Sunday, August 26, 2012
Behaviorism Blog Post 1 - Module 9
This chapter discusses behaviorism through the behavioral learning theories of operant and classical conditioning, and how learning occurs through the association between a stimulus and a response that results in a change in behavior. Classical conditioning consists gives this idea of associations between stimuli and responses, such as with Pavlov's dog experiment, where he conditioned a dog to salivate after hearing a bell. This bell had been rung at the same time as food was presented, therefore the dogs learned the association. Operant conditioning consists of voluntary behaviors that come from pairing stimuli and responses. In operant conditioning, there is reinforcement and punishment, and they can either be positive or negative. From this chapter, I learned several strategies for increasing appropriate behaviors and decreasing inappropriate behaviors by using reinforcement and punishment.
I was a little confused as to how to know which schedule to use and the situations associated with them. I would have liked if the book went more in depth into explaining them and giving better examples of how to apply them to real situations. I do not understand the difference between the fixed interval or ratio and the normal ration/interval.
A behaviorist would define learning as the association between a stimulus and a response that results in a change in behavior. This is because behaviorists believe in the ideals of forming unconditioned responses into conditioned responses, and creating neutral or unconditioned stimuli into conditioned stimuli.
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I was a little confused about the schedules as well, but here is MY understanding form the book: as a teacher, I would use a continuous schedule when I first criticize an inappropriate behavior. After a while, when the students have become accustomed to the continuous reinforcement, you can back off a little and use the other types of schedules because the students already recognize that their behavior was inappropriate and will expect the reinforcement, and therefore the reinforcement can be provided at a later time and the students will still understand why they earned the reinforcement.
ReplyDeleteI'm not entirely sure that this is 100% correct, but it is my understanding. I hope this helps!
I agree with you in the sense that a behaviorist would define learning as the association between a stimulus and a response that results in a change in behavior. However, I also think that there are other factors that play into the way a behaviorist would define learning. This includes that a change in behavior illustrates learning whether or not a stimulus is present because a change in environment can contribute to the way behavior changes as well, resulting in learning. Also, operant conditioning provides a change in behavior as well through the use of positive or negative reinforcement and punishment. Behaviorists use operant conditioning more often with students than classical conditioning because classical conditioning is useful in the lab when trying to prove behavior change. The classroom should not be a "lab," but an environment of learning through the use of providing positive or negative reinforcement and punishment.
ReplyDeleteYou give a really nice overview of the chapter. The only thing I might suggest is that you aim less to list topics that were covered and mention some big take home ideas that you (or someone) could use in a classroom. For instance, saying the big ideas of the chapter were 'consequences are important!' or 'as a teacher, I need to pay attention to what stimuli I put in the environment.' You might also just try to avoid using terms from the chapter and describe this same information using your own words (stepping back from the chapter and typing what you remember from it).
ReplyDeleteI think I can help with your confusion. The 'fixed' version is really just a category of the 'normal' or other schedules. Then ratio means based on 'number of behaviors' and interval means based on 'amount of time'. Fixed means that it's specified (the exact number or amount of time is chosen). So, you weren't missing something!
So, ratio schedules just mean schedules that provide reinforcement based on the number of behaviors performed. This could be unspecified, like if a teacher said "Well, I bring in a movie if they behave well many times that week." If you specify the number required, it's 'fixed' as in "I bring in a movie if I see they behave well 3 times during the week." Same goes for interval--interval just means you reinforce based on the amount of time that's passed. If the teacher says "Well, they've been following my directions for quite a while now--a month or two--so I'll bring in a movie." it would be an interval schedule. If he specifies the amount of time, "I bring in a movie once a month if my students follow directions well" it's 'fixed' interval.
I like your description of learning through behaviorism. Just be careful, because the second piece of that is only specific to classical conditioning.
Also, if the way the book describes something doesn't make sense to you, don't be afraid to look up the information somewhere else. I know you've probably been told to avoid wikipedia or searching information online for a paper, but for your own understanding and curiosity, there's NOTHING wrong with that! Even for a paper, it's fine as long as you cite it. :)
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinforcement#Simple_schedules