Week 1, Peer Reviewed Update 

In my first peer-reviewed assignment, I would like to share my thoughts on the role of “Operant Conditioning” in learning from the aspect of punishment and reinforcement.

Coined by B.F. Skinner, operant conditioning is one of the key concepts of behaviorist psychology and offers a learning environment through reinforcements and punishments. Development of voluntary responses against a stimuli constitutes its fundamental logic. Reinforcements and punishment are used to tune the responses in varying frequencies until the behavior has been finally learnt. Having used instruments such as Skinner’s box to do the operant conditioning, his fame stems from his experiments on pigeons and rats in boxes and even his own child in a box.

Skinner’s later “Teaching Machine” relies on the same premises which guided him through his experiments on the animals where de-humanizing and mechanization in learning appear at first sight. I guess, reinforcements and punishments were the factors to have the students accomplish the tasks on the teaching machines. Perhaps, that’s why the students (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTH3ob1IRFo#action=share) eagerly wrote their answers on the machine. An educational machine, on which one can insert his/her answers, and the reward (or reinforcement) process are the common ground with the online learning with games or tasks. Of course, online learning with games or tasks is enriched with audio-visual contents that attract even the most disinterested ones and have been designed taking the cognitive side of the human brain into consideration (even without any rewards for any accomplishment, playing the game or doing the task can be solely one’s reward).

Reinforcement and punishment of operant conditioning are still used as tools in classrooms to have students behave in a desired way or learn the things as planned in the curriculum. However, their long-term results, whether they can really contribute to the repertoire of permanent positive behaviors or permanent desire to learn something useful, may not always be as expected. Punishments may suppress one’s negative behaviors as long as the threat appears, say it bullying or not doing the reading. In case of no punishment, one may bully his peers or may ignore assigned tasks again. Another possibility is that harsh punishments may backfire and result in demolition of all connectedness between the teacher and the student. It is better to persuade an individual not to behave in a negative way or to give them light punishments so that the student is given the opportunity to chose between two behaviors (the desired one or the negative one) and to use his own will.

Rewards, as motivators, may not also function in the long term. Students may be demotivated after getting rewards as a result of hedonic adaptation and may not be so willing to do the further tasks or to behave in a desired way. Or teachers can not be the treat machines dispensing rewards. It is better to reward the ones that comprehend the big picture (how something works or how it is related to) in a topic or a task and to refrain from using rewards too frequently.

Competency of self-management can be taught to the students, so that the teacher may not frequently use reinforcement and punishment tools in the classroom. It will have better results in building a character in the long-term. Without having to use something to attract to or refrain from a behavior, students can build their own autonomy, which is, of course, supported by the teacher and their family.

To sum up, behaviorist approach still effects how we teach, but it is combined with cognitive approach in today’s classrooms. With enrichment of theoretical fundamentals of teaching, teachers will get more options to educate the students and to deal with the challenges.

References:

Williams, Marion, and Burden, Robert L. Psychology for Language Teachers, a Social Constructivist Approach. Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Sutherland, Sutherland. Irrationality: The Enemy Within. Pinter & Martin Ltd, 21st Anniversary Edition, 2013. Retrieved from https://www.amazon.com/Irrationality-enemy-within-Stuart-Sutherland-ebook/dp/B00EEDA7QQ

New Learning Online, Skinner’s behaviorism. Retrieved from https://newlearningonline.com/new-learning/chapter-6/skinners-behaviourism

Coursera, Learning, Knowledge and Human Development, Retrieved from https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-knowledge-human-development/lecture/KxR2D/foundations-of-educational-psychology-conditioned-reflex-behaviorism-and-human

CASEL, Core SEL Competencies, Retrieved from https://casel.org/core-competencies/

Cherry, Kendra. (2017, June 12). What Is Operant Conditioning and How Does It Work? Retrieved from https://www.verywellmind.com/operant-conditioning-a2-2794863