Behaviorism: Skinner, Pavlov, Thorndike, etc.

0:00 hello and welcome to teachings in education i am your narrator frank avella in this presentation we will explore some of the most important topics related to behaviorism the presentation summarizes information in an easily understandable way some of the topics include classical and operant conditioning the law of effect the history of behaviorism and many many more now let's begin with a basic overview of behaviorism behaviorism is a systematic approach to understanding behavior at its core behaviorism is a scientific study it encompasses a body of techniques for investigating behavioral phenomena controlled scientific investigations and data analysis help give behaviorism its

0:46 purpose behaviorism has many real life applications its ideas and theories are deeply studied in the field of education parents make practical use of the behaviorism theory in raising their children many experiments in behaviorism use animals for testing the belief is that what is learned using animals in the model can be applied to human behavior many animals have genetic similarities which make them good test subjects there are several different types of learning theory however the three basic are the behaviorist approach the cognitive constructivist and the social constructivist this theory of learning is based on the idea that all behaviors are learned through environmental interactions

1:34 let's move on to the next section where we'll take a look at some of the assumptions of behaviorism the first assumption is that all behavior is learned from the environment it is believed that environmental factors not genetic factors are the main influence of behavior think of all the impact your personal life has on you psychologists use the term tabula rasa to describe the idea that when a person is born their mind is a blank slate all knowledge replaces the blank slate through experience and perception of reality behaviorism is empirical and primarily concerned with observable behaviors observable behaviors are actions performed by an individual that can be measured and seen

2:20 stimulus response theory is also a key concept stimulus response theory is essentially the idea that a behavior will not exist without a stimulus of some sort the behavior manifests from an interaction between stimulus and response continuing the next topic of study is the historical contributions to behaviorism we'll look at some of the most influential individuals now let's begin with charles darwin who is not actually considered a modern behaviorist however darwin did in fact study behavior the movement of organisms and their emotional reactions to environmental stimuli ivan pavlov is another influential contributor most known for his work on classical conditioning which is learning through

3:06 association pavlov was himself a physiologist he won a nobel prize for physiology in 1904. john watson was an american psychologist who popularized the scientific theory of behaviorism watan is most known for his little albert experiment where a baby that originally had no fear of rats was conditioned through experimentation to fear a rat edward thorndike is the next historical figure he is most known for the law of effect which simply states that behaviors that are followed up with a pleasant response are likely to be repeated his work led the way for operant conditioning theory and the work of other behaviorists to follow such as b.f skinner known for his work on behavioral

3:54 analysis and is considered the father of operant conditioning skinner referred to his own philosophy as radical behaviorism the last figure is albert mandurah social learning theory who is responsible for the movement from behaviorism to cognitive psychology his work pivots to social cognitive aspects of behavior continuing we'll take a deep dive into classical conditioning classical conditioning is generally known as learning through association where two different stimuli are placed together to produce a newly learned response ivan petrovis pavlov is the russian physiologist credited with discovering

4:39 classical conditioning ivan's work has been used in numerous applications still in use today such as treating individuals with phobias he is most known for the conditioned reflex as this is a type of conditioning that is unconscious and automated this concept was recognized in the salivating dog experiments pavlov proved that dogs can be conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell if the bell was consistently and continuously rang when the dogs ate their food first the dog salivated just in the presence of the food then pavlov sounded the bell every time the food was given then the dogs began to salivate just at the sound of the bell even though there was no food presence

5:25 another example of classical conditioning is the association or pairing of smoking with alcohol many people drink and smoke at parties or social gatherings eventually the two stimuli are paired together yet even another example can be found with my daughter and her going to the doctor she remembers the painful shot she experienced at the office from the previous visits now every time she goes to the doctor she cries because she associates the pain of the needle with the doctor's office the next topic of study is the law of effect the law of effect describes behavior responses that are quickly followed by a satisfying result are more likely to be repeated in response to the same stimulus edward thorndike is responsible for

6:11 developing the law of effect principle he studied learning in animals and is responsible for the puzzle box experiment a cat was placed in a maze of sorts where if the cat pressed the correct lever to escape it would get food thorndike noticed after successive trials the cat would increasingly press the lever faster to escape the cat learned from positive satisfying responses to press the lever the law of effect dictates that any behavior that is followed up by a pleasant response is more likely to happen again and on the other hand any behavior that is immediately followed up by an unpleasant response is less likely to occur in the future this is a form of behavioral conditioning

6:56 one example of the law of effect relates to work productivity for example if a person's work behaviors are productive that person is likely to get a raise which is a satisfying response and to continue to be productive for even larger raises another example refers to sports where if a player takes a bad shot or makes a bad play the coach might substitute that player out of the game this is a dissatisfying response and now the player is less likely to take a bad shot again right now i want to take a quick break and ask that you please subscribe to this channel like and share this video if you can check the description for resources and a summarized powerpoint of this presentation now let's get back to it we're going to take a look at operant conditioning

7:42 and its first type which will be positive behavior reinforcements positive reinforcement is the providing of a reinforcing stimulus followed by a desired behavior in an effort to increase the likelihood that the behavior repeats in the future positive reinforcement has many applications and is often used in education to teach children and modify behavior the use of positive behavior intervention systems is one example also positive reinforcement is used to train animals such as canine rescue dogs one basic example is a teacher simply providing praise when a student does good work the teacher introduces the rewarding stimulus praise in an effort to encourage the student to

8:28 increase the desired behavior good work positive reinforcement is most effective when it is delivered quickly after the desired behavior takes place praise should be given right after the student does good work not days later reinforcement must be paired to the behavior token rewards are a common method of positive reinforcement often found in schools the tokens can be traded in for practical rewards such as toys or free time tokens are used in therapy to increase their frequency of a target behavior now having just finished up on positive reinforcement we're going to take a look at negative reinforcement negative reinforcement is when a behavioral response is strengthened by

9:14 the removal of an aversive stimulus or by avoiding a negative outcome negative reinforcement just like positive reinforcement is used to strengthen the desired behavior positive reinforcement is essentially adding something to increase the desired behavior whereas negative reinforcement is taking something away to increase the desired behavior both increasing a desired behavior with negative reinforcement and undesirable is removed as the reward an undesirable stimulus depends on the person for some staying at home is fun others may find it boring and painful one example of a negative reinforcement is eating a meal to avoid hunger pains the aversive undesirable stimulus of

9:59 being hungry which we all know that feeling is removed when we eat a meal a person takes action to avoid that negative hunger feeling an example involving education is with students that arrive to school on time students that frequently arrive late have to deal with the hassle of getting detention or a punishment so they may start arriving on time to avoid having to go to detention we'll begin to look at another type of operant conditioning which is punishment there are two types of punishment positive and negative punishment is any change that occurs after a behavior has taken place that reduces the chance that the behavior occurs again punishment is different from reinforcement in that both positive and negative reinforcement

10:44 you're looking to increase the occurrence of a behavior whether it's giving praise to encourage someone to do work the goal with reinforcement is to increase a behavior both positive and negative punishment on the other hand is intended to decrease a behavior punishment is used to decrease undesirable behaviors when applying punishment it's best to deliver it quickly and consistently similar to reinforcement teachers must do this consistently the longer the separation the less effective it is positive punishment is adding an aversive stimulus in an effort to remove an undesirable behavior aversive stimuli such as physical or corporal punishment is never recommended never

11:30 one example of positive punishment is a teacher yelling at a student for bad behavior the teacher is adding the aversive stimulus getting yelled at in response to the inappropriate behavior overall punishment is effective but it does depend on many different factors such as timing frequency now on to the last type of operant conditioning which is negative punishment negative punishment involves removing something desirable or wanted to reduce the chance that a specific behavior occurs negative punishment is the removal of a wanted item or action in an effort to decrease in undesirable behavior positive punishment again is the

12:16 addition of an unwanted item or action in an effort also to decrease an undesirable behavior both positive and negative punishment look to decrease in undesirable behavior one example would be the removal of a child's ability to listen to music a parent may take away a child's headphones or music if the child makes a mess in the room they are removing something desirable to decrease behavior another example would be taking away of a child's allowance if the child was failing their classes the child would then get their allowance back when they start passing their classes again punishment in general is found to be quite effective in the short term however there are many research studies available that seriously question the effectiveness of punishment over the

13:02 long term so that wraps up operant conditioning which employs learning that involves rewards and punishment on to the next topic of study which is extinction extinction is the gradual weakening of a conditioned response that results in the behavior significantly decreasing or completely disappearing extinction takes place when a behavior is no longer reinforced let's say for example a scientist has trained the rat to complete a maze and has rewarded the rat with a piece of cheese for finishing the maze if the scientist continues to have the rat run the maze but no longer rewards the rat with cheese the rat's behavior of running the maze

13:49 will decrease or cease this is extinction the rat isn't going to waste his time running the whole maze if there is no reinforcing behavior another example may be seen in a household cat most cats meow when they are hungry and their meowing is reinforced with the food they desire if they aren't getting any food they will stop wasting their energy meowing now the stronger the initial behavior was conditioned the increase the resistance would be to extinction the harder it would be for the behavior to become extinct to avoid extinction scientists often use schedules of reinforcement to ensure the original conditioned desired behavior remains active we mentioned how the cat meows for food

14:37 if we want the cat to continue to meow for food we can use a schedule of reinforcement where the cat gets fed either continuously or on an intermittent basement the next topic is more application-based and is concerned with the field of education let's look at some behavioral teaching strategies educators make use of behavioral learning theory by implementing behaviorism learning strategies in the classroom first up is positive reinforcements students are given positive rewards reinforcements for following school rules you can see this when a child gets a student of the month certificate teachers often use repetition to drill certain concepts to help students

15:22 remember facts and apply skills many of these strategies are the same ones used in behavioral learning theory next is the question and answering that takes place in the classroom this is a type of stimulus response interaction teachers use further probing techniques to get the most out of their students guided practice is a teaching method that can be traced to behaviorism teachers provide reinforcement at a number of different steps there are other teaching strategies that i didn't mention here but also relate to behaviorism and lastly we'll take a look at some criticisms of behaviorism over the years one major criticism is that behaviorism focuses too much on the environment and ignores all emotions and the mind

16:10 we know how important emotions are to ourselves and behaviorism simply doesn't address the mental state of emotions many psychologists say that behaviorist theories just aren't fully developed enough they believe that only certain parts of human behavior are studied in behaviorism which is unfortunate behaviorism always looks to past experiences and how that shapes human behavior the future outlook of life doesn't get enough attention in this field of study more behaviorist criticisms include the idea that behaviorism is irrelevant to human language acquisition and the attitude that there were many immoral uses in punishment and other experiments critics say the experiments focus too much on animals and humans have many

16:57 cognitive differences as well as social norms that affect our overall behavior that do not relate to animals anyway right now i want to thank you for your time i want to ask you one more time to please subscribe to this channel hit the like button don't forget to share this video and check the description for links to a powerpoint and other resources as well have a great day you