Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Ministry of Popular Power for Education

Jesús Obrero University Institute
Chair: Psychology of Learning

Behaviorism

Professor: Juan Ponce Alicia Niño

Caracas, April 2020

 Behaviorism

Behaviorism is a branch of Psychology that focuses on

study of the common laws that determine human behavior and
animal. At its origin, traditional behaviorism disregards the intrapsychic.
to focus on observable behavior, that is, prioritizes the objective by
above the subjective. This opposes behaviorism to previous approaches.
like the psychodynamic and phenomenological ones. In fact, since the
behaviorist perspective what we usually understand as "mind" or "life"
"Mental" is just an abstraction of what should really be studied.
psychology: the links between stimuli and response in contexts
determined.

Behaviorists tend to conceive living beings as 'blank slates'

"rasas" whose behavior is determined by the reinforcements and punishments that
receive more than by internal predispositions. Behavior, therefore,
it mainly does not depend on internal phenomena, such as instincts or the
thoughts (which are, after all, covert behaviors)
but rather from the environment, and we cannot separate either behavior or the
learning from the context in which they take place.

In fact, those processes that occur in the nervous system and that
for many other psychologists they are the cause of how we act, for the
Behaviorists are nothing more than another type of reactions generated through
our interaction with the environment.

Mental illness seen by behaviorists

Behaviorists have often been linked to the world of psychiatry.

for its use of the experimental method to obtain knowledge, but
this association is not accurate, since, in many aspects, the
conductists clearly differ from psychiatrists. One of these
differences is the opposition of behaviorism to the concept of illness
mental.

From this philosophy applied to psychology, there cannot be any behaviors.

pathological, as these are always judged according to their adequacy to a
context. While diseases must have biological causes
relatively well isolated and known, behaviorists point out that there is no
sufficient evidence in favor of the existence of these biomarkers in the
case of mental disorders. Consequently, they oppose the idea of
that the treatment of problems such as phobias or OCD should focus on
psychotropic drugs.

Development of behaviorism: the cognitive revolution

Behaviorism began to decline starting in the 1950s.

the rise of cognitive psychology. Cognitivism is a theoretical model that
it arose as a reaction to the radical emphasis of behaviorism on behavior
manifests, setting aside cognition. The progressive inclusion of variables
Participants in behaviorist models greatly favored this.
paradigm shift, known as "cognitive revolution."

In psychosocial practice, the contributions and principles of behaviorism and

Cognitivism would eventually converge into what we know as therapy.
cognitive-behavioral, which focuses on finding the programs of
treatment most supported by scientific evidence.

The third generation therapies developed in recent years

They recover part of the principles of radical behaviorism, reducing the
influence of cognitivism. Some examples are Acceptance Therapy and
Commitment, Behavioral Activation Therapy for depression or the
Dialectical Behavior Therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder.
 Behaviorism in education

Behaviorism in education can be applied to improve the

acquisition of knowledge of the students, their behavior, or their attitude
towards the classes. Because of this, many of their techniques are still being used
nowadays both in the field of formal education and in other areas
less regulated

Behaviorism is a branch of psychology that seeks to understand,

explain and predict human and animal behavior based on the
stimuli present in their environment. In its most radical form, it assumes that

all behaviors are either a response produced to a

element of the environment, or a consequence of the individual's history.

Although it has been proven that some of its premises are

false, many of the ideas arising from behaviorism continue to be applied in
a large number of distinct fields. Thus, from this theory arise ideas such as
the one of reinforcements and punishments, classical and operant conditioning, and the
habituation and sensitization.

It is impossible to apply all the ideas of behaviorism in education. Without

embargo, those that do fit within this scope can be very
tools for teachers, educators, and parents. In this article, we will see which ones
they are the most important and how they are applied, in addition to several examples

concretes of its use.

Behaviorist theory in education

The behaviorist theory is based on the idea that all

the behaviors of a person have been learned through a complex
system of rewards and punishments that has been in place since their birth. To
Based on this premise, several techniques are developed that can help to
modify the way an individual acts.
 The most applicable technique in the field of education is conditioning.
operant. It is based on the idea that a behavior will be repeated with
greater or lesser frequency in the future depending on whether it is rewarded or
punishes; that is to say, whether the person associates pleasure or pain with carrying it out.

Thus, modifying the system of reinforcements and punishments related to a

concrete way of acting, it is possible to influence behaviors of a
a persona to shape their behavior to our liking. This
it works especially well in the case of children, although it can also
to apply to adults to some extent

How reinforcement and punishment work

Operant conditioning is based on the application of reinforcements to the

behaviors that one wants to encourage in a person, and punishments for those that
it is not desired that they repeat. Both reinforcements and punishments can
be 'positive' if they involve adding a stimulus to the behavior, and 'negative' if
they involve eliminating something.

Thus, in the face of a behavior that one wishes to modify, it is possible to have four
types of responses: positive and negative reinforcements, and positive and negative punishments

negatives. The first two are used to make it more likely that a
the way of acting becomes more likely in the future, and the last ones, to
decrease its frequency.

A positive reinforcement involves giving a pleasant stimulus to the person.

as attention or praise, when they behave in a certain way. For the
On the contrary, a negative reinforcement would involve removing something unpleasant from it.

experience, as could happen when a person manages to stop a

annoying sound (like the alarm clock) when pressing a button.

On the other hand, positive punishment is related to the use of a stimulus.

aversive to decrease the likelihood of a behavior occurring again
to repeat; for example, a child who gets burned by touching a stove would have
received a positive punishment upon perceiving pain.

Finally, the negative case involves the elimination of a stimulus.

pleasant to prevent a behavior from happening again in the future. A
an example could be a father who takes away his child's phone so that he doesn't come back

to carry out a specific action.

How is behaviorism applied in education?

We have already seen that the most applicable part in the field of education
from behaviorist theory is the use of reinforcements and punishments to modify the
conduct. However, there are some aspects that it is necessary to keep in
count to understand how this approach is actually used within the
field of teaching.

According to studies conducted on operant conditioning, the

punishments are much more effective than rewards when it comes to modifying the
behavior of a person. Because of this, it was very common in the past
to whip a child who was acting "incorrectly", to humiliate him
verbally, or using any other type of physical or mental punishment.

However, for moral and ethical reasons, in recent decades it has

it has started to be seen that despite being effective in modifying behavior,
punishments of this type can have very negative consequences for the
children. That is why, currently, the techniques that are used tend to be of a
very different nature.

For example, nowadays it is also known that withdrawing attention from a

Child is one of the most effective "punishments" that exist. Due to this, for
to avoid undesirable behaviors, one of the best tools for a teacher or
father is precisely to ignore negative behaviors of the
small until they extinguish themselves.
 The behavioral theory of B.F. Skinner

Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1904-1990) was an important psychologist,

American inventor and writer recognized worldwide for his contributions
scientific rigor to psychology. In 1938 he wrote his first study called 'The
behavior of organisms: an experimental analysis "and it was captured
about paper everything he studied until, in 1974, he summarized his work
in a famous work called 'On Behaviorism'

In this book, Skinner explains the fundamentals of behavior analysis.

and how their experiments with animals can be extrapolated to therapy
psychological in humans. The author explains to us how it can be understood
psychology from an operant point of view and how it affects our
behavior to our thoughts.

Behavioral psychology

The four basic principles of behaviorist psychology are:

1. Psychology is a science; therefore, it will use a methodology.

empirical and demonstrable.

2. This methodology is characterized by using variables that can be

measure (example: measure anxiety by the number of heartbeats per minute)

3. The results of the experiments conducted in a laboratory,

they can be extrapolated to real life

4. Behavior is learned, there is no form of innatism.

total rejection of other branches of psychology

The contribution of Skinner's conditioning to this discipline is very...

important, added the principle of reinforcement, the concept of reward and
define operant conditioning, all through experiments such as
the famous Skinner box.
 In the following image, we can observe the process of
classical conditioning, where a salivation response is induced to a
dog (Pavlov's experiment).

The Skinner box

Officially called 'operant conditioning chamber', the box of

Skinner is one of the most well-known inventions in the history of psychology.
It was created with the aim of demonstrating that it was possible to induce and modify the

behavior of an animal (initially, a rat was used) through

external stimuli. The box is one of the pillars on which it is based.
known behaviorism of Skinner.

Parts of the box

The box contained the following items:

• Two lights

• A speaker

• A button

• Electrified ground (in some cases)

• Food dispenser

Functioning of the Skinner box

1. A rat was placed inside the box (it was usually deprived of
food before so that their motivation to eat would be greater)

The rat experiments in its new environment until it discovers the button.
and he pressed it. Automatically, a food unit (pellet) would come out of the
dispenser after pressing the button
3. The rat, motivated to obtain more food, changed its behavior.
and quickly learned to press the button to receive food (association of
stimulus-response behavior and positive reinforcement

4. Conditioning could also occur due to the omission of a stimulus.

negative (negative reinforcement). In this case, the rat was placed inside
the box with the electrified floor, if I pressed the button, the current stopped
pass through the ground. In this way, the rat learned to press the button to
stop feeling pain.

Skinner and operant conditioning

As we have seen, operant conditioning is something more complicated.

that the simple conditioning of Watson and Pavlov. In this case, the
association is not between a stimulus and a reflex but occurs between a
stimulus, a behavior, and a reinforcement.

That is, in the case of operant conditioning, a requirement is needed.

learning about what happens after the behavior. For example, in the
in the case of the Skinner box, the rat learns that after pressing the button
receive an award.

Positive and negative reinforcement

Since behaviorism is based on measuring behaviors, everything that

occurs in Skinner's conditioning is meticulously analyzed and
categorized. Consequently, we can distinguish two types of reinforcements
in B.F. Skinner's theory on behaviorism and conditioning
operating:

• Positive reinforcement, an element that acts as a reward, usually

satisfy a basic need or generate a pleasurable response.

• Negative reinforcement, an element that generates a response in us.

pain, displeasure or discomfort, this factor acts as a form of punishment.
 We can find examples of operant conditioning in our
day by day. For example, we strive to study because we have learned
to receive a reward later (good grades and recognition) or, we
we take a medication to avoid headaches, just like the rat
press a button to avoid the pain of the electrified floor.

Critiques of Skinner's behaviorism

Despite being a measurable and empirical model, B.F. Skinner's theory

about behaviorism and conditioning is quite reductionist for
talk about the human mind.

The main criticism of behaviorism is the lack of internal vision and the
the simplicity of its model makes it hardly believable that it can be measured and

understanding the human psyche through experiments conducted on others

animals.

Therefore, nowadays the cognitive-behavioral model is proposed, which combines

the cognitive branch (thinking) with behaviorism. If you want to know more
about the therapeutic application of this new model, we recommend reading
the following article on third generation therapies.

This article is purely informational, at Psychology-Online we do not have

the authority to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. You
We invite you to see a psychologist to address your particular case.

If you want to read more articles like The Theory of B.F. Skinner:
conductism and operant conditioning, we recommend that you enter into
our category of Experimental Psychology.