Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll 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 . --John Watson, Behaviorism , 1930 (Cherry,2012)

 Behaviorism is a theory of learning that regards all

actions, feelings, and thoughts as behaviors that can be measured, trained and changed. (Cherry, 2012)

Its philosophy is primarily based on stimulus-response

Ivan Pavlov
1849-1936 Automatic responses (involuntary reflexes)

John Watson
1878-1958

B.F. Skinner
1904-1990

Creating responses

Reinforcin g

(Woods, 2008)

Classical Conditioning: John Watson presented a 9 month old boy with two rats, one white and one black. Whenever the white rat was presented he banged loudly on a large pan, making the boy exhibit signs of fear. Soon, the boy would cry, flinch, etc. whenever the white rat was presented. The behavior is an automatic or involuntary, but the response is conditioned/learned.

Cherry, (2012)

Operant Conditioning: A skinner box is coined after B.F. Skinner, in which a rat is placed into a cage. This cage has a button in which the rat would eventually bump into while randomly running around and in turn release a food pellet. The buttonpressing behavior then increases due to the positive reinforcer (the food pellet). The purposefully operated behavior is a planned or voluntary response.

How has impacted our education system?

1. Classroom management techniques are based on consistent reinforcers and consequences:

2. US system promotes outcomes not processes:

Stimulus Response

3. Assessments (including SBAs) are almost always considered to be from a behaviorist philosophy, even if the type of question or response varies:
Stimulus: Response:

 Strengths:
It works. All at least at some point in everyones life and in

some manner have been impacted. (my speculation)

It provides focus, which helps improve efficiency.

Written goals or job descriptions are considered stimuli, which improves production, skill, etc. (the desired response).
The largest strength! Motivation, motivation,

motivation.

 Weaknesses
Sometimes it doesnt work (for more developed

learners, those with internal motivation or strong willed individuals). Doesnt allow for differences (learning styles, multiple intelligences, etc.), so it may limit the progress of some (less flexibility).
May limit creativity because it doesnt allow for

differences. (animal training is prescriptive compared to human training).

Leaves out the important fact that humans are

meant to be relational (those soft skills) e.g. my college professor.

It may give false hopes and waste time, as in Cathys

story.

Importance for us as administrators:

Employees need rewards (whether they are extrinsic or intrinsic), which can be very motivating. While trying to change behavior in employees, we need to remember to consider the mind, body and soul, which were not to consider if you are truly acting as a behaviorist. If we reward only in behaviorist mode, we will be viewed as patronizing. The same goes for students, as it does for adults we need consider the whole student. Learning frequently occurs in incremental steps and as it was pointed out this summer in our study of Marzano, celebrating incremental successes is an important skill for leaders.

Work Cited:
Cherry, K. (2012) What is Behaviorism? Retrieved August 25th at http://psychology.about.com/od/behavioralpsychology/f/ behaviorism.htm Learning Theories Knowledgebase (2012, September). Behaviorism at Learning-Theories.com. Retrieved September 15th, 2012 from http:/www.learningtheories.com/ behaviorism.html Woods, C. (2008, Spring) Group 1 Behaviorism at Learning Theories Wikispace. Retrieved September 5th, 2012 from http://learningtheories.wikispaces.com/Group+1+-+Behaviorism