Behavioral Learning Theory: Approaches, Practices, and Criticisms

Behavioral Learning Theory
What is Behaviorism?
•It is a form of conditioning.
•It considers the learner to be passive in
nature, who responds to environmental
stimuli.
•Negative and positive factors form
behaviorism.
•Punishment may be positive or negative
and it decreases the chances of the event
occurring again.
•The conditioning is of 2 types- Operant
conditioning and Classical Conditioning.
Advantages
•It is an effective form of approach for
children as well as individuals going through
severe trauma or emotional disturbances.
•It is an easy to conduct process for the
teacher.
•It is easy to motivate individuals or students
through this process.
•The system of rewards and punishments is
clear to all.
Criticisms to behavioral theories
•It ignores all mental activities.
•It completely ignores all internal factors
like rage , sadness, happiness, motivation
and all other emotions.
•The learning of an individual is
dependant on his own perspective and the
way he views the environment. This is
also ignored by the behaviorism theories.
Approaches to Behaviorism
• Baum, W.M., 2017. Understanding behaviorism:
Behavior, culture, and evolution. John Wiley & Sons.
• Burton, J.K., Moore, D.M.M. and Magliaro, S.G.,
2013. Behaviorism and instructional technology.
In Handbook of research on educational
communications and technology (pp. 15-48).
Routledge.
• Gordon, A.M. and Browne, K.W., 2013. Beginnings
& beyond: Foundations in early childhood education.
Cengage learning.
• Mazur, J.E., 2016. Learning & behavior. Routledge.
• Olson, M.H., 2015. An introduction to theories of
learning. Psychology Press.
• Watson, J.B., 2017. Behaviorism. Routledge.
Behaviorism in practice
Examples of the various
behavioral management
practices are as follows:-
• Deduction of fees from an
employee’s salary for not
arriving on time at work for a
consecutive number of days,
resulting in him coming to
work on time.
• A teacher giving a pizza treat
to the entire class for their
performance on the exam.
• A company offering a raise to
an employee for his
outstanding performance.
• An individual fined by the
police for rash driving is less
susceptible to commit the
offense again in the future.
Bibliography
•Providing rewards or compliments
for good behavior.
•Providing evidence regarding the
praising of a student/individual.
•Replacing punishment with other
techniques in case of negative
behavior.
•Understanding the necessity of
punishment in an unavoidable
circumstance.