Assumptions

Behaviorists hold that learning is a passive process, with the learner as a blank slate that is shaped by responding to environmental stimuli (Schunk, 2004; Knowles, Holton III, & Swanson, 2005; Merriam, Caffarella, & Baumgartner, 2007). The underlying assumptions of behaviorism are as follows:

• the focus of study should be observable behavior, not internal thought;
• the environment determines learning, not the learner; and
• contiguity and reinforcement are central to learning; learning occurs by connecting and repeating external events (Merriam, Caffarella, & Baumgartner, 2007).