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Carly Rozell
Educational Psychology
Dr. Mark Hawkes
11 April 2016
Behaviorism
We have learned about various learning theories, including,
behaviorism, social learning, and constructivism. The learning theory that
stuck out to me the most was behaviorism. This is because it describes how
students behave in the classroom and also outside the classroom.
Behaviorism helps us as teachers to understand how a students behavior
affects their learning.
What does behaviorism mean to me? To me, behaviorism is a type of
learning that focuses on an individuals or students behavior. How students
learn to behave and where their behavior is learned from is another
component of behaviorism. I think someones behavior is shaped from not
only positive reinforcement but also negative reinforcement. There is a lot
that goes along with the social learning theory that is behaviorism and it will
all be covered in the informational paper.
Behaviorism combines elements of philosophy, methodology, and
psychology theories. This theory was a reaction of traditional forms of
psychology and depth psychology. Our book defines behaviorism as the
theoretical perspective in which learning and behavior are described and
explained in terms of stimulus-response relationships, and motivation is

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often the result of deficit-based drives. It is based upon the idea that all
behaviors are acquired through conditioning (Behaviorism, Ormrod).
John B. Watson first introduced behaviorism in the early twentieth
century. He saw psychology as the study of peoples actions with the ability
to predict and control those actions. The idea brought forth the behaviorist
theory, which he named after his new idea. Early on in his research he was
able to develop new techniques that would allow him to control and condition
the emotions of his subjects.
He also introduced a concept of stimulus and response, which are two
primary parts that every behavior needs. A stimulus is something that
influences an individuals learning or behavior. An example would be that
certain stimuli in our lives lead use to behave in certain ways. When a
neighbor smiles or waves, this may make us feel good and the reaction
would be to wave back or make a comment such as, Have a good day. The
reaction of waving back or telling your neighbor to have a good day is known
as a response. A response is a specific behavior that one would exhibit,
whether good or bad.
A well-known psychologist, Ivan Pavlov, is known for his work in
classical conditioning. Pavlov defined conditioned responses and
demonstrated that they could be regarded as elementary psychological and
physiological processes. This work was revolutionary. Conditioning occurs
when there is interaction with the environment. It is a learning process in
which a distinctive response to a strong state comes to be caused in

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response to a previously neutral stimulus. This is achieved by repeated

pairings of the neutral stimulus with a powerful stimulus. There are two
known types of conditioning: classical and operant.
First, let us discuss classical conditioning. This is a type of learning that
had major influences on behaviorism. Classical conditioning involves placing
a neutral signal before a naturally occurring reflex. This forms a relationship
between two stimuli resulting in a learned response. To this process, there
are three basic phases. The first phase is called Before Conditioning. This is
part of the process requires a naturally occurring stimulus that will produce a
response automatically. Ivan Pavlovs most famous experiment what one that
stimulated a response from dogs. He proved the existence of the
unconditioned response by the ringing of a bell and presenting a bowl of food
to the dog. Then, he measured is salivary secretions in reaction to the bowl
of food. He found that any object or event which the dogs learned to
associate with food would trigger the same response (Cherry).
During this phase, the unconditioned stimulus results in an
unconditioned response. An unconditioned stimulus is one that naturally and
automatically triggers a response. The unconditioned response is an
unlearned response that occurs naturally in response to the unconditioned
stimulus. In Pavlovs experiment, when the dogs smell the food they were
suggesting an unconditioned stimulus. The conditioned response to this
would be the feeling of being hungry in response to the smell of food
(Santrock).

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Now I am going to explain an important stimulus that Pavlov

introduced. The stimulus that Pavlov introduced is a neutral stimulus. It is a
stimulus which initially produced no specific response other than focusing
attention. When used together with an unconditioned stimulus, in classical
conditioning, the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus. An
example would be if a teacher were to play song in the classroom, the
students would listen to it. When the song plays elsewhere outside of the
classroom, they do not react to the song which then makes it a neutral
stimulus because it does not produce any strong reactions as it did in the
classroom (Boyd.)
During the second phase, the previous stimulus is repeatedly paired
with the unconditioned stimulus. This is when the neutral stimulus becomes
the conditioned stimulus. A conditioned stimulus is a previously neutral
stimulus that comes to trigger a conditioned response. In the experiment
that Pavlov did, he rang the bell when he set out dogs food. The bell is
unrelated to the smell of food, but the dogs learned to know that they would
be given a bowl of food when the bell rang. This triggered the conditioned
response. A conditioned response is the learned response to the previously
neutral response, which happens in the third phase (Santrock.)
Two more factors that affect conditioning are generalization and
extinction. Generalization is when a stimulus similar to the controlled
stimulus also produces the controlled response, even if it has never been
paired with the uncontrolled response. An example of generalization could be

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when a child is learning to talk on the phone. The child could accidentally
pick up the remote and put it to their ear because the remote looks very
similar to a phone.
Another term is extinction and this is the disappearance of a previously
learned behavior when the behavior is not reinforced. An example of this
could be when a mother and her son going to the grocery. The son always
begins to scream when they get to the checkout and will not stop until his
mother agrees to buy him some candy. This happens almost every time that
they come into the store. One day, the mother decided not to give in to her
son and not buy him candy. As suspected, the child is even more upset when
his mother says no. Later, they come into the store and it is noticed that the
son does not scream for candy at the checkout. This is because of extinction
(Cherry).
Positive reinforcement is giving something pleasant after a behavior
which increases the probability that a behavior will continue. An example
would be when a student gets a good grade on a test. They studied for the
test that they got a good grade on this test, so because they got a good
grade they will continue to study for their following tests. A negative
reinforcement is taking away something unpleasant as a result of the
behavior that is acceptable. An example would be if a student does not study
for a test and the result would be that the student would do poorly on the
test (Cherry).

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Presentation punishment is a punishment involving the presentation of

a new stimulus, presumably one a learner finds unpleasant. An example of
this kind of punishment would be when a teacher makes a child do extra
homework when they disrupt the rest of the class or behave poorly. Another
kind of punishment is removal punishment. This is punishment involving
removal of an existing stimulus, likely one a learner finds desirable and does
not want to lose. An example of removal punishment would be when a
parent takes away their childs game system because he did not complete
his homework on time or some other undesirable behavior because he was
playing his game system all night (Cherry). An example of this could be if I
child is not using appropriate behavior in the classroom, a teacher could take
away recess time. Recess is very important to most kids in elementary
school and is often a good weapon to use against children who are not
behaving appropriately.
In conclusion, behaviorism is learned and presented in many different
ways. I chose behaviorism because it was the learning theory that enjoyed
learning about the most. I enjoyed learning about the different psychologists
who had contributed to the social learning theory that is behaviorism. I also
liked learning about how peoples behaviors affect how they learn and react.
Behaviorism is a theoretical way in which learning and behavior are
describes and explained in terms of stimulus-response relationships.

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Works Cited
"Behaviorism." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 8 Nov. 2015.
Boyd, Natalie. "Neutral Stimulus." Study.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Nov. 2015.
Cherry, Kendra. "How Is Extinction Defined in Psychology?" About.com Education.
N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Nov. 2015.

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Cherry, Kendra. "What Is Behaviorism and How Does It Work?" About.com
Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Nov. 2015.
"Classical Conditioning." The Free Dictionary. Farlex, n.d. Web. 8 Nov. 2015.
Ormrod, Jeanne Ellis. Essentials of Educational Psychology: Big Ideas to Guide
Effective Teaching. Boston: Pearson, 2012. Print.
Santrock. "Theories of Learning in Educational Psychology." Pavlov and Classical
Conditioning. N.p., 1988. Web. 8 Nov. 2015.