PD 3: Does Behaviorism Live On?

This post is part of my blog project “Pedagogy Discourses (PDs),” which is a course requirement at the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU).

The Lasting Legacy of Behaviorism

In 2018, I attended a language teaching conference where one plenary speaker discussed the role of behaviorism in contemporary second language acquisition research. But it struck me a lot when he said that despite being an outdated learning perspective per se, behaviorism continues to influence how we teach and learn today. I found this to be a crucial point when thinking about behaviorism in general. While paradigm shifts have occurred, we certainly have not completely abandoned behaviorist approaches.

My Experiences with Behaviorism

At various stages of our lives, we either have witnessed or experienced behaviorist approaches to instill, reinforce, or change our own behaviors or those of others. In fact, there may have been times when we (unknowingly) employed such approaches ourselves. Here are some examples I can recall:

(1) Getting rewarded for reading: One of my grandparents in the United States once wanted to develop my reading habits when I was much younger. She promised that she would give me USD25.00 for every well-written report on novels I read over the summer break. When I completed my first novel report, she was true to her word and sent me the said amount of money as a reward. Due to that positive reinforcement, I continued to work hard until I completed my third novel report in time before the new school year.

(2) The Kumon math experience: Because math proved to be challenging for me, my mom enrolled me in Kumon lessons. The Kumon method is that I needed to correctly answer 10 pages of worksheets in (if I am not mistaken) 20 minutes. Whenever I completed the worksheets without mistakes within the given timeframe, I would proceed to the next stage. If I made less than five mistakes, I only needed to correct them. However, if I either made more than five mistakes or exceeded the given time, I need to repeat the same worksheet - a form of positive punishment.

(3) Discipline at home: My family used to assign certain household responsibilities to me when I was much younger. They were also very keen on my education as well. Whenever I refused to wash the dishes or do my assignments on time, they would use negative punishment by restricting my access to cartoon channels such as Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon, where most of my favorite shows were aired.

These three experiences were some of the pleasant practices that nurtured many of my current behaviors today. They were pleasant, because they felt to be genuine learning opportunities. The first example experience somehow cultivated my reading and writing skills, while the second taught me that I can succeed with math through practice and correcting and learning from my own mistakes. Meanwhile, the third instilled a sense of responsibility, which becomes crucial as we mature.

Now allow me to share one case of a questionable behaviorist practice:

(4) Corporal punishment: I should perhaps be grateful that my mom never used corporal punishment as a discipline strategy, because having seen how my younger cousins receive it from their parents is just awful. For example, when one of them - a Grade 5 student back then - was found to have skipped classes, he was beaten with a stick many times and was forced to kneel on the floor for about 30 minutes. It is somehow ironic that this practice in behavioral terms is called positive punishment.

In my view, hurting young learners in order to “teach them a lesson” does not always bring learning. In fact, my cousin skipped a couple of online classes when his school was still using virtual arrangements. More importantly, it can bring some unintended consequences: For example, my cousin, at his age, already became used to being scolded and receiving corporal punishment that they no longer work on him. In addition, he became less sociable and less committed to his studies perhaps due to the punishments he receives. This case possibly demonstrates one of behaviorism’s shortcomings - that is, by focusing on observable behavior, other factors such as the environment and the personal cognition of the child are overlooked if not ignored.

My Role as the Older Cousin

Since we belong to the same house, I get to interact with my cousins all the time. As regards the cousin whom I shared as an example above, I have been trying different strategies of developing good behaviors in him. I avoid applying corporal punishment whenever he refuses to do house chores. For example, last week, I saw his plate being crawled on by cockroaches. I made him see it, and he became disgusted by what he saw and immediately washed the plates with an unusual attention to cleanliness. Since that experience, whenever he is scheduled to do that chore, he does it right away!

In other words, we do not always need to inflict pain on others for them to learn. :)