Advantages And Disadvantages Of Behaviourism

Register to read the introduction… Humanism takes this idea one step further and requires that an individual must take responsibility for their learning, and that this can be applied to the instructional process. To a humanist, the process of learning, and learning how to learn, becomes more important than the outcome. Humanists would say that the assumption of responsibility for learning in and of itself is a learning experience. Behaviourists may reject the assumptions of self or responsibility, and think that the development of human nature must be more societal in nature. To counter this, Rogers (as cited by Smith, 1999) suggests that humanistic learning can alter the personality, attitude and even the behaviour of the individual, a desirable outcome for a …show more content…
These learners can then become part of a larger group, or communities of practice (Wenger, 1999), even though humanism on its own merits is viewed as individualistic (Brookfield, 1993). Humanism can contribute to the development of a person and better prepare them for the rapidly changing workplace (Candy, 1991, p.6) or society of which they are a part.
Candy (1991, p. 15) lists one of the attributes of self-directed learning as the learner’s ability to acknowledge all forms of education, whether they are formal, informal, or non-formal. He believes that one must become a lifelong learner to do this. The environment to accomplish this must, by definition, include social situations, or any number of communities of practice that the learner has been, or is, or will be a part of. A learner must also be able to continually upgrade their skills and knowledge as deemed necessary by changing conditions where people live and work (Candy, 1991, …show more content…
We realize we have asked staunch supporters of behaviourism to step far outside of their comfort zone. We ask that they consider the individualistic characteristics of learners, and relinquish more control to them. The control should be limited to the degree appropriate for the context in which the learning is taking place. In doing so, the learner learns “how to learn”, and achieves self-direction and autonomy. Then, we also ask behaviourists to consider the greater good and positive long-term effects that can come about when humanist ideals are applied to adult learning. To that end, we are confident that humanism will seem less daunting and offer greatest possibilities for learning for the greatest number of