Reflection And Reflection On The Theory Of Behaviourism

A REFLECTION AND APPLICATION ON THE

THEORY OF BEHAVIORISM

Due to the dissatisfaction of results of studies relating to human mental processes or cognitive type of learning, brought to the methodological approach of behaviorism which in the later part of the nineteenth century been dynamic to the field of learning. The behaviorist theory’s main influences were Ivan Pavlov, who investigated classical conditioning, John B. Watson, who restricted psychology to experimental laboratory methods, B.F. Skinner’s operant conditioning where actions that individuals take to meet the demands of their environments, and Edward Thorndike’s connectionism who represented the original Stimulus-Response theory of learning. As a behaviorist, learning is believed to take place when knowledge is divided into smaller bits. The behaviorist teacher’s role is to provide stimulus material and to motivate the correct response, while the learner 's role is to receive the information response until the change in behavior is permanent. It is very similar to being a connectionist, where the basis of the theory is the principles of associationism that asserts experience links elements or ideas with one another and the complexity of concepts can be explained through a set of instructions. On the other hand, it is different with being a cognitivist, where learning is a change in individuals ' mental structures enabling them to show changes in behavior, based on the thought process behind the said