Welcome to my professional content on Learning Theory on Behaviourism and Reinforcement. I trust that you will find this content very informative and have a fresh new perspective.

1. Learning Theory: Behaviourism
• From 2014 when I was studying towards a Post Graduate Certificate
in Education, we learned that behaviourism is the well-known
theory that operates under the premise of “stimulus-response”. It
advocates that all behaviour is caused by external stimuli, also
called the operant conditioning. In other words, a learner’s
behaviour can be defined or explained without really considering
internal mental states, capacity or consciousness. This is a situation
where a teacher is the alpha and omega of the learners’ learning
progression.
• This theory is a worldview that believes a learner is essentially
passive and a receptor in the learning process, responding to
environmental stimuli, that is responding to what he or she is
taught in class by the teacher. It assumes that the learner starts off
as a clean paper that is ready to be written by the teacher (i.e.
tabula rasa) and behaviour is modelled through positive
reinforcement or negative reinforcement, Watson, J. B. (2013).

2. Positive and Negative Reinforcement
• Both positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement increase the
probability that the antecedent behaviour will happen again. In contrast,
punishment (both positive and negative) decreases the likelihood that the
antecedent behaviour will happen again. Positive indicates the application
of a stimulus; Negative indicates the withholding of a stimulus. Learning is
therefore defined as a change in behaviour in the learner. Lots of (early)
behaviourist work was done with animals (e.g. Pavlov’s dogs) and
generalized to humans, Pavlov, I. P., and Anrep, G. V. (2003).
• I personally feel that this theory is not good for the 21st century learners
where information is abundant. When I was a teacher I strongly disagreed
with the theory because it made them zombies that, we as teachers, can
simply bombard with information. I was teaching the FET (Grades 10 to
12) and applying behaviourism was a mission because teenagers generally
are at the exploration stage where they are curious to learn without
teachers applying “stimulus-response” principle as John B. Watson, Ivan
Pavlov, B.F. Skinner, E. L. Thorndike (connectionism), Bandura, Tolman
(moving toward cognitivism) suggests.

3. References
• References:
• Skinner, B. F. (2011). About behaviourism.
Vintage.
• Watson, J. B. (2013). Behaviourism. Read
Books Ltd.
• Pavlov, I. P., & Anrep, G. V. (2003). Conditioned
reflexes.

4. Contact details
• Mr. Mlungisi Professor Lukhele
• Student Number: 13393716
Cellphone number: 076 354 3314
Email address: u13393716@tuks.co.za
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