Classical Conditioning and Behavior

Behaviorism is defined as,” a school of psychology that takes the objective evidence of behavior (as measured responses to stimuli) as the only concern of its research and the only basis of its theory without reference to

Behaviorism is a theoretical perspective of learning that focuses on the observable changes in behavior (Tracey and Morrow, 2012 p.55). Behaviorists believe that learning takes place when knowledge is separated into smaller steps from easier to more complex tasks. Instruction in a behaviorist classroom focuses on conditioning student behaviors and rewarding students when they are successful with feedback and positive reinforcement. Often instruction is direct and repeated until the desired behavior or skill is learned, becomes automatic and is error free. There

Behaviorism, is a theory based upon the idea that all behaviors are attained through certain condition. Behaviorists believe that it is more profitable to study

There have been many contributions over time from world-renowned philosophers and psychologists to the field of psychology, but the man referred to as the Father of Modern Psychology is Wilhelm Wundt. He was the first person to become a psychologist, and he was the first person to organize a laboratory, which was at the University of Leipzig, that was specifically dedicated to studying behavioral and emotional characteristics of the mind. “Wundt was important because he separated psychology from philosophy by analyzing the workings of the mind in a more structured way, with the emphasis being on objective measurement and control.” (Father of Psychology). During Wundt’s time, workings

Behaviorism is a theory that originated from the works of Ivan Pavlov's classical conditioning and B.F. Skinner's Operant Conditioning. The belief is that Behaviors are learned and changed through associations between stimuli and responses. Learning is caused by a stimulus being introduced and there is a reaction to the stimulus rather it is a positive or

Learning is a relatively lasting behavior through experience. There are three major types of learning: classical conditioning, operant conditioning and observational learning. Classical conditioning is a process of learning where an association is formed between a neutral stimulus and a stimulus that evokes a response naturally. Operant conditioning is a learning process using reinforcement or punishment of certain behaviors. Observational learning is where the process of learning happens through observing and experiences. Kids tend to act out what they see and witness. Albert Bandura’s social learning theory supports this and states that humans learn from the examples others set and from direct experiences that involve rewards and punishments. He conducted a study where he and a team of researchers were watching a bunch of kids with dolls after they had seen adults with the dolls. He originally thought that if a kid sees a doll, he or she is just going to play with it. He was proved wrong. These kids were how ever the adults were with the doll and attempted to mimic the mannerisms such as being aggressive with the doll. His study taught that a child can not be just told to not be aggressive. If you want a child to be peaceful, the adult or anyone in the environment should be peaceful.

Behaviorism theory focuses on the study of obvious behaviors that can be observed and measured (Hothersal, 2004). The main principle associated with behaviorism theory is the inquiry of human behavior in the observable stimulus response interaction and the association between them. There were many behavioral theorists that searched for the association between the human behavior and the stimulus response, such as; Thorndike, Skinner, Pavlov and Watson. Behaviorism attempts to explain, describe and influence the behavior of an individual. As well behaviorists recognize that learning is an internal event. However, is not recognizing as learning until the behavior is displayed. The focus of the behavioral approach is on how the environment impacts

The learning (or behaviourist) approach, at its core, is about how experience affects our behaviour and how we learn behaviours. This approach postulates that all humans are born as ‘blank slates’ and we become shaped by the environment that the person lives in. Behaviourism is concerned with the observable characteristics of humankind; their behaviour. This approach dismisses any internal workings because these workings are too subjective and difficult to observe; whereas observable behaviour can be scientifically and objectively measured, so more concrete theories can be based off the research undertaken into behaviour. Unsurprisingly, the behaviourist approach works closely with the experimental branch of psychology, and it also works

Behaviorism is a worldview, which operates under a stimulus response principle. Every behavior is caused by an operating condition (external stimuli). Moreover, behaviors can be described without necessarily considering internal states or consciousness of mind. It basically assumes that a learner is passive, reacting to stimuli from the environment. Initially, the learner is a clean slate (tabula rasa) and the shaping of behavior is through positive as well as negative reinforcement. Both the reinforcements raise the possibility that the precursor behavior will occur again.

It is a fact that people learn differently. Some people learn by seeing, some by hearing, some by doing, and then others learn from a combination of these. For many decades psychologists, theorists, and scientists have all sought to prove to their peers, society and the world that not only do people learn differently but children and adult learning differ also. Learning theories are conceptualized frameworks which describe how individuals absorb, process and retain information. Behaviorists such as John B. Watson, B.F. Skinner, Edward L. Thorndike, Ivan Pavlov and Edwin R. Guthrie believed that all learners were passive in nature and only responded to external stimuli. Behaviorism, as explored by the before mentioned, is a biological basis of learning and focuses exclusively on observable behaviors. This includes Thorndike’s theory of connectionism, Pavlov’s classical conditioning and the well-known conditioning theory from Skinner—the operant conditioning model. However, many researchers did not like the one-size fits all explanation of behaviorism. Cognitivism grew in response to behaviorism in an effort to better understand the mental processes behind learning. This challenged behaviorism with the idea that learning is the process of connecting symbols in a meaningful way; thus all knowledge is stored cognitively as symbols. Still, cognitivism didn’t account for individuality and the input-output model was seen as very mechanic. The social cognitive theory was developed

There are several assumptions associated with behaviorism. These assumptions are the perspectives of a behaviorist. The first assumption is that the person’s environment influences their behavior. Specialists believe that people can be conditioned to behave based on praises and rewards. Another assumption is that learning has not occurred unless you can witness a change in behavior. An important key to behaviorism is that the stimulus and the response from the learner must happen at the same time. It is proven that humans and animals learn in ways that are very similar to each other. Many behaviorists use animals for their experiments believing that the results can help explain learning behavior in humans as well.

There are several assumptions associated with behaviorism. These assumptions are the perspectives of behaviorist. The first assumption is that the person’s environment influences their behavior. Specialists believe that people can be conditioned to behave based on praises and rewards. Another assumption is that learning has not occurred unless you can witness a change in behavior. An important key to behaviorism is that the stimulus and response from the learner must happen at the same time. It is proven that humans and animals learn in ways that are very similar to each other. Many behaviorists use animals for their experiments believing that the results can help explain learning behavior in humans as well.

Behaviorism is one of the many schools of psychology and it has one main overall focus. The main overall focus is it studies how a human behaves and is supposed to behave in order to detect human behavior discrepancies. As a behaviorist view, everything you see has a set behavior and should perform a certain, similar to robots. Watson stated that “psychology as a behaviorist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science. Its theoretical goal is … prediction and control” (1913, p.158).

First, Social Learning Theory, in which originated from behavioral and cognitive frameworks, describes how individuals learn from one another (Bandura, 1971). Bandura (1971), the leading advocate for the theory, proposed all learning is the result of interpersonal interactions and experiences, including observation, imitation, modeling, and physiological and emotional responses. Further, he suggested through the process of “reciprocal determinism” a person’s behavior and environment directly influences learning with or without behavioral change. In contrast to other philosophies, this perspective suggests a person is not driven helplessly by internal stimuli or environmental factors;

Behaviourism is a psychological approach that explains human development as learning from experience rather than a result of inborn tendencies or higher order thinking. (Moonie, 2006) The behaviourist movement began in 1913 when Watson wrote the article 'Psychology as the behaviourist views it.' Additionally, Pavlov, Thorndike and Skinner worked to develop behavioural theories of learning. They suggest that all behaviour is learned either through classical or operant conditioning. (Cardwell and Flanagan, 2012, p.50)