Kennedy Wagner

Educational Phycology
Professor Mark Hawkes
3/23/15
Behaviorism Learning
What is behaviorism? Behaviorism to me, means in such ways one
behaves or an act from something that has occurred. Behaviorism is
something you learn at a young age. For example, when an infant cries its
because they want something such as, toys, food or to be held. The behavior
they are giving off tells the parents that they want something and they wont
stop their behavior until they get it.
There are two primary things that every behavior needs a stimulus and
a response. A stimulus is something that influences an individuals learning
or behavior. For example, in the classroom something may be distracting a
childs learning environment, such as a getting distracted by another class
mate talking behind them and wanting to join in on the conversation. Now,
the response to that is not learning and picking up what the teacher had
discussed and told you to do in class, which means youre probably not going
to do as well on it as the other students. As you see the stimulus was getting
distracted and not paying attention and your response was not hearing what
the teacher had told you to do, so your response would be you not getting a
good grade because of your actions.

Ivan Pavlov was a Russian physiologist known primarily for his work in
classical conditioning. From his childhood days Pavlov demonstrated
intellectual brilliance along with an unusual energy which he named the
instinct for research MLA Style: Ivan Pavlov-Biographical. Nobelprize.org.
Nobel media AB 2014. Web. 29 Mar2015.
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laurates/1904/pavlovbio.html. Classical Conditioning is very important when talking about
behaviorism. Classical Conditioning has 7 different events that par take in
experiments Pavlov created.
First lets talk about Unconditioned Stimulus. An unconditioned stimuli
is one that unconditionally, naturally and automatically triggers a response.
An example of this would be if kids are in the classroom and its getting close
to lunch time, they can smell the food. That automatically triggers them to
think about the food and not pay attention. Next is the Unconditioned
response. Back to our example, if a child is distracted by the smell of the
food, then the response would be the feeling of hunger they have to the
smell of the food.
Secondly, we talk about the Conditioned Stimuli. Ivan Pavlovs
experiment was using dogs in his experiment that would salivate in response
to food, but after repeatedly pairing the presentation of food with the sound
of a bell, the dogs would begin to salivate to the sound alone. In this
example, the sound of the bell was the conditioned stimulus. Cherry,
Kendra. "What Is a Conditioned Stimulus?" Conditioned Stimulus. Kendra

Cherry. Web. <http://psychology.about.com/od/cindex/g/condstim.htm>. The

conditioned response in this case would be the bell, because every time the
dog hears that bell he automatically starts to salivate.
Another different event that Pavlov created was Neutral Stimulus.
Neutral Stimulus is a stimulus that does not produce an automatic response.
An example would be if a teacher plays a song in the classroom on the video
board and the kids listen to it. The kids dont have strong feelings towards
the song but they still listen to it. When the song then plays somewhere else
such as, the radio the students dont have any strong reaction to it. That
makes the song a neutral stimulus because it doesnt have any strong
reactions.
The last two responses I am going to talk about are Generalization and
Extinction. Generalization occurs when a person learns a response to a
particular stimulus and then makes the same response to a similar stimulus.
Such as, if an infant if learning to talk on the phone he/she might
accidentally pick up the remote and put it to their ear. Why? Because they
see the remote and the telephone look alike and generalize it will do the
same thing. When in reality, we learn that remotes are for the TV and phones
are to talk on the phone.
Lets say a child cries every day during recess time because he didnt
finish his homework so he has to stay in from recess, and you, as the teacher
feel bad and let him go outside. After a while he still doesnt complete his

homework and you keep on keeping him inside until he gets it done. He then
learns once he stops crying and gets things done he gets to go outside
again. This is an example of extinction. Extinction is getting rid of a
previously learned behavior when the behavior is not being reinforced.
Edward L. Thorndike did a cat puzzle box. An animal makes some
response, and if it is rewarded, the response is learned. If the response is not
rewarded, it gradually disappears. The entire experiment was based on animals
being placed into these contraptions, and could only escape from it by making some
specific response. Such escape procedures would be pulling a sting or pushing a
button. Reinemeyer, Erika. "Edward Lee Thorndike." Theory. Erika

Reinemeyer, 1 May 1999. Web.

<http://www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/thorndike.htm>.
After Thorndikes death, B. F. Skinner learned from Thorndike that behavior
is a product of learning. He gave voluntary learning the name Operant
Conditioning.
Operant Conditioning, has both positive and negative reinforcement
and positive and negative punishments. Positive reinforcement is giving
something pleasant after a behavior. This increases the probability that the
behavior will continue. An example of positive reinforcement is when a
student studies for a quiz and gets an A. The student received the A by
working hard, and in return got a good grade. A Negative reinforcement is
taking away something unpleasant as a result of the behavior that is

acceptable. An example of negative reinforcement is when a student does

not study for their quiz and they do poorly on it.
Positive punishment is used to decrease a behavior and is presenting
something unpleasant after the behavior an example of this would be when
a student misbehaves in class, she receives a timeout. Negative punishment
is also used to decrease a behavior and is removing something pleasant
after the behavior, and an example of this would be a coach has a "swear
jar." Every time someone swears, they have to put a dollar in the jar. This is
taking away money, which is something pleasant, and decreases the
behavior of swearing.
In conclusion, behaviorism is learned in many different ways. I selected
behaviorism as my topic because I thought this category had a lot of useful
information. Behaviorism is a theoretical way in which learning and behavior

are described and explained in terms of stimulus-response relationships.