Leading Adult Educators

Lyndsey Hildenbrand: I commented on groups 2 and 4, but they all were great to read!

 
Leading Adult Educators

            The most important aspect of the health field is the ability to work and aid in the needs of others. A multitude of sciences need to be understood in order to efficiently interact and serve others. The field of audiology demands that an audiologist treat and protect hearing loss, giving others the means to communicate again. However, our role goes beyond treating hearing loss but also encompasses the social and behavioral aspect of humanity. Thus audiologists must be able to properly interact with patients to help improve underlying communication issues. The different aspects of communication that we are involved in make it critical to study psychology in order to understand human behavior and learning, two adult educators that have had a huge impact on the field of psychology are Burrhus Frederic (B.F.) Skinner and John Watson. Their work has had a major impact on evaluating practices of audiologists and allows us to better understand the patients that we serve.

            Watson’s behavioral work led to Skinner’s theory of operant conditioning, so his work will be described first, in order to understand the timeline of human behavior and learning. John Watson lived from 1878 to 1958, but his involvement with psychology began in 1913 at Columbia University, with behavioral psychology. Watson was involved with psychology when the field related to behavioral psychology was beginning to change. It was during this time that Watson created “behaviorism” which is the study of people’s actions or in the most basic terms the study of what people do. Behaviorism is not only involved with behavioral psychology, but also other aspects of psychology, such as social psychology. In social psychology, behavior is defined as “a function of the interaction between the person and the environment” (Kassin, Fein, Markus, p.12, 2008). The carry over of behaviorism into other fields of psychology shows how important behaviorism is in understanding human nature. In order to help the diverse population that audiologists serve it is important to understand the actions of others and what causes them to act as they do. For example communication is essential to an improved quality of life, but to understand why patients may be weary of purchasing hearing aids or the underlying desire to improve their hearing will help the field of audiology perform with the best practices.

            Watson was born in 1878 to Emma and Pickens Watson, in Greenville South Carolina. He attended the University of Chicago, where he met his future wife, Mary Ikes, with whom he had two children. Eventually he and his wife were divorced, upon which Watson married a graduate student of his, Rosalie Rayner. Watson and Rosalie had two children. It was through his children that Watson studied his theory of behaviorism. Watson attended Furman University where he graduated in 1891; he then studied psychology with a minor in philosophy and neurology at the University of Chicago where he graduated with a doctorate in 1903. After graduating with his doctorate Watson was hired as an instructor at the University of Chicago in 1906 and then in 1907 became an associate professor of psychology at John Hopkins University. Watson became known as the founder of behaviorism during his time at John Hopkins University. Watson’s home life was far from ideal, his father left in 1891, which caused him to rebel against his mother. At Furman University he took interest in the field of psychology and the study of animals (Emily, 1999).

            His impact on psychology was creating behaviorism, as it is understood today. His approach uses a stimulus and approach model, similar to that discussed by Pavlov. Pavlov introduced the idea of classical conditioning to the field of psychology. In classical conditioning organisms learn to associate a stimuli with the occurrence of another event. Pavlov introduced terms such as conditioned stimulus, unconditioned stimulus, conditioned response, and an unconditioned response. A conditioned stimulus is a neutral event that causes biologic events to occur and an unconditioned stimulus is an event that elicits a response without prior experience. While a conditioned response is a learned reaction to the conditioned stimulus and an unconditioned response is a spontaneous unlearned reaction to a stimulus without prior experience. In Pavlov’s experiment a metronome was the conditioned stimulus while food was the unconditioned stimulus. The dogs would salivate to the presence of food, which is an unconditioned response, however they eventually learned to associate the metronome with food and would begin salivating in its presence. This phenomenon would be the conditioned response (Laura, 2006, p.344). Although Pavlov and Watson never worked together, it is important to understand the work of Pavlov in order to understand the relationship between a stimuli and response proposed by Watson in behaviorism.

            Watson is predominantly known for his work with “Little Albert”, in 1920. The significance of this study was this it illustrated how emotional responses could be conditioned or learned to those who they are presented to. Watson used an infant, “Little Albert” to see if fear was a response that could be learned and associated with other factors. For the initial part of the study Albert was placed in a room where a loud noise was presented behind him, causing him to cry. Next Albert was presented with a white rabbit where upon presentation, he did not exhibit any emotional response. The point of the study was to see if an emotional response of fear could be conditioned when a loud noise was paired with a white rabbit. To observe this question, a white rabbit or rat was presented to Albert along with a loud sound, causing Albert to cry. Eventually fear was conditioned to Little Albert, in that every time a white rabbit or rat was presented, without a loud sound being presented, Albert would start crying (Christopher).  Although this was Watson’s major work, he also published other work. In 1913 Watson published an article entitled “Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It”, which he gave a lecture on in 1913. Other works of his include; Psychology from the Standpoint of a Behaviorist and the Psychological Care of Infant and Child.

            Watson’s work illustrated how conditioned responses could elicit certain types of behavior. He also looked at the fundamental reasons of human behavior and how the environment in which we live can affect our behavior. The behavioral approach can also be seen today in behavior therapy to offset aversive conditioning, such as overcoming an addiction. One way that Watson’s work influences the field of audiology can again be linked back to the example of purchasing a hearing aid that was described earlier. A patient may not want to purchase a hearing aid because of a previous impression of the negative stigma of a hearing aid. They may have had a relative who had a large and noticeable hearing aid and expect that hearing aids still look the same, when in reality they are much more discrete due to new technology. Something from the patients environment or past is causing them to not want a hearing aid, but understanding the underlying reason of this behavior will lead the audiologist to help overcome this perception and barrier.

            B.F. Skinner lived from 1904 to 1990, when he succumbed to leukemia.  Although he lived a long life, most of his involvement and impact in psychology focused in the 1930s-1970s time frame.  Prior to explaining his psychology involvement, it’s important to understand where he came from.  His story starts in a small town in Pennsylvania---Susquehanna—his father, a lawyer, and his mother, a housewife.  From all reports, his upbringing was that of a loving and rather ordinary family (Vargas, 2005). 

After pursuing a writing career following his graduation from Hamilton College, B.F. Skinner enrolled in graduate school in the Psychology Department at Harvard University in 1928.  Encouraged by a mentor in the Department of Physiology, Mr. Skinner found his way into the study of animal behavior—more specifically, rats (Vargas, 2005).  Mr. Skinner, who identified himself as a behaviorist, was inspired by the work of Pavlov and John Watson.  This inspiration motivated him to study how rat behavior changed due to changes in stimulus prior, during, and after.   He had a hypothesis, and philosophy, that behavior is not based on an internal force, but instead is shaped by external stimulus.  This philosophy in itself is a behaviorist perspective.  As described by Merriam and Brockett, “behaviorists believe that human actions are the result of prior conditioning and the way in which a person’s external environment is arranged,” (Merriam & Brockett, 2007).    During his research, he found that the rat’s behavior was actually dependent upon the stimulus presented after the behavior.  Researching, developing, and implementing this behavior into other areas of life became B.F. Skinner’s main focus.  He labeled this behavior, dependent upon a following stimulus, operant behavior (Vargas, 2005). He then determined that by changing the stimulus, he could essentially condition the rat to behave in a particular way.  This act of conditioning to produce a specific behavior using Skinner’s operant behavior idea was called operant conditioning (Vargas, 2005).    Skinner’s time dedicated to this research at Harvard cemented his place in the world of behaviorists.  His research, started here at Harvard, has made a great impact on the world still today.  

Skinner married in 1936 and moved to Minnesota where he began raising a family and found himself in his first post-secondary education position, teaching at the University of Minnesota.  He also began his professional writing career by publishing his first book, The Behavior of Organisms, in 1938. (Vargas, 2005)

The idea of operant conditioning became of great importance during the 1940s. Desiring to help during World War II, Skinner took it on to start using operant conditioning on pigeons, which he had found to be more intelligent than the rats he had worked with for so long years ago.  It was Skinner’s idea to use operant conditioning to train pigeons to guide bombs for WWII.  His work was not used due to the development of radar, but his work with pigeons became known as Project Pigeon. (PBS, 1998; Vargas, 2005).

The next phase of B.F. Skinner’s life brought new involvement in education.  Along with new positions at Indiana University (1945) and Harvard University (1947), this new phase brought new developments to help in education.  While at his daughter’s school, Skinner noticed a teaching style that worked against everything he had learned in regards to operant behavior.  This observation inspired Skinner to use his knowledge in operant behavior to construct a better way of teaching in order to produce better results for each student.  This programmed instruction, as it became known, allowed the students to answer questions that were broken into smaller steps, similar to how a tutor would prompt a student.  This type of instruction not only provided practice for students, but for those having difficulty with a concept before starting, could gradually learn throughout the process.  The more correct answers the student provided, the fewer prompts (or steps within each question) until they were comfortable with the material. Although Skinner’s programmed instruction machine or materials never amounted into anything more than an idea or prototype, his idea of coaching students through the material instead of simply presenting material and testing at the end, has stood the test of time. (PBS, 1998;Vargas, 2005)

B.F. Skinner’s influence can be seen in education and other disciplines still today.  Within the field of audiology, a form of operant conditioning is used regularly to condition patients to respond to our stimulus when they are unable to be tested traditionally. This includes patients such as small children, mentally challenged individuals, and those physically incapable of responding to a stimulus presentation.  By way of operant conditioning, patients are conditioned to respond to a sound.  Many times this is referred to as Visual Reinforcement Audiometry.  Visual Reinforcement Audiometry, using the concept of operant conditioning, uses a reinforcing agent (many times a toy).  The patient is then conditioned to look in a certain direction or respond in a specific way in order to get the reward of seeing the reinforcing agent.  It supports the idea of being able to truly affect the way a person acts by implementing a reward after the behavior. 

In addition to its use in the field of audiology, the idea of operant conditioning is currently used by therapists to help patients overcome phobias or bad habits.  By using this approach, they will associate rewards or punishments with their actions, and can therefore help in their treatment. 

Operant behavior/conditioning is not the only Skinner innovation that continues to make an impact.  Skinner’s programmed instruction may not have been a successful endeavor at the time he developed it, but his the central concept surrounding it has stayed the course.  In the age of technology, which Skinner was not a part of the concept of programmed instruction has now been adapted to computerized education. 

Table 1. Summary of Leading Adult Educators

	B. F. Skinner	John Watson
Time Period	1904-1990	1878-1958
Background	Behaviorism	Behaviorism
Profile	Married, studied at Hamilton College and Harvard University, worked at University of Minnesota, Indiana University and Harvard University	Married twice, studied at Furman University, University of Chicago
Contributions	Mainly known for operant behavior/conditioning, but also contributed idea of programmed instruction	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt0ucxOrPQE Mainly known for “Little Albert”
Impact	Study of behavior in rats and pigeons made way to the conclusion that external forces are the driving force behind behavior.	Conditioned responses and how our environment impacts our behavior. Study of behavior in humans
Implications	Human behavior is affected by external forces.  By understanding this, it can be used in helping others overcome phobias, bad habits,  and in other teaching situations.	Human behavior is a result of our environment and that understanding behavior helps us teach others.

References

Christopher, G. Classics in the history of psychology. Retrieved from  http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Watson/emotion.htm

Emily , W. (1999, May). John B. Watson. Retrieved from http://www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/watson.htm

Laura, F. (2006). Discovering biological psychology. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Merriam, S.B., & Brockett, R.G. (2007). The profession and practice of adult education: An introduction.  San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

PBS. (1998). People and discoveries: B.F. Skinner. Retrieved February 14, 2013, from PBS: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/bhskin.html

Saul Kassin. ,Steven Fein,  & Hazel Rose Markus. Social psychology. (Seventh ed). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Vargas, J.S. (2005). A brief biography of B.F. Skinner. Retrieved February 14, 2013, from B.F. Skinner Foundation: http://www.bfskinner.org/bfskinner/AboutSkinner.html