PART 3

Unit 3.1 Behaviorist Perspective

INTRODUCTION
The theory of behaviorism focuses on the
study of observable and measurable behavior is
mostly learned through conditioning and
reinforcement (rewards and punishment). It does
not give much attention to the mind, and the
possibility of thought processes occurring in the
mind. Contributions in the development of the
behaviorist theory largely came from Pavlov,
Watson, Thorndike and Skinner.

BEHAVIORISM
Ivan Pavlov
A Russian physiologist is well know for his
work in classical conditioning or stimulus
substitution. Pavlovs most renowned experiment
involved meat, a dog and a bell. Pavlov was
measuring the dogs salivation in order to study
digestion. This is when he stumbled upon
classical conditioning.
Pavlovs Experiment
Before conditioning, ringing the bell caused
no response from the dog. Placing food in front of
the dog initiated salivation. During the
conditioning.

Stage 1 before conditioning

Bell

No response

(Neutral Stimulus)

Stage 2 during conditioning

Bell
(Neutral stimulus)

salivation
(unconditioned
response)

Meat
(unconditioned stimulus)

Stage 3 after conditioning

Bell
(conditioned stimulus)

Salivation
(conditioned response)

Classical Conditioning

PAVLOV ALSO HAVE THE FOLLOWING FINDINGS:

Stimulus Generalization
Once the dog has learned to salivate at the sound
of the bell, it will salivate at other similar sounds.
Extinction
If you top paring the bell with the food, salivation
will eventually cease in response to the bell.
Spontaneous Recovery
Extinguished responses can be recovered after an
elapsed time, but will soon extinguish again if the dog
is not presented with food.
Discrimination
The dog could learn to discriminate between
similar bells (stimuli) and discern which bell would
result in the presentation of food and which would not.

Edward L. Thorndike
Edward Thorndike Connectionism theory
gave us the original S-R framework of behavioral
psychology. More than a hundred years ago he
wrote a text book entitled, Educational
psychology.
He was the first one to use this term. He
explained that learning is the result of
associations forming forming between stimuli
and responses.

Thorndikes theory on connectionism

stated that learning has taken place when a
strong connection or bond between stimulus and
response is formed. He came up with Three
primary laws:
Law of effect
the law of effect stated that a connection
between stimuli and response is strengthened
when the consequence is positive (reward) and
the connection
between the stimulus and
response is weakened when the consequence is
negative.
Thorndike later on, revised this law when he
found the negative reward (punishment).

Law of Exercise
Tells us that the more an S-R (stimulus
response) bond is practiced the stronger it will
become. Practice makes effect seem to be
associated with this. The law exercises also had
to be revised when Thorndike found that practice
without feedback does not necessarily enhance
performance.
Law of Readiness
Stated that, more readiness the learner has
to respond to the stimulus, the stronger will be
the bond between them. When a person is ready
to respond to a stimulus and is not made to
respond, it becomes annoying to the person.

JOHN WATSON
John B. Watson was the first American
psychologist to work with Pavlovs ideas. He too
initially involved in animal studies, then later
became involved in human behavior research.
He considered that humans are born with
few reflexes and the emotional reactions of love
and rage.
Experiment on Albert
Watson applied classical conditioning in his
experiment concerning Albert, a young child and
a white rat.

PRINCIPLES DERIVED FROM

THORNDIKES CONNECTIONISM:
1.
2.

3.
4.

Learning requires both practice and rewards

(laws of effect/exercise)
A series of S-R connections can be chained
together if they belong to the same action
sequence (law of readiness)
Transfer of learning occurs because of
previously encountered situations.
Intelligence is a function of the number of
connections learned

BURRHUS FREDERICK SKINNER

Like Pavlov, Watson and Thorndike, skinner
believed in the stimulus-response pattern of
conditioned behavior,. His theory zeroed in only
on changes in observable behavior, excluding any
likelihood of any processes taking place in the
mind.
His 1948 book, Walden Two, is about a
utopian society based on operant conditioning.

Operant Conditioning
Operant conditioning is based upon the notion
that learning is a result in overt behavior. Changes in
behavior are the result of an individuals response to
events (stimuli) that occur in the environment.
Reinforcement
is the key element in Skinners S-R theory. A
reinforcer is anything that strengthen the desired
response. There is a positive reinforcer and negative
reinforcer.
Positive reinforcer
is any stimulus that is given or added to increase
the response. A example of positive reinforcement is
when a teacher promises to extra time in the play
area to children who behave well during the lesson.

Negative reinforcer
is any stimulus that results in the increased
frequency of a response when it is withdraw or
removed. A negative reinforcer is not a
punishment, in fact it is a reward.
a negative punishment is different from
punishment because a punishment is a
consequence intended to result in reduces
responses.
Shaping of Behavior
an animal on the cage may be take a very
long time to figure out that pressing a lever will
produce food.

Behavior chaining
come about when a series of steps are
needed to be learned. The animal would master
each step in sequence until the entire sequence is
learned.
Reinforcement Schedules
once the desired behavioral response is
accomplished, reinforcement does not have to be
100% in fact it can be maintained more
successfully through what Skinner referred to as
partial
reinforcement
schedule.
Partial
reinforcement include interval schedules and
ratio schedules.

Fixed Interval Schedules

the target response is reinforced after fixed
amount of time has passed since the last
reinforcement. Example, the bird in the cage is
given food (reinforcer) every 10 minutes,
regardless of how many times it presses the bar.
Variable Interval Schedules
this is similar to fixed interval schedules, but
the amount of time that must pass between
reinforcement varies. Example, the bird may
receive food (reinforcer) different intervals, not
every ten minutes.

MODULE 11 NEO BEHAVIORISM:

TOLMAN AND BANDURA
Introduction
with a new researches, explanations
provided by the principles of behaviorism
appeared not to satisfy all learning scenarios.
New theories came into view which maintained
some of the behaviorist concepts but excluded
other, and added new ideas which later came to
be associated with the cognitive views of
learning.

TOLMANS PURPOSIVE BEHAVIORISM

People work on the maze activity which you just
did would say they found the second maze easier. This
is because they saw that the two mazes were
identical, except that the entrance and exit points
were reversed.
there are two theories reflecting neobehaviorism
that stands out. Edward Tolmans purposive
behaviorism
and
Albert
Banduras
Social
Learning theory. Both theories are influenced by
behaviorism (which focus on external elements in
learning), but their principles seem to also be
reflective of the cognitive perspective (focused on more
internal elements)

Latent Learning
is a kind of learning that remains or stays
with the individual until needed. It is learning
that is not outwardly manifested at once.
According to Tolman it can exist even without
reinforcement.
The concept of Intervening variable
intervening variables are variables that are
not readily seen but serve as determinants of
behavior. Tolman believed that learning is
mediated or is influenced by expectations,
perceptions, representations, needs ad other
internal or environmental variables.

TOLMANS PURPOSIVE
BEHAVIORISM
Purposive behavior
has also been referred to as in sign learning
theory and is often seen as the link between
behaviorism and cognitive theory. Tolmans
theory was founded on two psychological views,
those of the Gestalt psychologists and those of
John Watson, the behaviorism.
Tolmans believed that learning is a cognitive
process. Learning involves forming beliefs and
obtaining knowledge about the environment and
then
revealing
that
knowledge
through
purposeful and goal-direct behavior.

TOLMANS KEY CONCEPT

Learning is always purposive and goal-directed
Tolman asserted that learning is always
purposive and goal-directed. He held the notion that
an organism acted or responded for some adaptive
purpose. He believed individuals do more than merely
respond to stimuli; they act on beliefs, attitudes,
changing conditions, and they strive towards goals.
Cognitive maps in rats
in his most famous experiments, one group of
rats was placed at random starting locations in a
maze but the food was always in the same location.
Another group of rats had the food placed in different
locations which always required exactly the same
pattern of turns from their starting location.

Reinforcement not essential for learning

Tolman concluded that reinforcement is not
essential for learning, although it provides an
incentive for performance. In his studies, he
observed that a rat was ale to acquire knowledge
of the way through a maze, i.e., to develop a
cognitive map, even in the absence of
reinforcemnet.

ALBERT BANDURAS SOCIAL

LEARNING THEORY
Social learning theory focuses on the learning
that occurs within a social context. It considers that
people learn form another, including such concepts as
observational learning, imitation, and modeling.
General principles of social theory
1. people can learn by observing the behavior of
others and the outcomes of those behaviors.
2. learning can occur without a change in
behavior. Behaviorists say that learning has to be
represented by a permanent change in behavior, in
contrast social learning theorists say that because
people can learn through observation alone.

3. cognition plays a role in learning. Over the

last 30 years social learning theory has become
increasing cognitive in its interpretation of
human learning. Awareness and expectations of
future reinforcements or punishments can have a
major effect on the behavior that people exhibit.
4. Social learning theory can be considered a
bridge or a transition between behaviorist
learning theorist and cognitive learning theorist.

HOW THE ENVIRONMENT

REINFORCES AND PUNISHMENTS
MODELING
1.

2.
3.

4.

The observer is reinforced by the model.

The observer is reinforced by a third person.
The imitated
behavior itself leads to
reinforcing consequences. Many behaviors that
we learn from other produce satisfying or
reinforcing result.
Consequences of the models behavior affect the
observers behavior vicariously. This is know
as vicarious reinforcement. This is where the
model is reinforced for a response and then
the observer shows an increase in that the
same response.

COGNITIVE
LEARNING
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

FACTOR

OF

SOCIAL

Learning without performance.

Cognitive processing during learning
Expectations
Reciprocal causation
Model
Different types of models
1. Live Model
2. Symbolic Model

CONDITIONS NECESSARY FOR

EFFECTIVE MODELING TO OCCUR

1.
2.
3.
4.

Bandura mentions four conditions that are

necessary before an individual can successfully
model the behavior of someone else.
Attention
Retention
Motor reproduction
motivation

EDUCATION IMPLICATIONS OF
SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY
1.
2.

3.

4.

5.

Students often lean a great deal simply by observing

other people.
Describing the consequences of behavior can
effectively increase the appropriate behaviors and
decrease in appropriate ones.
Modeling provides an alternative to shaping for
teaching new behaviors. Instead of using shaping,
which is operant conditioning, modeling can provide
a faster, more efficient means for teaching new
behavior.
Teachers and parents must model appropriate
behaviors and take care that they do not model
inappropriate behaviors.
Teachers should expose students to a variety of other
models.