Rooted in philosophy and psychology, behaviorism argues that mental events can and should be described as observable behavior. This theory provided the foundation for many of the instructional practices we see today (including writing behavioral objectives).
Behaviorism

Table of Contents

Introduction

Behaviorism generally views the human mind as a black box of complex, poorly-understood mental processes that ultimately are manifested in outward behaviors. Since we cannot observe mental processes in action, we should therefore focus on observable behaviors. Behaviors, even those associated with so-called attitudes, can be altered through the use of operant conditioning.

According to the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/b/behavior.htm), there are three distinct schools of thought within the behaviorist camp: psychological, logical positivists, and logical:

Psychological (or Scientific) Behaviorism - . Psychological behaviorism deals only with publicly observable behaviors (Watson, 1930). This movement represents an objectivist attempt to mimic the scientific practices and values of so-called hard sciences, like physics and chemistry. The classic example of this approach is embodied by B.F. Skinner's work. Skinner (1953) translated mental processes into observable behaviors using laboratory experiments involving mice.

Logical Positivist Behaviorism - Carnap (1932) argued that only empirically verifiable statements are worth considering. The positivist assumption is that while there may be no objective truth, there is a truth that comes from the rigor of empirical research. This short-lived movement declined as the issue of verification came increasingly under fire.

Logical (or Philosophical) Behaviorism - Ryle (1949) argues that all mental states, except for pain, can be analyzed through behavior suggests that mental states reflect nothing more than a disposition to doing things in a predictable way. For example, a bomb has a tendency to explode. Dispositions can be described in the form of conditional if-then statements.

Scientific Behaviorism

Scientific behaviorism is commonly attributed to Watson (1930) and has its roots in Thondike's (1913) connectionist theory. Connectionist theory posits that learning is the formation of connections between stimulus and response. Instruction therefore consists of S-R chains, whereby the learner is given a stimulus and asked to respond. Watson took this a step further suggesting that these responses, what he termed behavior, are the only observable evidence that we have of learning and that therefore the focus of research and instructional design should be on stimulating the correct behavior, regardless of mental constructs such as attitudes, beliefs, values, motives, purposes, etc. It is a learning theory because it describes what learning is (a change in behavior) and describes how learning occurs (through connections formed between stimuli and responses).

Scientific behaviorism spawned several branches of behaviorism: logical positivist behaviorism (Carnap, 1932), philosophical behaviorism (Ryle, 1943), and even cognitive behaviorism (see Tolman's Sign Learning theory, 1948). The latter involves the idea that the learner's purposes (i.e., striving for signs of a goal) are important variables in predicting behavior.

Skinner (1954) is credited with first applying behaviorism to instructional settings. Skinner's operant conditioning theory laid the groundwork for many of the instructional design and teaching methods we use today. Operant conditioning basically suggests that a person's behavior can be changed (learning) or at the very least shaped (slowly transformed) over time through positive and negative reinforcements as well as punishments.

Common applications of these principles include the use of prompting performance (behaviors) through embedded exercises and then providing positive or corrective feedback (ala programmed instruction) as well as token economies in classroom in classroom settings. The latter involves rewarding positive behaviors with tokens that can be redeemed for things that the students want (e.g., field trips, food, break time, etc.).


Links

http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/b/behavior.htm
Definition of Behaviorism

http://www.biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de/genetics/behavior/learning/behaviorism.html
Operant Conditioning and Behaviorism - an historical outline

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/behaviorism/
Behaviorism according to Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

http://www.wmich.edu/aba/saba.html
The Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis

http://psych.athabascau.ca/html/Behaviorism/
Behaviorism Tutorial

http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Psych/rwozniak/behaviorism.html
Wozniak, R.H. Behaviourism: The Early Years

http://www.personalityresearch.org/behaviorism.html
Behaviorism from Great Ideas in Personality series

http://hagar.up.ac.za/catts/learner/peterdl/Behav.html
Link to Behaviorist links

http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Watson/Battle/watson.htm
Watson, J.B. (1929). Behaviorism -- The Modern Note in Psychology

http://www.apa.org/monitor/dec99/ss6.html
APA Monitor. Behaviorism: the rise and fall of a discipline

http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/s/b/sbf116/1_be.htm
Sarah Fitzpatrick knowledge base

http://instruct.westvalley.edu/lafave/Logical_Behaviorism.html
Logical Behaviorism

http://www.indiana.edu/~edpsych/topics~/behavior.html
Indiana University online resources - Behaviorism

http://www.fsu.edu/~isunion/isenews/20011101brethower.html
Radical Behaviorism

References

Carnap, R. (1932). Psychology in Physical Language. Erkenntnis, 3, 107-42.

Ryle (1949). The Concept of the Mind. London: Hutchinson.

Skinner, B.F. (1953). Science and Human Behavior. New York, NY: Macmillan.

Watson, J. (1913). Psychology as a Behaviorist Views It. Psychological Review, 20, 158-77.

Watson, J. (1930). Behaviorism. New York, NY: Norton.