Monday, June 23, 2008

Journal 2

Behaviorist B.F. Skinner is thinking clearly in his objectivist theory. People do learn from seeing and interpreting what they see. They do formulate opinions and think critically as well but that all comes from acting on learned behaviors. The visualization that occurs, however, can occur from written materials as well and does not necessarily need to be observed. For example, if one were to study the works of Shakespeare over and over he may have a larger vocabulary once the study is over. Behavior is not picked up solely from observation but also through one’s environment.
Behavior is able to be manipulated by rewards/punishments for different actions. Environment and social interactions draw students to favor some subjects more than others. The motivation factors become mental eventually because a student determines what subject he likes and may start to disregard other subjects. I.e. if a student is a fan of writing he may become disconnected to a math class or dislike teachers of math courses. All subjects share similar fates from different students based on what environment they came from. The hope while teaching is to make this fact fade so that students will listen in any class they take.

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