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Behaviorism and Childhood Development: An Educator and Parent's Perspective
"Haven't I told you a hundred times," says a parent to an errant child, "not to put your muddy shoes on the sofa!" Yes, a behaviorist might note, the parent has told the child to do so -- but the parent has not taught the child, only told the child. The act of telling the child not to muddy the sofa in behaviorist would be conveyed, for instance, by rewarding the child for removing his or her shoes after coming in the house, and forcing the child to clean up after his or her transgression. Incrementally, through conditioning over the course of a series of proceses rather than cognitive actions alone the child would be taught in such a fashion.
The behaviorist Hempel (1949) claimed that "all psychological statements that are meaningful . . . are translatable into statements that do not involve psychological concepts," but only concepts for physical behavior (p. 18). In other words, even adults do not learn by abstractions and language, but by doing. Crudely put in the words of E.C. Tolman,...
. . can be investigated in essence through the continued experimental and theoretical analysis of the determiners of rat behavior at a choice point in a maze" (1938, p. 34).
This may sound like a radical challenge to current feelings-centered educational pscyhology. But the behaviorist objection," wrote Skinner, "to inner states is not that they do not exist, but that they are not relevant in a functional analysis" (Skinner 1953, p. 35). 'Not relevant' means, for Skinner, means that they do no real work in the world of the classroom -- an important rememberance for teachers who must create a functional learnining environment for students with diverse educational backgrounds An adequate science of behavior," he wrote, "must consider events taking place within the skin of the organism . . . As part of behavior itself" (1984, p. 617).
However, this point-of-view need not seem as Neandrathal as it appears on the surface. It is easy to indulge in the rhetoric about sharing, for example, and much…
Works Cited
Arnold, N.S. 1990. Marx's Radical Critique of Capitalist Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hempel, C. 1949. "The Logical Analysis of Psychology." In H. Feigl and W. Sellars (eds.), Readings in Philosophical Analysis (pp. 373-84). New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Hempel, C. 1966. Philosophy of Natural Science. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.
Killeen, P. 1994. "Mathematical Principles of Reinforcement," Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 17, 105-172.
In its most basic sense, play provides a mechanism for a young child to address him or herself and engage with others in a way that precludes feelings of immaturity and inferiority. "Play" invokes a world not limited by temporal boundaries of age and accomplishment and forces a child to relate to the world around him or her. In dramatic, physical, and celebratory play, children are able to develop social
Piaget Harry James Potter was born in 1980, the son of James and Lily Potter. Both of Harry's parents died when Harry was an infant. The murder of his parents literally left Harry Potter scarred for life: his lightening bolt-shaped scar is one of his most distinguishing physical features. The orphaned Harry was forced to live with distant family relatives who are Muggles, and culturally distinct from Harry. Harry Potter studies
Sociocultural Perspective on Childhood "Children's capacity to choose appropriate behaviour is influenced by their developmental ability, temperament, interactions, life experiences and environmental factors." (Government of South Australia, 2004) Children's behavior is a reflection of a constellation of different factors, including but not limited to: genetics, environment, and epigenetics (the ways in which the environment interacts with and affects biology). The concept of what is a 'badly' behaved child is not a universal
Individual Education Plan In education it is important to understand the pedagogy and historical philosophical perspectives on educational theories to fully understand the educational plan in a comprehensive fashion. Understanding this element of an education plan can provide insights to education that can have practical consequences on implementation. This analysis will provide a background into three of such theories -- behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism. Furthermore, it will discuss how these theories
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