ASSIGNMENT SAMPLE ON EYSP 3 MODEL POSITIVE BEHAVIOR IN THE EARLY YEARS
Part 1
History of Behavioral Thought
Behaviorist theory originated mainly as an approach of Psychologists in order to study certain aspects of human psychology scientifically. As per the opinion of KARTAL (2021), theorists who supported this theory tended to break down behavior as a stimulus and response phenomenon over anything else. There is no denying the fact that every human being is unique but as per this theory, there are some aspects of behavior that can be studied and predicted in the future. There are external environmental stimuli that tend to cause some reactions in human beings besides that of their own inner mental stimuli. These stimuli were categorized into positive and negative ones and their effect upon that of various humans as well as animals was studied in order to understand a certain trend in behavioral patterns. Richard Thorndike’s law of effect is considered a pioneer work in this field that subsequently influenced other theorists like that Skinner and Bowley to further study this phenomenon from their own perspectives.
John Watson’s Little Albert Experiment
Little Albert experiment can be viewed as that of an adaptation of Pavlov’s experiment on that of a dog for that of its human counterpart. This experiment was mainly done in order to find the extent of responses to that of various stimuli from that of a human child. According to the opinion of Illeris (2018), this experiment started with showing various masks as well as a rat and a rabbit to that of the child called Albert. This was mainly done in this stage to create a visual impression of these objects upon the child’s mind. This stage is called the unconditioned stimulus stage. In the next stage of this experiment in order to drive this experiment forward a steel bar was patted with that of a rod every time a rat was shown to this child. This stage is called the stage of generating conditioned responses upon objects of that of a particular experiment.
Evaluation of Little Albert Experiment Findings
During the initial stage of unconditioned responses, Little Albert seemed nonchalant about various objects and animals that he was shown. He considered these objects and animals as that of most other regular ones. According to the opinion of Caputo and Tomai (2020), however, when a steel rod was beaten up bars every time a rat was shown, Little Albert started showing signs of fear and restlessness. This created such a phobia that every time a rat was brought near him, he used to get afraid. Besides, animals and objects with certain features of a rat-like house dog, a piece of wool used to scare him up a lot as well. This experiment has proved that external stimuli when imposed in a recurrent manner tend to create a certain kind of response in individuals like that of an animal.
Skinner’s Box Experiment
B.F Skinner, an academic behaviorist decided to take up behaviorist experiments a little further through a method which he termed as Operant Conditioning. In this experiment, he placed a rat in a box which was surrounded by that of a food pellet dispenser, an electric grid, a shock generator, a lever, food cups as w3ell as that of signal lights and lever. In this experiment, Skinner tried to find the influence of that of positive, negative as well as that of neutral reinforcers on this rat’s behavior. In the first stage of positive reinforcement, he used to give food to the rat every time it touched the lever. In the second stage, this rat was given electric shocks but as it followed signal lights and touched this lever, Skinner would stop these shock waves.
Findings
This experiment led Skinner to conclude that behaviors in animals like rats can be modified and controlled through the imposition of that of different kinds of reinforcers, namely that of positive, neutral as well as negative. According to the opinion of Caputo and Tomai (2020), in the initial stage when food was given every time a rat touched a lever, it quickly learned to associate the lever with that of food pellets. This made this creature to quickly run and touch this lever every time it was put in the box. In order to escape from that of punishment, this rat learned through continuous repetitive practice that this lever was its own relying point again.
Part 2
Bowley and Skinner’s experiments on Positive Behavior
John Bowley’s experiment was mainly to study responses to that of various responses upon 60 babies over a period of some months. In this case, the bond between that of a mother and her child was considered as that of the subject for this experiment. Initially presence of the mother near these children was considered as neural reinforcers. According to the opinion of Nkhata et al. (2019), but gradually as these children were separated from that of their mothers, the absence of mothers became negative reinforcers that caused undue anxiety and pain among these children. In some children, this even led to the development of various essential and deeply impactful issues like that of fear near-strangers as well as other issues to adjust socially.
This experiment is not very dissimilar to that of the experiment that has been conducted by that of Skinner. In this experiment as well, the lever initially did not derive any responses from that of a rat being a neutral reinforcer. But gradually as other stimuli like that of food pellets as well as that of electric currents were intruded in this experiment, it led to a generation of different behavior traits like that of a child.
Impact of Behaviorists on current settings
Behaviorists have generated a theoretical framework for a complex framework like that of human psychology. According to the opinion of Illeris (2018), in current settings teachers can bring out positive as well as negative responses from that of students by reinforcers like that praise of punishments. In business settings, these reinforcers come in the form of incentives and demotions that influence the behaviors of employees in most cases in certain patterns. The external stimulus like that of a rod tends to grasp a major area of that of mental responses which can however be lessened with a lessening of this factor as well. This helps to draw up various different ways to analyze the behavior of various individuals as well as what is expected from them. This becomes helpful in task allocation to people as well as designing various packages of remuneration for these people.
References
Affifi, R., 2018. Deweyan psychology in plant intelligence research: Transforming stimulus and response. In Memory and learning in plants (pp. 17-33). Springer, Cham. Available at: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-75596-0_2
Borsboom, D., van der Maas, H.L., Dalege, J., Kievit, R.A. and Haig, B.D., 2021. Theory construction methodology: A practical framework for building theories in psychology. Perspectives on Psychological Science, p.1745691620969647. Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1745691620969647
Caputo, A. and Tomai, M., 2020. A systematic review of psychodynamic theories in community psychology: Discovering the unconscious in community work. Journal of community psychology, 48(6), pp.2069-2085. Available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jcop.22407?casa_token=96rFUMPVZhMAAAAA:onhCdZj0ZQyamH002fM3K_wfpBAkQ9rNueXC-RMKtHukJhbo4fhKIHPHBTdJabHf18gjMfrZ20uP7SH-
Hudson, S., 2020. Artificial intelligence, Cognitive Robotics and Human Psychology. DO-10.13140/RG. 2.2. 20153.52323. Available at: https://www.academia.edu/download/61661514/AI_Compassionate_Robots_and_Human_Psychology20200102-88932-1665ux3.pdf
Illeris, K., 2018. An overview of the history of learning theory. European Journal of Education, 53(1), pp.86-101. Available at: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ejed.12265?casa_token=qcQPTZAf9WkAAAAA:vox3OnNis9j9N7iRdMUx-8NHRND85y4CDeKuguhJHAEeCtlHgEiaJBRlNycSkREvxIjpY380w-lXnCMD
KARTAL, H.B., 2021. An essay on the background of experimental psychology and behaviourism. Psychology Research on Education and Social Sciences, 2(1), pp.55-59. Available at: https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/press/issue/58384/852556
Nkhata, B., Mkandawire, S.B., Nachiyunde, K., Phiri-Nalube, P., Kaani, B., Mulenga, I.M., Phiri, C., Chileshe, B., Sichula, N., Sikayomya, P. and Munachaka, C.J., 2019. Exploring selected theories applicable to educational disciplines and social sciences research. International Journal of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education, 6(12), pp.97-116. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sitwe-Mkandawire/publication/338127893_Exploring_Selected_Theories_Applicable_to_Educational_Disciplines_and_Social_Sciences_Research/links/5e24756b299bf1e1fac1124f/Exploring-Selected-Theories-Applicable-to-Educational-Disciplines-and-Social-Sciences-Research.pdf
