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228 CHAPTER 9I would like to begin my presentation this morning by com-
paring three major perspectives on human learning. Each
of these perspectives has generated a great deal of research
on human learning.
Contemporary behaviorists view environmental factors in
terms of stimuli and resultant behavior in terms of
responses. They attempt to demonstrate that behavior is
controlled by environmental contingencies of external
reward or reinforcement, which are links between behav-
ioral responses and their effects (or stimuli). Teachers who
accept the behavioral perspective assume that the behav-
ior of students is a response to their past and present envi-
ronment and that all behavior is learned. For example,
classroom troublemakers “learn” to be disruptive because
of the attention (reinforcement) they get from peers; with-
drawn students “learn” that their environment does not
reinforce gregariousness, and they become reserved and
silent. As a result, any behavior can be analyzed in terms
of its reinforcement history. The logical extension of the
behavioral principle of learning is a method to change or
modify behavior. The teacher’s responsibility, therefore, is
to construct an environment in which the probability of
reinforcing students for correct or proper behavior is max-
imized. This goal is best attained by carefully organizing
and presenting information in a designed sequence.
In contrast to the behavioral perspective, cognitive psy-
chologists focus more on the learner as an active partici-
pant in the teaching–learning process. Those who adhere
to this perspective believe that teachers can be more effec-
tive if they know what knowledge the learner already has
acquired and what the learner is thinking about during
instruction. More specifically, the cognitive approach tries
to understand how information is processed and structured
in an individual’s memory. Many cognitive psychologists
believe that teachers should instruct students in ways to
use techniques or strategies to learn more effectively. Wein-
stein and Mayer (1986) state that effective instruction
“includes teaching students how to learn, how to remem-
ber, how to think, and how to motivate themselves”
(p. 315).
Humanistic psychologists believe that how a person feels
is as important as how the person behaves or thinks. They
describe behavior from the standpoint of the believer rather
than of the observer, and they are especially concerned with
“self-actualization”—the growth of persons in whatever area