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Article 1: Poonati, S., & Amadio, D. M. (2010). Use of popular television to enhance students' understanding of operant conditioning. Psychology Learning & Teaching, 9(1), 25–29. doi:10.2304/plat.2010.9.1.25

URL: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2304/plat.2010.9.1.25

Learning Objective: 4 & 6

Summary: Abstract: Students typically struggle to understand operant conditioning concepts. However, no well-designed experimental research exists examining the efficacy of popular media in teaching these concepts. The present randomised, double-blind experiment examined the impact of using exemplars of operant conditioning concepts (positive and negative reinforcement and positive and negative punishment) from popular television on learning operant conditioning concepts in a group of 171 undergraduate students enrolled in introductory psychology classes. The experimental group indicated more enjoyment of the educational session but scored only marginally higher on a learning assessment of basic operant conditioning concepts.

Questions to Consider:

1. Through operant conditioning, individuals associate certain behaviors with their subsequent ______. Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

1. thoughts
2. drives
3. consequences
4. instincts

2. These increase the likelihood that a behavior will occur again. Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

1. consequences
2. punishers
3. inhibitors
4. reinforcers

3. Why did the experimental group report more enjoyment, and what does this tell you about learning? Cognitive Domain: Analysis
 

Article 2: Graham, P., & Arshad-Ayaz, A. (2016). Learned unsustainability: Banduras Bobo doll revisited. Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, 10(2), 262–273. doi:10.1177/0973408216650954

URL: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0973408216650954

Learning Objective: 7 & 8

Summary: Abstract: Developmental social psychologist Albert Bandura’s 1961 Bobo doll experiments provide interesting insights for the field of education for sustainable development (ESD) today. This article discusses some of the implications Bandura’s model of learned aggression has for modelling learned unsustainability. These lessons are not limited to educational applications. The Bobo doll is, in some important respects, like a supply–demand model, for example. Comparing the Bobo doll with contemporary dominant knowledge systems and other Bobo doll-like artefacts produces interesting insights and lessons for educational and economics research design. New approaches for tackling contemporary unsustainability are suggested.

Questions to Consider:

1. An important part of unsustainability learning involves the ______ way we learn to conceptualize knowledge. Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

1. inherent
2. cogent
3. systematic
4. implicit

2. ______ plays a key role in the psychological, cognitive, emotional, and even physiological development of identities. Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

1. Modeling
2. Gender
3. Imitation
4. Play

3. Explain what is meant by “much of what is learned from education is incidental, some of it subconscious” in the context of this article and the broader sense of social learning. Cognitive Domain: Analysis
 

Article 3: Kimble, G. A. (2000). Behaviorism and unity in psychology. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 9(6), 208–212. doi:10.1111/1467-8721.00096

URL: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-8721.00096

Learning Objective: 1, 2, 3, & 4

Summary: Abstract: The defining feature of behaviorism is that it works with publicly observable stimuli and responses. One version, stimulus-response behaviorism, predicts responses from stimuli or situations. Another version, response-response behaviorism, predicts targeted responses from other responses. Unobservable mental states are intervening variables—hypothetical constructs if they have postulated material existence—that mediate these relationships. Cognition, affect, and reaction tendency are the major conceptual categories in this psychology. Its basic axioms state that behavior is (a) a function of enduring potentials for and temporary instigation to action, (b) controlled by excitation and inhibition, and (c) a blend of coping in situations in which organisms have control and adaptation in situations in which control is lacking. This view offers the hope of bringing unity to psychology.

Questions to Consider:

1. ______ behaviorism is experimental psychology. Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

1. Stimulus-response
2. Learned response
3. Conditioned response
4. Reflexive response

2. ______ behaviorism is a variety of correlational psychology. Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

1. Stimulus-response
2. Learned response
3. Conditioned response
4. Response-response

3. What is meant by “Behavior is the result of instigation acting on potential”? Cognitive Domain: Comprehension