Week # 3: OP-ED Mini Report,

Team Name: Team 2

Recorder: Miguel Medina,

Coordinator: Diego Avila Barraza Avila

Elaborator: Eva Morris,

Explorer: Brianne Fitzgerald

Psychology Today

No need for a second look: Behaviorism is here to stay!

Behaviorism may have been around for a long time, but it is not quite dead! In fact, its theories
date as far back as the early 1900s with such notables as Pavlov, Watson, Thorndike, and
Skinner. Behaviorism describes behavior as a response to an external environmental stimulus,
and its research and theories were translated into practical applications for instructional design.
Behavioral responses are empirically studied as elements of the environment are manipulated. It
permits psychologists to predict behavioral outcomes in new environments based on the
reactions of subjects in prior, similar situations.
Behaviorism is an integral part of instructional design, and it was the driver behind instructional
design for many decades. Take the following example: training designed to teach someone how
to clean windows is broken into smaller chunks, or subtasks. Introducing the tools, when to use
each tool, how to inspect a window, methods of cleaning, and evaluation of work. This is all
behaviorism. We design learning based on concepts of behaviorism.
Unfortunately, behaviorism does not take into consideration internal factors due to its premise
that only observable behaviors are worthy of research (Learning Theory And Behavioral
Psychology In Psychology 101 At AllPsychOnline | AllPsych, n.d.). Its lack of emphasis on
internal processes and memory formation ultimately led to a cognitive paradigm with the advent
of computers (Cognitive Approach | Simply Psychology, n.d.).

More recently, behaviorism has moved further into the background as newer theories, which take
the internal processing of a mind into account, have emerged. Due to significant progress in
technology and science, psychologists are able to realize and further explore how we process
information internally, enabling them to mimic our learning processes. Cognitivism, for instance,
is able to address what behaviorism could not: information processing and tactics to learn higherlevel skills. Results from research on internal processing has led to emphasizing learner
feedback, which is a key component to making improvements to training design.
This is the exact reason why we are opposing a second look at behaviorism. Our consensus is
that behaviorism served and continues to serve its purpose in certain aspects of designing
training, but it cannot be the sole approach to learning, it is too narrow-minded. We can teach
someone how to do specific tasks through a behaviorist approach, but it may not be the best
learning approach. It neither acknowledges the internal processing of the individual, nor does it
address the individualistic nature of internal processing (e.g. beliefs and desires). More advanced
approaches to the understanding of learning and behavioral studies include both external and
internal processes. Behaviorism has a lasting influence in todays instructional design due to the
research and findings (over several decades) of how the environmental stimuli affects learning.
These findings still play an active role in newer theories. Many of the basic assumptions and
characteristics of behaviorism are embedded in the current instructional design
practices (Ertmer & Newby, 2013). However, a big advantage of using cognitivism or
constructivism theories in instructional design is that training methods can be more adaptable,
flexible, and complex (Dijkstra, Schott, Seel, Tennyson, & Seel, 2013).
Learning is a complex process. We are discovering more with the advances in technology and
neuroscience. We have moved far away from the notion that reaction to environmental stimuli is

the only process involved. Behaviorism will forever be a part of the process, but it certainly is
not the whole picture.

References
Cognitive Approach | Simply Psychology. (n.d.). Retrieved September 10, 2016, from
http://www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive.html
Dijkstra, S., Schott, F., Seel, N., Tennyson, R. D., & Seel, N. M. (2013). Instructional Design:
International Perspectives I: Volume I: Theory, Research, and Models:volume Ii: Solving
Instructional Design Problems. Routledge.
Ertmer, P. A., & Newby, T. J. (2013). Behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism: Comparing
critical features from an instructional design perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly,
26(2), 4371. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/piq.21143/abstract
Learning Theory And Behavioral Psychology In Psychology 101 At AllPsychOnline | AllPsych.
(n.d.). Retrieved September 10, 2016, from http://allpsych.com/psychology101/learning/