Republic of the Philippines

CENTRAL BICOL STATE UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE- PASACAO CAMPUS

Sta Rosa del Norte, Pasacao, Camarines Sur
Website: www.cbsua.edu.ph

Learning is the main focus in the field of education. In this chapter, we shall extend the discussion of
behavioral approaches to learning in greater detail.

Behaviorist  Behaviorism: Pavlov, Thorndike,

Skinner

Perspective Neo Behaviorism: Tolman and
Bandura

Upon finishing this module, the learner is expected to achieve the following outcomes:
a. explain the basic principles of behaviorism;
b. make a simple plan applying the primary laws of learning;AND
c. determine how to use rewards in the learning process more effectively.

PRE-COMPETENCY CHECKLIST

INSTRUCTION(S): Think of a teacher that’s most unforgettable to you in elementary or high school.


What kinds of rewards and punishments did she/he apply in your class? For what student behaviors
were the rewards and punishments for?
Student Behavior Reward/Punishment

1.

2.

3.

4.

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 Republic of the Philippines
CENTRAL BICOL STATE UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE- PASACAO CAMPUS
Sta Rosa del Norte, Pasacao, Camarines Sur
Website: www.cbsua.edu.ph

LEARNING RESOURCES

For further readings, you may refer to the following references:

 Luca, M.R. & Corpuz, B. (2014). Facilitating Learning: A Metacognitive Process (4 th Edition). Metro Manila,
Philippines. Lorimar Publishing Inc.

EXPLORE!

1. IVAN PAVLOV’s CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

Classical means " in the established manner". The concept of classical conditioning was developed
by a Russian physiologist, Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936). According to Papalia, Feldman, & Olds, they

“A type of learning which based on the association of a stimulus that does not
ordinarily elicit a particular response with another stimulus that elicit the response.”

- Papalia, Feldman, & Olds 2007

define the classical conditioning as:

The key element in classical conditioning is association. It means that if two stimuli repeatedly
experienced together, they will become associated. For example, if a student frequently encounters
unpleasant stimuli in English class such as unfriendly teachers, difficult questions, and a lot of
homework, he may learn to dislike English.

 Pavlov’s Experiment

Ivan Pavlov wanted to study the role of salivation indigestion. He measured how much saliva dogs
produce when given meat after a few days in the experiment; Pavlov noticed that the dogs in his
laboratory started salivating when the lab attendant entered the room with the meat dish before meat
was placed in their mouth.
This aroused Pavlov's curiosity and he pursued the issue with more experiments. For example, he
sounded a bell just before presenting his dogs with food. After hearing the bell many times right before
getting fed, the dogs began to salivate as soon as the bell rang. In other word, the dogs had been
conditioned to salivate in response to a new stimulus (the bell) that normally would not produce
salivation. The dogs had learned to associate the bell with food.

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 Republic of the Philippines
CENTRAL BICOL STATE UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE- PASACAO CAMPUS
Sta Rosa del Norte, Pasacao, Camarines Sur
Website: www.cbsua.edu.ph

 Types of Stimulus and Response

A stimulus is an observable environmental event that has a potential to exert control over a
behavioral response. A response is an over behavior by a learner. Put it in a simpler way, a stimulus
is anything that can directly influence behavior and the stimulus produces a response.

Classical Conditioning

Stimulus Response

Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) Unconditioned response (UCR)

• This is a stimulus that can produce • This is the unlearned or inborn
the response without any learning. reaction to the unconditioned
• Example: Meat. stimulus.
• Example: Salivation.

Conditioned response (CR)

Conditioned stimulus (CS)
• Conditioned stimulus acquired the
ability to produce the response
because it was paired (associated)
with the unconditioned stimulus.
• Example: Bell.
• When a response is produced by
the conditioned stimulus, it is
referred to as the conditioned
response.
• Example: Salivation.

Let us understand the meaning of this stimulus and response as well as the steps in the process of
classical conditioning.

Step 1. Before Conditioning

Before conditioning, the bell is a neutral stimulus. Neutral stimulus (NS) is a stimulus (NS) is a stimulus
that, before conditioning, does not naturally bring about the response of interest (Fedman 2005)

However, an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) can produce an unconditioned response (UCR)

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 Republic of the Philippines
CENTRAL BICOL STATE UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE- PASACAO CAMPUS
Sta Rosa del Norte, Pasacao, Camarines Sur
Website: www.cbsua.edu.ph

However, an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) can produce an unconditioned response (UCR).

Step 2. During Conditioning

During the conditioning procedure, the neutral stimulus (NS) is presented. It is immediately followed by the
unconditioned stimulus (UCS) to produce unconditioned response.

Step 3. After Conditioning

After classical conditioning procedures, the neutral stimulus (NS) becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS). It
alone can produce salivation. At this point, the production of salivation is known as the conditioned
response (CR)

 Pavlov also had the following findings:

Stimulus Generalization. Once the dog has learned to salivate at the sound of the bell, it will salivate at
other similar sounds.

Extinction. If you stop pairing the bell with the food, salivation will 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.

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 Republic of the Philippines
CENTRAL BICOL STATE UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE- PASACAO CAMPUS
Sta Rosa del Norte, Pasacao, Camarines Sur
Website: www.cbsua.edu.ph

2. JOHN WATSON

He was the first American psychologist to work with Pavlov’s ideas. He 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 wa also afraid of small
animals. Watson then “extinguished” or made the child “unlearn” fear by showing the rat without the loud
noise.

3. EDWARD L. THORNDIKE’S CONNECTIONISM THEORY

Three Primary Laws:

1. 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.

2. Law of Exercise- This tells us that the more an S-R (Stimulus response) bond id practiced the
stronger it will become. "Practice makes perfect" seem to be associated with this.

3. 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.

Principles Derived from Thorndike's Connection:

1. Learning requires both practice and rewards

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.

4. BURRHUS F. SKINNER’s OPERANT CONDITIONING

Skinner is regarded as the father of Operant Conditioning. Behavior which is reinforced tends to
-be repeated (i.e. strengthened); behavior which is not reinforced tends to die out-or be extinguished
(i.e. weakened) Operant or instrumental conditioning is a form of learning in which the
consequences of behavior lead to changes in the probability that the behavior will occur.

Types of Reinforcement and Punishment

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 Republic of the Philippines
CENTRAL BICOL STATE UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE- PASACAO CAMPUS
Sta Rosa del Norte, Pasacao, Camarines Sur
Website: www.cbsua.edu.ph

Reinforcement is a consequence that increases the probability that a behavior will occur. On the
other hand, punishment is a consequence that decreases the probability a behavior will occur Put it

another way, reinforcement will strengthen a behavior while punishment will weaken a behavior.
There are 2 forms of reinforcement and punishment as shown below

Take note that when something is added or presented, the process of learning is called positive and
when something is removed or taken away, the process of learning is called negative.

Schedule of Reinforcement

Reinforces are more effective when they are given as soon as possible after a student performs
the target behavior. The schedule will determine when a behavior will be reinforced. The 4 types of
schedule of reinforcement are presented in the following.

Fixed-ratio schedule • A behavior is reinforced after a set number of responses have occurred. •
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 Republic of the Philippines
CENTRAL BICOL STATE UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE- PASACAO CAMPUS
Sta Rosa del Norte, Pasacao, Camarines Sur
Website: www.cbsua.edu.ph

Variable-ratio schedule
Fixed-interval schedule
Variable-interval
schedule
For example: A student may be given a bar of Kit Kat chocolate for every ten
mathematical problems solved.
On a variable-ratio schedule, the number of responses needed to gain
Variable-ratio the reinforcement is not constant.
• For example: Rewards could be given after 3, 5, 9, and 15 mathematical
problems solved.
• On a fixed-ratio schedule, a behavior is reinforced after a set number of
responses have occurred.
• For example: A student may be given a bar of Kit Kat chocolate for every ten
mathematical problems solved
• A behavior will be reinforced after a certain period of time. No matter how
often it occurs, the behavior will not be reinforced until the time is up. • For
example: Students are given a quiz every Wednesday.
Also based on time passing but the time period keep changing.
• For example: Students are given pop quizzes.

Implications of Operant Conditioning. These implications are give4 f9r programmed instruction.
1. Practice should take the form of question (stimulus) - answer (response) frames which expose the
student to the subject ill 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.

Neo Behaviorism
5. TOLMAN’S 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.

• Tolman's 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 signrficate)
through series of pairings: there was no need for reinforcement in order to establish learning

Tolman's Key Concepts

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 Republic of the Philippines
CENTRAL BICOL STATE UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE- PASACAO CAMPUS
Sta Rosa del Norte, Pasacao, Camarines Sur
Website: www.cbsua.edu.ph

• Learning is always purposive and goal-directed

Individuals act on beliefs, attitudes, changing conditions, and they stnve 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.

• The concept of intervening variable

Learning is mediated or is influenced by expectations, perceptions, representations, needs and other
internal or environmental variables.

• Reinforcement not essential for learning.

Tolman concluded that reinforcement is not essential for learning although it provides an incentive for
performance.

6. BANDURA’S SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

Both behaviorism and social learning theory agree that experience is an important cause of
learning. They also include the concepts of reinforcement and punishment in their explanation of

behavior. Furthermore, they agree that feedback is important in promoting learning (Egged and
Kaucak, 2007).

Observational Learning

Most of the principles of the social learning theory were developed by Bandura. Social learning
theory believes that students learn by observing or watching and imitating other people. This process
is called modelling or observational learning. Concentrates on the power of example.
One of the most important examples is the effect of watching violent media has on aggressive
behavior.
The newer version of social learning theory is called the social cognitive theory. The changes, due
to a greater emphasis on cognitive processes in learning.

According to Bandura;

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.

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 Republic of the Philippines
CENTRAL BICOL STATE UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE- PASACAO CAMPUS
Sta Rosa del Norte, Pasacao, Camarines Sur
Website: www.cbsua.edu.ph

There are 4 processes involved in observational learning. These include attention, retention,
production, and motivation:

Process 1- Attention
Before students can imitate a model's behavior, they must pay attention to what the model is doing
or saying. For example, seeing a teacher writing from the same perspective as the student see their
own makes observational learning easier.

Process 2- Retention
To produce a model's action, students must be able to store the model's action in their memory for
future retrieval. Students' retention will be improved when a teacher gives vivid, logical, and clear
demonstrations.

Process 3- Production
To attending and remembering, students must be physically capable of reproducing the model's

“Observational learning is so common and so powerful”

- Hinrichs, 2004

action. Here, the students need a lot of practice, feedback, and coaching before they can reproduce
the model's action.

Process 4 - Motivation
The students must be motivated to demonstrate the model's action. Reinforcement can be used to
encourage observational learning. For example, a teacher can use direct reinforcement such as
saying "Good work!" Alternatively, a teacher may want to use vicarious reinforcement. In this case, a
student may simply see other students being reinforced for a particular behavior and then he
increases his own production of that behavior.

Reciprocal Determination Model

Bandura developed a reciprocal determination model that comprises 3 factors. The factors are
behavior, person, and environment,

Behavior, environment and person factors interact to influence learning. They influence and are
influenced by each other. For example, a teacher's feedback (environment) can lead students to set

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 Republic of the Philippines
CENTRAL BICOL STATE UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE- PASACAO CAMPUS
Sta Rosa del Norte, Pasacao, Camarines Sur
Website: www.cbsua.edu.ph

higher goals (person/cognitive) and these goals will motivate students to put more efforts (behavior)
in their studies.
DISCUSSION BOARD

From this module on Behaviorism: Pavlov, Thorndike, Skinner, Tolman and Bandura I realized that

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 Republic of the Philippines
CENTRAL BICOL STATE UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE- PASACAO CAMPUS
Sta Rosa del Norte, Pasacao, Camarines Sur
Website: www.cbsua.edu.ph

POST-COMPETENCY CHECKLIST

We will now try to interact with each other in a two-way process in the least possible way! I will post a
question/s and try to answer it on your own.
1. Explain the basic principles of behaviorism and neo behaviorism.

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 Republic of the Philippines
CENTRAL BICOL STATE UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE- PASACAO CAMPUS
Sta Rosa del Norte, Pasacao, Camarines Sur
Website: www.cbsua.edu.ph

2. Make a simple plan applying the principles of learning.

3. Give at least one teaching application of each theory.

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