects one response instead

Akers and Sellers (2013) has stated that social learning theory is an expanded theory of differential association processes and improves it with differential reinforcement and other principles of the behavior theory. They added classical conditioning (the sharpening of involuntary reflex behavior); discriminative stimuli (internal stimuli that lead to signals for behavior); schedules of reinforcement (rewards and punishment ratio following behavioral feedback); and other theories of behavior (Akers & Sellers, 2013).

The Behavioral Learning Theory believes that behavior is learned from either the environment, the people in the individual's life, the media, or society as a whole. This theory contradicts the Biological theory, which states that criminals are "born to be bad" and that criminal behavior is inherited. The behavioral theory looks at the environment as well as society's impact on how an individual acts which might be the reason for criminal behavior. This theory blames the environment as well as the individual by saying it is a learned behavior and that it also was a choice they made. A basic assumption is that behavior is learned and modeled by individuals, groups, the media, and society as a whole.

Behavioral Learning Theories Most theorists agree that learning occurs when experience causes a change in a person's knowledge or behavior . Behaviorists emphasize the role of environmental stimuli in learning and focus on the behavior, i.e., an observable response. Behavioral theories are based on contiguity, classical and operant conditioning, applied behavior analysis, social learning theory and self-regulation/cognitive behavior modification. Early views of learning were contiguity and classical conditioning.