Similarities Between Behaviourism And Humanism

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Behaviourism and humanism are two views of learning which have strengths and weaknesses in the process of learning and the process of teaching. These two theories have ideologies of how students learn and what pedagogical approaches are to be used. The behaviourist theory looks at learning from an external view, not needing to look at internal mental states (Pritchard & Woollard, 2013). Humanism, on the other hand, is very intrinsic, looking at the internal factors that aid in learning. These two theories have their own distinct strengths and weaknesses; however, they do share some common elements.

Behaviourism is a view of learning that was constructed in the early twentieth century, whereby the focus of learning was on the ‘cause and effect’
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With the educator supporting the student in regard to their uniqueness, it creates a positive self-image and increases their self-esteem, which is then reflected in their learning (Duchesne & McMaugh, 2015). Another strength of humanism is that there is a reduction in whole class teaching. This allows for more cooperative learning strategies with an emphasis on small group learning as well as allowing the educator to spend more time individually with students (Duchesne & McMaugh, …show more content…
Both of the theories of learning have views that are in the study of human behaviour, but, behaviourism is the importance of environment whilst humanism rejects this and assumes individuals are shaped by a drive to make themselves better (Stafford, 2012). These two theories also have opposing views. In behaviourism, there is the assumption that there is no free will in the educational setting; on the other hand, humanism is based upon the ideology that each individual has the free will to act and learn how it best suits them (Stafford, 2012).

The behaviourist and humanist theories on learning both have differing views on how students in an educational setting learn. Behaviourism has a focus on a learned stimulus and response effect of education, whereas humanism relies on the free will and the student’s needs and wants. These theories have had various critiques and analysis applied to them, yet they are also comparable and similar in ways as they both have a central focus on human

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