What is behaviorism and why do we study it? Behaviorism is the belief that humans learn through observing and experimentation. It is the idea that all human events and reaction are described by circumstances and controlled by discipline or a prize without free will. There are two ways in which behaviorism can unfold: Classical Conditioning and Operant Conditioning.
Classical Conditioning is when the conditioned stimulus makes a second stimulus respond towards a specific behavior. For example, John Watson and Rayner conducted an experiment with a boy named Albert. In his experiment he paired a white rat with a loud noise that was made with a hammer. Watson conditioned Albert to fear the rat, so every time he hears the noise now he becomes frightened. Operant conditioning is the understanding of the procedure where the effect of the outcomes comes after a response and it decides if the behavior will be repeated or not. For example, if a child gets good grades and his mom/dad buys them a pair of shoes, the child will keep on getting good grades in order to get more shoes. This example can also be known as positive reinforcement. One of the differences between classical and operant conditioning is that it focuses on the behavior. Whether is involuntary or voluntary. Classical conditioning requires making an alliance between an involuntary response and a stimulus, while operant conditioning is about making an alliance between a voluntary behavior and its effect. In operant conditioning, the learner is rewarded with incentives, while classical conditioning involves no such enticements. In addition, classical conditioning focuses on the involuntary part of the learner and gets automatic behaviors, while operant conditioning requires the learner to contribute and conduct some type of action in order to be rewarded or punished.
Working at a daycare most children enrolled tend to behave based on rewards and punishments rather than trying to avoid fear. In other words, the children don’t behave based on classical conditioning; children behave based on operant conditioning. For example, if it is cold outside and the children choose not to wear their coat the parents simply punish them. Parents take away their favorite toy in exchange for cooperation to the orders from the parent. If the child listens to the parent’s orders, the parent usually would give their child a candy or satisfying comments that make the child feel happy. Next time when the children cooperate, they expect the toy or the good comments from the parent, which then eliminates the bad behavior for a long period of time. On the other hand, classical conditioning does not allow the same behavior to work as operant does. With classical conditioning, kids change their behaviors because they’re trying to avoid a fear. To me that is not a good way to teach children how to behave because their fear sensitivity decreases as they get older. Another disadvantage that classical conditioning has is that it doesn’t focus on learning. Classical conditioning makes an effort on instilling a temporary learning process. As for operant conditioning, the focus is toward long-term learning.
A child’s personality and trait depends on how their parents react to their behavior. Parents should take varying measures in different situations. Every so often, it is necessary to reward children and encourage them, and in other situations, parents should choose to be strict and punish them as well. Classical conditioning does not do this and even adults like to be rewarded and compensated for our actions. To motivate children to behave well, it is crucial to praise and inspire them to do this kind of activity more often. Therefore I believe that although both classical conditioning and operant conditioning are good when correlated with child behavior, operant works better.