Behaviorism and Social Cognitivism Case Study

Behaviorism (Ch. 5) Questions:
1. Does Mr. Kessinger's class represent a community of learners as defined in Constructivist theory? Why or why not? Not at all, the student was trying to learn from other students and she went beyond what was asked by creating the concept map. The teacher completely shattered her motivation to learn on her own.

2. Does Mr. Kessinger utilize presentation punishment or removal punishment with Robin? Justify your response using definitions and evidence from the case. He used Presentation Punishment. The new stimulus was presented in response to a behavior in an effort to decrease the behavior.

3. Explain Robin's reaction in Ms. Yamashita's class from the perspective of classical conditioning. Which stimuli are paired and how does that condition her response? By using notes in one class and getting in trouble for it, Robin automatically thinks that she will get in trouble for using notes in every class.


4. How might Ms. Yamashita encourage Robin to create concept maps in the future? Include behavioral concepts such as shaping, reinforcement, etc., in your response. Changing a behavior or idea that someone has been trained in can be really difficult to do. Shaping could be used to form an existing response by gradually changing across successive trials towards a desired target behavior by rewarding exact segments of behavior. Reinforcement can be used with a reward system being pretty consistent in the beginning, and then taper off slowly as the student becomes more consistent with the behavior.

Social Cognitivism (Ch. 8) Questions:
1. Which teacher in the scenario demonstrates vicarious reinforcement? Justify your response with definitions and an example from the case study. I would probably say that Mr. Kessinger is demonstrating that. He probably had an experience before that where someone else got mad at him for using notes and then in turn used that same philosophy with his students.

2. Is Mr. Kessinger considering reciprocal causation in his class? Explain your response, including all aspects of reciprocal causation in your reasoning. His actions toward her using notes in his class cause her to shut down even more, and to probably try less to succeed in his class, which in turn makes him more frustrated with his students. The learning environment that he has created will affect the behavior of the students in his class.

3. Which self-regulated learning process is Robin engaging in when she creates her concept maps? Explain your reasoning. Performance stage: because she was self-recording, keeping a journal/log book and making a concept map. She was also using self-instruction to remind herself about the material.

4. How do you think Robin's self-efficacy has been affected by this experience. Be specific about which self-efficacy's have been affected and justify your response with examples from the case study. She will most likely have a hard time being able to really apply herself in learning. That one experience will make her afraid to go the extra mile and really try to learn material. She won't do anything on her own, most likely she will wait to be told what to do in a situation so that she doesn't get in trouble.