Humanistic and behaviorist approaches to classroom learning and education

Operant Conditioning and Humanistic Perspective

The process of learning has not ceased to attract both researchers and educational practitioners. However, due to the fact that learning is such a complex phenomenon, no theory of learning has been widely accepted (Uljens, 1992). The many facets of learning, that also affect the process of learning itself are age, gender, culture, subject, type of knowledge etc. In what concerns the paradigms that influenced the learning process and teaching practice there are three major trends: cognitivism, humanism and behaviorism.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the ways humanistic and behaviorist principles impact education and learning situations in the classroom. Humanism stresses the importance of the individual (the stress is on individual freedom and autonomy) and starts from the assumptions that human nature is inherently good and individuals have an urge toward self-actualization; human potential for growth and development is unlimited. The general frame of behaviorism considers the process of learning in terms of stimulus-response. In Skinner's terms learning occurs as a result of the operant conditioning process: the acquisition of a behavior/information depends on the consequences experienced upon completion. The learner associates the action with the consequences following the action - for instance rewards reinforce and generalize the action / behavior, while punishments reduce / eliminate the response. There are three major consequences of responding in the process of operant conditioning: positive reinforcement (reward or positive event), negative reinforcement (when avoiding negative/aversive stimuli), punishment.

Operant conditioning is also called instrumental, because produces reward and at the same time, it has an effect on the environment - it shapes the environment so as to produce the desired consequences and avoid undesirable ones, and therefore is called operant.

A summarization of the key points regarding the two approaches is needed before proceeding to the illustration of a specific learning situation. A general contrasting framework that describes the characteristics of the two approaches to learning and education is given in the table below. The process of learning, the participants, the evaluation of learning, the representative figures of the two approaches, are taken into consideration. (adapted after Hiemstra R. & Brockett R., 1994)

HUMANISM

BEHAVIORISM

Learning how to learn

Acquiring knowledge

Learning as a process

Learning as an end product

Instruction as a process

Instruction broken into manageable parts

O - R (O = human organism)

R (human and animal organism)

Dynamic view

Mechanistic view

Perceptions

Observable behavior

Internal thoughts

Behavioral change

Maslow/Rogers

Skinner/Thorndike

Individual determines learning

Environment shapes learning

Personal control and evaluation

Imitating and observing others

Role of experience

Reinforcement/operant conditioning

Interactive needs assessment

Task analysis

Trainer

Process evaluation

Product evaluation

Goal free evaluation

Criterion/normative/goal referenced evaluation

Learner controlled verification

External testing

Affective learning

Cognitive/mechanistic/psychomotor learning

Self-directed learning

Expert directs learning/expert models

Crystallized intelligence

Fluid intelligence

Internal motivation

External motivation

Relative ends

Fixed ends

John Dewey (cited in Bell L., Schniedewind, N., 1989) acknowledged that the most important components in a democratic society are self-development and social development. He emphasized the child-centered curriculum that promoted personal development in cognitive, physical, emotional, spiritual and aesthetic domains. The goals of humanistic education emphasize the concern for the holistic development of the child, the centrality of learning through experience, focus on interpersonal interaction, and take into consideration the values of a fair and more humane society (Bell L., Schniedewind, N., 1989). An element that humanistic and operant conditioning education share is their focus on conscious mental processes, but the point of divergence appears when humanist education stresses the benefit of integrating emotions into the learning process. Moreover, unlike behaviorists, who take into consideration only the response to environmental stimuli, humanists see individuals as the source of their own actions, emphasizing free choice instead of determinism (self-aware and autonomous individuals (humanism) versus individuals that are conditioned by stimuli in their responses (behaviorism)) (Bell L., Schniedewind, N., 1989).

From a behaviorist perspective the process of learning is restricted to the idea that the transmission of information is the transmission of the appropriate response to a certain stimulus, in other words, individuals learn a repertoire of behavioral responses to certain stimuli. Learning is based on the process of reinforcement of the desired responses. In the classroom, the typical behaviorist teaching practice is based on a progressive introduction of tasks and sequence of information, consistent repetition of the material and continuous positive reinforcement.

For a clearer illustration of how humanism and operant conditioning impact classroom teaching the learning situation suggested is teaching vocabulary to high school students. Humanist education will be focused on Carl Rogers's assumptions about learning and education, while operant conditioning will be based upon Skinner's principles.

Although in teaching vocabulary, the word-learning strategies involve using dictionaries and other reference aids, knowledge assimilation about the word parts, and how to use context clues to determine word meanings, these strategies are given different values in humanistic and Skinnerian approaches.

The operant conditioning perspective on vocabulary teaching

From the point-of-view of operant conditioning a teaching vocabulary sequence relies on clearly established steps of information delivering and exercises. This technique is called shaping, as the teacher starts with information students already know and then new information is broken into small pieces.

In teaching vocabulary, the teacher is more likely to suggest or work with the textbook, and the setting of a democratic environment based on common agreement is not such an important fact as in the humanistic approach.

The lesson starts with a revision and review of the information taught in the previous class. The new lesson is introduced and after the new words are highlighted and identified the correct spelling is reinforced and the main focus is on the dictionary use. The students who answer correctly are given positive reinforcements such as verbal praise, good grades and other rewards (prizes, red points, pluses etc.). The teacher is mainly interested in fostering "the correct answer," he is concerned with observable behaviors he is able to test. Therefore, for a teacher that uses operant conditioning in teaching, exams and testing are very important. In teaching vocabulary operant conditioning is effective as students deal with structured material that needs to be memorized. A variety of exercises may be employed in order to offer practice and facilitate the memorizing of new words. In such a context, the student plays a more passive role. His emotions and personal experiences are not the focus of the learning process.

Moreover, the reading and text scanning are strictly controlled by the teacher. The delivery of small bits of information followed by exercises in order to produce the correct answer is called chaining, and is a consecrated behaviorist technique.

In teaching vocabulary, a type of exercise that may be called behaviorist is matching the words with their meaning. The mechanism of this type of exercise is based on "trial and error," in that the student may be able to eliminate certain elements (the words he already knows) and deduce the meaning of the other words left. Using context clues in texts to deduce the meaning of certain words may be considered another proof of the existence of trial and error learning in teaching vocabulary.

In operant conditioning teaching, instructional objectives (i.e. The desired behaviors are clearly stated) and reinforcers are clearly established. For instance, students will be aware that if they solve correctly a word matching exercise there is a great chance of obtaining a bonus prize, or a good grade. This means that the teacher takes into account both the number of the correct answers and that of the mistakes made, and the reward is based upon them.

The two approaches to teaching vocabulary stress different components in what concerns both the learning process and the actors participating in it. In the humanistic approach the stress is on the students and on their contextual development: teaching vocabulary does not mean only memorizing new words but also is aimed at developing communication skills and emotional expressivity. In the behaviorist approach the focus is on the teacher, who is in the position to administer rewards or punishments that foster learning experiences. The students are more passive and conditioned to learn by the administration of reinforcers. Performance is defined by testing results, and there is a great chance that the students are motivated by the grades they receive rather than by their own personal development. Moreover, the stress is on exercising and memorizing the words rather than on openness to experience and global acquisition and performance.