Tenets of the Theory

The Behaviourist Theory by B.F. Skinner

B. F. Skinner's theory of learning says that a person is first exposed to a stimulus, which elicits a response, and the response is then reinforced (stimulus, response, reinforcement). This, ultimately, is what conditions our behaviors. Skinner's theory of learning emphasizes the role of reinforcement in shaping and conditioning our behaviors.

B.F. Skinner suggested the following five steps to implement behavior change:

Step 1: Behavioral Goal Setting

A teacher has to first outline the kind of behavior that they expect from their students. For example, a teacher may have consistently energetic students at the beginning of class, and she wishes for the students to focus and settle down more quickly.

Step 2: Determine reasonable ways for behavior reinforcement.

Naturally, no teacher likes to scold or administer punishments at the beginning of each class. As a result, teachers need to consider how to provide rewards or incentives to students who behave well (positive reinforcement) or who refrain from misbehaving (negative reinforcement).

Step 3: Select techniques to change behaviors.

It is crucial to choose how to use the positive and negative reinforcers that a teacher would use. For example, in order to give gold stars or points (positive reinforcement or strengthening of behavior) to students who perform well, a teacher must specify what makes up a "high performer" and how students might exhibit that behavior in order to receive the reward. Alternatively, if the instructor wants to use a negative reinforcer, such as letting top achievers skip a test the next week, the instructor needs to figure out a mechanism to monitor the students' performance on each day of the current week.

Step 4: Select a technique to change a behavior.

Utilize the chosen methods and document the outcomes. Experts in behavior science claim that not every child benefits equally from reinforcement. A teacher must evaluate how quickly the class improves performance and how many students exhibit the desired behavior without the teacher having to provide extra reinforcement or reminders after introducing a new reinforcement approach.

Step 5: Evaluate and improve if needed.

It is preferable to alter a reinforcement approach if it is not producing the desired effects. The next week, a teacher might attempt a different approach and keep doing so until they figure out which method works best for the particular sort of student.

There isn't much data to support the idea that punishment benefits people. Many detrimental effects of punishment were explained by B.F. Skinner's operant conditioning theory. The first of punishment's numerous negative impacts is that it usually has a lasting effect.

It might even make the bad behavior more common. The attention that the offender receives is the last of the numerous consequences of punishment; in fact, it might even act as a bigger reward for the offender than the punishment itself.

Fig. 1 from Main (2023)