Assignment 1: Behavioral Theorists
Pavlov, Watson, and Skinner are considered the originators of behaviorism. All contributed to learning theory. All three of the researchers studied the effects of the environment on learning.
Select one of the three behaviorists who, in your opinion, offers the most compelling argument for the use of behaviorism when teaching a new subject to an adult and to a child. Identify that behaviorist, then answer the following questions about his approach:
Describe how that behaviorist would teach an adult a new skill. Be specific; what is the skill?
What steps would the behaviorist use?
Would that behaviorist use a different approach with a child?
Why do you think this behaviorist's approach is best?
What issues or problems do you find in the other two behaviorists' approaches?
Post your response to the question below with at least 300 words. Cite information from at least one academic source, such as your textbook or an article from the Argosy Online Library to support your statements. Use current APA standards to properly cite your source(s).
The Behaviorists dominated the field of Psychology for 40 years and did a great deal of research with both animal and human subjects. Pavlov was a pioneer of classical conditioning research, most famous for his experiment during which he trained a dog to salivate to the sound of a bell. Shortly thereafter, Watson furthered Pavlov's work using classical conditioning, this time to instill fear into a young child. While classical conditioning helps to explain our involuntary or automatic behaviors and to a large extent our emotional reactions to things, operant conditioning helps to explain our voluntary behavior. Skinner believed that we could shape future behavior by how we respond to current behavior, either increasing or decreasing the likelihood of a given behavior in the future. He conducted some very interesting experiments, such as training pigeons to guide missiles and his "Skinner box" is still used by Behaviorists today.
Be sure to address all aspects of the assignment in your initial post.