Module 9 begins by listing several of the main assumptions about learning - that it must include a change in behavior, that behavior occurs because of experiences in the environment, that it must include an asociation between a stimulus and a response, that the stimulus and response must occur close together in time, and that the learning processes of different species are very similar. There are two main theories of how learning occurs: classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning is the pairing of involuntary behaviors with behaviors that do not evoke an automatic response. The goal in classical conditioning is to adopt a conditioned response to the stimulus. An example of classical conditioning is Pavlov's study, in which he would produce a loud sound in front of dogs and reward them with food. After the dogs made the connection that food would come after the sound, the dogs began to salivate when they heard the sound. On the other hand, operant conditioning depends on voluntary behaviors, as opposed to the involuntary behaviors in classical conditioning. The law of effect states that behaviors associated with good consequences are more likely to occur again, whereas the opposite occurs in behaviors associated with bad consequences. In operant conditioning, there are three major aspects - cues (nonverbal events that signal that a behavior is expected), prompts (verbal reminders that accompany the cue), and reinforcement/punishment. This reinforcement/punishment can be either positive or negative. Not all consequences work well for all students, however; a teacher must take into account the age of the student, the student's likes and dislikes, and how often to provide these consequences. Additionally, there are several strategies for increasing appropriate behaviors, such as the Premack principle (providing an activity as positive reinforcement), shaping (small steps that move towards the desired behavior), reinforcing incompatible behaviors (teachers using reinforcement to increase appropriate behaviors while decreasing the behavior that it is incompatible with), praise-and-ignore (teachers ignore inappropriate behaviors while praising appropriate behaviors), and positive practice (teachers instructing students to perfom an appropriate behavior). On the other hand, there are also many strategies for decreasing inappropriate behaviors, such as satiation (a teacher allowing a student to perform an inappropriate action repeatedly until it is no longer of interest to the student), extinction (the behavior is eliminated), overcorrection (making restitution for the inappropriate behavior), reprimand (verbal criticism), response cost (for example, a substance abuse policy), and social isolation (time-out).
A question that I had while reading this chapter is that I do not fully understand reinforcing incompatible behaviors.
How does a behaviorist define learning?
--A behaviorist would define learning as a process that can be researched scientifically, as opposed to simply thinking about one's own mind and learning processes.
It might take a few examples to understand certain strategies like reinforcing incompatible behaviors. If you don't understand the way the book authors describe something, never be afraid to do an internet search to see how someone else (or wikipedia) might describe it. There's nothing wrong with doing that to understand a concept. Of course, if you include their words in your submitted work, you'll need to cite it. Think about two behaviors that are IMPOSSIBLE to perform at the same time. This could be a child screaming vs. singing their ABCs, OR a child reaching for the top shelf vs sitting nicely on the floor.... Anything that's physically impossible to do simultaneously. Rather than yell at the child for grabbing things off a shelf, or trying to calm down the frantic child, you can reinforce the other behavior (increasing it) because it NECESSARILY decreases the other.... hope that helped?
ReplyDeleteYour description of learning tell us something useful about the behaviorist philosophy, how they want tangible evidence, but what do they consider learning? How might they define it?
For your description of big ideas, you have an extensive list there, but I'd aim less for listing topics that were covered (since that doesn't tell me what they mean or your own understanding of them) but rather the big ideas that you pulled out of reading and reflecting on what you've read. Two ways to think about that section differently might be:
ReplyDelete1. After you've read the chapter, sit back away from the book, close your eyes, and try to start typing out what you remember from the chapter as it comes to you. That way the significant information pops out in the way you're understanding it, in your own words.
2. If you had to describe the important information in this chapter to a practicing teacher to use in his classroom, what would you tell him? How are these ideas tools for him? Which would you pick out to share? (Consequences are important?)