What is BEHAVIORIST

Behaviorist
Theory? THEORY
OF LEARNING
What is Behaviorism?
An attempt to make psychology more scientific by studying only
external behavior
 Is a theory of learning which states all behaviors are learned through
interaction with the environment through a process called conditioning.
Behavior:
response of an organism to stimuli; objective & observable
HISTORY OF BEHAVIORISM

■ Very popular in U.S. before Piaget and Vygotsky’s writings were

translated and brought here
■ Behaviorism via Thorndike beat out John Dewey’s theories to become
the dominant theory in U.
HISTORY OF BEHAVIORISM
■Theory begins in U.S. around 1910 with E. Thorndike
■ Experimented with cats and dogs in “puzzle boxes
History of Behaviorism: Watson
“Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own special
world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random
and train him to be any type of specialist I might select – a doctor, a
lawyer, artist…”
- John B. Watson 1924
History of Behaviorism: PAVLOV
Russian physiologist who developed the idea of classical
conditioning (1927) using dogs.
B.F. Skinner (1904-1990)

■ American psychologist, very influential from the 30’s – 60’s

■ Developed Operant Conditioning (Instrumental Conditioning)
■ Famous for the Skinner Box used with pigeons & rats; applied
these findings to human learning
■ Interested in education
Consequences for Behaviors
■ Positive Reinforcement – You behave in a way that results in a reward –
so you are more likely to repeat that behavior
■ Negative Reinforcement – You behave in a way that results in the
removal of something unpleasant – so you are more likely to repeat that
behavior
(ex: doing a paper early)
■ Punishment – Consequence that follows a behavior resulting in you
exhibiting the behavior less often in the future.
Contrasting Classical & Operant Conditioning