Module 7 ~ Behaviorism: Pavlov, Thomdike, Watson, Skinner 67 oS art Focus on Facilitating i Learning earning Unit 3.1 Behaviorist Perspective MID Behaviorism: Paviov, Thorndike, Watson, Skinner CANIS In this module, challenge yourself to: + explain the basic principles of behaviorism. + make a simple plan applying the primary laws of learning. + determine how to use rewards in the learning process more effectively. eT The theory of behaviorism focuses on the study of observable and measurable behavior. It emphasizes that behavior is mostly learned through conditioning and reinforcement (rewards and punishment). It does not give much attention to the mind, and the possibility of thought processes occur ring in the mind. Contributions in the development of the behaviorist theory largely came from Pavlov, Watson, Thorndike and Skinner. EVIE) Behaviorism jizer Classicial Conditioning Connectionism Operant Conditioning (Pavlov/Watson) (Thorndike) (Skinner) Primary Li rimary Laws rece] Taw of ( piles Shaping of eu Behavior Exercise Taw of ReadinessModule 7 — Behaviorism: Pavlov, Thorndike, Watson, Skinner 69 (ie Behaviorism fan Pavlov Ivan Pavlov, a Russian physiologist is well known for his work in classical conditioning or stimulus substitution, Pavlov’s most re- nowned 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 Paviov's Experiment Before conditioning, ringing the bell (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. Afier 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 cc [ No response {neutral stimulus) ‘Stage 2 - During conditioning Bell (neutral stimulus) Paired with Meat (uncon - Salivation (unconditioned stimulus) response) Bell (conditioned Salivation stimulus) (conditioned response) 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. Wan Pavlov 1849 - 1936TO Facnitanns Learns 1904 - 1990 Programmed instruction is 2 Geld frst studied extensively by the behaviors! 8 F Skinner consists ol sett leaching | wilh the aid of a textbook of leacting machine thal presents rmatenal shuctured in a logical sequence Programmed insttion allows students lo ansnet questions about a Unit of study at their own rate checking their own answers and advancing only after answering correct. et each slep, they are presented wih 2 queston fo test thelr comprenen- sion, then are immediately shown] {he correct answer ‘or given additonal inlormaton. This idea was later adapted by Robert M Gagné, who invented pro- ‘rammed tearing for use in teaching in schools “Wikipedia 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, sali tually cease in response t0 the bell . Spontaneous Recovery, Extinguished responses can be “recovered” after an elapsed time, but will soot tinguish again if the dog is not pre sented with food Discrimination, The dog could learn to discriminate between similar bells (stimuli) and discern which bell would sult in the presentation of food and which would not, Higher-Order Conditioning. Once the dog has been conditioned to as. sociate the bell with food, another unconditioned stimulus, such as a light may be Mashed at the same time that the bell is rung, Eventually the dog will salivate at the Mash of the | ht without the sound of the bell Edward L. Thorndike. Edward Thorndike’ Connectionism theory gave us the original S-R_ framework of behavioral psychology. More than a hundred years ago he wrote a text book entitled, Educational Psychol- ogy. He was the first one to use this term. He explained that leamn- ing is the result of associations forming between stimuli and responses. 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 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. ion will even. Thorndike’s theory on connectionism, stated 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 stated that a connection between a stimulus and response is strengthened when the conse- quence 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 reward, (punishment) did not necessarily weaken bonds, and that some seemingly pleasurable consequences do not necessarily motivate performance. Law of Exercise. 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.Module 7 - Behaviorism: Paviov, Thomdike, Watson, Skinner 74 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. 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 stu- dents 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 associations through conditioning. He believed in the power of conditioning so much that he said if he is given a dozen healthy infants he can make them into anything you want them to be, basically through making stimulus-response connec- tions 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 “unleam” fear by showing the rat without the loud noise. John 8. Watson 1078 - 195872 Facamanna Learns BF Skinner 4904 - 1990 vett- pend det puvue Surely, Watson’s research methods would be questioned today, nevertheless, his work did clearly show the role of conditioning in the development of emotional responses to certain stimuli. This may help tus understand the fears, phobias and prejudices that people develop, Burrhus Frederick Skinner. Like Pavlov, Watson and Thorndike, Skin. ner believed in the stimulus-response pattern of conditioned behavior His theory zeroed in only on changes in observable behavior, exclug. ing 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 func. tion in social institutions such as government, law, religion, economics and education. Skinner's work differs from that of the three hehaviorists before him, in that he studied operant behavior (voluntary behaviors used in operating on the environment). This. this theory came to be known as Operant Conditioning. Operant Conditioning is based upon the notion that learning is a result of change in overt hehabisr: Changes in behavior are the result of an individual's response to events (stimuli) that occur in the envi- ronment, A response produces a consequence such as defining a word, hitting a ball, or solving a math problem. When a particular Stimulus-Response (S-R) pattern is reinforced (rewarded), the indi- vidual 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 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 to have 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 in- creased 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 be 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 4 punishment is a consequence intended to result in reduce! responses. An example would be a student who always comes late i$Module 7 - Behaviorism: Pavlov, Thomdike, Watson, Skinner not allowed to join a group work that has already began (punishment) and 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 leams 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 come about when a series of steps are needed to be learned. 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 shoe lace. The child can be given reinforcement (rewards) until the entire process of tying the shoe lace is learned. Reinforcement Schedules. Once the desired behavioral Tesponse 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 (teinforcer) every 10 min- utes, 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 reinforce ment 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) afier it presses the bar 3 times, then after 10 times, then afier 4 times. So the bird will not be able 0 predict how many times it needs to press the bar before it gets food again, Variable interval and especially, variable ratio schedules pro- duce steadier and more persistent rates of response because thelearners cannot predict when the reinforcement will come althou, they know that they will eventually succeed. An example of this js why people continue to buy lotto tickets even when an almost negij. gible percentage of people actually win. While it is true that Very rarely is there a big winner, but once in a while somebody hits the jackpot (reinforcement), People cannot predict when the jackpot cap 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 second ary 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 thal 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 punishment that your former teacher used in class. Connect them with Skinner's Operant Conditioning. Can you now see why your teacher used them?