Burres Frederick Skinner is one of the greatest psychologists of the 20th century. His books are worthy of a separate story. This outstanding person was awarded many awards and prizes. Including the Thorndike Prize.

Some of the most famous books are Skinner's Behaviorism and Beyond Freedom and Dignity.

Who is Skinner?

An outstanding American psychologist who lived in the 20th century. He made significant contributions to the development of behaviorism. He is best known for his theory of operant conditioning. In addition to his achievements in psychology, Burres Skinner was an excellent inventor. One of the scientist’s inventions is a box named after him - the Skinner box. This design is intended to explore the principles of operant conditioning.

Skinner pioneered the work of functional analysis. It was he who proposed it as a method for studying behavior.

It is known that in 1958 the famous psychologist was awarded the prize “For Outstanding Contribution to the Development of Science.” And this award was presented by the American Psychological Association. It was noted that few American psychologists were able to make such a significant contribution to the development of psychology.

In 1972, the same Association recognized Burres Frederick Skinner as the most outstanding psychologist of the 20th century. The second place at that time was taken by S. Freud.

He has hundreds of articles and several dozen scientific books.

Skinner's theory of behaviorism is a breakthrough in the science of psychology. And it will be discussed below.

What is behaviorism?

From English behavior the word is translated as “behavior”. Thus, Skinner's behaviorism is nothing more than the study of behavior under the influence of certain environmental factors.

Operant behavior

Skinner's operant behaviorism, or operant behavior, is any action aimed at achieving a specific goal. It is influenced by antecedents and consequences.

Thus, the theory is as follows: a learning process based on the actions of antecedents and consequences.

Consequences shape operant behavior. And therefore, its frequency increases or decreases in the future.

Antecedent factors influence the manifestation of behavior in the present tense.

Briefly about Skinner's behaviorism: the formation of operant behavior occurs as a result of “operating with consequences.” That is, certain conditions are created in the environment.

Creating conditions

These conditions, according to Skinner's behaviorism, are created through positive or negative reinforcements. Positive reinforcement strengthens the manifestation of a particular behavior in the future. Negative, on the contrary, extinguishes it.

For example, a child is constantly naughty in the store. Mom buys him a chocolate bar or a toy, the baby stops his whims. Chocolate is a positive reinforcement in this situation for the little capricious one. He has already developed a clear algorithm of behavior, and the child knows that if he starts a tantrum in the store, he will receive a kind of reinforcement for this.

Another example. A child throws a tantrum in a store. Mom ignores. The child screams even more, tries to fall on the floor and fight in hysterics. His mom spanks him hard and takes him out of the store without buying anything. The second time the baby again turns on this behavior system, and again receives a spanking. It is unlikely that he will want to be spanked for the third time. The child begins to behave calmly in the store, without trying to be capricious. And why? Because spanking is negative reinforcement. And the baby doesn’t like this method, so he will try to avoid it in the future.

Behavior reinforcement

The principle of behavior reinforcement is a process that occurs in the environment after a behavior has already been generated and expressed.

Reinforcement occurs immediately after the behavior occurs.

Positive reinforcement is the presentation of a stimulus after the behavior has been demonstrated. It leads to its strengthening in the future.

Negative reinforcement is a stimulus that is given immediately after a behavior has occurred and reduces its subsequent likelihood of occurring.

According to Skinner's operant behaviorism, negative reinforcement is liberating. Having received it once, a person will subsequently strive to free himself from the strengthening of an unpleasant stimulus.

Types of amplification processes

B. Skinner's behaviorism speaks of two types of these processes: direct and indirect. The first are processes that involve external environmental stimuli that have a direct impact on humans. They, in turn, are divided into:

1. Positive - attention, sleep, food.
2. Negative - avoiding an unpleasant person.

Direct processes are automatic. They, like mediocre ones, are divided into positive and negative.

Processes of weakening behavior

Skinner's behaviorism also includes weakening processes. What it is? It is a process of punishment or weakening that occurs after a behavior has occurred. And it leads to a weakening of unwanted behavior in the future.

These processes are divided into positive and negative.

Positive reduction is a process in which, following the occurrence of a behavior, an aversive stimulus is provided, resulting in a decrease and/or reduction in the behavior in the future.

Negative attenuation is the process of eliminating pleasurable stimuli after the presentation of an undesirable behavior, so that future occurrences of the behavior will be reduced or reduced.

Antecedent factors

One of the stages of Skinner's behaviorism includes various incentives and motivational operations.

Motivational operations increase or decrease the effectiveness of a particular stimulus to strengthen or weaken behavior. They are divided into stimulating and suppressing.

Incentives increase motivational value. This means that the likelihood of behavior occurring increases.

Suppressors, in turn, reduce the motivational value of the stimulus, reducing the likelihood of a particular behavior occurring.

Incentives

They influence behavior due to past experiences. They can be divided into three options.

1. A reinforcing consequence will occur after the behavior.
2. There will be no aggravating effects.
3. An unpleasant consequence will occur that will lead to weakened behavior in the future.

That is, the first option is a stimulating influence. A behavior will be more likely to occur because it has been reinforced in the past in the presence of a given stimulus.

The second option is suppressive influence. The behavior will not occur because in the past, when exposed to a given stimulus, an extinction process occurred.

The third option is prohibitive influence. The behavior will not occur because an aversive stimulus occurred in the past in the presence of the given stimulus, which weakened it.

Skinner's radical behaviorism

To understand what it is, you need to know its relationship to the theory of S. Freud. Skinner believed that he had made a colossal discovery that human behavior is largely determined by unconscious reasons. However, he fundamentally disagreed with Freud regarding his invention of the mental apparatus and accompanying processes to explain human behavior.

According to Skinner, behavioral processes have nothing to do with behavior. Mental links create only a problem for explaining behavior.

Skinner believed that a reflex is the concept of a relationship between a stimulus and a response to that stimulus. Thus, if the body receives reinforcement for its behavior, then it strengthens. The body remembers them, and accordingly, a certain type of behavior is learned and developed. If there is no reinforcement, then behavioral acts that are not supported by anything disappear from the body’s behavioral repertoire.

This can be called reflexive behavior or involuntary. Its main difference from the operant one is that the latter cannot be caused. It's voluntary. And reflex behavior is caused by one stimulus or another, no matter whether conditioned or unconditional. This theory coincided with the opinion of the Russian scientist I. Pavlov.

Human control

Education in B. Skinner is based on the fact that a person’s personality is a set of physical reactions that arise in the presence of previous factors and consequences.

Human behavior is shaped by reinforcements. Most often, based on the positive. It can also be formed under the influence of negative reinforcement.

Knowing this, human behavior can be controlled based on:

1. Positive reinforcement of correct reactions. This contributes to their consolidation in the behavior of the individual.
2. Subjective value of reinforcement. That is, based on what is most stimulating for a given individual.
3. Operant conditioning. The individual knows that his behavior may be followed by negative reinforcement. To avoid negative consequences, a person is quite capable of abandoning a particular type of behavior.
4. Subjective probability of consequences. If a person realizes that the likelihood of negative reinforcement arising from his actions is small, he is willing to take risks.
5. Imitation. People tend to unconsciously imitate those whom they consider their authority.
6. Personality type. It is much easier to manage those who are inclined to shift responsibility for their actions and actions onto other people and life circumstances. This type of personality is called externals. Internals, on the contrary, take full responsibility for what happens to them only on themselves.

Beyond freedom and dignity

When talking about Skinner, it’s hard not to mention this book. It overturns all the previous values ​​and ideals of an ordinary person. The author clearly and clearly sets out how people can be managed. What is money, for example? Are they a benefit to people or a way to influence the crowd? Or how to force a person to work? It is enough to pay him a monthly salary in such an amount that it is enough only for food. This technique has been known since the times of Ancient Rome, where people worked for food. Now its role is played by rustling pieces of paper.

What is the value of human life, and most importantly, how can you reconsider your own views and decide to change your usual way of life? Berres Frederick Skinner gives specific and very clear answers to these questions in his book. For those who want to change something in their life, it will be an excellent impetus to action.

Conclusion

So, we have looked at Skinner's behaviorism in psychology. What is the main idea of ​​the article? Human behavior is shaped by the influence of the external environment. This environment can be created artificially, and thereby controlled by a person, based on 6 principles.

Secondary thought: Positive and negative reinforcement play a huge role in shaping behavior. If you give positive reinforcement for a certain behavior, it will intensify in the future. Negative reinforcement, on the contrary, helps to reduce or eliminate behavior in the future.

Skinner's behaviorism

Burres Frederick Skinner (1904-1990), like Watson, was interested in the study of science, the subject of which is human behavior. Experiments conducted by Pavlov and Watson studied classical, or respondent, conditioning, in which the organism is passive at the time of conditioning. Skinner made a special contribution to the development of psychology because he discovered that the consequences, or results, of behavior are of great importance and developed this idea. Skinner proposed the following fundamental principle: “Behavior is shaped and maintained by its consequences.”. Skinner conducted a series of experiments to flesh out this principle. He believed that he went beyond stimulus and response to consider the effects of the environment on the organism after the response has occurred.

Operant behavior. According to Skinner's concept of operant behavior, reinforcement depends on the response that the body receives to the action performed. Skinner notes that it is possible to predict the likelihood of a similar reaction occurring in the future. If a behavioral response produces a benefit, it is likely to be repeated in the future. The unit of predictive science of behavior is the operant (repeated behavior). The use of the term "operant" emphasizes that behavior operates in the environment to produce consequences. Classical conditioning and operant conditioning are the only two types of conditioning possible.

Conjugate reinforcement. Skinner emphasized that behavior both affects the environment, producing consequences, and depends on the consequences produced by the environment. Any adequate description of the interaction between an organism and its environment must contain a definition of three elements: a) the situation in which the reaction takes place; b) the answer itself and c) reinforcing consequences. The interrelationship of these three elements is the basis of conjugate reinforcement.

Positive and negative reinforcement. Positive reinforcement involves providing something (for example, food, water, the opportunity for sexual contact) in some situation. Withdrawing a positive reinforcer has the same effect as providing a negative reinforcer. The likelihood of a response increases after both positive and negative reinforcement.

Only a small portion of behavior is immediately reinforced by food, water, sexual contact, or other factors of obvious biological significance. Such reinforcements are called primary, or unconditional.

Most behavior is a response to reinforcers that have become associated with or conditioned by primary reinforcers. For example, if a bright light is turned on every time a hungry pigeon feeds, the turning on of the light will eventually become conditioned by a reinforcing stimulus. Light, like food, can then be used for operant conditioning. A conditioned reinforcer is generalized when it is combined with more than one primary reinforcer. This fact is important because generalized conditioned reinforcement, such as money, is useful because it applies not only to one specific state of deprivation (for example, a state characterized by hunger), but also to many other similar states. Other generalized conditioned reinforcers are attention, approval, and affection.

Reinforcement regimes. Skinner noted that many significant features of the formation and maintenance of behavior can be explained only by studying reinforcement regimes. There are continuous schedules of reinforcement and intermittent schedules of reinforcement.

Skinner identified several types of intermittent reinforcement schedules.

1. A regime with a constant ratio, in which each reaction is reinforced. This mode is everyday in life, it plays a significant role in controlling behavior. This schedule of reinforcement typically entails a high operant rate.

2. A constant interval schedule in which the first response occurring after a certain period of time has passed is reinforced, and a new period begins immediately after reinforcement. Examples could be the payment of wages for work completed in a month, or the established frequency of student reporting (exam - once every six months). This mode has a low speed of response immediately after receiving reinforcement.

3. Reinforcement regime with a variable ratio (a dramatic example would be the behavior of a person under the control of gambling in a slot machine). The extinction of behavior with this mode occurs very slowly.

4. Variable interval reinforcement schedule. The speed of response in this mode depends on the length of the interval: short intervals generate high speed, long ones – low. An example would be arbitrary (not every time) praise by parents of a child in the hope that the child will behave well even during unreinforced periods. Organizing tests by teachers with variable intervals helps maintain a high level of student diligence.

Behavior has consequences, but if these consequences or reinforcement are not available, behavior extinction occurs. When people engage in behavior that no longer has beneficial consequences, they become increasingly less likely to engage in that behavior. Reinforcement schedules are related to extinction. For example, resistance to extinction produced by intermittent reinforcement may be much stronger than resistance to extinction developed by continuous reinforcement. The task of behavioral science is to explain the probability of a response taking into account the history of its reinforcement and extinction. Skinner used the term operant strength to refer to the likelihood of a particular response occurring. Skinner believed that a condition characterized by low operant strength resulting from extinction often requires treatment. From this perspective, psychotherapy can be viewed as a reinforcement system designed to restore extinct behavior.

Operant behavior occurs through the establishment of significant connections with the environment. Conjugate circumstances of reinforcement consist of several elements: stimulus, response, reinforcement. The process by which a response to a presented stimulus is ultimately most likely to occur is called discrimination. In other words, we can formulate it this way: the reaction took place under the control of the discriminative stimulus, or, in short, under the control of the stimulus. Once an operant discrimination is conditioned, the probability of a response can be increased or decreased by presenting or removing a discriminative stimulus. For example, store visitors are more likely to make purchases when products are effectively displayed in the store.

Stimulus generalization is the reinforcing effect of one stimulus that spreads to other stimuli. An example of stimulus generalization in everyday life is responding in a certain way to a person who resembles someone you know.

Personality, according to Skinner, is a repertoire of behaviors, the acquisition of which is determined by reinforcements from the environment; Moreover, this repertoire is preserved or fades away due to the presence of current conjugate reinforcement circumstances.

Self-control. In self-control, people manipulate events in their environment to control their behavior. Self-control involves two interdependent responses: 1) influencing the environment and changing the likelihood of secondary responses (for example, an adult may use a controlling withdrawal response in such a way that he becomes able to control his anger response; or removing a discriminative stimulus such as food, helping to break the habit of overeating); 2) exploiting the presence of some discriminative stimuli that can make the desired behavior more likely (for example, a particular table can be a stimulus for learning behavior, and a knot tied in a handkerchief can reinforce delayed action).

Psychotherapy and counseling. Much of the behavior associated with mental illness is learned. The main task of a behaviorist consultant is to change behavior by managing the associated circumstances of the client's reinforcement. The goal of psychotherapy is to correct the undesirable effects of excessive or inconsistent external and internal control. Among the external means of control may be the influence of parents, as well as educational and other institutions. Skinner believed that the use of punishment as a means of control causes the development of many of the characteristic features of mental illness, as well as the development of emotional side effects.

Diagnostics in counseling and psychotherapy involves functional analysis aimed at identifying variables that can be used to change unwanted behavior. One of the important variables in psychotherapy is the ability of therapists to be controlling persons or powerful reinforcers. It is important that the therapist be able to respond in ways that are inconsistent with punishment. This can lead to the fading of the effects of punishment and the appearance of previously suppressed behavior in the client's behavioral repertoire. In some situations, the therapist may see the need to create new contingencies of control or teach the client self-control techniques.

Lecture 6. Sociogenetic theories of development

The origins of the sociogenetic approach come from the tabula rasa theory that arose in the Middle Ages, formulated John Locke(1632-1704), according to which the human psyche at the moment of birth is a “blank slate”, but under the influence of external conditions, as well as upbringing, all the mental qualities characteristic of a person gradually arise in him. Locke put forward a number of ideas about organizing children's education on the principles of association, repetition, approval and punishment.

A representative of this trend was the French philosopher of the 18th century. Claude Adrian Helvetius(1715-1771), who believed that all people are born identical in their natural abilities and the inequality between them in the field of mental abilities and moral qualities is due only to unequal external environmental conditions and various educational influences.

Sociologizing ideas were consonant with the ideology that dominated the USSR until the mid-80s. According to this theory, with the help of targeted training and education, any qualities and behavioral properties can be formed in a child. In order to study a child, you need to study the structure of his environment.

The sociogenetic approach is associated with the behavioristic direction in psychology, according to which a person is what his environment makes of him. The main idea of ​​behaviorism is the identification of development with learning, with the child’s acquisition of new experience. American researchers took the idea of ​​I.P. Pavlov that adaptive activity is characteristic of all living things. The phenomenon of the conditioned reflex was perceived as some kind of elementary behavioral phenomenon. The idea of ​​combining stimulus and response, conditioned and unconditional stimuli came to the fore: the time parameter of this connection was highlighted. The main theories of behaviorism include:

1. The theory of classical and instrumental conditioning I.P. Pavlova

2. Associationistic concept of learning by D. Watson and E. Ghazri.

3. The theory of operant conditioning by E. Thorndike.

4. B. Skinner's theory. With the help of reinforcement, you can shape any type of behavior.

The very idea of ​​conducting a rigorous scientific experiment, created by I.P. Pavlov to study the digestive system, entered into American psychology. The first description of such an experiment by I. P. Pavlov was in 1897, and the first publication by J. Watson was in 1913. Already in the first experiments of I. P. Pavlov with the salivary gland brought out, the idea of ​​​​connecting dependent and independent variables was realized, which runs through all American studies of behavior and its genesis not only in animals, but also in humans. Such an experiment has all the advantages of real natural scientific research, which is still so highly valued in American psychology: objectivity, accuracy (control of all conditions), accessibility for measurement. It is known that I.P. Pavlov persistently rejected any attempts to explain the results of experiments with conditioned reflexes by reference to the subjective state of the animal.

American scientists perceived the phenomenon of the conditioned reflex as a kind of elementary phenomenon, accessible to analysis, something like a building block, from many of which a complex system of our behavior can be built. The genius of I.P. Pavlov, according to his American colleagues, was that he was able to show how simple elements can be isolated, analyzed and controlled in laboratory conditions. The development of the ideas of I.P. Pavlov in American psychology took several decades, and each time the researchers were confronted with one of the aspects of this simple, but at the same time not yet exhausted phenomenon in American psychology - the phenomenon of the conditioned reflex.

In the earliest studies of learning, the idea of ​​combining stimulus and response, conditioned and unconditioned stimuli, came to the fore: the time parameter of this connection was highlighted. This is how the associationist concept of learning arose (J. Watson, E. Ghazri). J. Watson began “his” scientific revolution by putting forward the slogan: “Stop studying what man thinks; let’s study what man does!”

1. Behaviorism

Watson John Brodes

(1878 – 1958). American psychologist, founder of behaviorism (from the English behavior - behavior), one of the most widespread theories in Western psychology of the 20th century.

In 1913 His article “Psychology from the Point of View of a Behaviorist” was published, assessed as a manifesto of a new direction. Following this, his books “Behavior: An Introduction to Comparative Psychology” (1914), “Behaviorism” (1925) appeared, in which for the first time in the history of psychology the postulate that the subject of this science is consciousness (its content, processes, functions, etc.).

Influenced by the philosophy of positivism, Watson argued that only what can be directly observed is real. He argued that behavior should be explained from the relationship between the directly observable effects of physical stimuli on the organism and its also directly observable responses (reactions). Hence Watson’s main formula, adopted by behaviorism: “stimulus-response” (S-R). It followed from this that psychology must eliminate the processes between stimulus and response - whether physiological (nervous) or mental - from its hypotheses and explanations.

Methodologists of behaviorism proceeded from the assumption that the formation of basic mental processes occurs during life. Lipsitt and Kaye (Lipsitt, Kaye, 1964) conducted experiments on the development of conditioned reflexes in 20 three-day-old infants. Ten infants were assigned to the experimental group, and the combination of an unconditional (pacifier) ​​and a conditioned stimulus (pure tone) was repeated 20 times. The researchers wanted to obtain the suckling response to the sound tone that a pacifier would naturally produce. After twenty stimulus combinations, infants in the experimental group began to make sucking movements in response to the sound, while infants in the control group, who were not exposed to stimulus combinations, did not show such a response. This research shows that learning occurs from the earliest days of life. It also suggests that a behaviorist approach can provide insight into development and that through conditioning, researchers can study infants' ability to process sensory information long before they acquire language.

D. Watson proved the ideas of classical conditioning in his experiments on the formation of emotions. He experimentally demonstrated that it is possible to form a fear response to a neutral stimulus. In his experiments, a child was shown a rabbit, which he picked up and wanted to stroke, but at that moment received an electric shock. Naturally, the child scaredly threw the rabbit and began to cry. However, the next time he approached the animal again and received an electric shock. By the third or fourth time, for most children, the appearance of a rabbit, even in the distance, caused fear. After this negative emotion was consolidated, Watson tried once again to change the emotional attitude of the children, forming an interest and love for the rabbit. In this case, they began to show it to the child during a tasty meal. The presence of this important primary stimulus was an indispensable condition for the formation of a new reaction. At the first moment, the child stopped eating and began to cry, but since the rabbit did not approach him, remaining far away, at the end of the room, and tasty food (for example, chocolate or ice cream) was nearby, the child quickly calmed down and continued eating. After the child stopped reacting by crying to the appearance of a rabbit at the end of the room, the experimenter gradually moved the rabbit closer and closer to the child, while simultaneously adding tasty things to his plate. Gradually, the child stopped paying attention to the rabbit and, in the end, reacted calmly, even when it was located near his plate, took the rabbit in his arms and tried to feed him something tasty. Thus, Watson argued, our emotions are the result of our habits and can change dramatically depending on circumstances.

Watson's observations showed that if the formed fear reaction to a rabbit was not converted to a positive one, a similar feeling of fear subsequently arose in children when they saw other fur-covered objects. Based on this, he sought to prove that persistent affective complexes can be formed in people based on conditioned reflexes according to a given program. Moreover, he believed that the facts he discovered proved the possibility of forming a certain, strictly defined model of behavior in all people. He wrote: “Give me a hundred children of the same age, and after a certain time I will form them into absolutely identical people, with the same tastes and behavior.”

The principle of behavior control gained wide popularity in American psychology after the work of Watson. His merit is also that he expanded the sphere of the psyche to include the bodily actions of animals and humans. But he achieved this innovation at a high price, rejecting as a subject of science the enormous riches of the psyche, irreducible to externally observable behavior.

Edwin Ray Ghazri

(1886 – 1959). He was a professor of psychology at the University of Washington from 1914 until his retirement in 1956. His major work was The Psychology of Learning, published in 1935 and reprinted in a new edition in 1952.

He proposed a single law of learning, the law of contiguity, which he formulated as follows: “A combination of stimuli which accompanies a movement, when reappeared, tends to produce the same movement. Notice that there is nothing said here about “confirmatory waves,” or reinforcement, or states of satisfaction.” Another way to define the law of contiguity is that if you did something in a given situation, then the next time you find yourself in the same situation, you will strive to repeat your actions.

E. Ghazri explained why, despite the possible truth of the law of contiguity, the prediction of behavior will always be probabilistic. Although this principle, as just stated, is short and simple, it will not be understood without some explanation. The phrase “tends” is used here because behavior at any point in time depends on a large number of different conditions. Conflicting “tendencies” or incompatible “tendencies” are always present. The outcome of any stimulus or stimulus pattern cannot be predicted with absolute accuracy because other stimulus patterns exist. We can express this by saying that the behavior presented is caused by the entire situation. But in saying this, we cannot flatter ourselves that we have done more than find an explanation for the impossibility of predicting behavior. No one has yet described, and no one will ever describe, the entire stimulus situation, or observe any complete situation, so as to speak of it as a “cause,” or even as a pretext for misconceptions about a small part of behavior.

In a recent publication, E. Ghazri revised his law of contiguity to clarify: “What is noticed becomes the signal for what is done.” For Ghazri, this was a recognition of the enormous number of stimuli that an organism encounters at any given time, and the fact that it is apparently impossible to form associations with all of them. Rather, the organism responds selectively to only a small fraction of the stimuli encountered, and this is the fraction that is associated with any response caused by those stimuli. One can pay attention to the similarities between Ghazri’s way of thinking and the concept of “predominance of elements” by Thorndike, who also believed that organisms react selectively to various manifestations of the environment.

Edward Lee Thorndike

(1874–1949). American psychologist and educator. President of the American Psychological Association in 1912.

Conducted research studying animal behavior. They were aimed at getting out of the “problem box”. By this term E. Thorndike meant an experimental device in which experimental animals were placed. If they left the box, they received reinforcement of the reflex. The research results were displayed on certain graphs, which he called “learning curves.” Thus, the purpose of his research was to study the motor reactions of animals. Thanks to these experiments, E. Thorndike concluded that animals act by the method of “trial and error and random success.” These works led him to the theory of connectivism.

E. Thorndike concludes that the behavior of any living creature is determined by three components:

1) a situation that includes both external and internal processes that affect the individual,

2) reaction or internal processes occurring as a result of this impact;

3) a subtle connection between the situation and the reaction, i.e. association. In his experiments, Thorndike showed that intelligence as such and its activity can be studied without resorting to reason. He transferred the emphasis from establishing internal connections to establishing connections between the external situation and movements, which introduced new trends in associative psychology. In his theory, Thorndike combined mechanical determinism with the biological, and then with the biopsychic, significantly expanding the area of ​​psychology, previously limited to the limits of consciousness.

Based on his research, Thorndike derived several laws of learning:

1. The law of exercise. There is a proportional relationship between the situation and the reaction to it with the frequency of their repetition).

2. The law of readiness. The condition of the subject (the feelings of hunger and thirst he experiences) is not indifferent to the development of new reactions. Changes in the body's readiness to conduct nerve impulses are associated with exercise.

3. Law of associative shift. When reacting to one specific stimulus out of several acting simultaneously, other stimuli that participated in this situation subsequently cause the same reaction. In other words, a neutral stimulus, associated by association with a significant one, also begins to evoke the desired behavior. Thorndike also identified additional conditions for the success of a child's learning - the ease of distinguishing between stimulus and response and awareness of the connection between them.

4. Law of effect. The last, fourth, law caused a lot of controversy, since it included a motivation factor (a purely psychological factor). The law of effect said that any action that causes pleasure in a certain situation is associated with it and subsequently increases the likelihood of repeating this action in a similar situation, while displeasure (or discomfort) during an action associated with a certain situation leads to a decrease in the likelihood of committing this act in a similar situation. This implies that learning is also based on certain polar states within the organism. If the actions taken in a certain situation lead to successful results, then they can be called satisfying, otherwise they will be violating. Thorndike gives the concept of a successful result at the neuronal level. When the action is successful, the system of neurons brought to alert is actually functioning and not inactive.

E. Thorndike, B. Skinner. They identified development with learning.

Burres Frederick Skinner

(1904 – 1990). American psychologist, inventor and writer. He made a huge contribution to the development and promotion of behaviorism.

Skinner is best known for his theory of operant conditioning, and less so for his fiction and journalism in which he promoted the widespread use of behavior modification techniques (such as programmed training) to improve society and make people happy, as a form of social engineering. Continuing the experiments of D. Watson and E. Thorndike, B. Skinner designed the so-called “Skinner box”, which made it possible to accurately measure behavior and automatically supply reinforcement. The Skinner box, reminiscent of a rat or pigeon cage, has a metal pedal, which, when pressed, the animal receives a portion of food into the feeder. With this very simple device, Skinner was able to make systematic observations of the behavior of animals under different conditions of reinforcement. It turned out that the behavior of rats, pigeons, and sometimes people is quite predictable, since they follow certain laws of behavior, at least in this situation. In Skinner's experiments (as in Thorndike's experiments), food was usually the reinforcer.

A typical Skinner model usually includes the following components: discriminated stimulus, individual response, and reinforcement. A discriminable stimulus usually signals to the individual that learning has begun. In Skinner's experiments, light and sound signals, as well as words, were used as discriminative stimuli. The response is the emergence of operant behavior. Skinner called his type of conditioning operant conditioning because the individual's response operates the mechanism of reinforcement. Finally, a reinforcing stimulus is given for an adequate response. Therefore, reinforcement increases the likelihood of subsequent operant behavior. Operant behavior can also be taught through avoidance conditioning, where reinforcement consists of ending exposure to an aversive stimulus. For example, a bright light can be turned off, a loud sound can be muted, an angry parent can be calmed down. Thus, in operant conditioning, an individual learns a response when the reinforcement consists of stopping exposure to an unpleasant stimulus.

Skinner developed a method of conditioning behavior through successive approximations, which forms the basis of operant conditioning. This method consists in the fact that the entire path from the initial behavior (even before the start of training) to the final reaction that the researcher seeks to develop in the animal is divided into several stages. In the future, all that remains is to consistently and systematically reinforce each of these stages and thus lead the animal to the desired form of behavior. With this method of learning, the animal is rewarded for every action that brings it closer to the final goal, and it gradually develops the desired behavior.

According to Skinner and other behaviorists, this is how most human behavior is developed. From Skinner's point of view, it is possible to explain the very rapid learning of a child's first words (without, however, extending this concept to language acquisition as a whole). At first, when the child is just beginning to utter some articulate sounds, the babbling “me-me-me” already causes delight among those around him, and especially the happy mother, who already thinks that the child is calling her. However, soon the parents' enthusiasm for such sounds cools down until the baby, to everyone's joy, utters “mo ... mo.” Then these sounds cease to be reinforced for the newborn until a relatively articulate “mo-mo” appears. In turn, this word, for the same reasons, will soon be replaced by the combination “moma”, and, finally, the child will clearly pronounce his first word - “mom”. All other sounds will be perceived by others only as “baby talk” in the literal sense of the word, and they will gradually disappear from the “lexicon” of the newborn. Thus, as a result of selective reinforcement from family members, the infant discards those incorrect responses for which he does not receive social reinforcement, and retains only those that are closest to the expected result.

Operant reactions in Skinner's sense should be distinguished from automatic, purely reflex reactions associated with unconditioned and conditioned reflexes. An operant response is an action that is voluntary and purposeful. However, Skinner defines goal-directedness in terms of feedback (that is, the effect on behavior of its consequences), rather than in terms of goals, intentions, or other internal states - mental or physiological. In his opinion, the use of these "internal variables" in psychology involves the introduction of dubious assumptions that add nothing to the empirical laws that relate observed behavior to observable environmental influences. It is these laws that are the real means of predicting and controlling the behavior of humans and animals. Skinner emphasized that “the objection to internal states is not that they do not exist, but that they are irrelevant for functional analysis.” In this analysis, the probability of an operator response appears as a function of external influences - both past and present.

In the field of education, Skinner put forward the concept of programmed learning. According to him, such training can free the student and teacher from the boring process of simple knowledge transfer: the student will gradually advance in mastering a particular topic at his own rhythm and in small steps, each of which is reinforced; These steps constitute the process of successive approximation (Skinner, 1969). However, it was very soon discovered that such training quickly reaches its “ceiling”, and this is due precisely to the fact that only minimal effort is required from the student and therefore reinforcement soon becomes ineffective. As a result, the student quickly becomes bored with such training. In addition, personal contact with the teacher seems to be necessary to constantly maintain student motivation and orderly transfer of knowledge. All of this can perhaps be explained by the principles underlying social learning, and in particular observational learning.

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Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education

"Kaluga State University named after K.E. Tsiolkovsky"

Graduate work

On the topic "B. Skinner's behaviorism"

Performed:

Ilyina E.

Table of contents

Introduction

Chapter I. Historical and theoretical aspects of behaviorism

1.1 Basic principles of behaviorism

1.2 B. F. Skinner's neo-behaviorism

1.3 The importance of behaviorism in the pedagogical process

1.4 Programmed learning according to B.F. Skinner

Chapter II. Skinner's behaviorism and programmed learning by doing

2.1 Computer programs for teaching preschoolers the basics of mathematics

2.2 Implementation of the principles of programmed learning

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

Modern life is changing rapidly, the requirements for the educational and educational process are changing. Currently, new federal state standards are being introduced into the system of preschool education, primary education and basic education. Great demands are placed on pedagogy, the main task of which is to lay the theoretical foundations for the restructuring of pedagogical systems and their effective functioning. Different pedagogical systems still use outdated methods and forms of education and training. Back in the 60s of the 20th century, the traditional school education system showed its inconsistency, and then the search for alternative concepts of school education began. Already at that moment, the problem of intensifying and individualizing the learning process, increasing the independence of students, providing students with effective knowledge and developing skills on their basis was analyzed.

In the modern world, there is a global process of informatization of society, the main distinctive feature of which is the predominance of information activity in all spheres of social production, in culture, art, business, education, and the implementation of information interaction based on ICT. One of the main tasks of modern pedagogy is to support the process of informatization of education, in other words, the process of preparing a person for a full life in the information society.

Skinner's behaviorism and programmed learning is a concept that can find its application in the modern system of upbringing and education. The principles and main ideas of this issue meet the requirements of the Federal State Educational Standard and can contribute to the development of key competencies of graduates of kindergartens and schools; this is precisely what determines the relevance of my research.

The purpose of my work is to study the basics of using Skinner's theory of behaviorism and programmed learning in the process of education and upbringing.

Based on this goal, the following research objectives were identified:

1) Study the historical and theoretical aspects of this issue;

2) Find out the principles underlying programmed learning;

3) Consider examples of computer programs that can be used to teach elementary schoolchildren the basics of mathematics.

4) Formulate conclusions

Chapter I. Historical and theoretical aspects of behaviorism

1.1 Basic principles of behaviorism

Behaviorism is a psychological movement that calls for studying not consciousness, but human behavioral reactions. A person, in accordance with the concept of behaviorism, is understood as a reacting and learning being, programmed for certain reactions, actions and behavior (J. Watson, B. Skipper, K. Hull, E. Tolman, etc.).

Behaviourism has become an influential direction in psychological science since the beginning of the 20th century; it was assigned “revolutionary” significance. His program was proclaimed by the American researcher J. Watson. Behaviorism, like psychoanalysis, opposed those aspects of associationism, which in turn were associated with ideas about consciousness, but the reasons for the opposition were completely different. Behaviorism was formed as a direction with a clearly expressed natural scientific bias; its founders sought to find forms of an objective approach to mental life. In accordance with the point of view of behaviorists, concepts such as “awareness”, “experience”, “suffering”, etc. could not be considered scientific. All of them were the product of human introspection, in other words they were subjective concepts. From their point of view, science could not operate with ideas that could not be registered by objective means. One of the largest representatives of behaviorism was B.F. Skinner, he called similar concepts “explanatory fictions” and deprived them of the right to exist in science.

According to behaviorists, the subject of study can be behavior and activity. According to D. Watson: “We replace the stream of consciousness with a stream of activity.”

Activity was divided into external and internal; they were described through the concept of “reaction,” which included those changes in the body that could be recorded by objective methods - this also includes, for example, movements and secretory activity.

D. Watson proposed the S--R scheme as a descriptive and explanatory one, according to which an effect or stimulus (S) awakens some behavior of the organism, or reaction (R). , It is important that in the ideas of classical behaviorism, the nature of the reaction is determined only by the stimulus. Associated with this idea was Watson's scientific program, the goal of learning to control behavior. If the reaction is determined by the stimulus, then it is enough to select the necessary stimuli to obtain the necessary behavior. This means that it is necessary to conduct experiments aimed at identifying the patterns according to which stimulus-response connections are determined, to organize careful monitoring of situations, and to register behavioral manifestations in response to the influence of some stimulus.

Another significant aspect is that this scheme applies not only to humans, but also to animals. According to Watson, the laws of learning (i.e. the process of developing a response to specific stimuli) are universal, as a result, data acquired in experiments with cats or rats can be extended to human behavior.

The description of learning given by D. Watson is quite simple in its basis (which largely determined the popularity of behaviorism) and is correlated with the laws of the conditioned reflex according to I.P. Pavlov, to whom, by the way, behaviorists widely referred).

The principles of classical behaviorism seem a bit simplistic. Further, experimental practice has not confirmed the validity of the original scheme as universal: in response to the influence of one stimulus, different reactions can follow, and the same reaction can be stimulated by different stimuli. The subordination of the reaction to the stimulus was not questioned, but the question arose that there was something that determined the reaction, in addition to the stimulus, or rather, in interaction with it. Scientists continuing Watson's ideas proposed introducing another instance into the argument, which was designated by the concept of “intermediate variables,” meaning some events in the body that are affected by the stimulus and which, while not being a reaction in the strict sense, also determine the response. (S-O-R Diagram). In the logic of Watsonian behaviorism, these variables cannot be discussed in traditional psychological terminology, despite this, neobehaviorists, in essence, violated this prohibition by discussing problems of purpose, image, etc. For example, E. Tolman experimentally showed that rats that simply ran through a maze without receiving reinforcement then quickly learned to complete it under the condition of reinforcement, in contrast to rats that had no prior “running experience.” This meant that the rats of the first group formed an image of a labyrinth, which allowed them to navigate it. E. Tolman called these "cognitive maps."

B. Skinner is one of the most prominent representatives of behaviorism. In his opinion, behavior can be built on a different principle and determined not by the stimulus, the reaction that preceded it, but by the probable consequences of behavior. This does not mean freedom of behavior (although within the framework of his approach the problem of human “self-programming” is discussed). In general, it is meant that, given a particular experience, a person or animal will try to reproduce it if it had pleasant consequences, and avoid it if the consequences were unfavorable. In other words, it is not the subject who chooses the behavior, but the likely consequences of the behavior that control the subject.

Therefore, it is possible to control behavior by positively reinforcing (or rewarding) certain behaviors and thereby making them more likely, which is the basis of Skinner's idea of ​​programmed learning, which involves “step-by-step” mastery of an activity with reinforcement for each step.

A special direction within the theory of behaviorism is sociobehaviorism, which was actively formed in the 60s. New in relation to the above is the idea that a person is able to master behavior not through his own trial and error, but by observing the experience of those around him, and those reinforcements that contribute to this or that behavior (“learning through observation”, “learning without trial” "). This significant difference suggests that human behavior becomes cognitive, in other words, includes an indispensable cognitive component, in particular a symbolic one. Such a mechanism turns out to be the main one in the process of socialization; on its basis, methods for implementing aggressive and cooperative behavior are determined. This can be confirmed by an experiment conducted by the leading psychologist of the field in question, Albert Bandura. The subjects were three groups of four-year-old children. They were shown a film in which the hero beat a doll. The beginning of the film was the same for all groups, but the ending was different: in one case the “hero” was praised, in another they were condemned, in the third they reacted neutrally. After watching the film, the children were brought into a room where, among others, there was the same doll as in the film, and their behavioral reactions were observed. In the group that was shown the reprimand option, there were significantly fewer manifestations of aggression towards the doll than in representatives of other groups, although they remembered how the “hero” behaved. Likewise, observation can not only form new forms of behavior or activate learned ones that were not previously manifested.

Therefore, Bandura treated the problem of punishments and prohibitions in education in a very ordinary way. By punishing a child, an adult essentially demonstrates to him an aggressive form of behavior, which finds positive reinforcement - in the form of success in coercion, self-affirmation, and this meant that the child, even having obeyed, learns a possible form of aggression. Bandura also had a negative attitude towards the media that promote violence, in particular films, believing that in the development of a child they play the role of “teaching aggression.”

As mentioned above, representatives of environmental theory argue that human behavior is determined solely by the influence of the social environment, in other words, it is determined not by “innate” but by social and cultural factors. This also applies to aggressiveness, which is one of the main obstacles to human progress.

Enlightenment philosophers zealously defended this idea in its most radical form. They said that a person is born intelligent and kind. And if bad inclinations develop in him, then the reason for this is bad circumstances, bad upbringing or bad examples. Many held the view that there were no mental differences between the sexes and that the differences that actually existed between people were explained solely by social circumstances or upbringing. It must be remembered that, in contrast to the behaviorists, philosophers did not have in mind the manipulation of consciousness and not the methods of social engineering, but social and political changes in society itself. They believed that a “good society” could ensure the formation of a good person or make possible the manifestation of his best natural qualities.

Behaviorism has undergone significant changes along the way of its formation; it is more about improving the original formulation than about the emergence of new original ideas.

1.2 B. F. Skinner's neo-behaviorism

Neobehaviorism was based on the same principle as Watson’s concept, namely:

b Psychology has no right to deal with feelings or drives, or any other subjective states;

he rejects any attempt to talk about the “nature” of man, or to construct a model of personality, or to analyze the various passions that motivate human behavior.

Skinner characterized any analysis of behavior in terms of intentions, goals and objectives as pre-scientific and a completely useless waste of time. Psychology was supposed to be the study of what mechanisms stimulate human behavior and how they could be applied to achieve maximum results. Skinner's "psychology" is the science of how to manipulate behavior; its goal is the process of discovering "stimulation" mechanisms that help ensure the behavior desired by the "customer".

Skinner talks about the stimulus-response model. That is, this meant that unconditional reflex behavior is encouraged and rewarded, since it is desirable for the experimenter. Skinner believed that praise and reward are strong and effective incentives, unlike punishment. As a result, such behavior is reinforced and becomes habitual for the object of manipulation. Example: Johnny doesn’t like spinach, but he still eats it, and his mother rewards him for it (praises him, gives him a look, a friendly smile, a piece of his favorite pie, etc.), in accordance with Skinner’s theory, positive “incentives” are used . If the incentives work consistently and systematically, then it comes to the point that Johnny begins to eat spinach with pleasure. Skinner and his associates developed and tested sets of operational techniques in hundreds of experiments. Skinner proved that through the correct use of positive "stimuli" one can change human and animal behavior to an incredible degree - even despite what some too boldly call "innate tendencies."

Having proven this experimentally, Skinner earned recognition and fame. At the same time, he managed to confirm the opinion of those American anthropologists who put sociocultural factors in first place in the process of human formation. Skinner does not completely renounce genetic preconditions. At the same time, in order to accurately characterize his position, it should be emphasized: Skinner believes that, regardless of genetic background, behavior is fully determined by sets of “stimuli”. The stimulus, in turn, can be formed in two ways: during the normal cultural process or according to a predetermined plan.

1.3 The importance of behaviorism in the pedagogical process

The essence of behaviorism as a psychological and pedagogical concept is that children's behavior is a controlled process. The main role in the organization and implementation of the process of education and training is given to the idea of ​​learning algorithms.

In the UK, the issue of managing learning outcomes is resolved by setting goals for educational work for a year or month through forecasting results at various levels at each stage of work. Each structural element of the program content can be comprehended at different levels of complexity:

The first level is the reproductive level of training and education or reproduction of information from memory;

The second level is the level of interpretive activity, which includes the detection of missing elements, highlights characteristic elements, discovers connections between elements or between elements and the whole;

The third level is the search level, it includes analysis and synthesis, development of an algorithm for solving problem problems.

Consequently, teachers and educators are given the task of predicting at the beginning of the year a certain number of program content elements that can be learned only at the 1st and 2nd levels, and those that can only be mastered at the 3rd level. Of course, the latter establish the most important topic and content of all classes with the children, since they must pass from the 1st to the 3rd level of knowledge acquisition during the academic year. In this case, teachers and educators are allowed to deviate from the plan, taking into account the individuality of the children, as well as their current interests and mood.

The idea of ​​algorithmization dictates its requirements for the structure of classes with children. For example, B. Bloom in his “Taxonomy of Learning Goals” (USA) bases the entire structure of lessons around key words and phrases that carry the main semantic load in the lesson, form an attitude towards inclusion in it, switching to another type of activity and contribute to the activation of children’s thought processes or specific child. B. Bloom identifies several such groups:

1) the formulation of exercises and tasks aimed at activating cognition: “correlate”, “list”, “tell”, “formulate”, “establish”, “describe”, etc.;

2) the formulation of exercises and tasks aimed at activating the analysis: “break down into components”, “explain the reasons”, “compare”, “arrange in order”, “classify”; “explain how and why”, etc.;

3) the formulation of exercises and tasks aimed at activating synthesis: “develop a new type of product”, “create”, “invent”, “what will happen if...”, “come up with another option”, “is there another reason” and etc.;

4) the formulation of exercises and tasks that are aimed at enhancing understanding: “tell it in your own words,” “describe what you feel about...”, “summarize,” “show the relationship,” “explain the meaning,” etc.;

5) the wording of exercises and tasks that are aimed at enhancing application: “demonstrate”, “show how...”, “explain the purpose of application”, “use this to solve”, etc.;

6) the wording of exercises and tasks aimed at activating assessment: “set standards”, “select and select”, “weigh the possibilities”, “provide critical comments”; "choose what you like best"; “what do you think about...”, etc.

In the process of training and education, which is aimed at implementing the ideas of behaviorism, electronic computing tools are widely used. Example: in the USA, 95% of educational institutions have modern electronic computer technology at their disposal. Computer programs are widely used to teach children the basics of literacy and arithmetic. For very young children, specialized “talking typewriters” are being created, which at the same time can teach children to type and read. First, the child presses the keys and the machine prints the letters. Next, the machine names the letter, and the child must press the corresponding key. In this case, the device jams all the keys except the necessary one.

Let us determine the essence of the learning process in this system. According to representatives of behaviorists, to educate a child means to shape events in his environment in such a way that the desired behavior (intellectual and motor, etc.) arises and is reinforced immediately. In order to generate a specific behavior, i.e. To achieve the desired effect of training or education, it is necessary to select effective incentives and learn to use them competently (computer training, ideas of schematization and programmed training, etc.).

“A child is a product of training and the environment,” this is precisely the most important principle of teachers who adhere to the theory of behaviorism. In a specific case, this is the opinion of the most famous teacher and author of the “talent education” methodology, Shinichi (Shiniti) Suzuki. Abroad, it is very famous for its program for developing the abilities of children in a mixed-age group of children from 3.5 to 5 years old.

Basic principles of the program:

1. Patience and repetition:

It is necessary to learn to develop talent during the process of education and training;

b you need to realize that talent, in the field of music or in other areas of human activity, cannot be inherited;

It is impossible to cultivate qualities that do not exist in the child’s environment.

Example (from Suzuki's works): "In one book I read how ninjas learned to jump high. One of the methods was as follows: plant a seed in the ground and take care of it. When it sprouts, jump over it every day. This method allows you to concentrate on your actions and gives an incentive to carry them out. The seed grows quite quickly. If you observe this process every day, it is not easy to notice, but the plant stretches upward hourly and non-stop. If you jump over it every day, then the skill will gradually increase as cannabis growth. But if a person sees the sprouted seed only a month or two after the sprout appears, then it will be too high for him. If there is no training during this period, the attempt will end in failure. If you train every day, then you can easily accomplish this bounce".

2. It all starts with the game.

“You need to start any learning with a game, and the joyful mood that appears at the same time will itself direct the child in the right direction. This is the essence of the method,” - this is exactly what S. Suzuki said in his work “Raised with Love: A Classic Approach to Nurturing Talents ".

3. Development must be oriented towards raising the child.

Development is based on the following:

1) activation of children’s motor and musical-rhythmic abilities through active listening and repetition (all auditory material that is memorized must be accompanied by the children’s movements and actions, combined with tasks for the distribution of attention and coordination);

2) a methodology for developing intelligence through the activation of the following individual capabilities:

Perception (Montessori material on the sensory development of children is used, in addition, specialized tasks and exercises are introduced to develop attention and observation);

Memory (in the process, children learn 170-180 haiku - 3-line poems, important attention is paid to the development of children’s motor, visual, graphic and musical memory;

3) a methodology for the early development of children’s musical abilities (for example, this is taught by a program for listening to musical works and learning to play the violin);

4) the formation of aesthetic taste and attitude towards the world on the basis of students’ appropriation of a system of national and universal values.

Registration for education in kindergartens using this method takes place 3 years before the birth of the child. But creating such a complex system is a very complex process. Often, authors limit themselves to the development of partial methods for the early development of children. Representatives of behaviorism do this quite well: they are aimed at a specific result.

This is also relevant to the education of moral behavior in children. In behaviorism, any psychological problem that arose as a result of interaction with a child is analyzed as a lack of necessary behavioral reactions on his part.

The stages of formation of socially positive behavior can be presented as follows:

The first stage is as a result of conversations and the creation of special play situations, establishing behavioral symptoms from which it is necessary to rid the child (this could be fears, aggression, etc.);

The second stage is the discovery of those influences that can act as reinforcement. These can be ready-made stereotypes of behavior, incentives that help quickly break existing stereotypes, or incentives based on long-term frustration of some of the child’s needs that cause undesirable behavior;

The third stage is the development of desired behavior (in individual or group work). Children are offered positive and negative models of behavior, the first of which are encouraged. At the same time, the slightest step of the child is initially reinforced, using all types of positive reinforcements;

The fourth stage is consolidation of acquired skills, development of behavioral stereotypes in other situations and testing them in life. Residual outbursts of negative behavior are not worth dealing with, since punishment teaches worse than encouragement or reward. It is easier for a teacher or educator to develop useful adaptive skills in children, with which this behavior is incompatible.

Starting from an understanding of the basic mechanisms of the pedagogical influence of the teacher and educator on the child, what is the main goal of preschool education in behaviorism? The main goal of education is to raise a manageable individual, in other words, a future citizen of his country who has a sense of responsibility for his behavior. This is the main condition for the viability of the social system. Other important qualities that need to be formed and nurtured in children from an early age include organization, discipline, efficiency and enterprise. For example, in Germany, elementary school back in the 19th century. was considered a system of educating “loyal subjects”, therefore, together with children of preschool and primary school age, the “people” were also brought up, who, like children, had to be taught the basics of literacy and “disciplined”.

1.4 Programmed learning according to B.F. Skinner

Programmed learning is learning with the help of programmed material, implemented through a teaching device (teaching machine or programmed textbook). Such training solves the problem of optimizing the management of the process of acquiring skills and knowledge. The origins of this theory are associated with the name of one of the prominent representatives of behaviorism, B.F. Skinner. Following the behavior formula “stimulus > response > product” discussed above and the laws of reinforcement, exercise and readiness, Skinner based his programmed training on two requirements:

1) get away from control and move on to self-control;

2) transfer the pedagogical system to self-education of students.

As a result, the following principles for constructing training programs were formulated.

The principle of information content. Its essence is that the student must be given new information, since without this there is no learning process at all.

Operational principle. The bottom line is that learning should involve active activity of students, which is associated with the transformation of acquired information.

Feedback principle. The educational process must include regular correction of the student’s actions.

The principle of dosing educational material. Educational information should not be presented in a continuous stream, but in separate parts - doses.

In addition, programmed training includes:

a) step-by-step technological process when opening and presenting educational material; the step includes 3 interconnected links - information, feedback operation and control;

b) individual pace and management in training;

c) use of technical teaching aids.

Algorithmic learning, like programmed learning, is based on a cybernetic approach and defines the didactic process as the sequential application of general algorithms or knowledge acquisition schemes:

1) identifying the conditions necessary for the implementation of educational activities;

2) highlighting the learning activities themselves;

3) determining the method of feedback (primarily between students and the results of their educational actions).

The limitations of programmed and algorithmic types of training include insufficient stimulation of creative processes.

In domestic science, the theoretical aspects of programmed training were studied and put into practice in the 70s. 20th century One of the leading experts is Moscow University professor N.F. Talyzina.

In the domestic version, this type of training is based on the so-called theory of the gradual formation of mental actions and concepts by P.Ya. Galperin and the theory of cybernetics. The implementation of programmed learning involves identifying specific and logical thinking methods for each academic subject being studied, indicating rational methods of cognitive activity in general. Only after this can training programs be drawn up aimed at developing these types of cognitive activity, and through them the knowledge that makes up the content of a given academic subject. behaviorism pedagogical programmed preschooler

Positive and negative aspects of programmed training:

Advantages:

· Develops methods of rational mental action;

· Develops the ability to think logically.

Flaws:

· Independence is not fully developed;

· Requires a large investment of time;

· Application is limited to algorithmically solvable cognitive tasks;

· Ensures the acquisition of knowledge embedded in the algorithm and does not allow the acquisition of new knowledge;

· Excessive algorithmization of the learning process hinders the formation of productive cognitive activity.

Chapter II. Skinner's behaviorism and programmed learning by doing

2.1 Computer programs for teaching preschoolers the basics of mathematics

When working with preschool children, it is possible to use computer programs, provided that the children have access to personal laptop computers. A math lesson for children aged 5 to 7 years old at the computer can last no more than 10 - 15 minutes. Let's look at some programs that can be used when working with children.

Here are some of them: “Count!”, “Multiplication Table 1.1.0.35”, “Example 1.4 Rus”, “Arithmetic with pleasure!!!”.

" Do the math!" - a program for teaching the basics of mathematical calculations. Topics are available on adding and subtracting numbers within 10, forming a ten, passing through a ten, adding and subtracting tens, summing numbers up to 100, comparing numbers, measures of length, geometric figures. There is a section with tests that check correctness, display the result of the solution and assign a grade. Tasks are generated automatically. Their number and time for solving can be changed. There are hints. The possibility of additional graphical display of solutions to examples. Musical accompaniment and sound effects. The program is intended for preschool children and primary school age.

"Multiplication Table 1.1.0.35" -The main goal of the program is to learn the multiplication table in the shortest possible time. Each “column” of the table is a separate level with colorful animated graphics and pleasant music and sound accompaniment. Ability to set time intervals for solving tasks. The principle of choosing the correct answer from among those available is used. Control only with the mouse, in contrast to the tedious entry of numbers from the keyboard.

Primerchik 1.4 Rus" - A unique program that will give your child examples of addition and subtraction instead of you, help in memorizing the multiplication tables, teach him to perform addition, subtraction and multiplication in a column.

"Example" can work in forced mode: the program will start when you turn on the computer, and until the child solves the number of examples/tasks you specified, he will not be able to play.

"Primerchik" has the following tasks in its arsenal (the difficulty of the tasks is adjusted by the parents themselves depending on the age of the child):

Addition and subtraction. Starting from kindergarten, parents begin to give their children examples of addition. From the first grade, when working with your child at home, you have to constantly come up with and come up with new examples. Gradually, examples are added with unknown terms, examples of subtraction, with an unknown minuend, subtrahend...

The Addition and Subtraction activity will do just that routine work for parents! Just indicate the range of values ​​of the addends or the minuend and the subtrahend, and your child will enjoy solving such examples on the computer!

Multiplication table. The child will be given examples from the multiplication table. Parents themselves will be able to indicate which examples to show, whether to give examples of division, and whether to find factors, divisors or dividends.

Expressions with brackets. This task will produce examples with parentheses. The child will indicate the order of actions, enter the answers in brackets, and then the answer for the entire example.

Column addition/subtraction/multiplication. As the name of these activities suggests, they will teach your child how to do addition, subtraction and multiplication.

"Arithmetic with pleasure!!!" - Developmental program for preschool children. The program is designed in a clear game form, with the help of which the child can practice his arithmetic skills. This not only contributes to the rapid assimilation and memorization of material, but also increases the general interest in the exact sciences among the younger generation.

All programs turned out to be interesting, exciting and educational in their own way. It seems to me that it will be useful for preschool children to get acquainted with these programs; the benefit from these programs will be much greater than from ordinary games of cards, shooting games, racing, etc. Working with such programs, the child will have the idea that he is playing a computer game, and at the same time, he will develop and learn.

To some extent, the computer programs discussed above can develop self-control skills in children. An educator or teacher can use such programs as control programs after studying a small topic. Control in accordance with the theory of programmed learning is a necessary element.

2. 2 Implementation of the principles of programmed learning

During lessons in various academic disciplines, it is possible to implement the principles of programmed learning.

Let's take a closer look at how to implement each principle of programmed learning.

The first principle is the principle of enhancing student activity. Every modern teacher and educator poses the question of how to enhance the child’s learning activities. It is possible to use various methods and forms of work that will contribute to the activation of activities. For example, including a problematic situation or problematic task at one stage of the lesson can intensify the activity of students. Solving motivational problems, and especially problems directly related to life situations, also contributes to increased activity. A similar effect is possible from the use of practical and laboratory work in the classroom.

For active work of students, for their effective and efficient work, a change in activity is necessary throughout the lesson. For example, changing from group work to independent work, completing a practical task or didactic game, etc.

The principle of information content will undoubtedly be fulfilled during the learning process. It is only worth noting that the best lesson will be one in which the children are not given the material in a ready-made form, but they independently come, for example, to the formulation of some theorem or property of a geometric figure. If the child does not receive knowledge, the learning process will stop at one place.

The principle of feedback is one of the criteria of a modern lesson. At each lesson, the teacher must monitor the work of absolutely all children and carry out corrective work at the necessary moment. This is necessary in order to make timely corrections and eliminate mistakes so that the guys do not make them in the future. If over the course of 1-2 lessons a child makes the same mistake (grammatical, in writing, when performing arithmetic operations, etc.), if no correction has been made, then the mistake will be very difficult to correct within a week or even a month , since the child is already accustomed to performing with an error.

The principle of dosing educational material. This principle is unquestioningly followed. Studying any topic occurs gradually. For example, studying the topic of “reducing fractions” is impossible without studying the topic “least common multiple,” and this topic cannot be studied without a detailed study of the topic “signs of divisibility.” Thus, the teacher presents the material to the children in small portions. A similar situation occurs when studying other academic subjects. For example, it is impossible to parse a word by its composition if you do not know what the root of the word and suffix, prefix and ending, etc. are. The Russian language teacher similarly communicates the material to the children in parts and from the parts an idea of ​​the whole is formed.

The principle of individualizing the pace and content of training. Each child, depending on his individual abilities, perceives educational material differently. Firstly, this may be a difference in the perception of the material; some need a visual form, while others need a verbal form of presenting the material. The forms of organizing work in lessons can also be different, for example, individual work, pair work or group work. In the lessons it is necessary to use various types of work; they also contribute to the activation of activity. The principle of individualization of education is directly related to the construction of individual development trajectories for children. Very close to this principle is the principle of empirical verification (testing) of educational material. Before explaining the material to children, it is necessary to modify it slightly, but at the same time maintain the general concept, that is, adapt it to the individual characteristics of specific students. In practice, you can meet both very “weak” and “strong” students. In such cases, you will need to select either tasks of a lower level or higher complexity.

Conclusion

As a result of working on my graduation project, I studied the theoretical foundations of Skinner's theory of behaviorism and programmed learning. Analysis of the literature on the topic made it possible to determine the relevance of this problem and identify the features of the programmed approach.

The work consists of two chapters. The first chapter examines the history of the development of behaviorism and presents the key ideas of the concept. The basic principles of constructing programmed training are considered.

In the second chapter, I reviewed some computer programs that can be used when working with preschool children and gave a brief description of them. The implementation of each principle of programmed learning in the classroom is considered.

Having analyzed the scientific and methodological literature on this issue, one can see a thin thread connecting the modern requirements that are presented to the education system and the basic principles of constructing training in accordance with the theory of behaviorism and programmed training. Programmed learning is one of the teaching methods that can be used in a modern lesson.

Bibliography

1) http://www.kindgarden.ru/what.htm; see the material "What is the School of Tomorrow?"

2) http://www.modelschool.ru/index.html Model; see the School of Tomorrow website

3) American sociological thought: Texts / edited by V.I. Dobrenkova. - M.: Moscow State University Publishing House, 1994.

4) Bass A.H. Psychology of Aggression, 1961;

5) Bespalko V.P. Programmed training. Didactic basics. - M.: Higher School, 1970. - 300 p.

6) Galperin P. Ya. Programmed learning and the tasks of radical improvement of teaching methods // To the theory of programmed learning. - M., 1967.

7) Grinshpun I.B. Introduction to Psychology. - M.: International Pedagogical Academy, 1994.

8) Dollard D. et al. Frustration and aggression, 1939;

9) Dubnischeva T.Ya. Concepts of modern natural science. Textbook edited by Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences M.F. Zhukova. - Novosibirsk: LLC Publishing House YUKEL, 1997.

10) Kram D. Programmed learning and teaching machines. - M.: Mir, 1965. - 274 p.

11) Kupisevich Ch. Fundamentals of general didactics. - M.: Higher School, 1986. Bilan V.V.

12) Miller N.E. Frustration-aggressive hypotheses (physiological review), 1939;

13) Podlasy I.P. Pedagogy. New course: Textbook for students of pedagogical universities. Book 1. - M.: VLADOS, 1999.

14) Rorty R. Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature. - Novosibirsk: Novosibirsk University Publishing House, 1997.

15) Skinner B.F. Behaviorism of the 50s, 1963.

16) Skinner B.F. and Rogers K.R. Questions about the control of human behavior, 1956;

17) Skinner B.F. Behavior of Cultures, 1961 (American Academy of Arts and Sciences);

18) Teacher. Book about Professor Israel Efremovich Schwartz / Compiled by: N.G. Lipkina, L.A. Kosolapova, B.M. Charny, A.I. Sannikova. - Perm: Book World, 2009. - 520 p.

19) Frager R., Fadiman J. Personality theories and personal growth.

20) Fromm E. Anatomy of human destructiveness: Translation /Auth. up Art. P.S. Gurevich. - M.: Republic, 1994.

21) Schwartz I.E. Chapter X. Programmed learning // School pedagogy: Textbook. allowance. Part 1: general basics. Didactics. -- Perm: Perm. ped. int., 1968. -- 281 p.

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Behaviorism is a movement in American psychology founded by psychologist J.B. Watson. From the point of view of behaviorism, the true subject of psychology is human behavior from birth to death. The main concept is the formula - “stimulus-response”.

A separate line in the development of behaviorism is represented by a system of views B. Skinner. Burress Frederick Skinner (1904-1990) nominatedtheory of operant behaviorism,

Based on experimental studies and theoretical analysis of animal behavior, he formulated a position on three types of behavior:unconditional reflex, conditioned reflex and operant. The latter is the specificity of B. Skinner’s teaching.

The first two types are caused by stimuli (5) and are called respondent, responsive behavior. These are conditioning reactions S. They constitute a certain part of the behavioral repertoire, but they alone do not ensure adaptation to the real environment. In reality, the process of adaptation is built on the basis of active tests - the influence of the body on the surrounding world. Some of them can accidentally lead to a useful result, which is therefore fixed. Some of these reactions (R), not caused by a stimulus, but secreted (“emitted”) by the body, turn out to be correct and are reinforced. Skinner called them operant. These are reactions like R.

Operant behavior assumes that the organism actively influences the environment and, depending on the results of these active actions, they are reinforced or rejected. According to Skinner, these are the reactions that predominate in an animal’s adaptation: they are a form of voluntary behavior. Rollerblading, playing the piano, and learning to write are all examples of human operant actions controlled by their consequences. If the latter are beneficial for the organism, then the likelihood of repetition of the operant response increases.

After analyzing behavior, Skinner formulated his theory of learning. The main means of developing new behavior is reinforcement. The entire procedure of learning in animals is called “sequential guidance to the desired reaction.”

Skinner identifies fourreinforcement mode:

1. Constant ratio reinforcement regime, when the level of positive reinforcement depends on the number of correctly performed actions. (For example, a worker is paid in proportion to the amount of production produced, i.e., the more often the correct reaction of the body occurs, the more reinforcements he receives.)

2. Regime of reinforcement with a constant interval, when the body receives reinforcement after a strictly fixed time has passed since the previous reinforcement. (For example, an employee is paid a salary every month or a student has a session every four months, while the response rate deteriorates immediately after receiving reinforcement - after all, the next salary or session will not be soon.)

3. Variable ratio reinforcement schedule. (For example, winning-reinforcement in a gambling game can be unpredictable, inconsistent, a person does not know when and what the next reinforcement will be, but every time he hopes to win - this regime has a significant impact on human behavior.)

4. Variable interval reinforcement schedule. (The individual is reinforced at indeterminate intervals or the student's knowledge is monitored with "surprise quizzes" at random intervals, which encourages higher levels of diligence and responsiveness as opposed to "constant interval" reinforcement.)

Skinner distinguished “primary reinforcers” (food, water, physical comfort, sex) and secondary, or conditional (money, attention, good grades, affection, etc.). Secondary reinforcements are generalized and combined with many primary ones: for example, money is a means of obtaining many pleasures. An even stronger generalized conditioned reinforcement is social approval: in order to receive it from parents and others, a person strives to behave well, comply with social norms, study diligently, make a career, look beautiful, etc.

The scientist believed that conditioned reinforcing stimuli are very important in controlling human behavior, and aversive (painful or unpleasant) stimuli and punishment are the most common method of controlling behavior. Skinner identified positive and negative reinforcements, as well as positive and negative punishments (Table 5.2).

Table 5.2

B. Skinner's theory

Skinner fought against using punishment to control behavior because it causes negative emotional and social side effects (fear, anxiety, antisocial acts, lying, loss of self-esteem and confidence). In addition, it only temporarily suppresses unwanted behavior, which will reappear if the likelihood of punishment decreases.

Instead of aversive control, Skinner recommends positive reinforcement as the most effective method for eliminating unwanted responses and encouraging desirable responses. The “successful approximation or behavior shaping method” involves providing positive reinforcement for those actions that are closest to the expected operant behavior. This is approached step by step: one reaction is consolidated and then replaced by another, closer to the preferred one (this is how speech, work skills, etc. are formed).

Skinner transferred the data obtained from studying animal behavior to human behavior, which led to the biologization interpretation. Thus, Skinner's version of programmed learning arose. Its fundamental limitation lies in the reduction of learning to a set of external acts of behavior and reinforcement of the correct ones. In this case, the internal cognitive activity of a person is ignored, therefore, there is no learning as a conscious process. Following the attitude of Watsonian behaviorism, Skinner excludes the inner world of man, his consciousness from behavior and conducts the behaviorization of the psyche. He describes thinking, memory, motives and similar mental processes in terms of reaction and reinforcement, and a person as a reactive being exposed to external circumstances.

The biologization of the human world, characteristic of behaviorism as a whole, which in principle does not distinguish between man and animal, reaches its limits in Skinner. Cultural phenomena turn out to be “cleverly invented reinforcements” in his interpretation.

To solve the social problems of modern society, B. Skinner put forward the task of creatingbehavior technologies,which is designed to exercise control of some people over others. Since a person's intentions, desires, and self-awareness are not taken into account, behavior control is not related to consciousness. This means is control over the reinforcement regime, which allows people to be manipulated. For greatest effectiveness, it is necessary to take into account which reinforcement is most important, significant, and valuable at the moment (law of subjective value of reinforcement),and then provide thissubjectively valuable reinforcement in case of correct behavior of a person or threat of deprivation in case of incorrect behavior. Such a mechanism will allow you to control behavior.

Skinner formulatedlaw of operant conditioning:“The behavior of living beings is completely determined by the consequences to which it leads. Depending on whether these consequences are pleasant, indifferent or unpleasant, a living organism will show a tendency to repeat a given behavioral act, not attach any significance to it, or avoid its repetition in the future.” A person is able to foresee the possible consequences of his behavior and avoid those actions and situations that will lead to negative consequences for him. He subjectively assesses the likelihood of their occurrence: the greater the possibility of negative consequences, the more strongly it affects a person’s behavior (the law of subjective assessment of the probability of consequences).This subjective assessment may not coincide with the objective probability of consequences, but it influences behavior. Therefore, one of the ways to influence a person’s behavior is to “escalate the situation,” “intimidate,” or “exaggerate the likelihood of negative consequences.” If it seems to a person that the latter resulting from any of his reactions is insignificant, he is ready to “take a risk” and resort to this action.