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Chapter 4 Behavioral Learning Theories

This document provides an overview of behavioral learning theories, specifically classical conditioning. It discusses Pavlov's discovery that behaviors can be learned through association, such as his experiment where dogs learned to salivate when hearing a tone that was paired with food. The document also covers other concepts in classical conditioning, such as conditioned and unconditioned stimuli/responses, extinction, generalization, and discrimination. Additionally, it summarizes John Watson's theory that emotions can be conditioned through association, as demonstrated in his experiment conditioning a child to fear rats.

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Julie Soquiño
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303 views

Chapter 4 Behavioral Learning Theories

This document provides an overview of behavioral learning theories, specifically classical conditioning. It discusses Pavlov's discovery that behaviors can be learned through association, such as his experiment where dogs learned to salivate when hearing a tone that was paired with food. The document also covers other concepts in classical conditioning, such as conditioned and unconditioned stimuli/responses, extinction, generalization, and discrimination. Additionally, it summarizes John Watson's theory that emotions can be conditioned through association, as demonstrated in his experiment conditioning a child to fear rats.

Uploaded by

Julie Soquiño
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Chapter 4: Behavioral Learning Theories

“Give me a child, and I will shape him into anything” – B.F. Skinner

Introduction

Some of the most popular learning theories are lodged under behaviorism. It is primarily
concerned with influencing change in one’s behavior. Hence, in this chapter, you will discover the
fundamental tenets of behaviorism and how such concepts are applied to facilitating learner- centered
classroom. It is therefore important for you to be immersed into the principles so that you can easily
use them in facing the real world of teaching.

In this chapter, you are expected to:

 Analyze learning theories under behaviorism;


 Discuss the different phenomena of learning under behaviorism; and
 Cite application of behaviorism theories to teaching.

Lesson 1: Pavlov’s Classical Conditioning

At the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

 Explain how behaviors are learned according to the Pavlovian and Watsonian theories;
 Discuss the salient processes and phenomena of the Pavlovian and Watsonian theories; and
 Cite classroom applications of the association theory.

Think!

Pavlovian Conditioning

In the parlance of psychology, behaviorism is concerned with the behavioral changes and the
role of the environment in these changes. Behaviorists claim that nurture is crucial in the process of
acquiring knowledge (Dastpak et al., 2017). One known behaviorist is John B. Watson (1982), who
writes that the ultimate goal of behaviorism is to derive laws to explain the relationships existing among
antecedent conditions (stimuli), behavior (responses), and following conditions (rewards, punishments,
or neutral effects). The theory of behaviorism may be dichotomized into associationism and
reinforcement.

The name Ivan Pavlov (1849- 1936) rings a bell within the context of the association theory in
behaviorism. Pavlov was a physiologist, who, out of serendipity, discovered classical conditioning. In
1904, he won the Nobel Prize for his outstanding studies of physiology of digestion. He spent the rest of
his life studying reflexes of dogs, which led him to the discovery of classical conditioning, also known as
the association theory.

Still recognized as an essential parcel of contemporary psychological knowledge and classical


conditioning has become the basis for many early learning theories. In his discovery, Pavlov found out
that the sight of food does not only trigger the salivation of the dog, but any other stimulus may result
to such effect if paired with the food (Le Francois, 2000). In another version, the salivation of the dog is
influenced by associating the steps of the attendant with the food (Schunk, 2012).

Pavlovian Conditioning in a Nutshell

The theory of Pavlovian conditioning involves a set of multilayered procedures. Initially, the
food is called the unconditioned stimulus (UCS). In psychology, any environmental event that affects
the organism is called stimulus. The food is an unconditioned stimulus because it leads to an
unconditioned response (UCR) without any learning taking place. The immediate salivation of the dog is
referred to as the UCR. The UCS and UCR are considered unlearned stimulus-response units termed as
reflexes.

Conditioning the dog requires recurrent presentation of a neutral stimulus paired with the UCS.
For instance, the buzzer was sounded repeatedly but caused no dog’s salivation at all. However, when
the buzzer came with the food, the dog salivated. Later, by just hearing the buzzer, the dog salivated
(see Figure 14). The buzzer is now called a conditioned stimulus (CS) that elicited the salivation of the
dog, now termed as a conditioned response (CR).

When applied in the classroom, the use of the pointer or stick to whip unruly learners in class
may affect other pupils. They may associate the stick with whipping, thus triggering fear. Later, merely
hearing or seeing a stick in class may elicit fear among them. This is why expert educators in the country
suggest that classroom teachers should avoid using the stick as pointers. Instead, they are advised to
use their open palm to pointing words on the chalkboard.

Other Phenomena in Classical Conditioning

According to Buoton ad Moody (2004), when the CS is repeated unreinforced, that is, without
the UCS, the CR will eventually diminish in intensity and effect. This phenomenon is called extinction.
When the extinction of learning passes through time, the CR may still be restored (Robins, 1990). This
recovery- after- extinction phenomenon is termed as spontaneous recovery. This means that extinction
does not completely involve unlearning of the pairings (Redish et al., 2018).

Generalization is another phenomenon in Pavlovian’s classical conditioning (Figure 15). When


the dog salivates by just merely hearing the buzzer, it is likely to elicit similar CS when it hears a faster or
a slower beat of the buzzer or any device with the quite a similar sound. Harris (2006), however,
pointed out that the more different the new stimulus to the CS, the lesser generalization surfaces.

When the dog recognizes that the sound of the buzzer is different from other stimuli (i.e., the
sound of a bell), thus salivating only upon hearing the buzzer, discrimination occurs. This is a
phenomenon when the subject reacts differently to other stimuli. This means that it can decipher the CS
very strongly.

Watsonian Conditioning

During the dawn of the 20 th century, a psychologist, greatly influenced by Pavlov, rose and
aimed to revolutionize the status of American psychology. He was John Broadus Watson (1878- 1958).
According to Watson, if Pavlov is successful in proving associationism between stimulus response,
people can also have such ability to associating certain feelings, behaviors, instances, and even symbols.
He theorized that unlearning and relearning can occur. He also posited that humans are born with
emotional responses such as love, fear, and hate.

Perhaps the most popular conditioning experiment he did was “Little Albert.” Here, Watson
tried to prove that emotions can be learned. Initially, Albert played with the white rat, thus not eliciting
any fear upon seeing the rat. After some time, Watson and his partner, Rosalie Rayner, accompanied
the appearance of the white rat banging sound, so Albert was conditioned to fear the rat. Later, Watson
and Rayner accompanied the presentation of the rat with other objects. They found out that Albert also
feared the occurrence of the objects even without the rat’s presence. This experiment became the
anchor of Watson’s belief that learning happens by association (Figure 16).

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