REVIEWER RECITATION VM 117:

IVAN PAVLOV (dog)

Behaviorist Theories of Learning
In the early 1900s, the most prevalent way of looking at learning was the view we call
behaviorism. Behaviorists defined learning as an observable change in behavior. At the
time, this was viewed as a scientific approach, in contrast to the introspective or
psychoanalytic view of learning that had been prevalent in the past. Behaviorists believed
that we can never know what is going on “inside people’s heads” and that it is
inappropriate to try to guess or speculate at what cannot be empirically observed.
Instead, they believed that we should watch for observable changes in behavior to find
out what people were learning.

 Classical Conditioning - In the early part of the 20th century, Russian physiologist
Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936) was studying the digestive system of dogs when he
noticed an interesting behavioral phenomenon: The dogs began to salivate when the lab technicians who
normally fed them entered the room, even though the dogs had not yet received any food. Pavlov realized
that the dogs were salivating because they knew they were about to be fed; the dogs had begun to associate
the arrival of the technicians with the food that soon followed their appearance in the room.
 Pavlov began studying this process in more detail. He conducted a series of experiments in which, over a
number of trials, dogs were exposed to a sound immediately before receiving food. He systematically
controlled the onset of the sound and the timing of the delivery of the food, and recorded the amount of the
dogs’ salivation. Initially the dogs salivated only when they saw or smelled the food, but after several
pairings of the sound and the food, the dogs began to salivate as soon as they heard the sound. Pavlov
concluded that the animals had learned to associate the sound with the food that followed.

 Pavlov had identified a fundamental associative learning process called classical conditioning. Classical
conditioning refers to learning that occurs when a neutral stimulus (e.g., a tone) becomes associated with a
stimulus (e.g., food) that naturally produces a behavior (e.g., salivation). After the association is learned, the
previously neutral stimulus (e.g., a tone) is by itself sufficient to produce the behavior (e.g., salivation).

 Psychologists use specific terms to identify the stimuli and the responses in classical conditioning. The
unconditioned stimulus (US) is something (such as food) that triggers a natural occurring response, and the
unconditioned response (UR) is the naturally occurring response (such as salivation) that follows the
unconditioned stimulus. The conditioned stimulus (CS) is a neutral stimulus that, after being repeatedly
presented prior to the unconditioned stimulus, evokes a similar response as the unconditioned stimulus. In
Pavlov’s experiment, the sound of the tone served as the conditioned stimulus that, after learning, produced
the conditioned response (CR), which is the acquired response to the formerly neutral stimulus. Note that
the UR and the CR are the same behavior—in this case salivation—but they are given different names
because they are produced by different stimuli (the US and the CS, respectively).

Phase 1: Before Conditioning

The first part of the classical conditioning process requires a naturally occurring stimulus that will
automatically elicit a response. Salivating in response to the smell of food is a good example of a naturally
occurring stimulus.
During this phase of the processes, the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) results in an unconditioned response
(UCR).4 For example, presenting food (the UCS) naturally and automatically triggers a salivation response
(the UCR).
At this point, there is also a neutral stimulus that produces no effect—yet. It isn't until this neutral stimulus is
paired with the UCS that it will come to evoke a response.
Let's take a closer look at the two critical components of this phase of classical conditioning:
  The unconditioned stimulus is one that unconditionally, naturally, and automatically triggers a response. 4 For
example, when you smell one of your favorite foods, you may immediately feel very hungry. In this example,
the smell of the food is the unconditioned stimulus.
 The unconditioned response is the unlearned response that occurs naturally in response to the
unconditioned stimulus.4 In our example, the feeling of hunger in response to the smell of food is the
unconditioned response.

Phase 2: During Conditioning

During the second phase of the classical conditioning process, the previously neutral stimulus is repeatedly paired
with the unconditioned stimulus. As a result of this pairing, an association between the previously neutral stimulus
and the UCS is formed.

At this point, the once neutral stimulus becomes known as the conditioned stimulus (CS). The subject has now been
conditioned to respond to this stimulus. The conditioned stimulus is a previously neutral stimulus that, after
becoming associated with the unconditioned stimulus, eventually comes to trigger a conditioned response.4

In our earlier example, suppose that when you smelled your favorite food, you also heard the sound of a whistle.
While the whistle is unrelated to the smell of the food, if the sound of the whistle was paired multiple times with the
smell, the whistle sound would eventually trigger the conditioned response. In this case, the sound of the whistle is
the conditioned stimulus.

Phase 3: After Conditioning

Once the association has been made between the UCS and the CS, presenting the conditioned stimulus alone will
come to evoke a response even without the unconditioned stimulus. The resulting response is known as the
conditioned response (CR).4
The conditioned response is the learned response to the previously neutral stimulus. In our example, the
conditioned response would be feeling hungry when you heard the sound of the whistle.

HOW CAN PAVLOV THEORY BE APPLIED IN THE CLASSROOM?

 Teachers are able to apply classical conditioning in the class by creating a positive classroom environment to
help students overcome anxiety or fear. Pairing an anxiety-provoking situation, such as performing in front
of a group, with pleasant surroundings helps the student learn new associations.
 Classroom management / Reward

B.F. SKINNER (RAT)

 In contrast to classical conditioning, which involves involuntary responses (e.g.,
salivating), B.F. Skinner’s Operant Conditioning, posited that learning occurrs
through the process of reinforcing an appropriate voluntary response to a
stimulus in the environment.

 Operant Conditioning has some very specific terminology. This terminology is

often misused because the terms have a different meaning from their common
colloquial use. Skinner claimed that the consequences that follow any given
behavior could either increase or decrease that behavior. He used the term
reinforcement to describe consequences that increases a behavior and
punishment to describe those that decrease the behavior. He further claimed that
a reinforcement or punishment could be either a stimulus added, which he defined as positive, or or a
stimulus removed, which he called negative. It is important to set aside the common meanings and
 connotations of the words positive and negative and focus on how they are defined in Operant Conditioning.
In this context the terms are more like “adding and subtracting” rather than “good and bad.”

 A reinforcement, then, can be either positive or negative. For example, if you give a child praise for
completing her homework (because you want her to continue this desirable behavior), you would be giving
her positive reinforcement. Negative reinforcement, on the other hand, removes a consequence or stimulus
that the person doesn’t like, in the hope of increasing the desirable behavior. If you tell the child that
because she completed her homework immediately after school today she is excused from helping with the
dinner dishes, you are giving her negative reinforcement. In both cases, you are hoping the reinforcement
you provide will increase the desirable behavior of completing her homework.

 The goal of punishment is to decrease a behavior. Positive punishment is an added stimulus designed to
decrease a behavior. If a child is acting out in class and you scold him, you are delivering a positive
punishment. The scolding is an added stimulus. A negative punishment would be taking something away that
the child wants. For example, if you tell him he has to stay in from recess after acting out in class, you are
using negative punishment.

 The important thing to remember about reinforcement and punishment is that the result determines
whether a stimulus serves as a reinforcement or a punishment, regardless of the intentions of the person
delivering the stimulus. A teacher can take a certain action with the intention of punishing a child, but end
up inadvertently providing reinforcement. If the child who is acting out in class craves any kind of attention
she can get from an adult, both the praise and the scolding can be equally reinforcing for her.

 While the examples above involve humans, it is important to note that Skinner’s research was primarily done
with animals trained in special cages called “Skinner Boxes” designed to deliver reinforcements and
punishments. For example, he would train a rat to push a lever when a green light came on by first watching
the rat move around and explore the cage until it eventually pushed the lever. When the rat pushed the
lever a food pellet would be released, which caused the rat to push the lever frequently. Once this behavior
was established, he would start turning on a light, and only release a food pellet if the rat pushed the lever
when the light was on. Eventually, the rat would be trained to push the lever every time the light came on.

Edward Thorndike: The Law of Effect (CAT)

 The law of effect principle developed by Edward Thorndike suggested
that:
"responses that produce a satisfying effect in a particular situation become
more likely to occur again in that situation, and responses that produce a
discomforting effect become less likely to occur again in that situation (Gray,
2011, p. 108–109)."
Edward Thorndike (1898) is famous in psychology for his work on learning
theory that lead to the development of operant conditioning within
Behaviorism.Whereas classical conditioning depends on developing
associations between events, operant conditioning involves learning from the consequences of our
behavior.
 Skinner wasn’t the first psychologist to study learning by consequences. Indeed, Skinner's theory of operant
conditioning is built on the ideas of Edward Thorndike.
 Thorndike studied learning in animals (usually cats). He devised a classic experiment in which he used a
puzzle box (see fig. 1) to empirically test the laws of learning.

 Simplified graph of the result of the puzzle box experiment.

He placed a cat in the puzzle box, which was encourage to escape to reach a scrap of fish placed outside.  
Thorndike would put a cat into the box and time how long it took to escape.  The cats experimented with
different ways to escape the puzzle box and reach the fish.
Eventually they would stumble upon the lever which opened the cage.  When it had escaped it was put in
again, and once more the time it took to escape was noted.  In successive trials the cats would learn that
pressing the lever would have favorable consequences and they would adopt this behavior, becoming
increasingly quick at pressing the lever.
Edward Thorndike put forward a “Law of effect” which stated that any behavior that is followed by pleasant
consequences is likely to be repeated, and any behavior followed by unpleasant consequences is likely to be
stopped.

Which is known as instrumental conditioning?

Operant conditioning (also called instrumental conditioning) is a type of associative learning process
through which the strength of a behavior is modified by reinforcement or punishment.

JOHN B. WATSON
Watson is best known for taking his theory of behaviorism and applying it to child
development. He believed strongly that a child's environment is the factor that
shapes behaviors over their genetic makeup or natural temperament. Watson is
famous for saying that he could take a 'dozen healthy infants... and train any one of
them to become any type of specialist he might select - doctor, lawyer, artist,
merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief.' In other words, he believed
that you can expose the child to certain environmental forces and, over time,
condition that child to become any type of person you want. As you might imagine,
this was radical thinking and a type of behavioral control that many people were not
comfortable with at that time.

CONSTRUCTIVISM

Lev Vygotsky
Social constructivism, a social learning theory developed by Russian
psychologist Lev Vygotsky, posits that individuals are active participants in
the creation of their own knowledge (Schreiber & Valle, 2013). Vygotsky
believed that learning takes place primarily in social and cultural settings,
rather than solely within the individual (Schreiber & Valle, 2013).
The social constructivism theory focuses heavily upon dyads (Johnson &
Bradbury, 2015) and small groups. For instance, students learn primarily
through interactions with their peers, teachers, and parents, whereas
teachers stimulate and facilitate conversation through harnessing the
natural flow of conversation in the classroom (Powell & Kalina, 2009).
Social constructivism suggests that successful teaching and learning is
heavily dependent on interpersonal interaction and discussion, with the primary focus on the students’
understanding of the discussion (Prawat, 1992).

Jean Piaget
Jean Piaget is known as one of the first theorists in
constructivism. His theories indicate that humans create knowledge
through the interaction between their experiences and ideas. His
view of constructivism is the inspiration for radical constructivism due
to his idea that the individual is at the center of the knowledge
creation and acquisition process. The vast majority of Piaget’s
theories develop through working with children where he would challenge the idea that
children are inferior thinkers compared to adults. His work provides evidence that children
are not cognitively inferior to adults. He proves that children develop differently by
establishing a theory involving cognitive stages.

JEROME BRUNER

 A major theme in the theoretical framework of Bruner is that learning

is an active process in which learners construct new ideas or concepts
based upon their current/past knowledge. The learner selects and
transforms information, constructs hypotheses, and makes decisions,
relying on a cognitive structure to do so. Cognitive structure (i.e.,
schema, mental models) provides meaning and organization to
experiences and allows the individual to “go beyond the information
given”.

 As far as instruction is concerned, the instructor should try and

encourage students to discover principles by themselves. The
instructor and student should engage in an active dialog (i.e., socratic learning). The task of the
instructor is to translate information to be learned into a format appropriate to the learner’s
current state of understanding. Curriculum should be organized in a spiral manner so that the
student continually builds upon what they have already learned.
Application in the classroom

 Bruner’s constructivist theory is a general framework for instruction based upon the study of
cognition. Much of the theory is linked to child development research (especially Piaget ). The ideas
outlined in Bruner (1960) originated from a conference focused on science and math learning.
Bruner illustrated his theory in the context of mathematics and social science programs for young
children (see Bruner, 1973). The original development of the framework for reasoning processes is
described in Bruner, Goodnow & Austin (1951). Bruner (1983) focuses on language learning in
young children.
 Note that Constructivism is a very broad conceptual framework in philosophy and science and
Bruner’s theory represents one particular perspective.
COGNITIVISM
EDWARD TOLMAN

 Purposive behaviorism is a branch of psychology that was introduced

by Edward Tolman. It combines the objective study of behavior while also
considering the purpose or goal of behavior. [1] Tolman thought that
learning developed from knowledge about the environment and how the
organism relates to its environment.[2] Tolman's goal was to identify the
complex cognitive mechanisms and purposes that guided behavior.
Tolman's experiment
 Tolman's investigation used rats to represent clinical behaviors of men. He
had the rats go through mazes. A hungry rat was put at the entrance of a maze, wandering through
it until he gets to the food. In the maze, there are true segment paths and blind alleys. Trials for
every rat reoccurred every 24 hours. The more trials the rats completed, the fewer errors, which he
characterized by the rat avoiding the blind alleys. They made as well as taking less time to complete
the maze and get to their goal which was their food.[4]
 A maze was used by Tolman in the following experiment: at point A, a hungry rat was placed as the
starting point; point B was where the food for the rat was placed. The rat learned to get to B for
food throughout the trials.
 In these experiments, Tolman was looking at how the reinforcement in the trials contributed to the
rat learning their way through the maze and to the food with fewer errors. [2] Tolman's evaluation of
these experiments led to his theory of latent learning.

TOLMAN (1932) PROPOSED FIVE STEPS OF LEARNING

1. APPROACH LEARNING – Cognition refers to mental activity including thinking, remembering,

learning and using language. When we apply a cognitive approach to learning and teaching, we
focus on the understanding of information and concepts. If we are able to understand the
connections between concepts, break down information and rebuild with logical connections, then
our rention of material and understanding will increase.

2. ESCAPE LEARNING – Escape learning occurs to terminate an unpleasant stimulus such as

annoyance or pain, thereby negatively reinforcing the behavior. For example, to persuade a rat to
jump from a platform into a pool of water, you might electrify the platform to mildly shock the rat.
The rat jumps due to escape learning, since it jumps into the water to escape the electric shock.

- In escape behavior the occurrence of the behavior terminates the aversive stimulus. In other words
the dog escapes the stimulus by doing another behavior and that behavior is then strengthened.
 - The dog would be running away from the owner and the owner applies the shock stimulus while
shouting "come". The dog stops or begins moving back to the owner. When the dog does this the
owner stops the shock. The dog learns that by running back towards the owner the pain can be
removed, the shock is removed. The dog learns to escape the shock by doing something else thus
removing the pain of the shock. (note that for the dog to escape a scary stimulus so the behavior
can be negatively reinforced a positive punisher has to be put in place - the application of shock).

3. AVOIDANCE LEARNING – You can transform escape learning into avoidance learning if you give a
signal, such as a tone, before the unwanted stimulus. If the rat receives a cue before the shock,
after a few trials, it will jump before it gets shocked. The rat will continue to jump when it gets the
signal, even if the platform is no longer electrified.

Avoidance Learning
An individual's response to avoid an unpleasant or stressful situation; also known as escape
learning.

Avoidance learning is the process by which an individual learns a behavior or response to avoid a
stressful or unpleasant situation. The behavior is to avoid, or to remove oneself from, the situation.
Researchers have found avoidance behavior challenging to explain, since the reinforcement for the
behavior is to not experience the negative reinforcer, or punishment. In other words, the reinforcement is
the absence of punishment. To explain this, psychologists have proposed two stages of learning: in stage
one, the learner experiences classical conditioning; a warning, or stimulus, paired with a punishment. The
learner develops a fear response when he experiences the stimulus. In stage two, the learner experiences
operant conditioning; whereby he realizes that an action response to the stimulus eliminates the stressful
outcome.
In a common laboratory experiment conducted to demonstrate avoidance learning, a rat is placed
in a confined space with an electrified floor. A warning signal is given, followed by an electric current
passing through the floor. To avoid being shocked, the rat must find an escape, such as a pole to climb or a
barrier to jump over onto a nonelectric floor. At first, the rat responds only when the shock begins, but as
the pattern is repeated, the rat learns to avoid the shock by responding to the warning signal. An example
of avoidance learning in humans is the situation when a person avoids a yard where there is a barking dog.
This learning is particularly strong in individuals who have been attacked by a dog.

- In avoidance behavior, the occurrence of the behavior prevents the presentation of an aversive
stimulus. In other words, the dog avoids the aversive stimulus by doing another behavior.

- In the avoidance situation a dog would learn how to avoid the painful or scary stimulus. With a
shock containment system the dog learns that when it hears the warning beep to stop moving
forward towards the boundary.
 - The difference between escape and avoidance learning is that the conditioned stimulus is given
before the presentation of an aversive stimulus. For example, the beep on the boundary system
before the shock. The dog has learnt due to its conditioning history that the beep predicts pain if
the current behavior continues.

Both escape learning and avoidance learning are significant because humans often experience the
same thing as the rat in the aforementioned experiment. Psych Web offers the following example: a
student who had difficulty in a high school math courses may feel relief each time she escaped math. She
may then decide to avoid math in college, even if she would actually perform well.

4. CHOICE – POINT LEARNING- Formal aspects of Tolman’s theory are based on understanding behavior
when an animal comes to a “choice point”. Animal’s decision to go left or right in a T-maze are dependent on
a number of factors like previous learning or experience, goal appropriateness, individual differences etc.

5. LATENT LEARNING- Tolman introduced the term of latent learning.6) This type of learning does not
require motivation or reinforcement. In one experiment, Tolman put two groups of rats in a maze
with a reward hidden in it. Later, he changed the place where rats were put in the maze, but so that
the second group of rats had to perform the same set of turns in order to reach food. The first
group was more successful, showing that learning was not just a raw set of movements. Tolman
offered an explanation that rats created a “cognitive map” of the maze and used it to solve the
problem. He confirmed this finding in some later experiments as well, but never tried to investigate
this cognitive map.

Cognitive and constructivist theories are two types of learning theories. A learning theory is an
explanation of how individuals learn and adapt to new things. Cognitive and constructivist theories are
related to each other, although each has unique characteristics. Both theories were created by Jean Piaget,
a Swiss psychologist and philosopher, popularly known for his theories in cognitive development.

Cognitive Theory
Cognitive theory states that humans learn and make decisions based on what is the
most logical thing to learn and do. In simpler terms, humans think like computers in such a
way that logic is the top mechanism used in learning. It presupposes that the learning
process is merely based on intellect, without any emotional factors.

Constructivist Theory
Constructivism, although unique, primarily stems from cognitive theory. If cognitive
theory believes that learning is a logical process without any emotion or humanistic factor,
constructivism believes that learning is a combination of logic and humanistic approaches.
For example, constructivism believes that individuals interpret information on their own,
integrating what is learned from others. This means that people learn together by
themselves in unison while viewing the habits of other people.

Cognitive Constructivism
Cognitive constructivism refers to the process that combines the logic of cognitive
behavior and the personal approach of constructivist behavior. In this process, the
individual uses logic to understand things, and couples it with a different learning style that
comes from a behavioral and humanistic factor. It also integrates developmental stages
into the theory of learning, meaning a person’s age and educational background are taken
into account when learning.

WOLFGANG KOHLER
 Insight learning does not involve gradual shaping or trial and
error. Instead, internal organizational processes occur that cause
new behavior.
 Wolfgang Kohler's most famous study on insight learning (1925)
involved Sultan the chimpanzee, who, Kohler argued, used
insight to learn a creative way of attaining fruit that was out of
reach.
 Contrary to strict theories of behaviorism, insight learning
suggests that we learn not only by conditioning, but also
by cognitive processes that cannot be directly observed. 
 In humans, insight learning occurs whenever the solution to
a problem suddenly appears, even if previously no progress was
being made.
 Insight should not be confused with heuristics. An insight is
realizing a new behavior to solve a problem, while a heuristic is a
mental shortcut to help process a large amount of information.
 HUMANISM
Abraham Maslow

 The American psychologist Abraham Maslow, considered one of the

leading architects of humanistic psychology, proposed a hierarchy of
needs or drives in order of decreasing priority or potency but increasing
sophistication: physiological needs, safety, belongingness and love,
esteem, and self-actualization. Only when the more primitive needs are
met can the individual progress to higher levels in the hierarchy. People
reaching self-actualization will have fully realized their potential.
 There are several important principles involved in the humanistic learning
theory that all lead to self-actualization. Self-actualization is when all your
needs are met, you’ve become the best you’ve can, and you are fulfilled.
While Maslow and the humanists don’t believe that most people reach
self-actualization, their belief is that we are always in search of it, and the
closer we are, the more we can learn.

Carl Rogers

Roger's theory of learning can be seen as an ID theory

as it prescribes a learning environment that focuses on
the following qualities in instruction; personal
 involvement, self-initiated projects, evaluated by learner, and pervasive effect of
instruction on the learner.

Erich Fromm
Philosophically speaking Erich Fromm starts with the
contention that, by his very nature man is curious, interactive,
and productive, as opposed to lazy, slothful, depraved and
sinful as some contend. And from an ethics perspective,
anything that cultivates and encourages this productive nature
is good, while anything that impedes or distorts this nature is
evil.

The term “productiveness” as used by Fromm* refers to a

specific way in which a person relates to himself, to others,
and to the world around him. It’s an orientation, a context in which human life has the
potential to become meaningful, consequential, and worth living.

Rollo May

Rollo May’s ideas about power to her classroom experience. This article
examines the five types of power as presented by May (exploitative,
manipulative, competitive, nutrient, and integrative power) in relation to
consciousness, freedom, destiny, and personal responsibility. May
asserted that the potentialities of each type of power reside in all of us, all
the time. Through conscious examination, we can discover the degree to
which we use them in various exchanges. This personal exploration
connected power to spontaneity, creativity, and ultimately transformation
of the self. In the end, a simple inquiry into power in the classroom may
crescendo to the broader and deeper scale of community, society, and
the world.