Neo Behaviorism:

Tolmans Purposive Behaviorsm

and Bandura Social Learning
Theory
Bridging the gap between
behaviorism and cognitive theories
of learning.
Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, students are expected
to:
Explain Tolmans purposive behaviorism
Explain Banduras social learning theory
Give specific applications of each theory in
teaching
Tolmans Purposive Behaviorism
Edward Chace Tolman
spent most of his
professional life on the
faculty of the University
of California at Berkeley
His major work was
Purposive Behaviorism
in Animals and Men
published in 1932.

Purposive Behaviorism
Tolman 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-directed behavior.
Tolmans system was called purposive
behaviorism because it studies behavior as it
is organized around purposes.

A new stimulus (the sign) becomes associated
with already meaningful stimuli (the
significate) through series of pairings; there
was no need for reinforcement in order to
establish learning.
Tolmans Key Concepts
Learning is always purposive and goal-
directed
Individuals act on beliefs, attitudes, changing
conditions, and they strive towards goals. Tolman
saw behavior as holistic, purposive, and cognitive.

Cognitive map
Learning the location of reward.
Once an individual has learned where a given
kind of reward is located, that location can
often be reached by means other than
those originally used.
Example: A shopper finds an interesting store while
exploring a city on foot. The shopper can then
return to the store either by car or bus.
Latent Learning
Whenever learning goes on without its being
evident in performance at the time.
Example:
Rats spent several nights in mazes with- out
being fed.
found their way to the goal box without
reinforcement.
They develop cognitive maps without rewards.
The concept of intervening variable
Learning is mediated or is influenced by
expectations, perceptions, representations, needs
and other internal or environmental variables.
Example:
hunger was the intervening variable with rats
Reinforcement not essential for learning.
Tolman concluded that reinforcement is not
essential for learning although it provides an
incentive for performance.
Example:
Rat was able to acquire knowledge of the way
through a maze even in the absence of
reinforcement.
Banduras Social Learning Theory
People learn from one another by
observational learning, imitation, and
modeling.
General principles of social learning theory
People can learn by observing the behavior of
others.
Learning can occur without a change in
behavior.
Cognition plays a role in learning.
It is a bridge or a transitions between
behaviorist learning theory and cognitive
learning theory.
How the environment reinforces and punishes
modeling
1. The observer is reinforced by the model.
Example: student who changes dress to fit in
with a certain group of students has a strong
likelihood of being accepted and thus
reinforced by that group

2. The observer is reinforced by a third person.
The observer might be modeling the actions of
someone else.
Example: an outstanding class leader or student.
The teacher notices this and compliments and
praises the observer for modeling such
behavior thus reinforcing that behavior
3. The imitated behavior itself leads to
reinforcing consequences.
Many behaviors that we learn from others
produce satisfying or reinforcing results.
Example: A students observe how the extra
work a classmate does is fun. This student in
turn would do the same extra work and also
experience enjoyment.

4. Consequences of the models behavior
affect the observers behavior vicariously.
This is known as vicarious reinforcement. This is
where the model is reinforced for a response and
then the observer shows an increase in that same
response.
Example: a model hitting an inflated clown doll.
One group of children saw the model being
praised for such action, so the children began
to also hit the doll.
Contemporary social learning perspective of
reinforcement and punishment
Both reinforcement and punishment have
indirect effect on learning.
Influence the extent to which an individual
exhibits a behavior that has been learned.
The expectation of reinforcement influences
cognitive processes that promote learning.
Cognitive factors in social learning
1. Learning without performance: a distinction
between learning through observation and
the actual imitation
2. Cognitive processing during learning:
attention is the critical factor for learning
3. Expectations: people form expectations
about the consequences that future
behaviors are likely to bring
3. Reciprocal causation: the three variables, the
person, the behavior, and the environment
can have an influence on each other
4. Modeling:
there are different types of modes:
live model actual demonstration
symbolic model - person or action
portrayed in othe medium (television,
videotape, computer programs)
Conditions necessary for effective modeling to
occur
Attention the person must pay attention to
the model
Retention the observer must the able to
remember the behavior
Motor reproduction the ability to replicate
the behavior
Motivation learner must want to
demonstrate what they have learned
Effects of modeling on behavior
Modeling teaches new behavior.
Modeling influences the frequency of
previously learned behaviors.
Modeling may encourage previously forbidden
behavior.
Modeling increases the frequency of similar
behavior.
Educational implications of social learning theory
Students often learn a great deal simply by
observing other people.
Describing the consequences of behavior can
effectively increase the appropriate behaviors
and decrease inappropriate ones.
Modeling provides an alternative to shaping for
teaching new behaviors.
Teachers and parents must model appropriate
behaviors.
Teachers should expose students to a variety of
other models.