Bandura and Skinner

According to Kail and Cavanaugh the theory established by Skinner known as operant conditioning is a “learning paradigm in which the consequences of a behavior determine whether a behavior is repeated in the future” (p. 13). This theory to an extent, parallels the previous theory of operant conditioning but is also important in trying to understand why one makes the decisions they do as well as how often they partake in certain behaviors. Through his theory Skinner displayed that there are two types of consequences, reinforcement and punishment, in which one increases the chances of repeated behavior and the other vice versa. Reinforcement is the component that increases the likeliness of repeated behavior and includes two divisions, negative and positive. Negative reinforcement is that in which a person’s

Bandura’s theory uses the social- learning approach. This approach would explain that Antwone was a product of what he saw. This showed in the behaviors that he displayed. This approach derives

Ivan Pavlov and B.F. Skinner both studied learning, in which they both did different experiments on different animals and with different conditioning. Classical conditioning is the process in which two stimuli become linked; once this association has been recognized, an originally neutral stimulus is conditioned to provoke an involuntary response. The dogs in Pavlov’s studies learned to associate countless stimuli with the expectation of food, which caused in them salivating when the stimuli were presented. Pavlov revealed how such associations are learned, and referred to this process as conditioning. While the

Operant Conditioning Theory by B.F. Skinner is a psychological manipulation using rewards and punishments to enforce positive behavior. It uses an individual person’s response to events or stimulus. When a particular Stimulus-Response pattern is rewarded, the individual is conditioned to respond. The distinctive characteristic of operant conditioning is related to previous forms of behaviorism. The Operant Conditioning theory comprises of neutral operants, positive/negative reinforcers, and positive/negative punishers. Through these factors, we get the desired behavior of our subject because they do not want to be punished for under performing so they do what they’re told to or do more of what they were assigned to to receive positive stimulus

Albert Bandura's studies concluded that environment causes behaviour but that behaviour causes environment, too. He referred to this idea as "reciprocal determination," believing that an individual's actions and the actions of the world around him are intertwined. As his work progressed, he further stated that personality is an interaction of outside influences behaviour, and an individual's psychological processes. Bandura's early research work focused primarily on observational learning which is simply learning from observing the actions of others. He believed that once someone had witnessed another's behaviour, they may be inclined to adopt this behaviour as their own, ultimately building it into their personality profile. Parents who raise children in a caring, supportive environment can certainly contribute to their children's abilities to develop good self-esteem, enabling the children to better deal with outside situations and influences that they are sure to encounter in their life.

Skinner’s reinforcement experiments conducted on rats showed the principles of operant conditioning. While working with rats, Skinner would place them in a Skinner box with a lever attached to a feeding tube. After multiple trials, rats learned the connection between the lever and food, and started to spend more time in the box procuring food than performing any other action. He used positive reinforcement, and negative reinforcement to produce or inhibit specific target behaviors. Therefore, if a specific behavior is reinforced then the probability of that behavior occurring again is increased. Based on Skinner’s view, this theory can be applied to learning because learning is nothing more than a change in behavior. Operant conditioning encourages positive reinforcement, which can be applied in the classroom environment to get the good behavior you want and need from students. One of the ways of reinforcing a student’s behavior is through praise. Also teachers can build operant conditioning techniques into their lesson plans to teach children possible skills as well as good behaviors. For example: to give a smiley face, or motivational stamps to encourage children to perform correctly and encourage them to repeat such action again.

Albert Bandura’s social cognitive theory explains psychological functioning in terms of triadic reciprocal causation. Triadic reciprocal causation is a system assuming human action as a result of an interaction with the environment, behavior, and a person. Bandura explains "person" as being a cognitive factor such as memory, anticipation, and planning. It is because of these cognitive capacities that some people can select or restructure their environment.

Bandura effectively put together one of the first broad-reaching and well accepted model pulled upon both sociological and psychological precepts (essentially mirroring the development of what is now referred as social psychology). People don't just respond to the external influences of cultures and norms; nor do they operate by the internal dictates of the inner workings of an individual's psychology, which related to how the perceive the world around them. Instead, he thought it was necessary for them to combine both influences into a dynamic or reciprocal model where one learns self-knowledge and then continuously checks that knowledge against reality. If a general alignment occurs between what someone learns and how he or she perceives themselves, the chances are greater that the person will associate himself or herself with that experience repeatedly, effectively making it a

Skinner and his colleagues (Gass & Larry, 2008), learning or a change of behaviour on the part of the learner, is brought about by a process known as 'operant conditioning' which is the result of repeated training. Operant means 'voluntary behaviour' which is the result of learner's own free-will and is not forced by any outsider or thing (Ortega, 2009). The learner will demonstrate the new behaviour first as a response to a system of a reward or punishment, and finally it will become an automatic response.

Albert Bandura, a 20th century American pszchologist, proposed a very important and probably the most influential theory of development and learning. He believed that: “Most human behaviour is learned observationally through modelling: from observing others, one forms an idea of how new behaviours are performed, and on later occasions

Bandura shows through this theory a person’s beliefs, and characteristics. In addition, it shows the behavior established in the environment, and an individual behavior as well. All of these have to work together as stated by Bandura. (Davis-Brezette, Kamla, Larson, 2006). Because of the strong role of the environment, this could lead to multiple strengths. An example of this is choosing the right environment to determine the type of person you will become. For example, going to Church, or being involved in School could shape a part of who that person will become. These could all lead to eventually having an impact on the environment they are in. This could happen by influencing the people around you, and having relationships with them. In return those people are able to influence you as well (Davis-Brezette, Kamla, Larson,

Operant conditioning developed by Skinner is one of the learning methods according to which the likelihood of behavior is increased or decreased by the use of reinforcement or punishment. In case of positive reinforcement a certain behavior becomes stronger by the effect of experiencing some positive condition. In case of negative reinforcement a certain behavior becomes stronger by the outcome of stopping or staying away from some negative condition. In case of extinction a certain behavior is becomes weaker by the outcome of avoiding to experiencing some positive condition or stopping some negative condition.

There are four major elements of Banduras theory are most relevant this analysis observational learning, reciprocal determinism, self-regulation and self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997). Observational learning variables consists of the ability of the individual to pay attention, the ability of the individual to retain the information, the behaviour production which involves adjustment of behaviour to fit the model and finally the motivation the individual has to behave in a similar way to the model .A model could be another person a book or even a TV programme which means in everyday life we are quite literally surrounded by potential models that we could if we deemed appropriate imitate and change our behaviour accordingly.

In the field of child development, many psychologists, sociologists, and behaviorists contributed and came up with different theories that helped to form our current education system. One of those is B.F. Skinner’s theory of behaviorism, which had a great impact on many strategies we use today for teaching and training. In his theory, operant conditioning is the most famous and influential idea that helped people to understand the behaviors of children and even adults. Skinner focused on how the environments, in the form of reinforcement and punishments, influence behaviors. Thus, his theory cannot explain the higher cognitive functions such as problem solving and critical thinking. Despite his theory’s critiques, Skinner stood strong on his ideas and theories.

Bandura studied social cognitive theory, however; his research was more focused on observation with importance surrounding reinforcement and reward. Bandura believed that the reactions were activated by the human and that the human would react that way expecting to receive the same reinforcement, meaning the human would react to the stimuli a certain way while expecting the reinforcement or punishment. Also,