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. Pavlov’s most renowned experiment involved meat, a dog and a bell. Pavlov was measuring the dog’s salivation in order to study digestion. This is when he stumbled upon classical conditioning.

Pavlov’s ExperimentBefore 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

Stage 2 – during conditioning

Stage 3 – after conditioning

Bell(Neutral Stimulus) No response

Bell(Neutral stimulus)

Meat(unconditioned

stimulus)

salivation(unconditioned

response)

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. ThorndikeEdward 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.

Thorndike’s theory on connectionismstated 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 effectthe 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 ExerciseTells 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 ReadinessStated 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 Pavlov’s 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 AlbertWatson applied classical conditioning in

his experiment concerning Albert, a young child and a white rat.

PRINCIPLES DERIVED FROM THORNDIKE’S CONNECTIONISM:

1. Learning requires both practice and rewards (laws of effect/exercise)

2. A series of S-R connections can be chained together if they belong to the same action sequence (law of readiness)

3. Transfer of learning occurs because of previously encountered situations.

4. 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 individual’s response to events (stimuli) that occur in the environment.

Reinforcement

is the key element in Skinner’s 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 reinforceris 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 Behavioran animal on the cage may be take a

very long time to figure out that pressing a lever will produce food.

Behavior chainingcome 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 Schedulesonce 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 Schedulesthe 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 Schedulesthis 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

Introductionwith 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 Tolman’s purposive behaviorism and Albert Bandura’s 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 Learningis 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 variableintervening 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.

TOLMAN’S 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. Tolman’s theory was founded on two psychological views, those of the Gestalt psychologists and those of John Watson, the behaviorism.

Tolman’s 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.

TOLMAN’S KEY CONCEPT

Learning is always purposive and goal-directedTolman 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 ratsin 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 learningTolman 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 BANDURA’S 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. The observer is reinforced by the model. 2. The observer is reinforced by a third

person. 3. The imitated behavior itself leads to

reinforcing consequences. Many behaviors that we learn from other produce satisfying or reinforcing result.

4. Consequences of the model’s behavior affect the observer’s 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 FACTOR OF SOCIAL LEARNING

1. Learning without performance.2. Cognitive processing during learning3. Expectations4. Reciprocal causation5. Model

Different types of models1. Live Model2. Symbolic Model

CONDITIONS NECESSARY FOR EFFECTIVE MODELING TO OCCUR

Bandura mentions four conditions that are necessary before an individual can successfully model the behavior of someone else.

1. Attention2. Retention3. Motor reproduction4. motivation

EDUCATION IMPLICATIONS OF SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

1. Students often lean a great deal simply by observing other people.

2. Describing the consequences of behavior can effectively increase the appropriate behaviors and decrease in appropriate ones.

3. 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.

4. Teachers and parents must model appropriate behaviors and take care that they do not model inappropriate behaviors.

5. Teachers should expose students to a variety of other models.