TOPIC 3

LEARNING THEORIES

BEHAVIOURIST THEORY
Behaviorism founded by John B. Watson (18781958),emphasized the study of observable behaviors. Their ideas on learning are related with changes in human behavior.

Behaviorism is also a theory of animal and human learning that only focuses on objectively observable behaviors and discounts mental activities - study of people behaviors or things that we watch, teach by looking the behaviors and the continuous of a persons behaviors or the activities of the mind.

There are two different types of conditioning each behavioral pattern:

Classic conditioning a natural reflex responds to a stimulus. For example the most popular is Pavlovs observation that dogs salivate when they eat or see food and when you touch hot water. Behavioral or operant conditioning a response to a stimulus is reinforcement in positive or negative techniques that can be effective such as answering the question correctly, in treatment for human disorders such as autism, antisocial behavior and can be used by teachers who reward or punish students behaviors.

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849 - 1936) Ivan Pavlov was studying the digestive tracks of dogs. Pavlov was interested in saliva's role in the digestive process, and dogs proved to be quite effective subjects for the study of this topic. Pavlov's Classical Conditioning was the first model of learning to be studied in psychology. Classical Conditioning investigated the capacity of animals to learn new stimuli and connect them to natural reflexes.

Digestive processes.

Salivation

 Food is the Unconditioned Stimulus (US). This means that the food causes the response of salivation without previous learning. Bell is the Conditioned Stimulus (CS). This is the stimulus which is paired with the food to make the dog eventually salivate to just the sound of the bell alone. Salivation is initially the Unconditioned Response (UR) when paired with the food (US), and eventually becomes the Conditioned Response (CR) when paired with the bell.

Basic Processes in Classical Conditioning according to Pavlov are Acquisition Extinction Spontaneous recovery Stimulus generalization Stimulus discrimination Higher-order conditioning

 Acquisition: to achieve the Conditioned Response, Pavlov found that it requires more then several pairings of the food (US) and bell (CS). The more frequently they are paired, the stronger the response and this would lead rapidly to a peak at which it was the strongest, and then it would level off.
Extinction: Pavlov found that Classical Conditioning is very robust. When the dog was not near a bell for months, but was then confronted with it again, the same response of salivation happened. However, this response could be eradicated by presenting the bell (CS) without the food (US), eventually the dog will become desensitized to the bell and no longer salivated.

Recovery: However, if the bell is presented at a later time, the dog will salivate but weakly and this is called spontaneous recovery. To completely make the dog stop salivating it would be necessary to repeat the extinction process several times over.
Generalization: Pavlov noticed a phenomena he dubbed stimulus generalization. If a dog became conditioned to slobber to the sound of a bell, then just about any bell might do such as doorbells or telephones. Discrimination: Pavlov also studied stimulus discrimination, when the dog would learn that not any bell would do.

 Higher-Order Conditioning: Here is an ongoing process of Classical Conditioning. Once Pavlov proved that a bell could can become a Conditioned Stimulus, he then paired this with another neutral stimulus - a black triangle which when paired with the bell often enough also illicit the response of salivation. 'In people, words and complex thoughts can be stimuli which can illicit very powerful emotional responses through higher-order conditioning.'

Implication of Pavlovs Conditioning Theory in Teaching and Learning.

Teacher ought to relate practical experience (conditioned stimulus) with the learning task (unconditioned stimulus) to produce satisfactory conditioned learning response. For example, through satisfactory learning activities of higher-order conditioning in mathematical principle before, during and after learning.

 Guide pupils to apply skill to make accurate generalization by using various related examples. For example, Science teacher teaching in the class for the first time Teacher teaching in interesting manner They attract pupils attention and let them to think. Guide pupils to use skills to make discrimination. For example, the characteristics of parallelogram and rhombus. Assist pupils to restore their memory by allowing sufficient resting time from time to time.

John Watson 1878 - 1958

An American psychologist, was the first person to use term behaviorism to study human behavior. His research was to a large extent, influenced by Pavlovs Classical Conditioning Theory. His most famous research is related to childrens emotion by using the Classical Conditioning Model including that humans were simply more complicated than animals but operated on the same principles.

Implication of Watsons Conditioning Theory in Teaching and Learning.

All types of behavior can be learned through the conditioning process. Positive behavior can be taught by using suitable stimulus. In order to master the skill of solving problems, pupils ought to relate the relationship between all responses systematically. To consolidate what has been learned in the memory, more exercises should be carried out after learning.

During teaching process, teacher should use suitable stimulus to motivate pupils in learning and at the same time, avoid using stimulus which will produce negative effects.

B. F. SKINNER 1904 - 1990

e
Skinner experimented with rats and later with pigeons. For instance, he conditioned rats to press a bar in a 'Skinner box' in return for a reward of food. He was able to measure learning accurately under closely controlled conditions, varying the frequency of reward, or reinforcement, and sometimes applying irrelevant stimuli. Though he started his research with animals, Skinner worked towards a theory of conditioning which could include humans.

SKINNERS BOX

Operant conditioning
Form of learning in which voluntary responses are influenced by their consequences. Organism normally operate on the environment instead of reacting to the stimuli presented to them. 2 categories of human behavior: -respondent behavior -operant behavior

 Respondent behavior - Unconditioned behavior(Classical Conditioning Theory)occur only when stimulus given. Operant behavior a kind of voluntary or expected behavior and will not operate with stimulus. When a particular Stimulus-Response (SR) pattern is reinforced (rewarded), the individual is conditioned to respond.

 Skinner developed the conditioning process known as reinforcement (something that encourage the behavior to be repeated).

Positive reinforcement

example of operant conditioning

Negative reinforcement

Responses(behaviour)

Lesson revision

Student did not do work

Stimulus (reinforcement)

Rewards with good grades

Teacher mad at student

Effect on behaviour

Motivation to study increases

Student do the coming work

Differences.
Classical Conditioning
Clarify simple behavior in learning

Operant Conditioning
Clarify almost organism behavior to their environment.

Response occur after the conditioning stimulus is given.

Response occur before the stimulus.

Implication on T & T
A newly learned skill ought to be given continuous reinforcement, followed by intermittent reinforcement, so that this skill can be strengthened. The use of +ve reinforcement which gives pleasant result is more effective than ve reinforcement.

 Guide pupils to master the concept of discrimination through the operant conditioning process so that they will acquire knowledge and skill accurately. Sometimes, -ve reinforcement also suitable and can be used to achieve the desired behavior. Ex: withdrawal of the recess time if pupils did not follow the rules in the classroom.

behavior rather than thought experimentation rather than introspection

Edward Thorndike>1874 1949<

 Thorndike worked with cats and dogs and a variety of puzzle boxes. The famous Thorndike experiment (the cat-in-the-puzzle-box study) entailed placing a cat inside a puzzle box. Thorndike placed cat food outside the box to entice the cat to escape. The cat had to pull a string to release one of the door locks, step on a lever to release the second and then flick a door latch down in order to escape and claim its food reward.

 One reported result was that one cat took almost three minutes to escape the first time, then less than one minute after the first successful escape. Thorndike concluded that cats didn't learn by developing insight into a particular situation, but learned through trial and error leading to a 'satisfying state of affairs' that led to 'stamping in' the connection, giving rise to connectionism.

Law of Exercise
The Law of Exercise summarizes that the effects of the three classical conditioning variables of decency, frequency and contiguity strengthen the bond between stimuli and responses.

Law of Effect
The Law of Effect, Thorndike's most important law, maintains that if a response in the presence of a stimulus leads to satisfying effects, the association between the stimulus and the response is strengthened.

Law of Readiness
The Law of Readiness ascertains that a learner must be motivated and ready to learn. Someone should be ready enough before doing some work to get the satisfaction.

Implication on t&l
Connectionism was meant to be a general theory of learning for animals and humans. Thorndike was especially interested in the application of his theory to education including mathematics (Thorndike, 1922), spelling and reading (Thorndike, 1921), measurement of intelligence (Thorndike et al., 1927) and adult learning (Thorndike at al., 1928).

References
Corsini, R.J. & Wedding, D. (1995). Current Psychotherapies. U.S.A: Peacock Publishers, Inc. Jones, S.L. & Butman, R.E. (1991). Modern Psychotherapies. U.S.A. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data. LeFrancois, Guy R. (2000). Theories of Human Learning. U.S.A. Wadsworth/Thomas Learning.