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Learning Objectives

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Trace the chronological development of the psychological school of behaviorism

Develop an understanding of major themes pertaining to behaviorism

Recognize important contributors to behavioral learning theory

Behaviorism dominated experimental psychology for several decades, and its influence can still be felt today. Behaviorism is largely responsible for establishing psychology as a scientific discipline through its objective methods and especially experimentation.

Early work in the field of behavior was conducted by the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936). Pavlov studied a form of learning behavior called a conditioned reflex, in which an animal or human produced a reflex (unconscious) response to a stimulus and, over time, was conditioned to produce the response to a different stimulus that the experimenter associated with the original stimulus. The reflex Pavlov worked with was salivation in response to the presence of food. The salivation reflex could be elicited using a second stimulus, such as a specific sound, that was presented in association with the initial food stimulus several times. Once the response to the second stimulus was "learned," the food stimulus could be omitted. Pavlov's "classical conditioning" is only one form of learning behavior studied by behaviorists.

Edward Thorndike's (1898) work with cats and puzzle boxes illustrates the concept of conditioning. The puzzle boxes were approximately 50 cm long, 38 cm wide, and 30 cm tall (see figure below). Thorndike's puzzle boxes were built so that the cat, placed inside the box, could escape only if it pressed a bar or pulled a lever, which caused the string attached to the door to lift the weight and open the door. Thorndike measured the time it took the cat to perform the required response (e.g., pulling the lever). Once it had learned the response he gave the cat a reward, usually food.

Thorndike found that once a cat accidentally stepped on the switch, it would then press the switch faster in each succeeding trial inside the puzzle box. By observing and recording how long it took a variety of animals to escape through several trials, Thorndike was able to graph the learning curve (graphed as an S-shape). He observed that most animals had difficulty escaping at first, then began to escape faster and faster with each successive puzzle box trial, and eventually levelled off in their escape times. The learning curve also suggested that different species learned in the same way but at different speeds. His finding was that cats, for instance, consistently showed gradual learning.

Of the manifold parts of his theory, Thorndike's Law of Effect remains one of the theories' most well-known corollaries.

Law of Effect: If an association is followed by satisfaction, it will be strengthened, and if it is followed by annoyance, it will be weakened.

That is, Thorndike believed that an organism would seek to strengthen the association between a stimulus and response, if that association was perceived to yield satisfaction or pleasure to that organism. Conversely, an organism would seek to weaken an association between a stimulus and response if it brought annoyance. Consider a hungry mouse that is rewarded for pressing a lever with food. The association between the lever press and the food will be strengthened if the reward is perceived to be pleasurable, which to the hungry mouse, is sure to find the reward highly agreeable. However, if the same mouse received an electric shock after pressing the lever, the mouse may choose to avoid the lever in future trials. If the stimulus is not elicited (lever press), there will be no response - the mouse weakens the association between lever press and the electric shock. The law of effect later was replaced by terminology coined by later behaviorists, preferring the terms "reinforcement" and "punishment" over "satisfaction" and "annoyance".

John B. Watson (1878-1958) was an influential American psychologist whose most famous work occurred during the early 20th century at Johns Hopkins University. While Wundt and James were concerned with understanding conscious experience, Watson thought that the study of consciousness was flawed. Because he believed that objective analysis of the mind was impossible, Watson preferred to focus directly on observable behavior and try to bring that behavior under control. Watson was a major proponent of shifting the focus of psychology from the mind to behavior, and this approach of observing and controlling behavior came to be known as behaviorism. A major object of study by behaviorists was learned behavior and its interaction with inborn qualities of the organism. Behaviorism commonly used animals in experiments under the assumption that what was learned using animal models could, to some degree, be applied to human behavior. Indeed, Tolman (1938) stated, "I believe that everything important in psychology (except ... such matters as involving society and words) can be investigated in essence through the continued experimental and theoretical analysis of the determiners of rat behavior at a choice-point in a maze."

Burrhus Frederic (B.F.) Skinner (1904-1990) was an American psychologist. Like Watson, Skinner was a behaviorist, and he concentrated on how behavior was affected by its consequences. B.F. Skinner called his particular brand of behaviorism radical behaviourism (1974). Radical behaviorism is the philosophy of the science of behaviour. It seeks to understand behaviour as a function of environmental histories of reinforcing consequences. This applied behaviourism does not accept private events such as thinking, perceptions, and unobservable emotions in a causal account of an organism's behaviour.

While a researcher at Harvard, Skinner invented the operant conditioning chamber, popularly referred to as the Skinner box (see figure below), used to measure responses of organisms (most often rats and pigeons) and their orderly interactions with the environment. The box had a lever and a food tray, and a hungry rat inside the box could get food delivered to the tray by pressing the lever. Skinner observed that when a rat was first put into the box, it would wander around, sniffing and exploring, and would usually press the bar by accident, at which point a food pellet would drop into the tray. After that happened, the rate of bar pressing would increase dramatically and remain high until the rat was no longer hungry. The Skinner Box has remained a crucial resource for researchers studying behavior (Thorne & Henley, 2005). Research conducted with the Skinner Box led to the principle of reinforcement, which is the probability of something occurring based on the consequences of a behavior.

SUMMARY

The Law of Effect and the Principle of Reinforcement are among the many insights that survive the school of behaviorism today. Nevertheless, we feel the influence of decades of behavioral research in various modern-day settings. For example, behavioral principles are commonly applied in behavioral and cognitive-behavioral therapy to create powerful changes in one's behavior. Behavior modification is also commonly used in classroom settings to encourage appropriate classroom behaviors and discourage potential disruptions. Overall, behaviorism has led to research on environmental influences on human behavior.
References:
Introduction to Psychology text by [redacted author(s)] is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA. http://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/BookDetail.aspx?bookId=48

Introduction to Psychology - 1st Canadian Ed. by Jennifer Walinga is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA. http://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/BookDetail.aspx?bookId=427

Openstax Psychology text by Kathryn Dumper, William Jenkins, Arlene Lacombe, Marilyn Lovett and Marion Perlmutter is licensed under CC BY v4.0. https://openstax.org/details/books/psychology

Introduction to Psychology: The Full Noba Collection by Robert Biswas-Diener and Ed Diener is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA. http://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/BookDetail.aspx?bookId=228

Exercises

1. The results of Thorndike's Puzzle Box experiments demonstrated that the test animals took ____ time (relative to all attempts) initially when solving puzzle box trials and took ____ time with each subsequent, completed trial.

a. Less; More

b. Less; Less

c. More; Less

d. More; More

2. Thorndike's Law of Effect is differentiated from the Principle of Reinforcement because the ____ posits that ____.

a. Law of effect; organisms will initiate actions which will yield a pleasurable effect

b. Law of effect; organisms will initiate actions that impede the presence of an non-pleasurable effect

c. Principle of Reinforcement; an organism is more likely to pursue behaviors which are reinforced

d. Principle of Reinforcement; an organism is less likely to pursue behaviors which are not reinforced

e. None of the above.

3. One of the main tenets of Skinner's radical behaviorism was that___

a. the activities of the mind, apart from the operation of basic life-sustaining functions, had a causal influence on an organisms' behavior

b. an organism's perception is integral to guiding that organism's behaviors

c. an organism's emotional capacities is among the primary influences for the initiation of behavior

d. a combination of an organism's thinking, perception and related emotional activities initiate behaviors

e. the private events of the human mind had no causal role pertaining to an organism's behavior.

Critical Thinking Questions:

1. W hat are some of the weaknesses of radical behaviorism as it was conceptualized by B.F. Skinner?
Personal Application Question:
1. What are some ways you can potentially see the application of behavioral principles (e.g., the law of effect, principle of reinforcement) in your everyday life?

conditioned reflex: an animal or human produced a reflex (unconscious) response to a stimulus.

classical conditioning: (briefly) a type of conditioning in which a natural, unconditioned stimulus (e.g., food) is paired with a novel stimulus (e.g., a sound, a bell) to create a circumstance in which the novel stimulus can produce a desired response.

law of effect: the precursor to the principle of reinforcement, this law describes the actions of an organism following a satisfying or dissatisfying outcome.

radical behaviorism: a philosophy in the science of behavior. Radical behaviorism seeks to understand behavior as a function of environmental histories of reinforcing consequences while simultaneously rejecting the role of thinking, perception or emotion in the initiation or maintenance of behaviors.

Skinner Box: an apparatus used to measure responses of organisms (most often rats and pigeons) and their orderly interactions with the environment.

Answers to Exercises

1. C

2. E (The Law of effect was effectively co-opted into the principle of reinforcement for the sake of providing more easily testable experimental conditions)

3. E

Critical Thinking Questions:

1. Answer: (should contain some of the following key points)

*not all human processes characterizing human behaviors have easily recognizable conditioned stimuli, and the behaviors that can be considered conditioned are not easily traceable to a single source

*modern empirical research has mostly refuted the assumption that "private events" do not influence behaviors (e.g., cognitive psychological treatment, phantom limb research)

*private events are constants which underlie ALL behavior, voluntary or involuntary - to rule them out simply because they are not observable is in essence, jumping to conclusions
Glossary:
conditioned reflex: an animal or human produced a reflex (unconscious) response to a stimulus.

classical conditioning: (briefly) a type of conditioning in which a natural, unconditioned stimulus (e.g., food) is paired with a novel stimulus (e.g., a sound, a bell) to create a circumstance in which the novel stimulus can produce a desired response.

law of effect: the precursor to the principle of reinforcement, this law describes the actions of an organism following a satisfying or dissatisfying outcome.

radical behaviorism: a philosophy in the science of behavior. Radical behaviorism seeks to understand behavior as a function of environmental histories of reinforcing consequences while simultaneously rejecting the role of thinking, perception or emotion in the initiation or maintenance of behaviors.

Skinner Box: an apparatus used to measure responses of organisms (most often rats and pigeons) and their orderly interactions with the environment.

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By the end of this section, you will be able to: Trace the chronological development of the psychological school of behaviorism Develop an understanding of major themes pertaining to behaviorism Recognize important contributors to behavioral learning theory Behaviorism dominated experimental psychology for several decades, and its influence can still be felt today.

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Essay On Behaviourism | Hypnotherapy Edinburgh, Hypnotherapist, Counselling & CBT practice with Robin Thorburn & Exclusive Hypnotherapy, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

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The principle theory of the behaviourist approach to psychotherapy is that all
behaviour is learned and that these laws apply to animals as well as human beings.
All individuals respond and behave naturally in accordance with the environment.
Instead of seeking unconscious reasons that motivate peop…

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What eLearning Professionals Should Know About Behaviorism In Instructional Design For eLearning

Although we may declare ourselves supporters of cognitivism or constructivism, we are all behaviorists by nature. Even if we may not realize it, as eLearning professionals, we all use behavioristic principles extensively in our Instructional Design for eLearning. This happens because behaviorism, no matter how much out-of-date it sounds, without any doubt, is deeply rooted in the human subconscious. Instinctively, it's part of our actions and reactions. From an educational point of view, who doesn't want to examine the learners' observable and measurable behavior and guide them accordingly to optimize their learning? What are tests and assessments in general, other than an effort to estimate the learners' performance and adapt the instruction accordingly to the learning needs of the audience? These principles also apply to eLearning.

No. In this article, I won't talk about Pavlov's dogs, Skinner's rats and pigeons, nor about Thorndike's law of effect. There is extensive bibliography about all these. Instead, I will give you examples of elements we all use today in Instructional Design for eLearning, without even realizing that they are based on behavioristic principles. I will also explain for what type of learning objectives a behavioristic approach may yield better results.

Applying Behaviorism In Instructional Design For eLearning

Right-wrong, on-off, 0-1, etc. In fact, the connection between behaviorism and eLearning was clear from the very beginning. If we take a look back in the 1950s and 60s, when Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI) first appeared, the computer seemed to be the ideal tool to measure learning outcomes, on the condition of course, that there was a single correct answer learners were expected to give. Soon this evolved to an attempt for programmed instruction, with the computer programmed to give predetermined paths to follow, allowing learners to proceed only when the correct answer was given. Today, programmed instruction can be perceived as a forerunner of interactive branching scenarios and adaptive hypermedia systems applied to online education with behavioristic elements, the resemblance of which with programmed instruction is very difficult to be ignored, despite the fact that we tend to "cover" them in modern "constructivistic" packages claiming that we give learners "freedom of choice." The truth is that the only freedom learners are allowed is the order in which they choose to follow the predefined learning paths, so carefully tracked and programmed in the Instructional Design of really good eLearning courses.

Back to behaviorism. As the name implies, a behavioristic approach focuses on guiding learners to reach pre-established learning outcomes. Learning is considered to take place when learners manage to reach these expected outcomes, designed to meet the learning objectives of the eLearning course. Therefore, the aim of a behavioristic-oriented Instructional Design strategy for eLearning must be to provide learners with the appropriate stimuli, that is with opportunities that help them demonstrate that they are able to express desired behaviors that prove that learning has actually taken place.

Instructional Design for eLearning based on the behavioristic approach starts from the basic assumption of behaviorism that knowledge is objective, meaning that there is only one correct answer to give or a specific approach to follow. Although this may sound rigid-and perhaps it is-this is where to start in order for eLearning professionals to become aware of the type of activities that a behavioristic approach could be appropriate for. It also shows that behaviorism may not be the appropriate approach for eLearning activities that require the user to develop higher-order skills, such as decision-making or problem-solving through analysis, synthesis or evaluation of the information presented.

Objectivism is the key to remember in order to decide whether a behavioristic approach is appropriate for your eLearning activities or not. Is there a single correct answer, or multiple approaches may be acceptable? Is knowledge objective? Don't rush to answer no. Facts and standardized procedures actually are examples of "objective" knowledge. They do not change. Take advantage of this and check the learning objectives of the eLearning course. This is where you need to start.

Techniques To Be Used For The Instructional Design Of Behavioristic eLearning Activities

Once determined that a behavioristic approach is suitable to meet the particular learning objectives of your eLearning course, you need to design the respective eLearning activities accordingly. The techniques you may use are the following:

1. Discrimination

Use discrimination whenever the learning objective requires learners to identify whether a concept belongs to a specific category or not. In order to do so, learners should be able to identify key characteristics and qualities of the category and judge whether the new information shares the same qualities so as to belong to the group or not. Drag-and-drop exercises to classify concepts into different categories may serve as examples of developing discrimination activities in terms of eLearning course design.

2. Generalization

Generalization is suitable whenever the learning objectives are such that learners, after identifying the attributes of an item belonging to one category, are expected to assign the same attributes to all items within the category. Teaching through examples is based on an inductive approach of presenting eLearning content, during which learners after observing a series of independent online examples should be able to identify their common characteristic(s) and generalize by formulating the rule. Under this perspective, generalization is very close to what today we perceive as active learning, with an obvious direct connection to constructivism.

3. Association

Although in strictly behavioristic terms, association is the typical example of conditioning-which is linking a specific stimulus to a specific response-there is a tendency in today's eLearning to create eLearning interactions based on association whenever the learning objectives require the new information presented to be linked to specific practical applications of it. Presenting information within context can help learners create associations. This means that whenever learners encounter the same or similar information, they already know what it's related to, as they have already built a basic frame of reference to associate this piece of information with. Although a behavioristic approach perceives this association as an automated drill task and not as a cognitive process applied in Instructional Design for eLearning, matching exercises are examples of eLearning activities that could be designed to facilitate the learners' process of making associations.

4. Chaining

Chaining is referring to learners' automatic performance on specific procedures with predetermined steps to be followed. Like a chain, one step leads learners to the next. Performing drill tasks is an example of eLearning objectives that can be mastered through chaining. Creating drill tasks in eLearning involves presenting the theoretical model first and then asking learners to repeat the procedure by actually repeating the steps involved in the same order these were presented. Through repetition and online practice, learners at the end are able to reach the desired outcome by following the steps exactly as presented in the model. Sequence ordering exercises through drag-and-drop are very frequently used in the quiz-making templates most eLearning authoring tools provide. Such exercises may serve as typical examples of drill tasks applied in eLearning course design. In such activities, there is always a predefined and unique correct sequence that learners must form in order to show that they have mastered the learning objective under consideration. It's very common for learners to reach the desired outcome through trial and error, another behavioristic technique quite applicable in eLearning, depending on the number of attempts allowed by the Instructional Designer. It sounds like Thorndike's law of effect, doesn't it? Learners do not stop pressing different levers, exploring alternative answers until they find the rewarding one!

Keep in mind that for all of the above techniques, there is just a single correct answer. All quiz creation eLearning authoring tools take advantage of these behavioristic-based alternative exercise formats in order for the program to give an automated response and test learner performance through their test scores (measurable outcomes). There should be a unique correct response for each question.

Reinforcing Desired And Weakening Undesired Behavior

What is the instructor's role in this process then? Instructional Design for eLearning based on a behavioristic approach sets the type of reactions to be received by learners after interacting with the online training material. These reactions come from an online instructor or corporate trainer in synchronous eLearning settings, or from the eLearning course itself in the case of asynchronous eLearning. Depending on the type of the reaction received, the learners' expressed behavior may be reinforced or weakened. This highlights the importance of feedback throughout the entire learning process, not only at the end of the eLearning course but each time a learner interacts with the system. In behavioristic terms, although nobody wants to call it like this today, feedback is the simplest form of conditioning. Correct attempts are most frequently being reinforced by positive comments written on automated programmed responses. Although negative reinforcement, that is punishment and negative criticism, is not quite acceptable today, and certainly not appropriate for adult learning, such behavioristic traces can still be found in some cases that negative scores are used.

Instructional Design for eLearning based on the behavioristic approach would, therefore, imply that learning takes place when unwanted behavior is extinguished and learners reach the point of giving only the desired, uniquely correct responses that express the expected learning outcomes that guarantee that the learning objectives of the eLearning course have been mastered.

Application Of Behavioristic Principles In Gamification And Game-Based eLearning

Last, but not least, nowadays, behavioristic principles are also still applicable in gamification, which is presenting the learning material by employing game design elements in an entertaining way in order to motivate and engage the audience throughout the learning process. In gamification, as well as in other types of eLearning activities, the reinforcement of a certain desired behavior can occur in two ways: either by eliciting from learners' particular learning outcomes and rewarding these outcomes by assigning points, grades, budges, a higher position in leaderboards, etc., or by removing from learners specific benefits, for example, points, lives, etc., in order to make them try to avoid undesired consequences of their behaviors.

Concluding Remarks

It is true that behaviorism has received too much critique during the last decades, mainly due to the fact that it does not take into account other aspects of learning such as the mental processes involved or the environment in which learning takes place. The aim of this article was not to show any favoritism toward behaviorism, but rather to show that, in certain cases, it's still a valuable approach to today's eLearning. Of course, we cannot ignore cognitivism and constructivism as alternative approaches. Today, we know that a behavioristic perspective of certain activities in Instructional Design does not mean that other approaches may not be used simultaneously for the same online course for different types of eLearning activities. Rather than following a single approach for the entire eLearning course, we should, therefore, select the most appropriate for each one to cover the learning objectives.

Although the focus of behaviorism may not be to examine what is going on in learners' minds during the learning process, this does not necessarily mean that it denies cognition. It simply does not examine it. Humans are social beings; we learn from the environment, we learn from each other. We evolve all the time. We are rational beings. We are clever. If we are given the right incentives, we are able to construct knowledge in learning that meets our personal interests and needs.

As Instructional Designers, all the emphasis should be placed on the learning objectives, as each one of them may require eLearning activities that follow a different approach. Overall, the result in most cases is a mixed approach that combines the best of behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism, which meet the needs of each learning objective in order for it to be mastered and offers the audience the best possible eLearning experience.

Want to learn more about adult learning? The article 9 Tips To Apply Adult Learning Theory To eLearning features 5 adult learning theory assumptions to integrate into your eLearning course design in order to achieve maximum engagement and motivation for your audience.

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Behaviorism In Instructional Design For eLearning: When And How To Use It - eLearning Industry

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Although we may declare ourselves supporters of cognitivism or constructivism, we are all behaviorists by nature. Even if we may not realize it, as eLearning professionals, we all use behavioristic principles extensively in our Instructional Design for eLearning. This happens because behaviorism, no matter how much out-of-date it sounds, without any doubt, is deeply rooted in the human subconscious.

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Behaviorism, also known as behavioral psychology, is a learning theory that only focuses on objectively observable behavior and discounts any independent activities of the mind. Behavior theorists define learning as nothing more than the acquisition of new behavior based on environmental conditions.

Behaviorism is an early form of psychology that pays specific attention to cause and effect in the way people behave, especially in the way that reinforcement acts to condition to the way our unconscious reflexes and reactions work in the brain.

In coaching, studes are showing that it is useful in discovering different ways the subject (player) has been conditioned by the people around them. More serious cases can lead to limiting behavior that reduces the person's chance of success in life and work as they react rather than move purposively and by conscious choice.

The person may also be coached with using behaviorism is different ways, avoiding destructive reinforcement is a big part because that leads others to behave in unwanted ways which then uses stimuli that leads to positive and desirable actions.

"To really win, you have to get every player to go beyond his capabilities. He must feel great about himself/herself... They must feel that his coaches or supervisors have total confidence in his ability, and they must feel that his/her weaknesses are small and their strengths are much bigger. You do that by positive reinforcement, making sure that no one thinks negatively at any time." Rick Pitino (Basketball Coach, University of Louisville)

When behaviorism is used according to the principles of operant conditioning, reinforcement can have a significant impact on motivation and human behavior. Consider the successful coach who always seems to have upbeat and motivated athletes willing to charge through a brick wall for their coach. Unfortunately, the example of the unsuccessful coach whose athletes always seem to be downcast, downtrodden, and unmotivated also exist. One factor that separates the successful coach from the unsuccessful coach is the use of positive reinforcements, in particular, praise.

Praise provides information to athletes not only about performance but also about notion of self. In other words, it tells athletes about the quality of their motor performance, but it often also tells them about their self-worth and competence. For example, when you say, "Jerry, way to think. That's the way to make the correction the first time!" you are letting him know about his improved performance and also, and more important, about his intelligence, effort, and capacity for change. Contrast this coaching comment with the droll and uninspired "Okay. Go on to the next drill." Often, just a few precisely put words make a significant and long-lasting difference in an athlete's notion of self and motivation.

It is very important for coaches to recognize individual differences. No two athletes are exactly alike. It is important to keep these differences in mind when using reinforcement to influence motivation. What is reinforcement for one athlete might not be reinforcing to another athlete. For example, some athletes hate being pulled aside and lectured while other athletes take it as a compliment and a sign that you care about them and their goals.

Coaches should attempt to condition their athletes to have a positive psychological response to their sport. Athletes who have an interest and love for their sport (training and competition) will be engaged and motivated. You can facilitate a positive response by continually pairing positive conditioned stimuli with positive unconditioned stimuli. A significant way to create a positive response is to facilitate success and mastery during practice, making practice and competition fun, and focus on effort.

Also with the use of external reinforcements. Sometimes external reinforcement can be really effective for kick starting an athlete's internal motivation. Sometimes, a seemingly small external reward can go a long way toward motivating athletes.

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Behaviorism, also known as behavioral psychology, is a learning theory that only focuses on objectively observable behavior and discounts any independent activities of the mind. Behavior theorists define learning as nothing more than the acquisition of new behavior based on environmental conditions.

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Black Box Thinking is a philosophy which allows learning to emerge from mistakes.

The phrase was coined by Matthew Syed in his excellent book of the same title, where he examines performance and critical self-evaluation in sport, aviation, politics and many other fields. He took the term from the "black box" flight recorders fitted to aircraft, which contain vast amounts of data, to be used to inform future improvements. They are used extensively, but especially following poor performances. These could result from human error, failures of systems and procedures and unexpected events.

How does black box thinking apply in education?

In education, just as in aviation, we continually train ourselves and others, ensuring consistently high performance. But despite the time put into this training, students can still underperform in exams. Schools and inspection bodies collect this data, containing a wealth of information to guide current and future performance. But I'm not certain that we use this information effectively. After all, which information should we act on and how on earth should we act on it?

When teaching doesn't work...

A few years ago, Steve, a friend of mine working in another school, called me on A Level Results Day. He was in shock. For the last few years, his students had achieved excellent exam results and he was considered by many to be an "outstanding teacher" (I hate that phrase!). This year, however, a number of his students had "failed". By "failed", he meant that they had passed, but had significantly dipped below their expected grades.Steve had to account for this dip in his post-results analysis that he had to present to the Headteacher. But only two months earlier he had predicted much higher grades. How could he have got it so wrong?

In essence, he had assumed that because he had always been right about his students in the past, he was able to draw similar conclusions about his current students. Unfortunately, he was looking at the wrong data or at least interpreting it in the wrong way.

Steve's current students were not in any way "weaker" than in previous years. Nor had his teaching changed much. But he HAD missed one crucial point. The STUDENTS were different. He had forgotten to take this into account. This caused him to infer that the data he had used effectively last year was just as relevant for this year's students. Steve was wrong.

When the "data" doesn't add up...

We are all familiar with the use of assessment results to inform our understanding of how students progress towards their targets. However, those results do not " measure progress". They are a proxy, something which may indicate progress but which is not synonymous with it. Steve believed his assessment procedures to be rigorous. He used a range of assessment questions from the exam board's past papers. He was a seasoned examiner and was a competent judge of student responses. But he was ignoring something crucial. Steve focused entirely on improving the skills and techniques used in answers to exam questions. It made no difference in the end.

Steve recalled some of the papers from the exam board to see what had gone wrong. He assumed that the students had ignored the techniques he had taught them. How could they have forgotten the special mnemonics they had constructed together? Had they not written using PEE paragraphs? Did they follow up each of their ideas with a brief evaluation of it? Did their conclusions not follow the highly prescribed formula he had repeated time and time again?

The papers showed Steve what had really happened. The students didn't know the content.

As much as they had tried to structure their writing, they just didn't have enough subject knowledge. Steve expected a deep evaluation of quotes and he'd even taught the students how to go about discussing multiple interpretations of keywords and phrases.

But the students hadn't memorised the quotes.

It got worse. The case studies in the exam were supposed to trigger students to consider socio-economic theories, court cases and historical events.

But the students only understood the ones they were tested on in class and so hadn't read widely enough to answer the questions in the actual exam.

Why do your students fail?

Your students succeed and fail due to many factors. They may lack knowledge and understanding of a theory, method or event. They might not have 'memorised' the information they need. Their skills of analysis and evaluation may undermine the depth of their understanding. Steve considered all of these possibilities but was still at a loss to explain the underperformance. The truth was, that these weren't the only factors that were at play. It's often more complex.

Let's look at why three particular students failed:

Student A had recently been dealing with a bereavement of a close family member. This had taken its toll on the student, who had performed well up to that point. In the final run-up to the exam, Steve had believed that this student would cope well with study leave, having demonstrated for almost two years that he could work well independently. However, in this instance he was wrong. The student was unable to focus at home, in the way he could at school, in part because he was constantly surrounded by distractions relating to the passing of his relative. Whilst his bereavement would not be much easier at school, at least he may have found some space to concentrate a little better, or for longer periods, enabling him to perform better than he eventually did on exam day.

Student B had a poor track record regarding her attendance. But despite this, she still managed to perform well in her assessed essays. As it turned out, she was close friends with a student who had written the same essays in the previous year. She re-worded these essays and in some cases had even memorised them by rote, for closed-book timed assessments in class. By doing so, she evaded the attention of staff who were actively looking for students requiring intervention. Since her grades were good, they didn't consider her to be at risk of failing. Her problem though, was that in the exam she was not able to adapt those memorised answers when the question changed ever so slightly. She pulled the wool over many eyes, including Steve's and failed outright.

Student C was a high performer. At GCSE she had achieved all A* and A grades and had done so with little visible effort. Throughout A Level, however, she had not always enjoyed the same level of success. Essay grades ranged from A* to C. Steve had been hot on the case with this student and had accurately identified where marks were being gained and lost. He gave thoroughly detailed feedback to the student, who was able to redraft the essays to an excellent standard, following the advice he gave. But on the day of the exam, her marks were inconsistent across the paper. Why had she performed so well in some areas, but so poorly in others? As it turned out, the detailed feedback had made no difference. Why? The student hadn't had to think hard enough for herself as to how to improve. In the end, her highest marks came from the topics where Steve's feedback was much more limited in detail (despite the formative essays being of an equally low quality to others where feedback was detailed). In this instance, the student had performed badly overall because she hadn't become independent enough. She was still overly reliant on the teacher to help her to improve, even in the final weeks and days before the exam.

Action points for "Black Box" teachers

Assess regularly. Balance scheduled tests with unscheduled ones to accurately identify true levels of understanding.

Use rigorous assessment methods (past paper questions, etc)

Give feedback that strikes the right balance between being too detailed and not detailed enough

Create and maintain a 'culture' of student independence

Reward resilience and genuine effort, rather than high attainment alone

Test knowledge and understanding in creative ways, to avoid "scripted" responses

Formalise how you will act on the data you collect. Checklists are a time-efficient way of developing set procedures. (More on this in a future post!)

Final thoughts...

Learning from failure is sometimes the only way. I would love to hear your own stories of "Black Box" thinking. In the meantime, you can take a look here at Matthew Syed's (my Amazon affiliate link).

Please leave a comment on this post or send me a tweet (@guruteaching). I'll get right back to you!
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La boîte noire (on ne s'intéresse pas de savoir ce à quoi le chien ou l'enfant pense, on se concentre sur le résultat produit après exercice d'un stimulus).
Figure 1 - Comportement initial > boîte noire > comportement final
Description

Le béhaviorisme se concentre sur la description scientifique du comportement (Pavlov, Thorndike, Skinner sur les animaux, et Watson et Bandura sur les humains). L'apprentissage est une histoire d'interactions du sujet avec son environnement ; le formateur manipule l'environnement dans le but de susciter des réactions.

Pour les béhavioristes[1], apprendre consiste à acquérir un nouveau comportement, ou modifier un comportement préexistant. Évolution de l'empirisme, le béhaviorisme postule que l'intelligence se réduit aux habitudes acquises. Plus finement, il cerne l'activité intellectuelle qui s'attache aux corrélations entre les stimuli extérieurs et les comportements[2] observables. Les behaviorismes adoptent une attitude empiriste selon laquelle l'explication de nos comportements doit être fondée sur l'expérience et sur l'observation, car l'expérience sensible - c'est-à-dire ressentie - est considérée comme le réel. Cette conception a inspiré les premiers travaux de la pédagogie par objectifs, qui s'efforçaient de traduire systématiquement les contenus des programmes en comportements attendus de l'apprenant. De nombreuses critiques portent sur la généralisation à l'être humain d'expériences conduites sur des animaux : les situations dans la réalité ne présentent pas de conditionnement aussi tranché ou inévitable, et l'assujettissement de l'homme n'est sans doute pas aussi fort. Les résistances de l'individu, ses choix, ses opinions, son libre arbitre déstabilisent le conditionnement simple révélé par les expériences. Loin de contester tout fondement, ces critiques insistent sur la nécessité de complexifier les schémas proposés par les béhavioristes, en tenant compte des spécificités humaines[3].
Figure 2 - Les quatre étapes du processus d'apprentissage, selon Abraham Maslow
Si on se réfère aux étapes de l'apprentissage, tel que le définit A. Maslow, le béhaviorisme vise à s'exprimer à l'étape ultime (l'inconscience compétence).

À la première étape (inconscience incompétence) l'apprenant n'a ni les compétences ni la conscience de ce manque de compétence. À cette étape il y a donc insuffisance de savoir ou d'expérience pour comprendre ou mettre en œuvre un principe d'action, utiliser une compétence. La personne ne sait pas qu'elle n'a pas la capacité à comprendre et faire. Lorsque j'étais tout jeune enfant, je voyais des musiciens jouer : je m'imaginais moi-même pouvoir jouer sans problème, j'étais bien entendu incompétent, mais je ne le savais pas.

À la deuxième étape (la conscience incompétence), l'apprenant prend conscience de son manque de compétence. Il possède assez de savoir et/ou d'expérience pour réaliser qu'il n'est pas capable de comprendre ou d'appliquer une règle, ou utiliser une aptitude. Un noël, on m'a offert une guitare. Après quelques malheureux essais, j'ai pris conscience que je ne savais pas jouer de cet instrument.

À la troisième étape (la conscience compétence), l'apprenant s'engage dans le processus conscient d'acquisition de la compétence manquante. La personne a atteint le seuil de savoir suffisant pour comprendre et communiquer sur un principe d'action. Cependant l'expérience reste insuffisante pour faire de façon efficace. On m'a inscrit au conservatoire de musique, j'ai appris le solfège, je sais bien tenir ma guitare, je sais lire une partition, et jouer le morceau qui y est supporté.

À la quatrième étape (inconscience compétence), l'apprenant atteint un stade où la compétence est complètement installée et ne nécessite plus d'accompagnement. La personne a atteint un seuil d'expérience suffisant pour appliquer un principe d'action, utiliser une procédure. Cette personne n'a cependant pas le savoir suffisant pour comprendre la compétence et communiquer à son propos. La performance des experts est basée sur une compétence inconsciente. Cela fait 10 ans que je joue de la guitare, je n'ai plus besoin de partition et je sais accompagner beaucoup d'artistes, spontanément, par automatisme.

S'oppose à...

Le béhaviorisme est apparu en réaction aux approches dites mentalistes qui voyant dans le mental la cause de toute action défendait l'introspection en tant que méthode d'accès à la compréhension de l'esprit. Suivant l'impact de Sigmund Freud et ses théories structuralistes, la psychologie s'est partagée entre les Européens et les Américains, qui ont poursuivi respectivement la perception, la psychanalyse, l'introspection, et le béhaviorisme.

Les grandes figures

Le physiologiste russe Yvan PAVLOV (1849-1936), et ses célèbres expériences avec un chien[4], a permis de mettre en évidence le processus de conditionnement répondant - conditionnement classique - qui s'effectue par l'association de deux stimuli selon le principe de contiguïté. Il propose aussi des étapes pour le processus d'extinction d'un comportement.

Herman EBBINGHAUS (1850-1909) a contribué à détacher la psychologie de la philosophie, en revendiquant d'asseoir la première sur une approche scientifique (psychologie expérimentale[5]). Il s'est particulièrement attaché à observer la mémorisation de syllabes sans signification[6] pour définir des lois dont la plus connue décrit le principe de l'oubli : en début de période observée, il est important puis décroît progressivement bien plus lentement. Il définit également la courbe d'apprentissage : celui-ci s'améliore avec les répétitions, d'abord rapidement puis plus lentement jusqu'à la maîtrise de la liste. Il en conclut que la répétition fréquente peut fixer plus fermement en mémoire les associations mentales et, par extension, que la répétition favorise l'apprentissage. Il montra également que les items en début de liste sont plus accessibles au rappel que les items du milieu (effet de primauté). Les items de la fin de la liste sont également plus accessibles au rappel que les items du milieu (effet de récence). Enfin, il démontre la notion d'association, comme facilitateur de l'apprentissage.

Edward THORNDIKE (1874-1949) met en œuvre un dispositif simple : il enferme un chat[7] dans une cage dont la porte est équipée d'un loquet. Une nourriture est placée à l'extérieur de la cage, et l'expérience consiste à observer les comportements (exploratoires) du chat qui doit manœuvrer le loquet pour l'atteindre. Le hasard le guide, mais si l'expérience est reproduite plusieurs fois, le temps d'évasion est de plus en plus rapide, jusqu'à être nul à partir d'un certain nombre d'essais : l'apprentissage est alors jugé réalisé. Thorndike va donc énoncer ses lois de l'apprentissage, dont les principales sont la loi de l'exercice et de l'effet : la première stipulant que la répétition d'une réponse conditionnée renforce le lien entre le stimulus et la réponse (autrement dit, plus un sujet se comporte d'une certaine façon dans une situation donnée, plus l'association entre cette situation et ce comportement sera renforcée) ; la deuxième voulant qu'une réponse suivie d'un stimulus agréable sera renforcée alors que celle suivie d'un stimulus désagréable diminuera (si la nourriture pour le chat est particulièrement alléchante, les chances de sortie sont plus grandes). Pour Thorndike, les deux lois sont nécessaires et complémentaires à l'apprentissage[8]. Il insiste sur le fait que le sujet doit être actif pour qu'il y ait apprentissage, et il désignera la phase de tentatives infructueuses par l'expression " apprentissage par essai et erreur " (théorie connexionniste[9] de l'esprit).

John Broadus WATSON (1878-1958) a lui aussi impulsé la fondation du béhaviorisme. Désireux d'objectiver la psychologie, il défend l'idée que celle-ci doit se cantonner à l'étude rigoureuse des comportements observables tels qu'ils se produisent en réponse à un stimulus défini, et en excluant tout recours à l'introspection. Convaincu par l'intérêt de l'approche behavioriste pour les applications de la psychologie, les recherches de Watson se portent sur l'étude du comportement animal, la publicité et l'éducation des enfants, notamment à travers l'expérience très controversée dite " du petit Albert[10] "

Et en e-learning ?

De nos jours, le béhaviorisme est décrié et fait figure de modèle du passé, caricaturé par les expériences des réflexes conditionnels de son origine. En réalité, le concept béhavioriste a installé quelques principes largement repris en e-learning :

l'exécution de tâches, sanctionnées par un conditionnement externe (feed-back positif ou négatif : encouragements, félicitations, reproches...), entraînant un " réflexe ", un comportement recherché : en ce sens, certains serious game tirent profit de cette approche, en créant un scénario libre imitant plus ou moins la réalité (par exemple la procédure de chargement de containers dans des avions cargo), en y intégrant des perturbateurs (incidents réalistes comme une erreur d'étiquetage, un contre ordre tardif, une nouvelle consigne d'organisation...), et un résultat calculé dynamiquement (sanction : retard, échec, mauvais résultat - récompense : délai imparti respecté, satisfaction du client ou de la hiérarchie...). Les bons comportements, entraînés lors des passations, sont reproduits dans la réalité, et contribuent à améliorer l'efficacité des chargements.

la décomposition d'une tâche complexe en tâches élémentaires[11]. En effet, pour Thorndike, l'enseignement d'une compétence repose sur une division de celle-ci en composantes élémentaires. Ainsi, pour savoir résoudre une addition à deux nombres de deux chiffres (tâche complexe), il convient d'abord de maîtriser l'alignement des chiffres sous le bon rang, savoir additionner deux nombres d'un seul chiffre, savoir reporter une éventuelle retenue (tâches élémentaires). Cette architecture a guidé bon nombre de développements en EAO (Enseignement Assisté par Ordinateur), puis en e-learning :

Figure 54 - Comportement initial > savoirs décomposés[12] > comportement final
Figure 3 - La décomposition d'un problème complexe, selon Thorndike
Dans l'organisation pédagogique, si on opère de telle sorte qu'il faille prouver la maîtrise de chaque strate avant de passer à celle qui lui est supérieure, on définit l'enseignement programmé. Le béhaviorisme semble être à la base de bien des ressources en e-learning.

Certaines formations préparant à des tâches très cadrées, très protocolaires, sont particulièrement clientes du béhaviorisme. En conduite ou en pilotage d'engins, par exemple, l'apprentissage et le maintien en compétence sont emprunts de conditionnements : il faut réagir selon une procédure, ne rien en oublier, l'exécuter mécaniquement et méthodiquement.

Cette pédagogie s'adapte parfaitement à l'usage des nouvelles technologies (TICE) et c'est dans les dispositifs éducatifs de type " presse-boutons " qui fleurissent dans certaines expositions qu'on la retrouve le plus souvent, ces expositions prétendant abusivement offrir un environnement " interactif " ...

En conclusion, les théories béhavioristes (puis néo béhavioristes, décrites ci-après), exprimées notamment par EAO ont marqué le début de l'usage de l'ordinateur dans l'apprentissage. Les programmes se centrent alors sur les objectifs à atteindre en proposant un découpage d'un contenu d'enseignement en unités réduites (les grains[13]), considérées comme plus facilement assimilables par l'apprenant, et organisées selon une progression conçue pour en faciliter la maîtrise. Malgré les limites mises en avant par les chercheurs[14] cette approche pédagogique connaît encore actuellement un franc succès auprès des enseignants investis dans des pratiques éducatives supportées par les technologies.
Figure 4 - quelques grands acteurs et concepts marquants du béhaviorisme
1 : L'association se manifeste par la connexion établie par un apprenant entre une action et un résultat. Thorndike a été le premier à formaliser l'apprentissage associatif : ses expériences avec des chats, placés dans des boîtes " à problèmes " (dont l'ouverture est liée à un mécanisme caché à manœuvrer - comme un levier sur le plancher, ou une ficelle au plafond), tendent à démontrer qu'au fur et à mesure des essais infructueux, les erreurs diminuent. Les chats " apprennent " de leurs erreurs car la réussite accidentelle leur permet de sélectionner la bonne action. En 1898, on ne parle pas encore de béhaviorisme et les psychologues sont à la recherche d'une psychologie scientifique.

2 : Le conditionnement : mode d'apprentissage étudié par Pavlov (puis par Skinner). Il existe deux types de conditionnement : le conditionnement répondant (Pavlov) encore appelé conditionnement classique, qui met en jeu un réflexe, une réaction physiologique, un état émotionnel (cf. expérience avec la salivation du chien de Pavlov). Le second conditionnement est dit opérant, ou instrumental : cette fois il ne s'agit plus de réflexe mais de comportement volontaire, déclenché par un stimulus, renforcé positivement si la réaction est celle recherchée.

3 : La loi de l'effet : bien après que Thorndike ait mis en lumière l'apprentissage par essais/erreurs (l'association), il énonce après de nombreuses expériences la loi de l'effet (l'effet de l'action sur le résultat). Il s'agit ici de mettre en œuvre l'apprentissage par conditionnement opérant. La loi de l'effet postule qu'une réponse est plus susceptible d'être reproduite si elle entraîne une satisfaction pour l'organisme et d'être abandonnée s'il en résulte une insatisfaction. En d'autres termes, si la connexion " situation-réponse " est suivie d'un état de satisfaction (donc la récompense) le comportement appris à plus de chance d'être reproduit. Il devient ainsi le premier représentant des théories stimulus/réponse, clé de voûte du béhaviorisme[15]. Plus tard, il a ajouté la loi de l'exercice, qui stipule que les connexions sont renforcées par la pratique, et affaiblies si l'usage est interrompu.

4 : Le comportement : en 1913 Watson écrit un article considéré depuis comme le manifeste du béhaviorisme. En réaction aux pratiques introspectives, il affirme que la psychologie ne doit pas être la science de la vie mentale, mais la science du comportement (behavior en anglais). L'objet de la psychologie devient alors l'observation du comportement humain - et non l'étude de ses idées, motivations, états de conscience, sensations...

5 : Tabula rasa : Watson exprime le concept philosophique épistémologique selon lequel l'esprit humain naîtrait vierge et serait par la suite, par l'exercice et l'expérience, progressivement marqué, formé, impressionné comme pourrait l'être une pellicule ou une plaque de cire mole. L'esprit est donc passif face à l'expérience sensible. Il s'agit donc d'un concept opposé à l'innéisme des idées, et à l'activité de l'esprit.

6 : Le renforcement : c'est l'événement qui maintient ou accroît la probabilité d'une réponse. Il est qualifié de positif s'il conduit à une satisfaction (le pigeon qui appuie sur le bon bouton reçoit des graines), ou négatif, lorsqu'il conduit à une punition (le pigeon perçoit une décharge électrique s'il n'appuie pas sur le bon bouton). Si on demande à un apprenant de se lever lorsque son formateur entre en classe, et qu'on lui donne un bonbon lorsqu'il s'exécute, il y a renforcement positif. Si on le gifle s'il ne répond pas à cette exigence, il y a renforcement négatif. En dehors de ces exemples caricaturaux, bon nombre de renforcements accompagnent la formation : félicitations, indifférences, réprimandes, punitions, encouragements... Sur cette base Skinner[16] fait apparaître la notion de " contingence de renforcement " pour désigner l'environnement qui va produire le comportement. Il se caractérise par trois aspects :

Les circonstances dans lesquelles le comportement survient,

Le comportement lui-même,

Les conséquences renforçantes.

7 : La discrimination : Une réponse à un stimulus et pas un autre est appelé discrimination. Les sujets peuvent être entraînés à discriminer, en renforçant un stimulus plutôt qu'un autre.

8 : La modélisation (ou imitation) : Elle consiste à l'imitation du comportement d'un autre. Albert Bandura (1961) l'a mis en lumière dans sa théorie du déterminisme réciproque[17]. Il décrit l'imitation ou la modélisation comme une source majeure de l'apprentissage. Selon lui, le comportement humain est plutôt le fruit de l'apprentissage social et de l'imitation, que déterminé par les facteurs génétiques et innés.

Apprendre, selon la conception béhavioriste, c'est :

Modifier durablement son comportement

Donner une nouvelle réponse à un stimulus (ou un groupe de stimuli) qui jusqu'alors ne le provoquait pas

Les béhavioristes s'interdisent de faire quelque hypothèse que ce soit sur les processus invisibles du cerveau : ils ne les nient pas, mais n'y ayant pas accès, ils sont exogènes à leur théorie.

[1] De " behavior " (comportement), mot inventé par John Broadus Watson (anglais américain). Le terme fut utilisé pour la première fois par John B. Watson en 1913 dans un article portant sur la nécessité d'observer des comportements pour pouvoir les étudier : Psychology as the behaviorist views it. Psychological Review, 20, pp. 158-177.

[2] On distinguera le comportement du réflexe : reculer sa main d'une plaque chaude, c'est un réflexe ; ne plus avancer sa main vers l'endroit brûlant est un comportement.

[3] Certains, comme Carl Rogers, polémiqueront avec Skinner sur les problèmes de la liberté et du contrôle du comportement des actes humains - Psychologie clinique: Carl Rogers (1902-1987) et l'Approche Centrée sur la Personne, à écouter en podcast sur http://www.podcastscience.fm/dossiers/2012/11/20/psychologie-clinique-carl-rogers-1902-1987-et-lapproche-centree-sur-la-personne/.

[4] La présentation d'un stimulus neutre, le tintement d'une cloche, n'entraîne pas de réaction salivaire chez le chien, au contraire de la présentation d'un stimulus inconditionnel, comme un aliment. La présentation simultanée des deux stimuli, tintement plus aliment, entraînent une réponse dite inconditionnelle, la salivation. Après un certain nombre de reproductions, on constate que le seul stimulus neutre parvient à entraîner la salivation. On parle alors de conditionnement répondant. Les travaux de Pavlov pointeront également le phénomène d'extinction, lorsque le stimulus neutre " à la longue " ne parvient plus à faire saliver le chien, ou effrayer l'enfant, et le possible conditionnement en chaîne, associant un stimulus conditionnel, un second, un troisième...

[5] Hermann Ebbinghaus : La mémoire. Recherches de psychologie expérimentale, Ed. : L'Harmattan, 2011

[6] Avant Ebbinghaus, la mémoire était étudiée via l'apprentissage de textes communs, non interchangeables. Il va supprimer la syntaxe et remplacer ces textes par des listes de mots, et supprimer le contenu significatif pour arriver à des simples syllabes sans signification. Il instaure ainsi 2300 syllabes du type consonne/voyelle/consonne (CVC) comme TUT, POL, BAT, TIC....

[7] Habité par l'hypothèse de Charles Darwin, Thorndike mise sur la continuité des espèces entre l'homme et l'animal. Ainsi, il lui apparaît normal que l'étude du comportement animal sert à comprendre celui de l'homme.

[8] Dans une situation d'apprentissage où l'on demande au sujet de tracer, les yeux fermés, une ligne d'une longueur déterminée, la seule répétition des essais ne conduit à aucune amélioration des performances. Pour qu'il y ait apprentissage, il faut, à chaque essai, fournir des indications précises sur le résultat de son comportement : trop long, trop court... On voit ici apparaître la notion de feed-back qui constituera une composante essentielle de l'approche de Skinner.

[9] Contrairement au connexionnisme moderne, Thorndike ne s'est pas intéressé en détail aux connexions entre neurones mais surtout aux associations entre percepts et comportements. La parenté avec le connexionnisme neuronal apparait cependant clairement dans les explications qu'il donne de phénomènes comme la diffusion d'un renforcement aux associations précédentes et suivantes dans le déroulement de l'expérience. Thorndike considérait également l'intelligence comme le reflet du nombre de connexions neuronales dont disposait une personne.

[10] Watson a repris la théorie du conditionnement simple de Pavlov, avec ses chiens. La méthode était la suivante : Watson présentait le rat au petit Albert, et à chaque fois qu'il le touche, l'expert produit un son violent, effrayant l'enfant en frappant une barre métallique avec un marteau. Au bout de quelques répétitions, le petit Albert finit par avoir peur du rat, rien qu'en le voyant. Il a associé le rat au bruit effrayant. Les expérimentateurs auront constaté également que le conditionnement s'est généralisé à d'autres objets (lapin, chien...). Albert avait développé une peur de ce qui se rapprochait du rat (fourrure, autre animal...). Watson a ainsi pu prouver que le conditionnement simple, qui n'était observé que chez les animaux, pouvait également s'appliquer aux humains.

[11] Travaux de Thorndike, 1922 " the psychology of arithmetic ".

[13] Selon l'UNT http://www.universites-numeriques.fr/ , un grain pédagogique (pour l'enseignant) correspond à la plus petite unité d'un scénario pédagogique :

Comprend une intentionnalité pédagogique,

S'appuie sur une ou plusieurs ressources d'apprentissage,

S'accomplit à travers une ou plusieurs activités,

Doit pouvoir donner lieu à une évaluation de l'apprentissage,

Doit pouvoir être réutilisé/réapproprié par d'autres enseignants,

S'intègre dans une séquence d'apprentissage,

Un guide d'usage est nécessaire.

[14] Par exemple, Piaget ne défend pas les théories behavioristes ; Pour lui en effet, un enseignement mécanisé n'a pas pour seul but de " faire répéter correctement ce qui a été exposé ", mais bien de provoquer, grâce au renforcement, un véritable apprentissage. La définition du rôle de la machine à enseigner procède directement de la définition du but de l'enseignement donnée par cet auteur.

[15] De nombreuses recherches contemporaines invalident le mécanisme strictement béhavioriste stimulus/réponse que Thorndike défendait. On pense aujourd'hui que lorsqu'un individu apprend par essais/erreurs (ce qui est extrêmement courant), la sélection de la réponse provient d'une activité cognitive consciente, basée sur la présence d'informations rétroactives. Georges C., Apprendre par l'action, PUF Paris 1989 2 ème édition.

[16] Skinner a travaillé sur de nombreuses expériences impliquant des animaux (chats, pigeons...). Il a ensuite étendu sa théorie à l'homme.

[17] L'expérience de la poupée Bobo (Bobo doll experiment) fut conduite par le psychologue Albert Bandura pour tester sa théorie de l'apprentissage social dans l'agressivité. L'expérience consistait à exposer des enfants à des scènes dans lesquelles des adultes se comportaient de manière agressive envers une poupée puis à mesurer si les enfants imiteraient spontanément ces comportements lorsqu'eux-mêmes seraient en présence de la poupée. Bien que critiquée pour certains de ses aspects méthodologiques et pour le problème éthique qui consistait à exposer, pour le but de l'expérience, des enfants à des comportements agressifs, l'expérience de la poupée Bobo a eu un fort retentissement dans le champ de la psychologie scientifique en contribuant à l'émergence de l'approche cognitive face au béhaviorisme qui dominait alors. Elle reste une référence majeure en psychologie mais aussi dans d'autres domaines des sciences humaines et sociales.

le 17/11/17

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Béhaviorisme (ou comportementalisme) - Perscol

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Signature La boîte noire (on ne s'intéresse pas de savoir ce à quoi le chien ou l'enfant pense, on se concentre sur le résultat produit après exercice d'un stimulus). Figure 1 - Comportement initial > boîte noire > comportement final Description Le béhaviorisme se concentre sur la description scientifique du comportement (Pavlov, Thorndike, Skinner sur [...]

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Every teacher knows that they will usually have a student in class who is difficult to manage and work with. Their behavior is usually hard to control and it can be extra work to get them to pay attention and stop distracting others. If you're studying to become a teacher, your courses will help you learn classroom management techniques that will prepare you for difficult students. Additionally, it's extremely valuable to learn about learning theories and recognize that there are different methods and thoughts about how people learn.

Behaviorism or the behavioral learning theory is a popular concept that focuses on how students learn. Behaviorism focuses on the idea that all behaviors are learned through interaction with the environment. This learning theory states that behaviors are learned from the environment, and says that innate or inherited factors have very little influence on behavior.

A common example of behaviorism is positive reinforcement. A student gets a small treat if they get 100% on their spelling test. In the future, students work hard and study for their test in order to get the reward.

Behaviorism is key for educators because it impacts how students react and behave in the classroom, and suggests that teachers can directly influence how their students behave. It also helps teachers understand that a student's home environment and lifestyle can be impacting their behavior, helping them see it objectively and work to assist with improvement.

Behaviorism started as a reaction against introspective psychology in the 19th century, which relied heavily on first-person accounts. J.B. Watson and B.F. Skinner rejected introspective methods as being subjective and unquantifiable. These psychologists wanted to focus on observable, quantifiable events and behaviors. They said that science should take into account only observable indicators. They helped bring psychology into higher relevance by showing that it could be accurately measured and understood, and it wasn't just based off opinions.

Watson and Skinner believed that if they were given a group of infants, the way they were raised and the environment they put them in would be the ultimate determining factor for how they acted, not their parents or their genetics.

Pavlov's Dogs is a popular behaviorism experiment. A group of dogs would hear a bell ring and then they would be given food. After enough time, when the bell would ring the dogs would salivate, expecting the food before they even saw it. This is exactly what behaviorism argues-that the things we experience and our environment are the drivers of how we act.

The stimulus-response sequence is a key element of understanding behaviorism. A stimulus is given, for example a bell rings, and the response is what happens next, a dog salivates or a pellet of food is given. Behavioral learning theory argues that even complex actions can be broken down into the stimulus-response.

In the classroom, the behavioral learning theory is key in understanding how to motivate and help students. Information is transferred from teachers to learners from a response to the right stimulus. Students are a passive participant in behavioral learning-teachers are giving them the information as an element of stimulus-response. Teachers use behaviorism to show students how they should react and respond to certain stimuli. This needs to be done in a repetitive way, to regularly remind students what behavior a teacher is looking for.

Positive reinforcement is key in the behavioral learning theory. Without positive reinforcement, students will quickly abandon their responses because they don't appear to be working. For example, if students are supposed to get a sticker every time they get an A on a test, and then teachers stop giving that positive reinforcement, less students may get A's on their tests, because the behavior isn't connected to a reward for them.

Repetition and positive reinforcement go hand-in-hand with the behavioral learning theory. Teachers often work to strike the right balance of repeating the situation and having the positive reinforcement come to show students why they should continue that behavior.

Motivation plays an important role in behavioral learning. Positive and negative reinforcement can be motivators for students. For example, a student who receives praise for a good test score is much more likely to learn the answers effectively than a student who receives no praise for a good test score. The student who receives no praise is experiencing negative reinforcement-their brain tells them that though they got a good grade, it didn't really matter, so the material of the test becomes unimportant to them. Conversely students who receive positive reinforcement see a direct correlation to continuing excellence, completely based on that response to a positive stimulus.

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The behavioral learning theory and the social learning theory stem from similar ideas. The social learning theory agrees with the behavioral learning theory about outside influences on behavior. However, the social learning theory goes a step further and suggests that internal psychological processes are also an influence on behavior. Students or individuals may see things being done, but the social learning theory says that internal thoughts impact what behavior response comes out.

Behaviorism doesn't study or feature internal thought processes as an element of actions. Social learning argues that behavior is much more complicated than the simple stimulus and response of behaviorism. It suggests that students learn through observation, and then they consciously decide to imitate behavior. There are underlying emotions like peer pressure and a desire to fit in that impact behavior.

Teachers can implement behavioral learning strategy techniques in their classroom in many ways, including:

Drills. Teachers may practice skills using drill patterns to help students see the repetition and reinforcement that behavioral learning theory uses.

Question and answer. Teachers can use a question as a stimulus and answer as a response, gradually getting harder with questions to help students.

Guided practice. Teachers can be directly involved in helping students go through problems to give them the reinforcement and behavior demonstration you want them to follow.

Regular review. Reviews are important to behavioral learning theory. Going back over material and giving positive reinforcement will help students retain information much better.

Positive reinforcement. Behaviorist classrooms utilize positive reinforcement regularly. This can be in the form of verbal reinforcement and praise, reward systems, added privileges, and more.

While behaviorism is a great option for many teachers, there are some criticisms of this theory. Behaviorism is best for certain learning outcomes, like foreign languages and math, but aren't as effective for analytical and comprehensive learning.

Other critics of behavioral learning say that the theory doesn't encompass enough of human learning and behavior, and that it's not fully developed. Other theories have come forward that take behaviorism further, implying that there are many additional factors to consider when evaluating behavior.

If you are hoping to one day become a teacher, it's important to get the right degree and credentials to help you be prepared for success. It's also important to understand learning theories to be ready to take on students and the classroom. When you understand more about psychology and how students learn, you're much more likely to be successful as an educator.

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Current teachers and those who are studying to become teachers need to understand how learning theories impact their students. The behavioral learning theory or behaviorism is a learning theory that greatly impacts students and how they act in the classroom. Learn more about the behavioral learning theory and how educators can utilize it to help students succeed.

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4 Ways To Apply Behaviorism Principles to Your ELearning Materials

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As instructional designers apply behaviorism principles to create courses for virtual settings, it is important to keep in mind that the driving force behind progress is reinforcement. 1. Repetition Take audio visual presentations as

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Journal Information

The American Journal of Psychology (AJP) was founded in 1887 by G. Stanley Hall and was edited in its early years by Titchener, Boring, and Dallenbach. The Journal has published some of the most innovative and formative papers in psychology throughout its history. AJP explores the science of the mind and behavior, publishing reports of original research in experimental psychology, theoretical presentations, combined theoretical and experimental analyses, historical commentaries, and in-depth reviews of significant books.

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Founded in 1918, the University of Illinois Press (www.press.uillinois.edu) ranks as one of the country's larger and most distinguished university presses. The Press publishes more than 120 new books and 30 scholarly journals each year in an array of subjects including American history, labor history, sports history, folklore, food, film, American music, American religion, African American studies, women's studies, and Abraham Lincoln. The Press is a founding member of the Association of American University Presses as well as the History Cooperative, an online collection of more than 20 history journals.

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Journal Information The American Journal of Psychology (AJP) was founded in 1887 by G. Stanley Hall and was edited in its early years by Titchener, Boring, and Dallenbach. The Journal has published some of the most innovative and formative papers in psychology throughout its history.

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Signature

La boîte noire (on ne s'intéresse pas de savoir ce à quoi le chien ou l'enfant pense, on se concentre sur le résultat produit après exercice d'un stimulus).
Figure 1 - Comportement initial > boîte noire > comportement final
Description

Le béhaviorisme se concentre sur la description scientifique du comportement (Pavlov, Thorndike, Skinner sur les animaux, et Watson et Bandura sur les humains). L'apprentissage est une histoire d'interactions du sujet avec son environnement ; le formateur manipule l'environnement dans le but de susciter des réactions.

Pour les béhavioristes[1], apprendre consiste à acquérir un nouveau comportement, ou modifier un comportement préexistant. Évolution de l'empirisme, le béhaviorisme postule que l'intelligence se réduit aux habitudes acquises. Plus finement, il cerne l'activité intellectuelle qui s'attache aux corrélations entre les stimuli extérieurs et les comportements[2] observables. Les behaviorismes adoptent une attitude empiriste selon laquelle l'explication de nos comportements doit être fondée sur l'expérience et sur l'observation, car l'expérience sensible - c'est-à-dire ressentie - est considérée comme le réel. Cette conception a inspiré les premiers travaux de la pédagogie par objectifs, qui s'efforçaient de traduire systématiquement les contenus des programmes en comportements attendus de l'apprenant. De nombreuses critiques portent sur la généralisation à l'être humain d'expériences conduites sur des animaux : les situations dans la réalité ne présentent pas de conditionnement aussi tranché ou inévitable, et l'assujettissement de l'homme n'est sans doute pas aussi fort. Les résistances de l'individu, ses choix, ses opinions, son libre arbitre déstabilisent le conditionnement simple révélé par les expériences. Loin de contester tout fondement, ces critiques insistent sur la nécessité de complexifier les schémas proposés par les béhavioristes, en tenant compte des spécificités humaines[3].
Figure 2 - Les quatre étapes du processus d'apprentissage, selon Abraham Maslow
Si on se réfère aux étapes de l'apprentissage, tel que le définit A. Maslow, le béhaviorisme vise à s'exprimer à l'étape ultime (l'inconscience compétence).

À la première étape (inconscience incompétence) l'apprenant n'a ni les compétences ni la conscience de ce manque de compétence. À cette étape il y a donc insuffisance de savoir ou d'expérience pour comprendre ou mettre en œuvre un principe d'action, utiliser une compétence. La personne ne sait pas qu'elle n'a pas la capacité à comprendre et faire. Lorsque j'étais tout jeune enfant, je voyais des musiciens jouer : je m'imaginais moi-même pouvoir jouer sans problème, j'étais bien entendu incompétent, mais je ne le savais pas.

À la deuxième étape (la conscience incompétence), l'apprenant prend conscience de son manque de compétence. Il possède assez de savoir et/ou d'expérience pour réaliser qu'il n'est pas capable de comprendre ou d'appliquer une règle, ou utiliser une aptitude. Un noël, on m'a offert une guitare. Après quelques malheureux essais, j'ai pris conscience que je ne savais pas jouer de cet instrument.

À la troisième étape (la conscience compétence), l'apprenant s'engage dans le processus conscient d'acquisition de la compétence manquante. La personne a atteint le seuil de savoir suffisant pour comprendre et communiquer sur un principe d'action. Cependant l'expérience reste insuffisante pour faire de façon efficace. On m'a inscrit au conservatoire de musique, j'ai appris le solfège, je sais bien tenir ma guitare, je sais lire une partition, et jouer le morceau qui y est supporté.

À la quatrième étape (inconscience compétence), l'apprenant atteint un stade où la compétence est complètement installée et ne nécessite plus d'accompagnement. La personne a atteint un seuil d'expérience suffisant pour appliquer un principe d'action, utiliser une procédure. Cette personne n'a cependant pas le savoir suffisant pour comprendre la compétence et communiquer à son propos. La performance des experts est basée sur une compétence inconsciente. Cela fait 10 ans que je joue de la guitare, je n'ai plus besoin de partition et je sais accompagner beaucoup d'artistes, spontanément, par automatisme.

S'oppose à...

Le béhaviorisme est apparu en réaction aux approches dites mentalistes qui voyant dans le mental la cause de toute action défendait l'introspection en tant que méthode d'accès à la compréhension de l'esprit. Suivant l'impact de Sigmund Freud et ses théories structuralistes, la psychologie s'est partagée entre les Européens et les Américains, qui ont poursuivi respectivement la perception, la psychanalyse, l'introspection, et le béhaviorisme.

Les grandes figures

Le physiologiste russe Yvan PAVLOV (1849-1936), et ses célèbres expériences avec un chien[4], a permis de mettre en évidence le processus de conditionnement répondant - conditionnement classique - qui s'effectue par l'association de deux stimuli selon le principe de contiguïté. Il propose aussi des étapes pour le processus d'extinction d'un comportement.

Herman EBBINGHAUS (1850-1909) a contribué à détacher la psychologie de la philosophie, en revendiquant d'asseoir la première sur une approche scientifique (psychologie expérimentale[5]). Il s'est particulièrement attaché à observer la mémorisation de syllabes sans signification[6] pour définir des lois dont la plus connue décrit le principe de l'oubli : en début de période observée, il est important puis décroît progressivement bien plus lentement. Il définit également la courbe d'apprentissage : celui-ci s'améliore avec les répétitions, d'abord rapidement puis plus lentement jusqu'à la maîtrise de la liste. Il en conclut que la répétition fréquente peut fixer plus fermement en mémoire les associations mentales et, par extension, que la répétition favorise l'apprentissage. Il montra également que les items en début de liste sont plus accessibles au rappel que les items du milieu (effet de primauté). Les items de la fin de la liste sont également plus accessibles au rappel que les items du milieu (effet de récence). Enfin, il démontre la notion d'association, comme facilitateur de l'apprentissage.

Edward THORNDIKE (1874-1949) met en œuvre un dispositif simple : il enferme un chat[7] dans une cage dont la porte est équipée d'un loquet. Une nourriture est placée à l'extérieur de la cage, et l'expérience consiste à observer les comportements (exploratoires) du chat qui doit manœuvrer le loquet pour l'atteindre. Le hasard le guide, mais si l'expérience est reproduite plusieurs fois, le temps d'évasion est de plus en plus rapide, jusqu'à être nul à partir d'un certain nombre d'essais : l'apprentissage est alors jugé réalisé. Thorndike va donc énoncer ses lois de l'apprentissage, dont les principales sont la loi de l'exercice et de l'effet : la première stipulant que la répétition d'une réponse conditionnée renforce le lien entre le stimulus et la réponse (autrement dit, plus un sujet se comporte d'une certaine façon dans une situation donnée, plus l'association entre cette situation et ce comportement sera renforcée) ; la deuxième voulant qu'une réponse suivie d'un stimulus agréable sera renforcée alors que celle suivie d'un stimulus désagréable diminuera (si la nourriture pour le chat est particulièrement alléchante, les chances de sortie sont plus grandes). Pour Thorndike, les deux lois sont nécessaires et complémentaires à l'apprentissage[8]. Il insiste sur le fait que le sujet doit être actif pour qu'il y ait apprentissage, et il désignera la phase de tentatives infructueuses par l'expression " apprentissage par essai et erreur " (théorie connexionniste[9] de l'esprit).

John Broadus WATSON (1878-1958) a lui aussi impulsé la fondation du béhaviorisme. Désireux d'objectiver la psychologie, il défend l'idée que celle-ci doit se cantonner à l'étude rigoureuse des comportements observables tels qu'ils se produisent en réponse à un stimulus défini, et en excluant tout recours à l'introspection. Convaincu par l'intérêt de l'approche behavioriste pour les applications de la psychologie, les recherches de Watson se portent sur l'étude du comportement animal, la publicité et l'éducation des enfants, notamment à travers l'expérience très controversée dite " du petit Albert[10] "

Et en e-learning ?

De nos jours, le béhaviorisme est décrié et fait figure de modèle du passé, caricaturé par les expériences des réflexes conditionnels de son origine. En réalité, le concept béhavioriste a installé quelques principes largement repris en e-learning :

l'exécution de tâches, sanctionnées par un conditionnement externe (feed-back positif ou négatif : encouragements, félicitations, reproches...), entraînant un " réflexe ", un comportement recherché : en ce sens, certains serious game tirent profit de cette approche, en créant un scénario libre imitant plus ou moins la réalité (par exemple la procédure de chargement de containers dans des avions cargo), en y intégrant des perturbateurs (incidents réalistes comme une erreur d'étiquetage, un contre ordre tardif, une nouvelle consigne d'organisation...), et un résultat calculé dynamiquement (sanction : retard, échec, mauvais résultat - récompense : délai imparti respecté, satisfaction du client ou de la hiérarchie...). Les bons comportements, entraînés lors des passations, sont reproduits dans la réalité, et contribuent à améliorer l'efficacité des chargements.

la décomposition d'une tâche complexe en tâches élémentaires[11]. En effet, pour Thorndike, l'enseignement d'une compétence repose sur une division de celle-ci en composantes élémentaires. Ainsi, pour savoir résoudre une addition à deux nombres de deux chiffres (tâche complexe), il convient d'abord de maîtriser l'alignement des chiffres sous le bon rang, savoir additionner deux nombres d'un seul chiffre, savoir reporter une éventuelle retenue (tâches élémentaires). Cette architecture a guidé bon nombre de développements en EAO (Enseignement Assisté par Ordinateur), puis en e-learning :

Figure 54 - Comportement initial > savoirs décomposés[12] > comportement final
Figure 3 - La décomposition d'un problème complexe, selon Thorndike
Dans l'organisation pédagogique, si on opère de telle sorte qu'il faille prouver la maîtrise de chaque strate avant de passer à celle qui lui est supérieure, on définit l'enseignement programmé. Le béhaviorisme semble être à la base de bien des ressources en e-learning.

Certaines formations préparant à des tâches très cadrées, très protocolaires, sont particulièrement clientes du béhaviorisme. En conduite ou en pilotage d'engins, par exemple, l'apprentissage et le maintien en compétence sont emprunts de conditionnements : il faut réagir selon une procédure, ne rien en oublier, l'exécuter mécaniquement et méthodiquement.

Cette pédagogie s'adapte parfaitement à l'usage des nouvelles technologies (TICE) et c'est dans les dispositifs éducatifs de type " presse-boutons " qui fleurissent dans certaines expositions qu'on la retrouve le plus souvent, ces expositions prétendant abusivement offrir un environnement " interactif " ...

En conclusion, les théories béhavioristes (puis néo béhavioristes, décrites ci-après), exprimées notamment par EAO ont marqué le début de l'usage de l'ordinateur dans l'apprentissage. Les programmes se centrent alors sur les objectifs à atteindre en proposant un découpage d'un contenu d'enseignement en unités réduites (les grains[13]), considérées comme plus facilement assimilables par l'apprenant, et organisées selon une progression conçue pour en faciliter la maîtrise. Malgré les limites mises en avant par les chercheurs[14] cette approche pédagogique connaît encore actuellement un franc succès auprès des enseignants investis dans des pratiques éducatives supportées par les technologies.
Figure 4 - quelques grands acteurs et concepts marquants du béhaviorisme
1 : L'association se manifeste par la connexion établie par un apprenant entre une action et un résultat. Thorndike a été le premier à formaliser l'apprentissage associatif : ses expériences avec des chats, placés dans des boîtes " à problèmes " (dont l'ouverture est liée à un mécanisme caché à manœuvrer - comme un levier sur le plancher, ou une ficelle au plafond), tendent à démontrer qu'au fur et à mesure des essais infructueux, les erreurs diminuent. Les chats " apprennent " de leurs erreurs car la réussite accidentelle leur permet de sélectionner la bonne action. En 1898, on ne parle pas encore de béhaviorisme et les psychologues sont à la recherche d'une psychologie scientifique.

2 : Le conditionnement : mode d'apprentissage étudié par Pavlov (puis par Skinner). Il existe deux types de conditionnement : le conditionnement répondant (Pavlov) encore appelé conditionnement classique, qui met en jeu un réflexe, une réaction physiologique, un état émotionnel (cf. expérience avec la salivation du chien de Pavlov). Le second conditionnement est dit opérant, ou instrumental : cette fois il ne s'agit plus de réflexe mais de comportement volontaire, déclenché par un stimulus, renforcé positivement si la réaction est celle recherchée.

3 : La loi de l'effet : bien après que Thorndike ait mis en lumière l'apprentissage par essais/erreurs (l'association), il énonce après de nombreuses expériences la loi de l'effet (l'effet de l'action sur le résultat). Il s'agit ici de mettre en œuvre l'apprentissage par conditionnement opérant. La loi de l'effet postule qu'une réponse est plus susceptible d'être reproduite si elle entraîne une satisfaction pour l'organisme et d'être abandonnée s'il en résulte une insatisfaction. En d'autres termes, si la connexion " situation-réponse " est suivie d'un état de satisfaction (donc la récompense) le comportement appris à plus de chance d'être reproduit. Il devient ainsi le premier représentant des théories stimulus/réponse, clé de voûte du béhaviorisme[15]. Plus tard, il a ajouté la loi de l'exercice, qui stipule que les connexions sont renforcées par la pratique, et affaiblies si l'usage est interrompu.

4 : Le comportement : en 1913 Watson écrit un article considéré depuis comme le manifeste du béhaviorisme. En réaction aux pratiques introspectives, il affirme que la psychologie ne doit pas être la science de la vie mentale, mais la science du comportement (behavior en anglais). L'objet de la psychologie devient alors l'observation du comportement humain - et non l'étude de ses idées, motivations, états de conscience, sensations...

5 : Tabula rasa : Watson exprime le concept philosophique épistémologique selon lequel l'esprit humain naîtrait vierge et serait par la suite, par l'exercice et l'expérience, progressivement marqué, formé, impressionné comme pourrait l'être une pellicule ou une plaque de cire mole. L'esprit est donc passif face à l'expérience sensible. Il s'agit donc d'un concept opposé à l'innéisme des idées, et à l'activité de l'esprit.

6 : Le renforcement : c'est l'événement qui maintient ou accroît la probabilité d'une réponse. Il est qualifié de positif s'il conduit à une satisfaction (le pigeon qui appuie sur le bon bouton reçoit des graines), ou négatif, lorsqu'il conduit à une punition (le pigeon perçoit une décharge électrique s'il n'appuie pas sur le bon bouton). Si on demande à un apprenant de se lever lorsque son formateur entre en classe, et qu'on lui donne un bonbon lorsqu'il s'exécute, il y a renforcement positif. Si on le gifle s'il ne répond pas à cette exigence, il y a renforcement négatif. En dehors de ces exemples caricaturaux, bon nombre de renforcements accompagnent la formation : félicitations, indifférences, réprimandes, punitions, encouragements... Sur cette base Skinner[16] fait apparaître la notion de " contingence de renforcement " pour désigner l'environnement qui va produire le comportement. Il se caractérise par trois aspects :

Les circonstances dans lesquelles le comportement survient,

Le comportement lui-même,

Les conséquences renforçantes.

7 : La discrimination : Une réponse à un stimulus et pas un autre est appelé discrimination. Les sujets peuvent être entraînés à discriminer, en renforçant un stimulus plutôt qu'un autre.

8 : La modélisation (ou imitation) : Elle consiste à l'imitation du comportement d'un autre. Albert Bandura (1961) l'a mis en lumière dans sa théorie du déterminisme réciproque[17]. Il décrit l'imitation ou la modélisation comme une source majeure de l'apprentissage. Selon lui, le comportement humain est plutôt le fruit de l'apprentissage social et de l'imitation, que déterminé par les facteurs génétiques et innés.

Apprendre, selon la conception béhavioriste, c'est :

Modifier durablement son comportement

Donner une nouvelle réponse à un stimulus (ou un groupe de stimuli) qui jusqu'alors ne le provoquait pas

Les béhavioristes s'interdisent de faire quelque hypothèse que ce soit sur les processus invisibles du cerveau : ils ne les nient pas, mais n'y ayant pas accès, ils sont exogènes à leur théorie.

[1] De " behavior " (comportement), mot inventé par John Broadus Watson (anglais américain). Le terme fut utilisé pour la première fois par John B. Watson en 1913 dans un article portant sur la nécessité d'observer des comportements pour pouvoir les étudier : Psychology as the behaviorist views it. Psychological Review, 20, pp. 158-177.

[2] On distinguera le comportement du réflexe : reculer sa main d'une plaque chaude, c'est un réflexe ; ne plus avancer sa main vers l'endroit brûlant est un comportement.

[3] Certains, comme Carl Rogers, polémiqueront avec Skinner sur les problèmes de la liberté et du contrôle du comportement des actes humains - Psychologie clinique: Carl Rogers (1902-1987) et l'Approche Centrée sur la Personne, à écouter en podcast sur http://www.podcastscience.fm/dossiers/2012/11/20/psychologie-clinique-carl-rogers-1902-1987-et-lapproche-centree-sur-la-personne/.

[4] La présentation d'un stimulus neutre, le tintement d'une cloche, n'entraîne pas de réaction salivaire chez le chien, au contraire de la présentation d'un stimulus inconditionnel, comme un aliment. La présentation simultanée des deux stimuli, tintement plus aliment, entraînent une réponse dite inconditionnelle, la salivation. Après un certain nombre de reproductions, on constate que le seul stimulus neutre parvient à entraîner la salivation. On parle alors de conditionnement répondant. Les travaux de Pavlov pointeront également le phénomène d'extinction, lorsque le stimulus neutre " à la longue " ne parvient plus à faire saliver le chien, ou effrayer l'enfant, et le possible conditionnement en chaîne, associant un stimulus conditionnel, un second, un troisième...

[5] Hermann Ebbinghaus : La mémoire. Recherches de psychologie expérimentale, Ed. : L'Harmattan, 2011

[6] Avant Ebbinghaus, la mémoire était étudiée via l'apprentissage de textes communs, non interchangeables. Il va supprimer la syntaxe et remplacer ces textes par des listes de mots, et supprimer le contenu significatif pour arriver à des simples syllabes sans signification. Il instaure ainsi 2300 syllabes du type consonne/voyelle/consonne (CVC) comme TUT, POL, BAT, TIC....

[7] Habité par l'hypothèse de Charles Darwin, Thorndike mise sur la continuité des espèces entre l'homme et l'animal. Ainsi, il lui apparaît normal que l'étude du comportement animal sert à comprendre celui de l'homme.

[8] Dans une situation d'apprentissage où l'on demande au sujet de tracer, les yeux fermés, une ligne d'une longueur déterminée, la seule répétition des essais ne conduit à aucune amélioration des performances. Pour qu'il y ait apprentissage, il faut, à chaque essai, fournir des indications précises sur le résultat de son comportement : trop long, trop court... On voit ici apparaître la notion de feed-back qui constituera une composante essentielle de l'approche de Skinner.

[9] Contrairement au connexionnisme moderne, Thorndike ne s'est pas intéressé en détail aux connexions entre neurones mais surtout aux associations entre percepts et comportements. La parenté avec le connexionnisme neuronal apparait cependant clairement dans les explications qu'il donne de phénomènes comme la diffusion d'un renforcement aux associations précédentes et suivantes dans le déroulement de l'expérience. Thorndike considérait également l'intelligence comme le reflet du nombre de connexions neuronales dont disposait une personne.

[10] Watson a repris la théorie du conditionnement simple de Pavlov, avec ses chiens. La méthode était la suivante : Watson présentait le rat au petit Albert, et à chaque fois qu'il le touche, l'expert produit un son violent, effrayant l'enfant en frappant une barre métallique avec un marteau. Au bout de quelques répétitions, le petit Albert finit par avoir peur du rat, rien qu'en le voyant. Il a associé le rat au bruit effrayant. Les expérimentateurs auront constaté également que le conditionnement s'est généralisé à d'autres objets (lapin, chien...). Albert avait développé une peur de ce qui se rapprochait du rat (fourrure, autre animal...). Watson a ainsi pu prouver que le conditionnement simple, qui n'était observé que chez les animaux, pouvait également s'appliquer aux humains.

[11] Travaux de Thorndike, 1922 " the psychology of arithmetic ".

[13] Selon l'UNT http://www.universites-numeriques.fr/ , un grain pédagogique (pour l'enseignant) correspond à la plus petite unité d'un scénario pédagogique :

Comprend une intentionnalité pédagogique,

S'appuie sur une ou plusieurs ressources d'apprentissage,

S'accomplit à travers une ou plusieurs activités,

Doit pouvoir donner lieu à une évaluation de l'apprentissage,

Doit pouvoir être réutilisé/réapproprié par d'autres enseignants,

S'intègre dans une séquence d'apprentissage,

Un guide d'usage est nécessaire.

[14] Par exemple, Piaget ne défend pas les théories behavioristes ; Pour lui en effet, un enseignement mécanisé n'a pas pour seul but de " faire répéter correctement ce qui a été exposé ", mais bien de provoquer, grâce au renforcement, un véritable apprentissage. La définition du rôle de la machine à enseigner procède directement de la définition du but de l'enseignement donnée par cet auteur.

[15] De nombreuses recherches contemporaines invalident le mécanisme strictement béhavioriste stimulus/réponse que Thorndike défendait. On pense aujourd'hui que lorsqu'un individu apprend par essais/erreurs (ce qui est extrêmement courant), la sélection de la réponse provient d'une activité cognitive consciente, basée sur la présence d'informations rétroactives. Georges C., Apprendre par l'action, PUF Paris 1989 2 ème édition.

[16] Skinner a travaillé sur de nombreuses expériences impliquant des animaux (chats, pigeons...). Il a ensuite étendu sa théorie à l'homme.

[17] L'expérience de la poupée Bobo (Bobo doll experiment) fut conduite par le psychologue Albert Bandura pour tester sa théorie de l'apprentissage social dans l'agressivité. L'expérience consistait à exposer des enfants à des scènes dans lesquelles des adultes se comportaient de manière agressive envers une poupée puis à mesurer si les enfants imiteraient spontanément ces comportements lorsqu'eux-mêmes seraient en présence de la poupée. Bien que critiquée pour certains de ses aspects méthodologiques et pour le problème éthique qui consistait à exposer, pour le but de l'expérience, des enfants à des comportements agressifs, l'expérience de la poupée Bobo a eu un fort retentissement dans le champ de la psychologie scientifique en contribuant à l'émergence de l'approche cognitive face au béhaviorisme qui dominait alors. Elle reste une référence majeure en psychologie mais aussi dans d'autres domaines des sciences humaines et sociales.

le 17/11/17

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Béhaviorisme (ou comportementalisme) - Perscol

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Signature La boîte noire (on ne s'intéresse pas de savoir ce à quoi le chien ou l'enfant pense, on se concentre sur le résultat produit après exercice d'un stimulus). Figure 1 - Comportement initial > boîte noire > comportement final Description Le béhaviorisme se concentre sur la description scientifique du comportement (Pavlov, Thorndike, Skinner sur [...]

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PIDP 3100 - Foundations of Adult Education
Vancouver Community College
Kathryn Truant
October 7, 2015

Introduction:

According to Merriam and Bierema (2014), there are five traditional learning theories identified in providing adult education. They were developed in the following chronological order starting in the 1920's, and defined below:

Behaviourism emphasizes controlled behavioural objectives and skills to produce observable outcomes. Humanism focuses on self-directed learning, and the potential of the whole person. Cognitive Learning theory focuses on the process of knowing, perceiving and remembering. Social Cognitive theory relates to learning through observation in one's social environment. Finally, the Constructive Learning theory is defined as the construction of meaning and knowledge from experience.

It is easy to see how these different theories evolved over time and there seem to be adaptations from one to another. For example, Merriam and Bierema (2014) explain that behaviourism highlights, "identifying skills needed for specific occupations, teaching those skills from basic to expert levels, and then requiring learners to demonstrate certain levels of competency in performing those skills" (p. 28). Whereas, they explain constructivism as, "making learning as 'authentic' as possible through field trips, case studies, field trips..." (p. 37) in order for the adult learner to construct an individual's own applicable knowledge. And that is just one example of the seemingly subtle differences between the most recent learning theory and its original predecessor.

Learning Theory Highlights:

I consider behaviourism to be the most practical method in which adults can learn. The psychologist, John Watson, founded behaviourism in the 1920's. Watson studied Ivan Pavlov's famous dog experiment that took place in the 1890's, and agreed that conditioning affected behaviour. Another psychologist who was studying behaviourism during Watson's era was Edward L. Thorndike. Radvansky (2011) wrote that during his research, Thorndike ascertained that, "the discovery and study of these forms of conditioning are important because for decades they shaped much of the research in learning and memory" (p.8). In the 1960's, another psychologist, B.F. Skinner, believed that by controlling every aspect of a student's education, and positively reinforcing good observable behavior, that this would demonstrate that learning had occurred, and would compel the student to further achievements. Skinner (1971) wrote, "in operant conditioning, the purpose of a skilled movement of the hand is to be found in the consequences that follow it" (p. 199).

These early behaviourist's methods were strict, with the key concept being to reward good behaviour. They suggested that classrooms be controlled with absolute rigidity. Contemporary reflective practitioners of behaviourism, like Dorothy MacKeracher and Kevin Roessger, agree because they believe that behaviourism already takes place in our educational systems when specific instruction must occur (Merriam and Bierema 2014). MacKeracher (2004) states that,

"Adult educators have the tendency to discount the behavioural approach because the learner may indirectly learn to be other-directed rather than self-directed. However, the behavioural model does provide important insights into the intrinsic and reinforcing value of feedback, particularly when it relates to the learners' anticipated learning outcomes" (p. 213).

It is unwise to say that alternative learning theories cannot exist outside of, or alongside a behaviourist approach; the behaviourist method simply provides the foundation for a student's education because it measures observable outcomes, and provides necessary feedback.

Why Behaviourism?:

Behavioural objectives are essential to achieve the theoretical and applied educational outcomes in a vocational program such as Dental Assisting. Because of my profession as a Certified Dental Assistant, and because I hope to become a vocational instructor one day, I prefer a practical and controlled learning theory as opposed to an abstract and student-directed one as the basis for adult education. In fact, the College of Dental Surgeons of British Columbia (CDSBC) outlines these standards. The CDSBC are a governing and licensing body that, "base dental practice on a unique, scientifically based body of knowledge and expertise" and "maintain competence by undertaking continuous learning and professional development" (College of Dental Surgeons of British Columbia, 2015). The CDSBC's strict professional mandate encourages life-long learning with a behaviourist approach. Moreover, at my current position in an Oral Surgery practice, I instruct new co-workers to use these precise methods and standards; the benefit to my trainees is the opportunity to become valued employees who can assist in the more challenging surgical cases, and the opportunity to receive more specialized certification within our field.

That is not to say that self-directed methods don't work; I believe that an initially structured outcome-directed learning method is necessary to provide the self-determination for an adult to the reach their full potential, especially in the medical or technical fields. However, I do not think that the behaviourism learning theory should be restricted to science alone, because even an artist who chooses pen, paint, or music as their outlet must learn the basics of reading and writing, mixing media, and music theory first. Creativity and greatness (the ultimate reinforcement or reward) will follow only after the basic principles of any given discipline are achieved.

Role of the Learner:

I had to study and memorize scientific theory and learn specific practical skills to become certified. Becoming certified was my reward. I was certified but still a novice, barely confident, but it is years of this applied theory and practical skills that have given me the knowledge that I now posses. I became an expert in my field; that is my reinforcement. Firstly, I had to take exams based on lectures and readings; I had to master the physical hands-on aspect by attending labs and demonstrations. I needed certification to practice. Those methods made me qualified, but I never stopped learning. I wanted to improve. I needed the confidence to make my patients, and their families, my employers, and my coworkers feel at ease and to trust me in a professional environment. It is the role of the learner to take responsibility and continue to learn once their educational outcomes have been met. The student can become the teacher. I believe that the Behaviourism theory supports this.

Role of the Instructor:

I want to be the kind of teacher that adheres to enforced learning outcomes while at the same time rewarding and reinforcing achievement, thus encouraging my students to succeed. My students will need to know how and why our particular science is exact in its approach to training, with the result being ultimate patient care. The self-learning in my profession comes only after the theory and the practical outcomes are met. Volumes of knowledge need to be learned precisely before the practical skills can be applied. Only then can self-learning and self-motivation, caused by pride in one's basic level of achievement, and coupled with the drive that autonomy in furthering oneself provides, to create an environment for an individual to master one's theoretically learned and practically learned skills. This would not occur without a behavioural method of learning. "Behaviorists believe that human behaviour is the result of the arrangement of particular stimuli in the environment. If this behaviour is reinforced or rewarded, it is likely to continue: if it is not reinforced it is likely to disappear" (Merriam and Bierema, 2014, p. 26).

Three Classroom Examples:

The importance of teaching anatomy and physiology is paramount in my profession. Why did I have to learn the eruption patterns of primary teeth, followed by the eruption patterns of permanent teeth? Thankfully I did, because I cannot count the number of times over the years as a dental assistant that I have had to recite the infant, age in month, eruption dates to parents in order for them to understand the importance of oral hygiene, especially when a tooth that erupts at one year of age needs to remain healthy until the child is twelve!

Obtaining a complete medical history is the next step in being a good clinician, for the purpose of ensuring the safety and care of a patient. This is very important because it starts to correlate the science and the human element. The knowledge obtained in the theory lessons will give students the confidence to communicate and articulate with their patients and colleagues.

Practical, hands-on skills can then be introduced, and an environment of strict adherence to scope of a dental assistant's licensed duties as mandated by the College of Dental Surgeons of British Columbia can be practiced and ultimately mastered.

Conclusion:
For adult students, behavioural learning methods, especially, but not restricted to vocational studies, set the groundwork for success (reward) and a desire to become life-long learners (reinforcement).

@ Please refer to my Resources page for works cited

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The Importance of Behaviourism in Adult Education

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PIDP 3100 - Foundations of Adult Education Vancouver Community College Kathryn Truant October 7, 2015 Introduction: According to Merriam and Bierema (2014), there are five traditional learning theories identified in providing adult education. They were developed in the following chronological order starting in the 1920's, and defined below: Behaviourism emphasizes controlled behavioural objectives and skills...

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Agree Disagree I Believe that...

For the most part....

Statement 1, 4, and 6 would be supported most strongly by Behavioral psychologists.

Statements 3 and 7 would have be sustained by Cognitive psychologists. And,

Statements 2, 5, and 8 would be on the ledger of the Humanistic psychologists.

Did your responses fall into any particular pattern? Remember which School of Psychology you chose. After exploring more deeply into the theories and theorists of these three important schools of educational psychology, you will be asked to re-evaluate your position. Will it change or will it remain the same?

Let's begin by briefly examining the basic theoretical positions of each School. We will highlight each school's most important concepts and Theorists as we conduct this introduction.

Behaviorism was First

Years ago, teachers believed that the best way to learn was through repetition, a principle from Behavioral learning theory that dominated educational thinking since the time of Ivan Pavlov and his experiment with animals. Students would spend their time copying spelling words, historical information, and mathematical formulas over and over again until they 'learned' the information.

Contemporary Behaviorists (often called S-R PSYCHOLOGISTS) view the ENVIRONMENT as key to learning. Environment factors are seen in terms of STIMULI and its resultant behavior or RESPONSE. They attempt to demonstrate that behavior is controlled by environmental contingencies of external REWARD or REINFORCEMENT which links the stimuli and response. Teachers who accept the Behavioral perspective of pioneers likeB. F. Skinner assume that the behavior of their students is a response to their past and present environment and that ALL BEHAVIOR IS LEARNED. For example, classroom troublemakers "learn" to be disruptive because they seek attention (reinforcement) from their teachers and peers. Withdrawn students learn that their particular environment does not reinforce social interaction; they become reserved and silent. As a result, any behavior can (and should) be analyzed in terms of its reinforcement history. The next logical step for the teacher is to learn the Behavioral processes to change or modify undesirable behavior in their students. The ultimate teacher responsibility, according to the Behaviorist, is to construct an environment in which the probability of reinforcing "correct" or proper student behavior is maximized. This goal is best attained by careful ORGANIZATION and presentation of information in a DESIGNED SEQUENCE.

Cognitivism came Next

In contrast to the behavioral perspective, Cognitive psychologists focus more on the learner as an active participant in the teaching-learning process. Those who adhere to this psychology of learning believe that teachers can be more effective if they know what PRIOR KNOWLEDGE the student already possesses and how information is processed and STRUCTURED in an individual's memory. Cognitive-based teachers instruct students by using TEACHING STRATEGIES to help the learner acquire knowledge more effectively. Effective instruction for these teachers includes teaching students how to learn, remember, think, and motivate themselves. There are primarily two persuasions in Cognitive Psychology:

Cognitive-developmental psychologists, such as Jean Piaget and Jerome Bruner, study the various steps in children's thinking and believe they are different from adult thinking. They stress that teachers must understand the nature of thought processes in planning and instruction. They attribute growth toSTAGES and teaching to a reiterative process ofASSIMILATION and ACCOMMODATION.

Cognitive-constructivist psychologists, on the other hand, view human cognition as knowledge constructed by the individual through various encounters with new ideas and thinking. Knowledge is a series of BUILDING BLOCKS which the teacher can place one on top of the other to build upon a student's understanding. Constructivist principles include the concepts ofSCHEMATA, a process of organizing concepts and information into a cognitive structure that sustains in its subsequent use and retrieval.

Humanism Appears on the Scene

Humanistic Psychologists believe that how a person FEELS about learning is as important as how the person thinks or even behaves. They describe behavior not from the viewpoint of the teacher as do behaviorists but rather from the vantage point of the student who is performing the activity. Humanists, led by such famous authors asAbraham Maslow and Carl Rogers, are especially concerned with the idea of SELF-ACTUALIZATION, the growth of a person to achieve whatever degree of individual satisfaction they are capable of achieving. The humanistic teacher creates an educational environment that fosters SELF-DEVELOPMENT, COOPERATION, POSITIVE COMMUNICATIONS, and PERSONALIZATION OF INFORMATION.

A Formative Evaluation. Alright, you have read a few statements regarding each of the three major schools of Educational Psychology. Let's see if you can apply some of this basic knowledge to the following situations.

Question 1: There is only one common belief system for each of the three schools. Individuals within the Behavioral, Cognitive, and Humanistic systems agree of nearly every defining characteristic with their colleagues.

Question 2: Educational classroom practices are backed by one specific theory. There have been no successful attempts to integrate methods from the various schools of thought.

Question 3: You need to learn when to use ideas from each of the major schools because each has its strengths and weaknesses depending upon the particular purpose you have in mind.

Summary. Instructional learning theories are centered on the major schools of educational psychology. From these so-called schools have evolved modern thinking and practice about how learning occurs and how your instruction in the classroom ultimately affects that learning. Each has its own merits and each has shortcomings that may make them inappropriate in certain learning situations. Your understanding of the basic principles and assumptions of Behaviorism, Cognitivism, and Humanism is critical to your approach to classroom teaching.

Transition. We will continue the Exercise by delving more deeply into the theories and theorists of each School of Educational Psychology. You may pick the order in which they will be further explored. However, please select the Conclusion only after you have completed the three sections.

Select a School

Behaviorism
The Psychology of Applied Learning

Cognitivism

The Psychology of Knowledge and Strategies

Humanism

The Psychology of the Individual Student

Conclusion

Final Comments on the Learning Theories Exercise

Created and Maintained by Dr. Lawrence Tomei
Copyright ©2004
Revised 10-15-2004

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Agree Disagree I Believe that... For the most part.... Statement 1, 4, and 6 would be supported most strongly by Behavioral psychologists. Statements 3 and 7 would have be sustained by Cognitive psychologists. And, Statements 2, 5, and 8 would be on the ledger of the Humanistic psychologists.

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Behaviorism, also known as behavioral learning theory, is a theoretical perspective in psychology that emphasizes the role of learning and observable behaviors in understanding human and animal actions.