(EE Neo Behaviorism: Tolman and Bandura eiiamn In this Module, challenge yourself to attain the following learning outcomes: * explain Tolman’s purposive behaviorism. * explain Bandura’s social learning theory. i + give specific applications of each theory in teaching. TERS) With new researches, explanations provided by the basic principles of behaviorism appeared not to satisfy all learning scenarios. New theories came into view which maintained some of the behaviorist concepts but excluded others, and added new ideas which later came to be associated with the cognitive views of learning. The neo-behaviorists, then, were a transitional group, bridging the gap between behaviorism and cognitive theories of learning. Bandura Tolman’s : 7 Social-Learning Theory Principles } Goal-Directedness rinciple: Modelin ] Cognitive Maps g Four Conditions Latent Learning } For Effective Modeling Intervening VariablesSEED = Tolman’s Purposive Behaviorism |. Solve maze A. Enter on the left side and exit at the top. ide xit at the top. Solve maze B. Enter on the top and exit on the left side. Maze A Maze B 1. How did you solve Maze A? What strategy did you use? (trial and error, examined the maze before proceeding with your pén, etc) : vi Rie a ots mS “at a A Ae a ne 2. Was it easier to solve maze B? Why? Usually, people who worked on the maze activity which you just did would say they found the second maze easier. This is because they saw that the two mazes were identical, except that the entrance and exit points were reversed. Their experience in doing maze A helped them answer Maze B @ lot easier. People create mental maps of things they perceived. These mental maps help them respond to other things or tasks later, especially if they see . the similarity. You may begin to respond with trial and error (behavioristic), but later on your response becomes more internally driven (cognitive perspective). This is what neobehaviorism is about. It has aspects of behaviorism but it also reaches out to the cognitive perspective. There are two theories reflecting neobehaviorism that stands out. Edward Tolman’s Purposive Behaviorism and Albert Bandura’s SocialOCARS © < NEO BENEVIONEM: TONNEN ENG HS Learning Theory. Both theories are influenced by behaviorism (which is focused on external elements in learning), but their principles seem to also be reflective of the cognitive perspective (focused on more internal elements). Tolman's Purposive Behaviorism Purposive behaviorism has also been referred to as Sign Learning Theory and is often seen as the link between behaviorism and cognitive theory. Tolman’s theory was founded on two psychological views: those of the Gestalt psychologists and those of John Watson, the behaviorist. 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 stated in his sign theory that an organism learns by pursuing signs to a goal, i.e., learning is acquired through meaningful behavior. He stressed the organized aspect of learning: “The stimuli which are allowed in are not connected by just simple one-to-one switches to the outgoing responses. Rather the incoming impulses are usually worked over and elaborated in the central control room into a tentative cognitive-like map of the environment. And it is this tentative map, indicating routes and paths and environmental relationships, which finally determines what responses, if any, the animal will finally make.” Tolman’s ‘orm of behaviorism stressed the relationships between stimuli rather than stimulus-response. Tolman said that a new stimulus (the sign) brownies associated with already meaningful stimulus (the significate) through a series of pairings; there is no need for reinforcement in order to establish earning. In your maze activity, the new stimulus or “sign” (maze B) became associated with already meaningful stimuli, the significate (maze A). So you may have connected the two stimuli, maze A and maze B; and used your knowledge and experience. in maze A to learn to respond to maze B. Tolman’s Key Concepts Learning is always purposive and goal-directed. Tolman asserted that learning is always purposive and goal-directed. He held the notion that an organism acted or responded for some adaptive purpose. He believed individuals do more than merely respond to stimuli; they act on beliefs, attitudes, changing conditions, and they strive toward goals. Tolman saw behavior as holistic, purposive and cognitive. Cognitive maps in rats. In his most famous experiment, one group of rats was placed at random starting locations in a maze but the food was always in the same location, Another group of rats had the food placed in different locations which always required exactly the same pattern of turns from their starting location. The group that had the food in the same location performed much better than the other group, supposedly demonstrating that they had learned the location rather than a specific sequence of turns. This is tendency to “learn location” signified that rats somehow formed cognitive maps that help them perform well on the maze. He also found out that organisms will select the shortest or easiest path to achieve a goal. Applied in human learning, since a student passes by the same route going to school everyday, he acquires a cognitive map of the location of hisschool. So when transportation re-routing is done, he can still figure out what turns to make to get to school the shortest or easiest way. Latent Learning. Latent learning is a kind of learning that remains o; stays with the individual until needed. It is learning that is not outwardly manifested at once. According to Tolman it can exist even without reinforcement. He demonstrated this in his rat experiments wherein rats apparently “leamed the maze” by forming cognitive maps of the maze, but manifested this knowledge of the maze only when they needed to. Applied in human learning, a two-year old always sees her dad operate the tv. remote control and observes how the tv. is tumed on or how channel is changed, and volume adjusted. After sometime, the parents are surprised that on the first time that their daughter holds the remote control, she already knows which buttons to press for what function. Through latent learning, the child knew the skills beforehand, even though she has never done them before. The concept of intervening variable. Intervening variables are variables that are not readily seen but serve as determinants of behavior, Tolman believed that learning is mediated or is influenced by expectations, perceptions, representations, needs and other internal or environmental variables. Example, in his experiments with rats he found out that hunger was an intervening variable. Reinforcement not essential for learning. Tolman concluded that reinforcement is not essential for learning, although it provides an incentive for performance. In his studies, he observed that a rat was able to acquire knowledge of the way through a maze, ie., to develop a cognitive map, even in the absence of reinforcement. @Sem Bandura’s Social Learning Theory 1. Read the following news article. 10-Year-Old Boy in Texas Hangs Himself After Watching Saddam Execution The Associated Press HOUSTON Jan 4, 2007 (AP) Police and family members said a 10-year-old boy who died by hanging himself from a bunk bed was apparently mimicking the execution of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, Sergio Pelico was found dead Sunday in his apartment bedroom in the Houston-area city of Webster, said Webster police Lt. Tom Claunch. Pelico’s mother told police he had previously watched @ news report on Saddam's death “It appears to be accidental,” Claunch said. “Our gut reaction is that he was experimenting.” An autopsy of the fifth-grader’s body was pending. Julio Gustavo, Sergio’s uncle, said the boy was a happy and curious child. He said Sergio had watched TV news with another uncle on Saturday and asked the uncle about Saddam's death,pe ie a him it was because Saddam was reat 04d, és yo said. “He (Sergio) said, ‘OK.’ And that was i " & race ee Sara Pelico DeLeon, was at work Sunday while a a ind other children were under the care of an uncle, Gustavo sai 7 ne of the children found Sergio’ body in his bedroom. fi a ee the boy had tied a slipknot around his neck while on a unk bed. Police investigators learned that Sergio had been upset al out not getting a Christmas gift from his father, but they don't believe the boy intentionally killed himself. ! ae psychologist Edward Bischof of California said children of Sergio'’s age mimic risky behaviors they see on TV such as wrestling or extreme sports without realizing the dangers. He said TV appeared to be the stimulant in Sergio’s case. “1 would think maybe this kid is trying some! fun to act out without having the emotional and ‘maturity to think the thing through before he acts on ig? said. Family members held a memorial for the boy Wednesday in the apartment complex activity center: Gustavo said the family is trying to put together enough money to send Sergio’ body to Guatemala for burial. ” Gustavo said of Saddam's “T don't think he thought it was real,” hanging. “They showed them putting the noose around his neck and everything. Why-show that on TV?” (retrieved from wwwabenews.g0.com) thing that he thinks psychological ” Bischof eo7umep Bandura’s Social Learning Theory 1. What do authorities say might be the reason why Sergio hanged ee ee Give this reason? What facts made them 2. Comment on the opinion of the e effect of television on the behavior of you think is th ; college)? Cite specific examples. 3, What do ple (preschool t young peo ee ere = a names ee anes ree44 Abstraction Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory Social learning theory focuses on the leaming that occurs within a sociaj context. It considers that people learn from one another, including such concepts as observational learning, imitation and modeling. The ten-year old boy Sergio Pelico did watch Saddam’s execution on TV and then must have imitated it. Among others, Albert Bandura is considered the leading proponent of this theory. General principles of social learning theory 1, People can learn by observing the behavior of others ard the outcomes of those behaviors. 2. Learning can occur without a change in behavior. Behaviorists say that learning has to be represented by a permanent change in behavior, in contrast social learning theorists say that because people can leam through observation alone, their learning may not necessarily be shown in their performance. Learning may or may not result in a behavior change. 3. Cognition plays a role in learning. Over the last 30 years, social learning theory has become increasingly cognitive in its interpretation of human learning. Awareness and expectations of future reinforcements or punishments can have a major effect on the behaviors that people exhibit. 4. Social learning theory can be considered a bridge or a transition between behaviorist learning theories and cognitive learning theories. How the environment reinforces and punishes modeling People are often reinforced for modeling the behavior of others, Bandura suggested that the environment also reinforces modeling. This is in several possible ways: 1. The observer is reinforced by the model. For example a student who changes dress to fit in with a certain group of students has a strong likelihood of being accepted and thus reinforced by that group. The observer is reinforced by a third person. The observer might be modeling the actions of someone else, for example, an outstanding class leader or student. The teacher notices this and compliments and Praises the observer for modeling such behavior thus reinforcing that behavior. 3. The imitated behavior itself le: behaviors that we learn from results. For example, ads to reinforcing consequences, Many others produce satisfying or reinforcing a student in my multimedia class could observ¢ how the extra work a classmate does is fun. This student in turt would do the same extra work and also experience enjoyment.4, Consequences of the model’s behavior affect the observer’s behavior Contemporary social learnin: punishment i. Cognitive factors in social learning Social learning theory has cognitive factors as well as behaviorist factors . Reinforcement and punishment influence the extent to which an .. The expectation of reinforcement influences cognitive processes that _ Leaming without performance: Bandura makes a distinction between . Cognitive processing during leaming: Social learning theorists contend . Expectations: As a result of being reinforced, people form expectations . Reciprocal cat |. Modeling: There are different types of models. There is the live Vieariously. This is known as vicarious reinforcement, This is where the model is reinforced for a response and then the observer shows an inerease in that same response, Bandura illustrated this by having students watch a film of a model hitting an inflated clown doll. One group of children saw the model being praised for such action. ete being reinforced, the group of children began to also hit the 9 perspective of reinforcement and Contemporary theory proposes that both reitiforcement and punishment have indirect effects on learning. They are not the sole or main cause. individual exhibits a behavior that has been learned. promote learning. Therefore, attention pays a critical role in learning, and attention is influenced by the expectation of reinforcement. An example would be, when the teacher tells a group of students that what they will study next is not on the test. Students will not pay attention because they do not expect to know the information for a test. (actually operant factors). learning through observation and the actual imitation of what has been learned. This is similar to Tolman’s latent learning. that attention is a critical factor in learning. about the consequences that future behaviors are likely to bring. They expect certain behaviors to bring reinforcements and others to bring punishment. The leamer needs to be aware, however, of the response reinforcements and response punishment. Reinforcement increases a response only when the leamer is aware of that connection. sation: Bandura proposed that behavior can influence both the environment and the person. In fact each of these three variables, the person, the behavior, and the environment can have an influence on each other. model, an actual person demonstrating the behavior. There can also reodeh bolic model, which can be & person or action portrayed insome other medium, such as television, videotape, computer programs. Behaviors that can be learned through modeling Many behaviors can be learned, at least partly, through modeling. Examples that can be cited are, students can watch parents read, students can watch the demonstrations of mathematics problems, or see someone act bravely in a fearful situation, Aggression can be learned through models, Research indicates 'that children become more aggressive when they observed aggressive or violent models. Moral thinking and moral behavior are influenced by observation and modeling, This includes moral judgments regarding right and wrong which can, in part, develop through modeling. Conditions necessary for effective modeling to occur Bandura mentions four conditions that are necessary before an individual can successfully model the behavior of someone else: 1. % Attention — The person must first pay attention to the model. Retention — The observer must be able to remember the behavior that has been observed. One way of increasing this is using the technique of rehearsal. . Motor reproduction — The third condition is the ability to replicate the behavior that the model has just demonstrated. This means that the observer has to be able to replicate the action, which could be a problem with a learner who is not ready developmentally to replicate the action. For example, little children have difficulty doing complex physical motion. . Motivation — The final necessary ingredient for modeling to occur is motivation. Learners must want to demonstrate what they have learned. Remember that since these four conditions vary among individuals, different people will reproduce the same behavior differently. Effects of modeling on behavior: 1 2 Modeling teaches new behaviors, Modeling influences the frequency of previously learned behaviors. . Modeling may encourage previously forbidden behaviors. . Modeling increases the frequency of similar behaviors. For example a student might see a friend excel in basketball and he tries to excel in football because he is not tall for he tres to not tall enoughEducational implications of social learning theory Social learning theory has numerous implications for classroom use. 1, Students often learn a great deal simply by observing other people. 2. Describing the consequences of behavior can effectively increase the appropriate behaviors and decrease inappropriate ones. This can involve discussing with learners about the rewards and consequences of various behaviors. 3. Modeling provides an alternative to shaping for teaching new behaviors. Instead of using shaping, which is operant conditioning, modeling can provide a faster, more efficient means for teaching new behavior. To promote effective modeling, a teacher must make sure that the four essential conditions exist; attention, retention, motor reproduction, and motivation. 4, Teachers and parents must model appropriate behaviors and take care that they do not model inappropriate behaviors. 5. Teachers should expose students to a variety of other models. This technique is especially important to break down traditional stereotypes. (© someesrmmmms 1, How are Tolman’s Purposive Behaviorism and Bandura’s Social Learning theory able to bridge behaviorism and cognitive theory? 2. Read this article about Bandura’s views about television and violence, Albert Bandura Lecture—Bing Distinguished Lecture Series “The Power of Social Modeling: The Effects of Television Violence” by Christine Van De Velde (at http://www.stanford.edu/dept/ bingschool/rsrchart/bandura.htm). Make a reaction paper.