Learning, Knowledge and Human Development MOOC’s Updates

Skinner's Operant Conditioning

One of the most prominent principles introduced is the radical behaviorism of Skinner, that he further showed in his famous Operant Conditioning. It is a known theory of learning in which states that humans behave in accordance with the interaction they have with their external stimuli. This concept relies on the method used by people to either create desirable or stop a certain behavior; reward and punishment—idea rooted from negative and positive reinforcements. A good example of that is the mandated law in our society in which misdemeanor results to consequences.

In classroom set up, rewards are given to those students that has good behaviors such as arriving in time creates punctuality reward, while late arrival may result to detentions. Another common scenario that creates a reward/punishment is studying for an exam. High grades are being rewarded to the students who study for the test, and low grades are given to the students who did not study for the test. Such behavior will determine if they will pass or fail the subject. This further impart a learning that in order for the students to receive high grades on the examination, they have to study, and in order for them to pass the subject, they have to earn high or passing grades. Doing such tactics give the student a motivation in which would shape their behavior in the future. Given such, analyzing a classroom set up in behaviorist point of view, manipulation of environment indeed plays a huge part in inducing good behavior or change in desired behaviors in which administered by the teachers (Brau, et al., 2018). They are responsible for changing the environment that would suit the students need to acquire behavior that would eventually result to learnings.

 

Reference:

Brau, B., Fox, N., & Robinson, E. (n.d.). Behaviorism. Education Research. https://open.byu.edu/education_research/behaviorismt?fbclid=IwAR3ciWJ2sffkV7w2hnbnkqgSQfGBLUoHhO3OALO38fsVqesTTQwry3TIvFE#:~:text=From%20a%20behaviorist%20perspective%2C%20the,instinctively%20reacts%20to%20the%20environment

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