Behaviorism: Stimulus-Response, Observable Behaviors, and Environment - Essay Sample

Introduction

Behaviorism refers to an approach in psychology that tends to emphasize the objective and scientific methods of investigation (Skinner, 1976). This approach is mainly concerned with the stimulus-response of observable behaviors. The behaviorism approach depicts four main assumptions. First, the approach assumes that all of the behaviors are learned from the typical environment. Secondly, the approach assumes that all the animals, as well as human beings, learn in a similar manner, implying that a study on animal behavior can be extrapolated to humans. According to behaviorists, psychology should be understood scientifically and objectively (O'Donohue & Kitchener, 1999). A type of learning of animals and humans is classical conditioning that was initially being discussed by Pavlov in his study for dogs. Another kind of learning discussed in the behaviorist approach is operant conditioning. In this conditioning, new and voluntary behavior can be associated with a consequence.

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The case study provided demonstrates a case of behaviorism. According to the case study provided, Sheena and her classmates' belief that their geography teacher will always phone their parents and keep them behind after school. The teacher is now proud that his class will always demonstrate a high level of punctuality. The behavior of Sheena and her classmates and the conviction of their geography teacher illustrates a case of operant conditioning, as discussed in behavioral psychology. Operant conditioning is a learning method that seeks to employ rewards as well as punishments to a behavior, thereby illustrating positive and negative conditioning (Blackman, 2017). The case presented entails a negative reinforcement of behavior. The students believe that if they get late, they will be punished by the teacher by ringing their parents and keeping them after school. In this regard, the students cannot dare to get late, and instead, they are very punctual. This means that the students are punctual to remove the unpleasant reinforcer, which makes them strengthen their positive punctuality behavior. Similarly, as demonstrated by Skinner in his experiment, the rat knew how to get to the lever to put off the electric current. The students, therefore, exhibit a behavioral change from laziness to punctuality as conditioned by the teacher's behavior.

Comparison of Behavioral Approach with SLT

Behaviorism and the social learning theory (SLT) are some of the most used psychological theories that tend to explain behavior. While the two approaches are both ideals in explaining behavior, they are different in the manner in which they attempt to explain human behavior. For example, SLT tends to recognize that learner tends to have an active role in the learning process (Parke, 2014). This means that the subjects tend to choose whatever they should attend and the behavior that they should choose. On the contrary, the behaviorism theory tends to assume that the learner has no role in participating in learning but rather responds to the environment passively. Additionally, the SLT tends to recognize that there is a difference between performance and acquisition of behavior (Parke, 2014). This implies that there is a possibility of observing behavior, remembering it, adding it to one's repertoire, but failing to reproduce it. This is contrary to behaviorism, which argues that learning and performance is the same thing. According to behaviorism, behavior is only learned when it is used. Although both theories agree on laboratory experiments to verify the assumption or hypothesis, unlike behaviorism, the social learning theory is mostly concerned with humans, which implies that the experimental findings should be supported by the natural findings.

Analysis of Findings in the Study

The study of cats by Thorndike in 1911 illustrates the law of effect, which stated that the responses that tended to produce a satisfying effect within a particular situation would become more likely to take place than a situation that produced a discomforting effect Goodwin, K. A., & (Goodwin, 2017). According to his experiment, fewer trials with the cat would produce more time before getting a favorable outcome. However, with more frequency like 40, the time would be reduced to about 100 seconds compared to a frequency of 4 with 600 minutes (Gavrikov & Khlebopros, 2009). This means that when the cat realized that stumbling on the lever opened the cage, it would always do so for the favorable consequences in the future. This test was done quantitatively as there was a need to test the hypothesis empirically, as illustrated in the graph below.

Figure 1: A Graphic Representation of Thorndike's Results

From the data and results obtained, the analysis of mean would have been an appropriate measure of central tendency. It should be noted that mean or average expresses both discrete and continuous data to understand the average of the findings. This means that if Thorndike's experiment was repeated severally, a mean would have indicated the validity of the results. However, this would have necessitated an evaluation of the standard deviation to understand how the variables deviated from the mean. These findings support the behaviorist approach as it demonstrates a case of classical conditioning. The cat responded to an external stimulus to form a particular behavior that had a favorable outcome to them, which is a case of behaviorism.

Use of Laboratory Experiments by Behaviorists

Behaviorist psychologists tend to use laboratory experiments in their quest to study human behavior. Although there can be several techniques that can be used in the study of human behavior, the behaviorists have identified that an experimental method tends to allow the researcher to evaluate a cause and effect relationship. By use of the experimental method, researchers are able to locate and also define the variables, formulate the hypothesis, and manipulate the variables through the collected data (Birnbaum, 2000). This approach is imperative as it facilitates a better understanding of precisely the new strategies that can be used in treating different types of mental illnesses and psychological distresses.

Laboratory experiments in psychology are essential as they pay particular attention to eliminating the effect of the other extraneous variable. This is achieved by controlling some of the variables through the creation of an artificial environment. Through this control and creation of a necessary environment, the researchers can establish a causal effect and relationship while eliminating other variables that could have impacted on the situation. Besides, laboratory experiments are famous as they allow participants to be randomly selected and allocated to the experimental conditions, thereby avoiding a bias. The researcher, in this case, cannot be accused of choosing the participants who are likely to have a favorable outcome to the investigation. However, laboratory experiments have been accused of lacking ecological validity, implying that the results may not be applicable in real-life situations. Despite the perceived weaknesses, laboratory experiments in psychology tend to be reliable as they can be replicated with a different random sample.

References

Birnbaum, M. H. 2000. Psychological experiments on the Internet. San Diego: Academic Press.

Blackman, D. E. 2017. Operant Conditioning: An Experimental Analysis of Behaviour. Milton: Routledge.

Gavrikov, V., and Khlebopros, R. 2009. Dynamic modeling of learning: a case of Thorndike's cat. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/215657403_Dynamic_modeling_of_learning_a_case_of_Thorndike%27s_cat

Goodwin, K. A., and Goodwin, C. J. 2017. Research in psychology: Methods and design. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

O'Donohue, W. T., and Kitchener, R. F. 1999. Handbook of behaviorism. San Diego, Calif: Academic Press.

Parke, R. D. 2014. Recent Trends in Social Learning Theory. Burlington: Elsevier Science.

Skinner, B. F. 1976. About behaviorism. New York: Vintage Books.