g Module 7 - Behaviorism: Paviov, Thorndike, Watson, Skinner 841 Behaviorism ___lvan Pavlov Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist, is well known for his work in classical conditioning or stimulus substitution. Pavlov’s most renowned experiment involved meat, a dog and a bell. Initially, > Pavlov was measuring the dog’s salivation in order to study = digestion. This is when he stumbled upon classical conditioning. ; i , nan Pavor Pavlov’s Experiment. Before conditioning, ringing the bell {saya (neutral stimulus) caused no response from the dog. Placing food (unconditioned stimulus) in front of the dog initiated salivation (unconditioned response). During conditioning, the bell was rung a few seconds before the dog was presented with food. After conditioning, the ringing of the bell (conditioned stimulus) alone produced salivation (conditioned response). This is classical conditioning. See illustration below: Stage 1 - Before conditioning Bell (neutral stimulus) => Stage 2 - During conditioning Bell (neutral stimulus) Paired with Meat (unconditioned Salivation (unconditioned stimulus) response) Stage 3 - After conditioning Bell (conditioned Salivation (conditioned response) stimulus) Classical Conditioning Somehow you were conditioned to associate particular objects with your teacher. So at present, when you encounter the objects, you are also reminded of your teacher. This is an example of classical conditioning2 FACILITATING LEARNER-CENTERED TEACHING Pavlov also had the following findings: t Edward Lee Thomdike 4874-1949 ation. Once the dog has learned to salivate at the Stimulus Generali: ate at other similar sounds. sound of the bell, it will salivs Extinction. If you stop pairing the bell with the food, sal 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. Higher-Order Conditioning. Once the dog has been conditioned to associate the bell with food, another unconditioned stimulus, such as a light may be flashed at the same time that the bell is rung. Eventually, the dog will salivate at the flash of the light without the sound of the bell. 5 Edward L. Thorndike. Edward Thorndike’s Connectionism theory gave us the original S-R framework of behavioral psychology. More than a hundred years ago he wrote a text book entitled, SB educational Psychology. He was the first one to use this term. He explained that learning is the result of associations forming between stimuli (S) and responses (R). Such associations or “habits” become strengthened or weakened by the nature and frequency of the S-R pairings. The model for S-R theory was trial and error learning in which certain responses came to be repeated more than others because of rewards. The main principle of connectionism (like all behavioral theory) was that learning could be adequately explained without considering any unobservable internal states. Thorndike’s theory on connectionism, states 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 Effect. The law of effect states that a connection between a stimulus and response is strengthened when the consequence is positive (reward) and the connection between the stimulus and the response is weakened when the consequence is negative. Thorndike later on, revised this “law” when he found that negative rewards (punishment) do not necessarily weaken bonds, and that some seemingly pleasurable consequences do not necessarily motivate performance. Law of Exercise. This tells us that the more an S-R (stimulus- response) bond is practiced the stronger it will become. “Practice makes perfect” seem to be associated with this. However, like the law of effect, the law of exercise also had to be revised when Thorndike found that practice without feedback does not necessarily enhance performance. jivation willModule 7 - Behaviorism: Pavlov, Thorndike, Watson, Skinner 83 Law of Readiness. This states that the 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. For example, if the teacher says, “Okay we will now watch the movie (stimulus) you've been waiting for.” And suddenly the power goes off. The students will feel frustrated because they were ready to respond to the stimulus but was prevented from doing so. Likewise, if the person is not at all ready to respond to a stimuli and is asked to respond, that also becomes annoying. For instance, the teacher calls a student to stand up and recite, and then the teacher asks the question and expects the student to respond right away when he is still not ready. This will be annoying to the student. That is why teachers should remember to say the question first, and wait for a few seconds before calling on anyone to answer. 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. John Watson. John B. Watson was the first American psychologist to work with Pavlov’s ideas. He too was initially involved in animal studies, then later became involved in human behavior research. : He considered that humans are born with a few reflexes and the emotional reactions of love and rage. All other behavior is learned through stimulus-response ——sejn 8, Watson associations through’ conditioning. He believed in the power 1878 - 1958 of conditioning so much that he said that ifthe is given a dozen healthy infants he can make them into anything you want them to be, basically through making stimulus-response connections through conditioning. Experiment on Albert. Watson applied classical conditioning in his experiment concerning Albert, a young child and a white rat. In the beginning, Albert was not afraid of the rat; but Watson made a sudden loud noise each time Albert touched the rat. Because Albert was frightened by the loud noise, he soon became conditioned to fear and avoid the rat, Later, the child’s response was generalized to other small animals. Now, he was also afraid of small animals. Watson then “extinguished” or made the child “unlearn” fear by showing the rat without the loud noise. :FACILITATING LEARNER-CENTERED TEACHING Surely, Watson’s research methods would be questioned toda} nevertheless, his work did clearly show the role of conditioning in the development of emotional responses to certain stimuli. This may help us understand the fears, phobias and prejudices that people develop. 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. Skinner’s 1948 book, Walden Two, is about a utopian society based on operant conditioning. He also wrote, Science and Human Behavior, (1953) in which he pointed out how the principles of operant conditioning function in social institutions such as government, law, religion, economics and education. Skinner's work differs fro him in that he studied operant behavior operating on the environment). Thus, his theory Operant Conditioning. Operant Conditioning is based upon the notion that learning ‘ult of change in overt behavior. Changes in behavior are (stimuli) that occur BF Stemner 1904 - 1990 m that of the three behaviorists before (voluntary behaviors used in came to be known as is a resi the result of an individual’s response to events in the environment. A response produces a consequence such as defining a word, hitting a ball, or solving a math problem. When @ particular Stimulus-Response (S-R) pattern is reinforced (rewarded), the individual is conditioned to respond. Reinforcement is the key element in Skinner’s S-R theory. A reinforcer is anything that strengthens the desired response. There is a positive reinforcer and and a negative reinforcer. ) A positive reinforcer is any stimulus that is given or added to increase the response. An example of positive reinforcement is when a teacher promises extra time in the play area to children who behave well during the lesson. Another is a mother who promises a new cell phone for her son who gets good grades. Still, other examples include verbal praises, star stamps and stickers. ‘A negative reinforcer is any stimulus that results in the increased frequency of a response when it is withdrawn or removed. ‘A negative reinforcer is not a punishment, in fact it is a reward. For instance, a teacher announces that a student who gets an average grade of 1.5 for the two grading periods will no longer take the final examination. The negative reinforcer is “removing” the final exam, which we realize is a form of reward for working hard and getting an average grade of 1,5. A negative reinforcer is different from a punishment because # punishment is a consequence intended to result in reduced responses ‘An example would be a student who always comes late is not allowed to join a group work that has already began (puhishment) and, |Module 7 — Behaviorism: Pavlov, Thorndike, Watson, Skinner therefore, loses points for that activity. The punishment was done to reduce the response of repeatedly coming to class late. Skinner also looked into extinction or non-reinforcement: Responses that are not reinforced are not likely to be repeated. For example, ignoring a student’s misbehavior may extinguish that behavior. Shaping of Behavior. An animal on a cage may take a very long time to figure out that pressing a lever will produce food. To accomplish such behavior, successive approximations of the behavior are rewarded until the animal learns the association between the lever and the food reward. To begin shaping, the animal may be rewarded for simply turning in the direction of the lever, then for moving toward the lever, for brushing against the lever, and finally for pressing the lever. Behavioral chaining comes about when a series of steps are needed to be leamed. The animal would master each step in sequence until the entire sequence is learned. This can be applied to a child being taught to tie a shoelace. The child can be given reinforcement (rewards) until the entire process of tying the shoelace is leamed. Reinforcement Schedules. Once 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 schedules. Partial reinforcement schedules include interval schedules and ratio schedules. Fixed Interval Schedules. The target response is reinforced after a fixed amount of time has passed since the last reinforcement. Example, the bird in a cage is given food (reinforcer) every 10 minutes, regardless of how many times it presses the bar. Variable Interval Schedules. This 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. Fixed Ratio Schedules. A fixed number of correct responses must occur before reinforcement may recur. Example, the bird will be given food (reinforcer) everytime it presses the bar 5 times. Variable Ratio Schedules. The number of correct repetitions of the correct response for reinforcement varies. Example, the bird is given food (reinforcer) after it presses the bar 3 times, then after 10 times, then after 4 times. So the bird will not be able to predict how many times it needs to press the bar before it gets food again. Variable interval and especially, variable ratio schedules produce steadier and more persistent rates of response becauseFACILITATING LEARNER-CENTERED TEACHING the learners cannot predict when the reinforcement will come although they know that they will eventually succeed. An example of this is why people continue to buy lotto tickets even when an almost negligible percentage of people actually win. While it is true that very rarely there is a big winner, but once in a while somebody hits the jackpot (reinforcement). People cannot predict when the jackpot can be gotten (variable interval) so they continue to buy tickets | (repetition of response). Implications of Operant Conditioning. These implications are given for programmed instruction. 1. Practice should take the form of question (stimulus) - answer (response) frames which expose the student to the subject in gradual steps. 2. Require that the learner makes a response for every frame and receives immediate feedback. 3. Try to arrange the difficulty of the questions so the response is always correct and hence, a positive reinforcement. 4. Ensure that good performance in the lesson is paired with secondary reinforcers such as verbal praise, prizes and good grades. Principles Derived from Skinner’s Operant Conditioning: 1. Behavior that is positively reinforced will reoccur; intermittent reinforcement is particularly effective. 2. Information should be presented in small amounts so that responses can be reinforced (“shaping”). 3. Reinforcements will generalize across similar stimuli (“stimulus generalization”) producing secondary conditioning. Looking back at the activity at the beginning, try to look into the rewards and punishments that your former teacher used in class. Connect them with Skinner’s Operant Conditioning. Can you now see why your teacher used them?