Psychology Assessment: Term Paper on The Learning Perspective- It's History and its contributions in Education.
Sanam Peshiman Grade 11RKPsychology Assessment: Term Paper on The Learning Perspective- It’s History and its contributions in Education.The main focus in the behaviorist approach (the learning perspective) is the relationships between the environment and behavior, and this is called learning. There is not much attention to internal events such as biological or cognitive processes in this perspective because these processes cannot be observed directly. Observable behaviors are called responses, and the environmental events that trigger responses are called stimuli. Human experience is understood in terms of the relations between stimuli and responses in the behaviorist perspective.Philosophical origins of the thoughts expressed in behaviorism can be found back in ancient Greece and the discussion of nature versus nurture has continued through all times in Europe. Other influential ideas in this perspective come from the French philosopher Descartes who contended that man consists of a soul and a body (dualism) that can be studied separately. Among the more recent philosophers to support the nurture view are:John Locke (1632-1704) who claimed that man is born as with no innate instincts or knowledge, all experience is attained through the senses (empiricism), and only external stimuli and behavior are valid data in understanding the human being (this is of influence to behaviorism).Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849-1936) who studied reflexes and conditioning. John B. Watson (1878-1958) who is considered one of the fathers of modern behaviorism and published an important article in 1913: 'Psychology as the Behaviorist
views it'. In the article he clearly defined the 'new' behaviorist psychology he envisioned: Watson declared independence from traditional psychology in three ways:He asserted that a behaviorist psychology must be completely objective and only use objective data (traditionalist psychologists used objective observations to complement introspective data)Psychology's goal was not to describe and explain conscious states (like the traditionalists) but to predict and control overt behavior. Behaviorist psychology became highly practical, and much more concerned with concrete effectiveness than with theoretical understanding.Watson denied the traditional distinction between humans and other animals. He accepted Darwin's demonstration of the common ancestry of all ...
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views it'. In the article he clearly defined the 'new' behaviorist psychology he envisioned: Watson declared independence from traditional psychology in three ways:He asserted that a behaviorist psychology must be completely objective and only use objective data (traditionalist psychologists used objective observations to complement introspective data)Psychology's goal was not to describe and explain conscious states (like the traditionalists) but to predict and control overt behavior. Behaviorist psychology became highly practical, and much more concerned with concrete effectiveness than with theoretical understanding.Watson denied the traditional distinction between humans and other animals. He accepted Darwin's demonstration of the common ancestry of all animal species, and he argued that psychological similarities among species were just as important as differences and therefore all forms of life (apes, flatworms, pigeons etc) should have the interest of psychologists.Behaviorism was seen as a dynamic new approach at the time against three strands of psychology at the time:Introspectionism (William James (1890), Principles of psychology). Nativist, holistic view of human beings.The psychoanalytic paradigm that included other assumptions about scientific investigation than natural science (for example: dream analysis, human problems stem from underlying unconscious pathologies from childhood frustrations).Behaviorism gave a new optimistic picture of human beings becauseIt seemed radical and liberating, and stressed the malleability of human behavior (people could learn new things and be molded),It challenged the nativist view of humans (all innate),It challenged the psychodynamic view (negative image of humans as repressed impulses and emotions).This optimistic approach was especially relevant at a time when social orders were changing all over the world. The old order was changed by industrialism, and the Russian Revolution changed ideas about power and society, and there were debates about new utopian societies. Behaviorism promised that people could change, i.e. a new order could be created.Behaviorism was especially popular in the US, and in Britain it coexisted with the experimental psychology, but it was not so popular in the rest of Europe.The behavior theorists' interest in the learning process was suited to the intellectual climate during the first part of the 20th century, especially in the United States. This society was so deeply committed to the individual's effort to improve himself by pushing himself on to greater efforts and acquiring new skills - in numerous public schools and colleges, in night classes for immigrants, dance classes for shy, sources for those who wanted friends etc. There was - and in many ways still is - an enormous faith in the near-limitless malleability of human beings, who were thought to be almost infinitely perfectible by proper changes in their environment, especially through education. Under the circumstances, it was not surprising that learning became (and remains) one of the paramount concerns of American psychology.Behaviorism, or the Learning Perspective has contributed to education, work and clinical therapy in extensive ways. It’s applications to education have been through:Classical conditioning: Many stimuli related to school, subjects and teachers start off being neutral stimuli. These can become associated with unconditional reflexes and eventually bring about a conditional response. Here is one example that might come about through students having to study in a comfortable, enlightening and pleasant environment:Unconditional reflex UCS(comfort and enhanced learning)→ UCR (positive feelings.) Conditioning trials CS+UCS(subject matter+comfort and enh. Learning)→UCR(pos. feelings)Conditional reflex CS(subject matter)→ CR (positive feelings towards school and education)Operant conditioning: Reinforcement, punishment and extinction can all be applied to change behavior in educational settings. Here are some examples:Reinforcement. In a token system, children learn to earn tokens for obeying few clearly defined rules of behavior. The tokens are secondary reinforcers because they can be saved and exchanged for valued activities like painting, reading or extra PE classes. Generally, teacher approval is also a powerful reinforcer, as is the approval of peers.Punishment. Teachers may apply punishment in the form of verbal warnings or reprimands. They may also use punishment by removal where the child is excluded from a valued activity or given time out, meaning that they have to spend time being quiet on their own before being allowed back.Extinction. Ignoring disruptive behavior can be a very effective way of getting it to extinguish (as long as the behavior is not damaging to the child or anyone else.)Programmed instruction is a special case of operant conditioning being used in education. Its features include the material to be learned being broken into parts, to be learned in a fixed sequence. It might be in written form or presented by computer. A linear programme presents one question after another, the learner answers one and moves to the next whether right or wrong, whereas a branching programme builds in remedial material. If the learner makes a mistake, the ‘branch’ teaches them why before going back to the main programme. Immediate reinforcement is given after each answer. Stimulus control can also be used to change behavior. This means that the teacher organizes the classroom in a way that encourages children to behave well and learn efficiently in the first place. E.g. by positioning the desks in a particular way and making sure the children have something to do as soon as they get in. This reduces the likelihood that bad behavior will occur and have to be dealt with and increases the amount of good behavior, which can be rewarded.Social learning theory: SLT includes conditioning and observational learning. Many of the above examples of conditioning in education apply here because the reinforcers and punishers are often social ones. SLT adds observational learning to the picture. For this to happen in an educational setting, the learner needs to observe someone who is already skilled. Good examples include the apprenticeship method of instruction, demonstrations and seating a weak child with a stronger one so they can learn more efficiently by observing what the other child does. It is important to remember that models are more likely to be imitated if they were seen as similar to the learner is some way and if they were effective and powerful yet, warm and friendly. Their behavior should be appropriate, novel and consistent over time. These are some of the contributions of The Learning Perspective in education, and how the theories presented can be applied in educational settings. Word count: 1,301
