Behaviorism and Education
Tadeo A. Rosalia
What is Behaviorism?
Behaviorism (or behaviourism)
• Human and animal behavior.
• It assumes that all behaviors are either
reflexes produced by a response to certain stimuli in
the environment, or a consequence of that individual's
history, including especially reinforcement and
punishment, together with the individual's current
motivational state and controlling stimuli.
• Thus, although behaviorists generally accept the
important role of inheritance in determining behavior,
they focus primarily on environmental factors. is a
systematic approach to the understanding
What is Behaviorism?
• Idea that behavior is acquired
through conditioning.
• Measures behavior by
a learner’s response to
stimuli.
• A learner’s response to stimuli
can be reinforced using positive or
negative feedback.
• Behaviorism is an approach to psychology based on the belief that all
human actions and responses can be explained in terms of reflexes
conditioned by reward and punishment.
• Observation And Test experiments
Behaviorism connection to
• Realism Materialsm
• It is concerned with the Is the theory that reality can be
existence of things. explain by the Laws of mater and
• Complete living is the aim of motion, material matter exis .
education and also the aim Beliefs about mind, consciousness
of life. soul they say, are relics of pre
scientific age.
• Realism is the theory that preoccupation with or emphasis on
holds the existence of material objects only, comforts, and
objects is real. considerations,
• Relation between object and rejection of spiritual, intellectual
or cultural values.
thought. Nothing is supernatural
Thomas Hobbes (1599-1679)
Who was Thomas
Hobbes?
The State of
Nature
Human Nature
The Laws of
Nature
Leviathan?
Thomas Hobbes
Born in 1588, Died in 1679
Oxford-educated Englishman
and political philosopher
One of the first social
contract theorists
• Famous work: Leviathan
• He applied some of their
ideas about physical universe
to human being and social
institution.
• He said ; Life is Motion
Early behaviorists
Ivan Pavlov B.F Skinner John Watson
Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)
• Pavlov did a famous experiment that
demonstrate the theory of
• classical conditioning
• He is known for using dogs for behavioral
tests.
• He used a bell to teach the dogs to know that
food was being given and it resulted in the
dogs salivating while waiting for the food.
• This became known as classical conditioning.
Classical Conditioning
Classical conditioning involves pairing a naturally occurring stimulus with a response.
Then a previous neutral stimulus is paired with the naturally occurring stimulus. The
neutral stimulus begins to evoke the same response without the natural occurring
stimulus.
John B. Watson(1878-1958)
• Watson believed that human behavior
resulted from specific stimuli that elicited
certain responses.
• Watson's basic premise was that conclusions
about human development should be based
on observation of overt behavior rather than
speculation about subconscious motives or
latent cognitive processes.
• One experiments “little Albert”
• Use Classical conditioning on Human
John B. Watson
• “Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-
formed, and my own specified world to
bring them up in and I guarantee to take
any one at random and train him to
become any type of specialist I might
select- doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-
chief and, yes, even beggar-man and
thief, regardless of his talents, penchants,
tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race
of his ancestors.”
Jan. 1878- Sept. 1958
• Known for publishing an article titled
“Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It”
•Little albert
John B. Watson
• The little albert experiments
presents and example of how
classical conditioning can be use to
condition an emotion response
• Neutral stimulus: The white Rat
• Unconditioned stimulus: The Loud Noise
• Unconditioned response: Fear
• Condition res. The white Rat
• Condition response: Fear
• Watson’s work was based on the experiments of Ivan Pavlov,
who had studied animals’ responses to conditioning.
• He became interested in the work of Ivan Pavlov and included a
brief summary of Pavlov’s works in his major works.
• Pavlov believed, as Watson was later to emphasize, that
humans react to stimuli in the same way.
Ivan Pavlov
B.F Skinner (1904-1990)
• Skinner believed that the best way to
understand behavior is to look at the
causes of an action and its
consequences.
• He called this approach operant
conditioning.
• Operant conditioning is a method of
learning that occurs through rewards
and punishments for behavior.
• It is a method of learning that occurs through rewards and
punishments.
• Rewards cause an increase in behaviour, while punishment
decrease the behaviour.
• Aspects in Operant Conditioning:
– Positive Reinforcer
– Negative Reinforcer
– Positive Punishment
– Negative Punishment
Important People in Behaviorism
• Ivan Pavlov- Did the experiment with the dogs.
Came up with the theory of classical conditioning.
• B.F. Skinner- Developed the theory of operant
conditioning. Operant Conditioning is the use of
consequences to modify the occurrence and form of
behavior.
• John B. Watson- The “Little Albert” experiment. He
gets credit for establishing the psychological school
of behaviorism.
