Behaviorist Perspective

Behaviorist approaches are different from most other perspectives because they view people as controlled by their environment and specifically that we are the result of what we have learned from our environment. The early philosophical base for this learning perspective of personality is English philosopher, John Locke (1632-1704) who viewed the newborn baby as a blank slate - tabula rasa - on whom the experience of life would write a specific story. B. F. Skinner is the best-known behaviorist, is described as a radical behaviorist. Skinner believed that all of our behavior is the result of punishment and reward; this theory forms the principles of operant conditioning that he proposed. The primary focus of the behavioral perspective is on behavior and the influence of the external environment in shaping of the individual’s behavior. Teaching, therefore, refers to the environmental conditions that are arranged and presented to students. The teacher should state the objectives of the instruction as learner behaviors. In addition to identifying the goal behavior, this involves breaking that goal down into a set of simpler behaviors and arranging them in a sequence of frames that will help students’ progress towards the goal. The teacher should use cues to guide students to the desired behavior. The teacher should select and use consequences to reinforce the desired behavior since behaviors that are reinforced are more likely to be repeated.