The Disadvantages Of The Behaviourist Approach In Education

The only way the behaviourist approach can successfully work is if the individual, or group of individuals, know they will be rewarded or punished. It’s how they place value on what the outcome of their actions will be and how much effort is put forth. While rewarding students who correctly answer the questions and achieve certain scores on tests can be beneficial in the short term, there are several other aspects that should be used to ensure that the students are capturing the information and are able to use it in the long term. When teaching students multiplication, the teacher must make the information meaningful to the students by tying it to how it would be utilised outside of the school. This will assist them in implementing multiplication

While the behaviourist approach can be used to explain simple tasks, it becomes much more problematic in the learning process when tasks and objectives become more complex, such as with higher education. Even though behaviourism has had a major impact on the education in the western world, some critics highlighted the theory’s limitations by stating it was merely a scientific model that has been tested in a laboratory under specific test conditions, and how humans have a higher cognitive process than animals. They also found the theory to be dehumanising and unethical, not to mention that there was no consideration to the humans’ thought complexity compared to animals. A possible problem in relation to teachers utilising behavioural strategies in the classroom, such as praise or time-out, is the potential for haphazard, inconsistent and incorrect implementation (Angela M O’Donnell 2012, p

The more important the information the more likely the individual will be able to recall that information later. However, the meaning is placed on the information itself and not on how the information obtained, as with the behaviourist approach. Cognitive learning theories deal with the issue of how people process and store information to gain an understanding of themselves and the environment, and how their thinking and reasoning influence their actions and reactions (Henson and Eller,