Journal Entry 2

Journal Entry #2

Christy Dixon

Describe

Chapter 5 of Slavin’s Educational Phychology: Theory and Practice, discussed the different physiological theories that relate to behavior. These theories all relate to the ability of a person to learn behaviors based on their own personal experience.

This chapter discusses several different behavioral theorists. Two of these theorists, a Russian scientist named Ivan Pavlov and a man by the name of B.F. Skinner, used animals in their research of behavior.

Pavlov proved that natural reflexive behaviors, such as a dog salivating in the presence of a desirable food (which would be considered the unconditioned stimuli) can be triggered by an object that would normally not cause this reaction (the neutral stimuli). This can be taught through the animal learning the association between the two stimuli.

His experiment used meat (unconditioned stimuli) and a bell (neutral stimuli). The meat would cause the dog to salivate. Then the dog would be presented with only the sound of the bell. This did not cause the dog to salivate. However, Pavlov started to ring the bell every time he fed the meat to the dog. After doing this repeatedly, Pavlov removed the meat and only rang the bell. Now that the dog has associated the sound of the bell with eating the meat; the sound of the bell alone caused the dog to salivate. This is an obvious learned behavior, or in other words, the dog was conditioned to react.

B.F. Skinner continued with this type of study, however he used pigeons and rats. Skinner looked more at the relationship between behavior and consequences. One important finding that Skinner made was that consequences (whether good or bad) need to be immediate. The effectiveness of the consequences lessened when the consequences were not immediate. His theory states that reinforcements encourage behaviors to continue, and punishments cause behaviors to become fewer. He believed that a person’s behavior could be “shaped” by using these reinforcements and punishments.

The behavioral learning theories, presented in this chapter, discusses their idea of how reinforcements and punishments can shape one’s behavior. These theories show that reinforcers can be used in a number of ways. They can be primary (rewarded by meeting natural human needs) or secondary (rewarded by wants/likes), positive (encouraging a desired behavior) or negative (encouraging an undesired behavior), intrinsic (naturally wanting something) or extrinsic (an outer source persuading you).

Punishments can also be administered in various ways. Punishments can be administered by presenting an unpleasant consequence, or it can be the removal of pleasant consequence.

This chapter also discussed antecedent stimuli. This type of stimuli “serves as cues indicating which behaviors will be reinforced or punished.” Slavin (2012)

Another theorist mentioned in this chapter was a man by the name of Albert Bandura. Bandura’s theory is called the Social Learning Theory. His theory focuses on the ability to learn behaviors based on observational learning, modeling, and vicarious learning. In other words, people learn what are desired behaviors and undesired behaviors by watching others around them.

Analyze

In the book, it pointed out the differences between reinforcers and punishers. As stated in the book, reinforcers are defined as “any consequence that strengthens (that is, increases the frequency of) a behavior” Slavin (2012). Punishers on the other hand, are “consequences that weaken behavior” Slavin (2012). It is vital that educators recognize the difference between the two. Otherwise, a teacher may think that she is punishing a child for a disruptive behavior, when in fact she is actually reinforcing his behavior by giving the student what they desire. For instance, the book gave a great example of this. The example that the book gave discussed how sending a student to the office could actually be a reinforcement of a behavior instead of a punishment. If that student is being removed from a situation he/she didn’t want to be in (like a boring class), then the student is actually being rewarded for their behavior.

In our group discussion Erin R. made an excellent point on this same situation. She said, “When students are unsuccessful in the classroom and do not know the material, they see being sent out of the classroom as a relief rather than a punishment. Because of this, the student’s negative behavior will not decrease; in fact, the behavior typically increases because students relish the opportunity to leave the classroom, where they risk being embarrassed for their lack of knowledge in front of their peers." In my experience of teaching, this is something that I have found to be very true.  

Reflect

As an educator, I feel that it is vital to understand that all students learn in different ways. This is true for behavior management as well. What works with one student may not work with another. It is essential to have clear, well defined behavior expectations. Creating and implementing an effective behavior management system is key in establishing a positive and effective learning environment.

When it comes to behavior management, I have always had some sort of behavior system in my classroom. However, I started using a free educational app/website called Class Dojo. I really like this program. I have had a ton of positive feedback from both parents and students. I set the program up to coincide with my school’s PBIS system. This program was so effective for my grade level, that my entire school will be using it next year. It’s great for behavior, parent contact and data collection. The program (Dojo) is constantly making changes/upgrades to better the program. I would highly recommend it to others. Although I try to stick to positive reinforcement, sometimes punishments are also necessary. The program I use is good for both positive reinforcements and those seldom necessary punishments.

Works Cited

Slavin, R.E. (2012) Educational Psychology: Theory and practice (10^th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson

Erin R. Group 4, Week 3 Discussion