Behaviourist Debate (in school assessment) Flashcards
What assumption will you talk about in the introduction?
The behaviourist assumption of conditioning, specifically operant conditioning, in which behaviours are learnt through reinforcements and punishments.
What to put in the first paragraph (for argument)
P: Conditioning could be argued to do more harm than good as it causes children to value praise over passion.
E: Two drivers of behaviour are known as intrinsic motivation (natural curiosity) and extrinsic motivation (rewards).
Professor Guay of Laval University in Quebec conducted a meta-analysis on intrinsic motivation and academic achievement. Students completed a questionnaire measuring their motivations and their academic grades were collected. Researchers found that students who enjoyed (had a natural curiosity for) the subjects achieved higher.
E: This therefore supports the argument that conditioning does more harm than good as conditioning teaches children to value extrinsic rewards (such as positive reinforcement of a sticker) over intrinsic rewards (such as joy), possibly squashing the child’s natural curiosity.
I: Negative ethical implication teaching children behaviour in this way could lead them to develop a fixed mindset, causing psychological harm.
What to put in the second paragraph (against argument)?
P: Conditioning techniques have been proven to have a positive impact on children’s behaviour both in school and at home.
E: McAllister et al. looked at ‘inappropriate talking’ in high school english classes and found that an increase in ‘teacher praise’ and ‘teacher disapproval’ lead to a decrease in inappropriate talking. This is a form of operant conditioning, as ‘teacher praise’ is a form of positive reinforcement (adding the stimulus of praise to make appropriate behaviour more likely to be repeated) and ‘teacher disapproval’ is a form of positive punishment (adding the stimulus of disapproval to make inappropriate behaviour less likely to be repeated).
E: This therefore supports the effectiveness of conditioning, highlighting that it can be beneficial to children’s psychological development.
I: This creates a positive social implication as children will learn how to behave well, therefore these behaviours will continue into adulthood.
What to put in the third paragraph (for paragraph 2)
P: Conditioning (such as ‘the naughty step’) can have a long-term, negative impact on a child’s ability to understand their behaviour.
E: Morris (2014): claims that the idea of the naughty step can have a long-lasting emotional effect on children. This is because children do not have the same psychological abilities to sit and reflect on their behaviour that an adult does. Therefore children may not be able to properly understand this form of negative punishment, why it is being implemented or how to behave better.
E: This could be linked by the psychodynamic approach and the assumption of the unconscious mind. When forced to sit and reflect on behaviour (while isolated), many upsetting emotions may arise in children, this could therefore cause children to use the ego-defence mechanism of repression to push these upsetting thoughts into their unconscious, which may resurface in other forms later in life.
I: This therefore means that conditioning techniques create a negative ethical implication as this may cause psychological harm to the individual as they are less able to understand their emotions.
What to put in the fourth paragraph (against paragraph 2)?
P: Conditioning techniques have been proven to boost performance in children with hyperactivity issues.
E: Robinson et al. used the positive reinforcement idea of ‘token economies’ to motivate desirable behaviour from these children. In these ‘token economies’ students are given positive reinforcement in the form of ‘tokens’ for positive behaviour, the children can then collect these tokens and exchange them for rewards.
E: By providing children with hyperactivity issues a source of motivation, this allows them to become more focused and therefore motivated the children to continue the performance of desirable behaviour.
I: This creates a positive economic implication as individuals with hyperactivity issues may be more able to focus on tasks for long periods of time, improving their overall performance at work, benefiting the workforce.
