Behaviorism and Newtonian Physics

 by Cecilia Wickert Au.D.

 

It is human nature to want positive reinforcement, while at the same time avoiding negative reinforcement. This is the positive aspect of Behaviorism. It is what creates structure and a foundation for learning to occur. Where Behaviorism falls short is when J.B. Watson theorized that experience and environment dictates who a person becomes or how they behave. He indicated that it is not the individual’s motivations or inherited traits that influence the person’s life.

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Isn’t it the person’s internal motivations and/or inherited traits that leads a person down the path of what he/she experiences in life and the environments they choose to occupy? Just because an individual is born into a family that chooses not to take risks, does not mean that the individual is doomed to a life of playing it safe. They may play it safe if they are not internally motivated to change their status quo. It is hard to go against the ‘status quo bias' that is unfortunately part of most of our mind sets. But, an individual can change the expected outcome because of their internal motivations and inherited traits. Learning is more akin to Quantum physics in the following sense.

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Newtonian Physics is like Behaviorism. Newtonian physics is a deterministic theory. When you put something into a black box you get an expected outcome. The appropriate outcome does not change. The three basic physical laws are expressed in mathematical equations. They are consistent. This reminds me of Behaviorism.

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Einstein’s Theory moved away from Newtonian physics in the fact that time and space are relative. Time and space are dynamic, changes are dependent on elements of velocity and gravity. This thinking led to looking at physics in a whole new light. No mathematical equations have been found to determine the exact position of electrons at any point in time. Quantum analysis provides the solution. Since we now know that all matter is made up of both particles and wave nature, one can only determine a range of possibilities, a range of where the particle will be at any point in time.

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There is a better explanation of how we learn than what is expressed in Behaviorism. We have a range of possibilities. The environment, plus the individual’s experience, plus internal motivation, plus situations that occur in the environment due to actions taken, all affect the outcome of learning. Just like we would never throw out Newtonian physics we should not degrade Behaviorism simply because our thought processes have evolved.

 

With Behaviorism, there are only two outcomes, one is correct and one is incorrect.  Positive reinforcement of the correct outcome will encourage actions that produce this correct outcome.  This style of teaching is the foundation of education whether it be childhood education or adult learning education.  With this model, you are either positively or negatively reinforced determinant if the instructor has created a reward or punitive incentive program

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For learning to occur we need to consider how learning takes place as well as how to encourage learning to occur.

 

Our goal for any type of learning opportunity is that when an incentive program is not present the student’s internal motivational level is so strong that it becomes etched into the fabric of their inner being.  Pavlov’s infamous study on Classic Conditioning determined that once a conditioned response occurs the opposite can also follow. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhqumfpxuzI. The presenter in this You Tube video reported that once the ‘subject learns that a signal response no longer occurs then the learned connection is gradually weakened.’

 

Randy Hansen, Ed.D. program chair at the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) outlined the idea that Behaviorism sets the stage for effective learning to occur.

 

Additional learning theories will help the internal motivation to become ingrained so that, layered together, a combination of these theories will promote true learning.  We often hear, ‘there are no new thoughts.’  The great thinkers of the past had grains of thoughts and broad concepts.  And, through the ages, to present time, other great thinkers simply filled out our understanding of these early views of the essence of things around us such as learning theories or physics.  That may be the way to present learning experiences and to learn.  Present small nuggets of information to the student so that their interest is peaked and they seek additional information.  What better way to learn than by exploring our world.