Tuesday, October 10, 2006

What was the historical and cultural context of learning perspective?

The historical and cultural context of learning perspective can be traced back to the 1900s. Being driven by earlier works of Pavlov, John Watson started the behaviorist movement in 1913. Behaviorist such as Watson, Thorndike, and Skinner proceeded to develop theories of learning. Behavioralism emerged at the turn of 20th century and was extremely influential in America, until the 1950s. In USA, Freud’s ideas are mostly rejected, for example his assumption of unconsciousness. Behavioralism de-emphasizes studies of just the brain, but emphasizes more on observable behavior that could be studied through experimentation. Scientifically, it provides simple and more realistic explanation of behavior and how learning can occur. Explanations of behavior can be explains by focusing on how the stimuli in environment produces responses. Consequently, this perspective provides a simpler Skinner added new insights from cognitive and biological perspectives, and modifies behavioralism to learning perspective. Following, in the late 1950s its assumptions and methods are widely criticized.