EFP 100

Human Learning , Cognition & Motivation

What influences your
Behaviour?
• Lets take an intimate look at behaviourist Perspective
 Behaviourism

• The theory of behaviourism

focuses on the study of observable
and measurable behaviour.
• It emphasizes that behaviour 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 occurring in the
mind.
• Contributions in the development
of the behaviourist theory largely
came from Pavlov, Watson,
Thorndike and Skinner.
 Behaviorism

Classical Conditioning Connectionis Operant

(Pavlov/Watson) m Conditioning
(Thorndike) (Skinner)

Primary Reinforcement
Laws

Law of Law of Shaping of

Effect Exercise Behaviour

Law of
Readines
s
Ivan
Pavlov
(1849- •known
A Russian physiologist, well
1936) 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.
 Pavlov’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.

• After conditioning, the ringing of the bell

(conditioned response).
• 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.
Edward Lee Thorndike
(1874-1949)
•psychology
An American psychologist, who was famous in
for his work on learning theory that
lead to the development of operant
conditioning within behaviorism.
•His Connectionism theory gave us the original
S-R framework of behavioral psychology.
•He wrote a text book entitled, 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).
 Thorndike’s
Theory on
Connectionism

Learning has
taken place
when a strong
connection or
bond between
stimulus and
response is
formed.
The 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.
 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.
 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 B. Watson
(1878-1958)
•psychologist
He was the first American
to work with Pavlov’s
ideas.
•He coined the “behaviourism” term
•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.
Experimen
t on Albert

Watson applied classical conditioning in his

experiment concerning Albert, a young
child and a white rat.
Burrhus
Frederick
Skinner
(1904-1990)
• An American psychologist, who is best
known for developing the theory of
behaviorism.
• 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 work differs from that of the three
behaviorists before him in that he studied
operant behavior (voluntary behaviors used
in operating on the environment).
• Thus, his theory came to be known as
Operant Conditioning.
 Operant
Conditioning

• Itlearning
is based upon the notion that
is a result of change in overt
behavior.
• Changes in behavior are the result of
an individual’s response to events
(stimuli) that occur in the
environment.
• 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 individual is conditioned to
respond.
•Skinner’s
Reinforcement is the key element in
S-R theory. It is a consequence
that will strengthen an organism's future
behavior whenever that behavior is
preceded by a specific antecedent
stimulus.
•Reinforcer is anything that strengthens
the desired response. There is a positive
reinforcer and a negative reinforcer.
•Positive reinforcer is any stimulus that is
given or added to increase the response.
•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.
• Punishment is a consequence intended to
result in reduced responses.

• Extinction or non-reinforcement are

responses that are not reinforced are not likely
to be repeated. It is the disappearance of a
previously learned behavior when the
behavior is not reinforced.

• Shaping of Behavior is a conditioning

paradigm used primarily in the experimental
analysis of behavior. The method used is
differential reinforcement of successive
approximations.

• Behavioral chaining it involves reinforcing

individual responses occurring in a sequence
to form a complex behavior. It comes about
when a series of steps are needed to be
learned.
• Reinforcement Schedules once the desired behavioral
response is accomplished, reinforcement does not
have to be 100%.

• Fixed Interval Schedules the target response is

reinforced after a fixed amount of time has passed
since the last reinforcement.

• Variable Interval Schedules this is similar to fixed

interval schedules but the amount of time that must
pass between reinforcement varies.

• Fixed Ratio Schedules a fixed number of correct

responses must occur before reinforcement may recur.

• Variable Ratio Schedules the number of correct

repetitions of the correct response for reinforcement
varies.
• Variable interval and variable ratio schedules
produce steadier and more persistent rates of
response.
 Implications of
Operant
Conditioning
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 make a response

for every frame and receive 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
ANY
QUESTIONS
?
BE DYNAMIC!