INSTITUT PERGURUAN KUALA

TERENGGANU

(THEORY OF LEARNING)
GROUP MEMBER:
• MOHD SAIFUL ANUAR BIN YUSOFF
•UMMEE FATIHAH BT AZIH
• NASYRATUL FATHIAH BT MOHD FARID
 Biography
• Burrhus Frederic Skinner was born March 20, 1904, in
the small Pennsylvania town of Susquehanna
• His father was a lawyer, and his mother a strong and
intelligent housewife
• He was a very active man, doing research and guiding
hundreds of doctoral candidates as well as writing many
books
• While not successful as a writer of fiction and poetry, he
became one of our best psychology writers, including the
book Walden II, which is a fictional account of a
community run by his behaviorist principles
• August 18, 1990, B. F. Skinner died of leukemia
 Skinner Box

• Frederic Skinner’s work was influenced by Pavlov’s

experiments and the ideas of John Watson, father of
behaviorism
• One of his best known inventions is the Skinner box.
• He especially was interested in stimulus-response
reactions of humans to various situations
- experimented with pigeons and rats
• He took the notion of conditioned reflexes developed by
Ivan Pavlov and applied it to the study of behavior.
 1 Skinner Box 2

1. A starved rat was 1. If pressing the lever

introduced into the is reinforced (the rat
box gets food) when a
light is on but not
when it is off

2. When the lever was

pressed by the rat a 2. Responses (pressing
small pellet of food the lever) continue to
was dropped onto a be made in the light but
tray seldom, if at all, in the
dark

3. The rat soon learned

that when he pressed 3. The rat has formed
the lever he would 3 discrimination between
receive some food light and dark

1. Rat pressed the lever, a

mild electrics shock was
delivered (the grid at the
bottom)
 OPERANT CONDITIONING

• A type of learning in which the probability or likelihood of

a behavior occurring is changed as a result of
procedures that follow that behavior
• Skinner used the expression operant conditioning to
describe the process whereby simple operant behaviors
are gradually transformed or shaped into more complex
ones
• ‘Skinner Box’ was used to study for operant conditioning
 How Operant Conditioning Works
( Based on the Skinner Box )
 A hungry rat is placed in the box
 There is a lever which if pressed, releases a food pellet
into a tray
 The rat will move randomly ( the movements are all
operant behaviors )
 The rat accidentally will press the lever and release a
food pellet in the tray
 The rat will learn the association between lever-pressing
and food release so that it will keep pressing the lever
again and again (operant conditioning take place)
 Operant Conditioning

This illustration illustrates operant conditioning.

The mouse pushes the lever and receives a food
reward.
Therefore, he will push the lever repeatedly in
order to get the treat.
 Reinforcement
• In operant conditioning, actions taken followed by a response that
increase the likelihood that the response will occur again.
• i.e. the food the rat obtains reinforces the lever pressing

Positive Reinforcement Negative Reinforcement

 occur when event
following the behavior is
desirable, so that the
behavior is repeated in
anticipation of a reward
 i.e. the rat awarded with
food after pressing the lever
 different from punishment
 a way of making a
response more likely to
happen again by removing
an unpleasant stimulus
 i.e. mild electric shock was
delivered to the bottom of the
Skinner Box to train the rat to
jump
 Stimulus Control

• From the experiment in Skinner Box, let say we want the

rat press the lever for food only when the light is on, so
we just give the food when the light is on not when it is
off
• Eventually, the rat will learn to press the lever for food
only in the presence of light on
• The above event is called stimulus control
• Skinner called this type of training as ‘Discrimination
Training’
 Stimulus Control in Classroom

• In classroom, teachers should give signals such as

pausing and looking around in order to expect students
to raise their hands to ask questions after teachers have
finished the explanation
• Teachers then could bring hand rising under stimulus
control by calling only student who raise their hands and
ignoring students who speak without permission
• Students then learnt that when they raise their hands
following signals, they are more likely to be called on
 Schedules of Reinforcement

- is a rule for when reinforces will be given

after the desired behavior is performed

ii. Continuous Reinforcement

iii. Fixed Ratio Reinforcement (FR)
iv. Fixed Interval Reinforcement (FI)
v. Variable Ratio Reinforcement (VR)
vi. Variable Interval Reinforcement (VI)
 Schedule Example Effect on rate of Patterns of
learning response following
extinction
Continuous Reinforce the learner Lerner will rapidly Learner will quickly
every times he learn to complete stop completing math
completes a math math problem problems once
problem reinforcement stops
Fixed interval Reinforce the learner Learner will complete Learner will not persist
every 5 minutes for more math problem long with daily math
working on math as the time for problems. He will
problems reinforcement draws quickly stop doing
near but complete problems once 5-
fewer immediately minute period ends
following and he doesn’t receive
reinforcement reinforcement.
Variable Reinforce after various These schedule Once extinction starts,
interval lengths of time generate low to the learner will
moderate rates of continue to do math
response after a problems for longer
period of adjustment periods of time. But
there will be a slow
 To the schedule, the Steady decline.
learner will complete a
constant, stable number
of problems

Fixed ratio Reinforce a set These schedule generate Learner will not
number of math rapid rates. The learner persist in doing
problems are will complete math math problems for
completed problems quickly long once she
because she get doesn’t get
reinforced after a fixed reinforced after
number of problems are the total number
complete of problems are
completed
Variable Reinforce after These schedules Learner will
ratio varying number produce rapid, consistent persist in doing
of math rates of performance math problems
problems are the longest with
completed this schedule
 Classroom Links
Teachers need to be aware of:
 The effects of behavior on learning, and the idea of
learning as the establishment of connections between
stimuli and responses
 The relationship between individuals’ behavior in
problem situations and subsequent learning,
represented in the law of effect and law of exercise.
A teacher give question on problem-solving and
ask the students to solve it. Once it done, the
teacher should praise the student.
 Implications

• Reinforcement can be used by teachers as

classroom management techniques.
• Skinner believed that by encouraging certain
behavior, learning could occur.
• This behaviorist theory's implications for
technology integration are that many tutorial
programs reward student users for right
answers. This helps to encourage students to
practice and memorize skills.
 General Educational Implications of
Behaviorism
• Emphasis on behavior: students should be
active respondents; people are most likely to
learn when they actually have a chance to
behave. Also, student learning must be
evaluated; only measurable behavior changes
can confirm that learning has taken place.

• Drill and practice: repetition of stimulus-

response habits strengthens those habits.
• Breaking habits: one way to break a stimulus-
response habit is to continue to present the
stimulus until the individual is too tired to
respond in the habitual way, or the exhaustion
method. Lastly, the incompatible stimulus
method, would replace the habit with another
habit, where eventually the individual adopts the
"new" behavior in response to the stimulus.

• Rewards: many theorists emphasize the

importance of rewards or reinforcement for
learning.