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EDU20004 - Understanding and Supporting Behaviour

   

Added on  2020-04-15

9 Pages2146 Words293 Views
Running head: UNDERSTANDING AND SUPPORTING BEHAVIORUnderstanding and Supporting BehaviorName of the UniversityName of the StudentAuthor note

1UNDERSTANDING AND SUPPORTING BEHAVIORIntroductionThe given essay discusses the different behaviors demonstrated by students in thelearning environment. Various theories have been devised in order to understand humanbehavior especially children. These theories have helped academicians and other concernedindividuals in approaching children in a prepared manner. The essay highlights the essentialities of understanding children’s behavior in learningenvironments particularly in order to help them channel it. Among the five theories of behavior,the Cognitive theory has been chosen to devise reasons for children’s behavior in learningenvironment. Further, the essay also describes behavior as a socio-cultural construct andintroduces works of famous socio-cultural theorists.Behavior as defined by Behavioral TheoryBehavior is possessed and altered through learning and learning can be achieved throughinnumerable sources. Experts have defined learning and behavior through many theories.Behaviorism is one of them. It refers to the learning theory that lays stress solely on objets thatcan be observed and rejects any involvement of cognition. According to behavioral theorists, anindividual is said to have learned something when a change in his behavior is visible. Especiallyfor children, learning involves acting mentally or physically on objects. Children, according tothis theory, learn by either imitating others or reacting to stimulation. Many theorists have putforward their views regarding behaviorism and its effectiveness. Some prominent theoristsinclude Pavlov, Bandura, Skinner, Beck, Piaget and Watson. Among those mentioned above, Bandura was well renowned for his theories of learningespecially concerning children. According to him, the learning stage consists of observation,

2UNDERSTANDING AND SUPPORTING BEHAVIORimitation and modeling. Schunk and Usher, (2012) while drawing upon Bandura’s theory havepointed out that behavior can be molded through reward reinforcement that leads to motivation.A child’s good behavior when rewarded, results in its repetition that enforces the child to repeatthe desired behavior over and again. Ultimately, when the preferred behavior from the child isachieved, the reinforcement of rewards may continue intermittently. Kendall and Hollon, (2013) argue that behavioral theory is closely linked with cognitivetheory as it also involves the cognition. Children, they state, can be influenced to behave in acertain way when they are allowed to observe and respond to actions or stimuli. Several experiments have been done to identify the stimulus that compels one to behavein a certain manner. According to Skinner, (2014) behaviors that are desirable and suitable to thelearning environment are conditioned whereas the undesirable behaviors are not. He argued thathumans would repeat behaviors that produced desired results. Skinner’s experiment has beenlargely successful and is still applied in the learning field to prompt children behave properly.Teachers apply various methods of the behavioral theory today to yield desired behaviors fromstudents. These include agreements, penalties, strengthening and disappearance.In agreement, a student agrees to complete a given task that has not been done by himwith the agreement that he will be given additional help. Penalties or consequences occur after astudent demonstrates certain behavior. The behavior demonstrated by the student is strengthenedfurther if it is positive or stopped at that moment through punishment if it is negative. Lastly, thedisappearance reduces the possibility of a response by dependent removal of a formerly resistantstimulus.

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