Operant Conditioning Introduction and Description     Characteristics

Strengths and Weaknesses of Operant Conditioning     Operant Conditioning and Directed Instruction     Integrating Technology

Like all of the learning theories out there, Skinners operant conditioning theory has both positive and negative aspects.

There are many strengths to this theory, as well as weaknesses

• Strengths:

Skinner formulated this theory that says, for example, when a child is rewarded for good behavior, he/she is more likely to continue to have that good behavior. Without a reward, or positive reinforcement, the child would have no motivation to continue the good behavior. If a child is misbehaving, he/she should have some sort of negative reinforcement, or some type of consequence that will strengthen the child’s good behavior. Consequently, a child who has been punished after acting a certain way will be less likely to model that behavior again. Using positive and negative reinforcement methods may alter a child’s behavior problems. The child will mentally make an association between good behavior with rewards, and bad behavior with punishment. The good behavior produces a wanted result; the bad behavior produces an unwanted result.

            When teaching, some forms of this theory can be a very helpful way to control student’s behavior. When the student(s) is/are misbehaving, a punishment should be given. The teacher can take away a privilege, give extra homework, change seats, etc. If the student(s) is/are well behaved, the teacher may give them a special privilege, or free time, which would be a type of positive reinforcement. Another type of positive/negative reinforcement used all the time is grades. If a student doesn’t study for a test, essentially he/she will get a low grade. The low grade is negative reinforcement for not studying, and vice versa. This theory is very helpful when raising children, and when teaching them.

• Weaknesses:

            Skinners theory seems to deal strictly with distinct behavior: good, and bad. It seems as if there may be no in between. Also, as a parent, or a teacher, you can not keep positively reinforcing the child’s good behavior after the first few times. The child is supposed to get into a habit of continuing the good behavior, even after the positive reinforcement stops. If a child is getting rewarded for being well behaved, eventually that reward should become extinct. After the reward stops being enforced, the child may be likely to stop the good behavior as well. On the other aspect, if a child is continually behaving badly, he/she can be punished only so many times before he/she loses complete motivation to even begin working on his/her behavior. After a while, I believe that a bad behaving child needs to have some type of motivation to want to be well behaved. Sometimes whatever is being used as a negative reinforcement is not enough indirect motivation to get the child to behave better.

     When using operant conditioning in the classroom, Skinners theory would allow little room for the students to work in groups, and to be actively engaged by asking questions. Operant conditioning is based on students starting at a low level of thinking, and by the process of reinforcement, eventually move up to a higher level. In a classroom based on this type of theory, the teacher would give the students an individual task to complete based on the current topic. This task would be repeated until eventually complete. This theory lacks engagement and motivation of the students, which is a big weakness, in my mind. The students need to be able to have group discussions, and the encouragement to figure things out on their own by experimentation and research.

(image source: http://theotherbps.googlepages.com/Press_for_food.jpg/Press_for_food-full;crop:0.12,0.06,0.97,0.92.jpg)

http://psychology.about.com/od/behavioralpsychology/a/introopcond.htm

http://www.uca.edu/divisions/academic/coe/students/GR/portfolio1/Constructivist%20VS%20Behaviorist.htm

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