Behavioural Learning Theories (Topic 2)

8/20/2019 Behavioural Learning Theories (Topic 2)

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TOPIC 2

Behavioural Learning Theories

Learning


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TOPIC 2 Behavioural Learning Theories

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Behavioural

Learning

Theories2TOPICLEARNING OUTCOMES

After completing this chapter you should be able to:

1. Define what is behaviourism;

2. Explain classical conditioning;

3. Explain operant conditioning;

4. Give everyday examples of classical conditioning in daily life;5. Identify the characteristics of Thorndike’s theory of learning;

6. Describe the principles of operant conditioning; and

7. Discuss the application of operant conditioning in teaching and learning.


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Behavioural Learning Theories TOPIC 2

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2.1 CLAS SICA L COND ITI ONIN G BYIVAN PAVLOV

Ivan Pavlov was born in Russia and spent most of

his time studying physiology (study of the functions

of organisms and their parts such as the physiology

of the liver). He was noted for his work on the

physiology of digestion and was awarded the Nobel

Prize for work in this area.

However, he only became interested in psychology

in 1900 at the age of 50. In his classic experiment

with dogs, he measured the saliva secreted by the

animals when food was given (see Figure 2.1). TheIvan Pavlov1849-1936

Figure 2.1: Dog with tube inserted in its cheek.When the dog salivates, the saliva is collected in the test tube and its quantity is recorded on the rotating drum[source: Great Experiments in Psychology. p.5 by H.H. Garre, 1951. New York: Appleton- Century-Crofts]

Step 1: Before Conditioning

He gave a hungry dog a bowl of food. The dog is hungry, the dog sees

the food and the dog salivates.


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This is a natural sequence of events, an unconscious, uncontrolled, andunlearned relationship. Stimulus means something that is given to initiate

a response. So ‘Unconditioned Stimulus’ and ‘Unconditioned Response’

simply means that the stimulus and the response are naturally connected.

They just came that way, hard wired into the brain of the organism.

“Unconditioned” means that this connection was already present in the dog

before Pavlov began his experiments. For example, when you see someone

eating something sour such as pickled fruit, you tend to swallow your saliva.

Thus, an unconditioned stimulus (pickled fruit) elicited an unconditioned

response (swallowing your saliva).

Step 2: During Conditioning

Next, Pavlov, presented the hungry dog with food and simultaneously rang

a bell, and the dog salivated.

This action (food and bell ringing) was done at several meals. Every timethe dog sees the food, the dog also hears the bell. “Unconditioned” means

unlearned, untaught, pre-existing, already-present-before-we-got-there.

“Conditioning” just means the opposite. Pavlov was trying to associate,

connect, bond or link something new with the old relationship. He wanted

this new thing (the bell) to elicit the same response.

Step 3: After Conditioning

This time Pavlov rang only the bell at mealtime, but he did not show any

food. Guess what the dog did. Right.


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The bell elicited the same response as the sight of the food gets. Over

repeated trials, the dog has LEARNED to associate the bell with the food.

The bell has the power to produce the same response as the food. In other

words, the dog has been conditioned to salivate when hearing the bell.

2.1.1 Conclusion

This is the essence of Classical Conditioning. You start with two things

that are already connected with each other (food and salivation). Then you

pair a third thing (bell) with the conditioned stimulus (food) over several

trials. Eventually, this third thing may become so strongly associated, that

it has acquired the power to produce the old behaviour. The organism is

conditioned to respond to the third thing or stimulus.

Pavlov extended his experiment by using bells of different tones. Surprisingly,

the dog still salivated when it heard the different tones. The dog responded

even though the tones of the bells were different or nearly the same. In other

words the dog is capable of generalisation, and able to generalise across

different tones. For example, when driving and you hear the sound of a

siren behind you and you immediately move to the side to give way. You

do not discriminate whether it is the sound of the fire-truck, the ambulance

or the police (which may be different) but you react in the same way. In

other words, you have generalised that any sound of the siren, you will

respond similarly.

Pavlov also found that when the tone of the bell that was closer to the

sound of the original bell, the dog salivated. When the tone of the bell was

very different from the sound of the original bell, the dog salivated less

frequently. In other words the dog is capable of discrimination, and able to

differentiate among the different tones. The dog is responds to one stimulus

and not to another stimulus. However, when Pavlov continued ringing the

bell and after many trials it was not followed by food, the dog gradually

did not salivate. In other words, extinction took place and the dog did not

salivate after sometime when it realised that food was not forthcoming.


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2.2 CLAS SIC AL CON DITI ONI NG INDAILY LIFE

• The smell of fresh bread baking makes my mouth water. This is probably

the result of Classical conditioning. In the past the smell of the fresh bread

immediately preceded puing a piece in my mouth, which causes salivation.

Through the mechanism of Classical conditioning the smell itself comes

to elicit salivation.

• After the bad car accident Jeri had last year, he would cringe and break

into a sweat at the sound of squealing brakes. This is Classical conditioning.

The cringing, which is an unconditioned response to pain or fear, was

produced by the accident and its accompanying pain. That accident

was probably preceded by the sound of squealing brakes, which became

a conditioned stimulus for the conditioned response of cringing.

• To treat alcoholics, we sometimes put a chemical in their drinks that

makes them sick. Eventually, the taste of alcohol becomes aversive. This is

Classical conditioning. The chemical that makes the drinker sick is being

paired with the taste of alcohol so that the alcohol itself becomes the

conditioned stimulus for being sick.• Classical conditioning works with advertising. For example, many product

ads prominently feature aractive young women. The young women

(Unconditioned Stimulus) naturally elicit a favorable, mildly aroused

feeling (Unconditioned Response) in most men.

Classical conditioning is a pervasive form of inuence in our world.

Give examples of classical conditioning in daily life and in the

workplace.

ACTIVITY


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John B. Watson was born in 1878 and grew up in

South Carolina in the United States. He entered

Furman University at the age of 16 and graduates

with a master’s degree. Later, he studied at the

University of Chicago and earned his Ph.D. in

psychology in 1903. He began teaching psychology at

John Hopkins University in 1908. In 1913, he gavea seminal lecture at Columbia University titled

Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It, which

essentially detailed the behaviourist position.

According to Watson, psychology should be the

science of observable behavior. Introspection forms no essential part of its

methods, nor is the scientific value of its data. Watson remained at John

Hopkins University until 1920. He had an affair with Rosalie Rayner, his

graduate assistant. He divorced in first wife, and was asked by the university

to resign his position. Watson later married Rayner and the two remainedtogether until her death in 1935. After leaving his academic position, Watson

began working for an advertising agency where he remained until he retired

in 1945. He spent his last years living a reclusive life on a farm in Connecticut

and died in 1958. Watson who subscribed to classical conditional developed

by Ivan Pavlov, was dubbed “The Father of Behaviourism” and strongly

believed that human emotion (i.e. fear, rage and love) was the product of

both heredity and experience. Through the conditioning process, these three

basic emotions become attached to different things for different people. He

strongly believed that any human being can be conditioned to do anything

regardless of their attitudes, abilities or experiences. His extreme belief is

reflected in this famous (or infamous) statement he made in 1926:

2.3 FATH ER OF BE HAVI OUR IS M

Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified

world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at

random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select

– doctor, lawyer, merchant, chief, and yes, even beggarman and thief,

regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations,

and race of his ancestors (1926, 10).

J.B. Watson (1878-1958)


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To demonstrate how inborn emotional reflexes

become conditioned to neutral stimuli, Watson

and Rosalie Rayner (1920) performed an

experiment on an 11-month- old infant Albert

adopting Pavlov’s approach (discussed earlier).

In the beginning of the experiment, the infant

was shown a white rat (see Figure 2.2).

He reached out and tried to touch the animal.Later, whenever Albert reached out and tried

to touch the rat, Watson took a hammer and

struck a steel bar behind the infant, making a loud noise. Obviously, Albert

got a fright and jumped and fell forward. Again, he tried to touch the rat

and the bar was struck, making a loud noise. Albert jumped violently and

cried. A week later when Albert came into contact with the rat he was more

cautious and withdrew his hand. He had developed a strong fear of the

rat and began to cry. He tried to raise himself and crawled away rapidly.

Albert had LEARNED to fear the white rat because of its association withthe loud noise.

Watson set the stage for behaviorism, which soon rose to dominate psychology.While behaviorism began to lose its hold after 1950, many of the concepts

and principles are still widely used today. Conditioning and behavior

modification are still widely used in therapy and behavioral training to

help clients change problematic behaviors and develop new skills.

2.4 WATSO N’S EX PER IM ENT S WI THLITTLE ALBER T

Figure 2.2: Albert and the white rat.


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It was also shown that Albert’s fear generalised to a variety of other objects

such as a rabbit, fur coat, and even a Santa Claus mask. In other words,

any object that was furry brought fear to the infant. The experiment by

Watson showed that our emotional reactions can be rearranged through

classical conditioning. Watson demonstrated that an emotion such as fear

could be ‘transferred’ to an organism that originally that not have such a

fear. The finding is significant because it implies that if fears are learned,it should be possible to unlearn or extinguish them.

Unfortunately, Watson and Rayner never removed Albert’s fears because

his mother removed him from the hospital where the experiment was being

conducted shortly after fear was instilled.


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a) Explain how a behaviour can be conditioned

b) What is meant by generalisation, discrimination and extinction in

classical conditioning?

c) What is behaviourism?

2.5 CLAS SIC AL CON DITI ONI NG INTHE C LASSR OOM

It is the first day in school and suddenly Suzy hears her teacher Ms. Lim

yell “Keep Quiet” at the top of her voice. Suzy was startled and terrified

and started to cry. In the next few days, whenever Ms. Lim entered the

class she cried. She had associated the presence of Ms. Lim with fear. In

other words, she has been conditioned to respond by crying whenever

encountering Ms. Lim even though she had not yelled, “Keep Quiet”.

• Stimulus Generalisation – Suzy has learned to associate fear with Ms

Lim. Could that fear generalise to other teachers? Stimulus generalisation

occurs when the organism responds to stimuli that are similar or related.

If Suzy cried each time any teacher (other than Ms. Lim) entered the class,

than Suzy has generalised. For example, in Watson’s experiments, Lile

Albert avoided any thing that was furry indicating that the child has

generalised fear to stimuli that is similar or related to the white rat.

• Stimulus Discrimination – When other teachers enter the class, Suzy

does not cry but when she encounters Ms. Lim she cries. Apparently,

her classically conditioned response seems to be limited to one stimulus;

Ms. Lim. It appears that Suzy is showing signs of stimulus discrimination.• Extinction – Suzy has associated Ms. Lim with the yelling of “Keep Quiet”

which terried her. However, if the stimulus (yelling “Keep Quiet”) is not

applied and the response has not generated over a period of time, then the

probability of conditioned behaviour (crying) may decay. If Suzy had not

heard Ms. Lim yell “Keep Quiet” for some time, it is possible that crying

whenever Ms. Lim appears would gradually become extinct.


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2.6 CO NNE CT IO NIS M - EDWARD L.THOR NDIKE

Edward Thorndike (1874 – 1949), whose doctoral thesis entitled Animal

Intelligence: An Experimental Study of the Associative Process in Animals

in 1898, formed the basis for his learning theories. To Thorndike the most

basic form of learning was trial-and-error learning which was based on his

experiments which involved putting a hungry animal in a puzzle box (see

Figure 2.3). The animal (he used cats) would attempt to escape to get atthe food outside the box. Pressing on the pedal would enable the animal

to escape. Before escaping, the animal would have to engage in a series

of complex responses. The animal would squeeze through an opening and

claw at anything it reaches. The animal had to perform in a certain way

before it was allowed to leave the box.

The animal claws all over the box

in an impulsive struggle to get

out of the confinement. In the

process presses the pedal and the

door opens. It gets out and eats

the food. The same cat was put

in the box over and over again.

Thorndike noted the time it took

the animal to solve the problem

as a function of the number of

trials or opportunities. The time

it took to solve the problem

systematically decreased as thenumber of trials increased.

In other words, the more opportunities the animal had, the faster it solved

the problem. The animal has made a connection between the proper

response and the food the cat received (Stimulus-Response or S-R

connection). Based on his experiments, Thorndike concluded that learning

is incremental. In other words, learning occurs in very small systematic

steps rather than in huge jumps.

Based on his experiments, Thorndike proposed the following theories of

Figure 2.3: Thorndike’s puzzle box the box.


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learning:

• The Law of Readiness

The law of readiness states that when an organism is ready to act, it will

do so. When it is not ready to act, forcing it to act will be annoying. In

other words, when someone is ready to perform act, to do is satisfying

while not doing so is annoying.

• The Law of Exercise

The law of exercise states that the strength of a connection between a stimulus

and a response is determined by how often the connection is established.

In other words, maintaining connection between the stimulus and response

strengthens the connection (Law of Use). The connection between the

stimulus and response is weakened when practice is discontinued (Law of

Disuse).

• The Law of Eect

The law of eect states that the strength of a connection between a

stimulus and a response is inuenced by the consequence of a response.

For example, if a response is followed by a satisfying state of aairs, thestrength of the connection is increased. If a response is followed by an

annoying state of aairs, the strength of the connection is decreased.

2.7 IMPL ICATIONS OF THOR NDI KE’STHEOR IES

• Thorndike developed the idea of connectionism. He believed that

connections formed between a stimulus and a response (S-R) is the essenceof intellectual development. People of higher intellect formed more bonds

between stimuli and response and formed them more easily than people

of lower ability.

• Complex ideas should be broken down into pre-requisite concepts.

Positive reinforcement should be applied as these concepts are learned so

that they can be applied to more complex, higher-level learning activities.

• Transfer of learning.

o The degree of transfer between initial and later learning depends on the

match between elements across the two events.

o Transfer depends on the presence of identical elements in the original


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and new learning situations.o Transfer is always specic and never general.

o Transfer from one school task to a highly similar task (near transfer), and

from school subject to non-school seings (far transfer), could be facilitated

by teaching knowledge and skills in school subjects that have elements

identical to activities encountered in the initial context.

a) How does Thorndike explain learning?

b) What are the implications of Thorndike’s theories on teaching andlearning? Give specic examples.

2.8 OPER ANT COND ITI ONIN G BY B.F.SKINNER

Burrhus Frederic Skinner was born in the small Pennsylvania town of

Susquehanna. He obtained his masters and doctorate in psychology from

Harvard University. He taught at the University of Minnesota and in 1945

moved to become the chairman of the psychology department at Indiana

University. In 1948, he was invited to teach and do research at Harvard

University where he remained for the rest of this life. He was an active

researcher and guided hundreds of doctoral candidates as well as writing

many books. His most famous book was Walden II, which is a fictional

account of a community run by his behaviourist principles.

B.F. Skinner, made his reputation by testing Watson’s and Pavlov’s theoriesin the laboratory. He rejected the notion that organisms are passive and

have no control whether to act or not to act. He developed the theory of

operant conditioning, which states that we choose to behave in a certain way

because particular behaviour brings about certain consequences (Skinner,

1950). For example, if your girlfriend gives you a kiss when you give her

flowers, you are likely to give her flowers when you want a kiss. You

are acting in expectation of a certain reward. However, Skinner did not

agree that emotions or feelings play any part in determining behaviour.

Our behaviour is determined by the pleasant or unpleasant consequence

of that behaviour.


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2.8.1 Skinner’s Experiments

To demonstrate operant conditioning in the

laboratory, a hungry rat was placed in a box like

the one shown in Figure 2.4, which is called the

“Skinner’s Box”. Inside the box was a bar connected

to a pellet (food) dispenser. Left alone in the box

the rat moves about exploring. At some point in

the exploration, it presses the bar and a small food

pellet is released (Skinner, 1954). The rat eats and

soon presses the bar again. The food reinforces

bar-pressing, and the rate of pressing increases

dramatically.

2.8.2 Skinner’s Experiments

To demonstrate operant conditioning in the laboratory, a hungry rat was

placed in a box like the one shown in Figure 2.4, which is called the

“Skinner’s Box”. Inside the box was a bar connected to a pellet (food)

dispenser. Left alone in the box the rat moves about exploring. At somepoint in the exploration, it presses the bar and a small food pellet is

released (Skinner, 1954). The rat eats and soon presses the bar again.

The food reinforces bar-pressing, and the rate of pressing increases

dramatically.

B.F.Skinner 1904-1990

Figure 2.4: Skinner’s box


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A behaviour reinforced by a pleasant consequence increases the

probability of that behaviour occurring in the future.

What happens if the rat is not given any more food pellets? Skinner,

disconnected the food dispenser. When the rat pressed the bar, no food

was released. The rate of bar- pressing was less frequent and finally it

diminished. That is, the operant response undergoes extinction with

nonreinforcement just as in classical conditioning.

A behaviour no longer followed by a pleasant consequence results

in a decreased probability of that behaviour occurring in the future.

Next, Skinner connected back the pellet dispenser. Pressing the bar again

provided the rat with food pellets. The behaviour of bar-pushing ‘popped’

right back. In fact, the rat took a lesser time to press the bar compared tothe first time it was put in the box. So, the rat has learned that if it pressed

the bar, food will be released.

Skinner varied the experiment by linking the release of food pellets with

light. For example, the food would only be presented when the bar is

pressed while the light is on but not when the light is off. Guess what

happened! The rat only pressed the bar when the light was on. The light

has served as a discriminative stimulus that controls response. The rat is

able to discriminate between pressing the bar with the light and pressing

the bar without light (Huitt and Hummel, 1998).

Based on this experiment, Skinner introduced the word “operant”. It simply

means that the behaviour “operates” on the environment – the rat’s pressing

the bar produces or gains access to the food pellets. In classical conditioning,

the animal is passive; it merely waits for stimuli. In operant conditioning,

the animal is active; its own behaviour brings on important consequences

or results (Skinner, 1998). Thus, operant conditioning increases the

likelihood of a response by following its occurrence with reinforcer.


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2.8.3 Principles of Operant Conditioning

Thus, reinforcement can be defined as any event that increases the

probability of a response. Skinner distinguished between positive

reinforcement and negative reinforcement, as well as punishment.

Positive Reinforcement: A positive reinforcer is a stimulus that increases

the probability of a particular behaviour occurring in the future. For

example, water is a positive reinforcer for getting a thirsty organism to

behave in a particular way. The term reward is sometimes used as asynonym for positive reinforcement (Huitt and Hummel, 1997.

Examples:

a) Amy completes her homework so that she can watch her favourite

programme on TV. There is high probability that she will always complete

her homework (behaviour) so that she can watch TV (reinforcer).

b) Factory workers who are ecient are given bonuses. There is a high

probability that factory workers will strive to be more ecient (behaviour)

so that they will be given bonuses (reinforcer).

Negative Reinforcement: A negative reinforcer is a stimulus when removed

increases the probability of a particular behaviour occurring in the future.

Refer to Skinner’s Box: Figure 2.4. An electric was introduced and the rat

jumped around. However, when it pressed the bar, the electric shock was

switched off. Guess what happened! The rat pressed the bar (behaviour)

more frequently to avoid the pain or discomfort from the electric shock.

Examples:

a) A mother lifts (behaviour) her crying baby because she cannot bear to

hear her child cry (reinforcer).


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b) When you enter a car, you put on the safety belt (behaviour) because youwant the sound of the buzzer (reinforcer) to stop.

Punishment: Punishment is not the same as negative reinforcement. The

objective of negative reinforcement is to increase the probability of a particular

behaviour occurring. Punishment has the opposite effect; it decreases the

probability of a behaviour occurring. For example, if the rat is given an

electric shock every time it presses the bar (behaviour), the frequency of

the behaviour occurring will be reduced and finally diminish.

Examples:

a) Farid refuses to help his mother wash the dishes and he is not allowed to

play football.

b) Any student who makes noise in class will have recess time reduced.

a) What is the dierence between positive reinforcement and negative

reinforcement?

b) How is negative reinforcement dierent from punishment?

Reinforcement Theory in the Classroom

Saleha interrupts the class. Mrs. Ragu stops the class, tells Saleha

she’s a naughty girl who broke Rule 15 and now must go to the

principle’s office. Ouch! That really hurt. Saleha returns and she no

longer interrupts. Mrs. Ragu then goes to the teacher’s lounge and

sings the praises of this really great theory. Do not forget that theother kids in the class are watching this event with great interest.

Then Bala interrupts the class, Mrs. Ragu stops the class, tells Bala

he’s a naughty boy who broke Rule 15 and now must go to the

principle’s office. Ouch! That hurt. Mrs. Ragu is convinced that when

Bala comes back to class, he will not interrupt. He surely will want to

avoid the wicked punishment. Well, guess what happens. Bala comes

back to class and continues interrupting the lesson, Mrs. Ragu whacks

him and Bala keeps on interrupting. Mrs. Ragu is totally confused


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and goes back to the teacher’s lounge complaining about the stupid

reinforcement theory.

The above is a common problem in many classrooms. The functional nature

of reinforcement theory has to be understood. It explains why the theory

sometimes appears to be incorrect. To understand if you have used positive

reinforcement (reward), you must observe its effect. If the consequence

increases the behavior you want to increase, you have introduced positivereinforcement. If the consequence decreases the behavior you want to

decrease, then you have a punishment.

Most teachers have had the unfortunate experience of Mrs. Ragu.

They have persisted in giving a consequence of punishment

and the kid keeps doing the bad thing. If the behavior does

not increase or decrease the way you want it to, then you need to rethink

your rewards and punishments.

The main point of reinforcement theory is that consequences influence behavior. Rewarding consequences increase behavior. Punishing

consequences decrease behavior. No consequences extinguish a behavior.

Finally, a consequence is known by its function (how it operates).

A ve-year old child throws a temper tantrum in front of his Parents.

He embarrasses them and they give him rewards such as aention,

toys, candy, or whatever. Now when this child goes to school and

throws a temper tantrum, he is cruelly disappointed when the teacher

scolds and punishes him.

a) Explain the underlying principles of the above event.

b) What do you think the child may learn in the long run?

ACTIVITY


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2.9 SCHE DULE S OF REI NFOR CEM ENT

The reinforcement theory was taken a step further by introducing variation

in the typical operant conditioning situation (Huitt and Hummel, 1998). What

will happen when the schedule of reinforcement is varied according to time

or frequency? For example, instead of rewarding a particular behaviour every

time it occurs, the behaviour is rewarded every 2 minutes; i.e. reinforcement

is scheduled or predetermined. Many different reinforcement schedules have

been studied, but most common are as follows:

• FIXED RATIO (FR): According to this schedule, reinforcement occurs after a

xed number of responses (behaviour). The ratio 5:1 means that after every

5 times the response (behaviour) is exhibited it is reinforced (rewarded)

once. For example, say the rat presses the bar 3 times, it gets a goodie. Or 5

times or 20 times. It is like the ‘piece rate’ method in the clothing industry.

You get paid so much for to many shirts.

• VARIABLE RATIO (VR): This schedule is similar to the Fixed Ratio. The

dierence is that the ratio is not xed but variable. In other words, theratio is changed according to the responses. For example, you may start

with reinforcing every 3 times the response (behaviour) is exhibited; than

every 5 times the response (behaviour) is exhibited and so on.

• FIXED INTERVAL (FI): According to this schedule, reinforcement (reward)

is given at the specied time. For example, if the time is xed as 2 minutes;

the behaviour or response is reinforced (rewarded) after 2 minutes. No

further reinforcement will occur until 2 minutes has passed. Once it has

elapsed, the rst response (behaviour) made will be reinforced.

• VARIABLE INTERVAL (VI): This schedule is similar to the Fixed Internal.

The dierence is that the interval is not xed but variable. In other

words, the interval may be changed according to the responses. For

example, you may start with reinforcing every 20 seconds the response

(behaviour) is exhibited; than every 30 seconds the response (behaviour) is

exhibited and so on.


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2.10 SHA PIN G BE HAVI OUR

Using a schedule of reinforcement, complex behaviours of various organisms

can be shaped. Shaping is a method of successive approximation which

involves reinforcing behaviour that is vaguely similar to the behaviour

desired (Skinner, 1954). The procedure of shaping involves administering

rewards for response that are not the required terminal response but that

approximate what the experimenter desires.

An organism is reinforced every time it makes a move in the desired

direction until it has learned the desired response, and then not

reinforcing it again. By reinforcing only successively closer

approximations to the desired behaviour, it is possible to train an

organism to engage in behaviour so complex that would never

ordinarily appear in the organism’s repertoire.

2.10.1 Shaping a Simple Behaviour

A three year old child was afraid to go down a slide. The father pickedhim up and put him at the end of the slide and asked him if he was okay.

He was asked to jump and he did and was praised by the father. Next, the

father picked the child and put him a foot or so up the slide and asked

him if he was okay, and asked him to slide down. He did. So far so good!

The father did this again and again, each time moving him a little up the

slide. Eventually, he put the child at the top of the slide and he could

slide all the way down and jump off.

A great deal of human behaviour is modified directionally in small steps

by reinforcement. It has often been observed, for example, that as

previously reinforcing activities become habitual and less rewarding,

they tend to be modified. For example, a motorcyclist derives some

considerable reinforcement from the sensation of turning a sharp corner at

high speed – but eventually the sensation diminishes and the excitement

becomes less. And perhaps, too, as the reinforcement begins to decrease,

his speed increases, imperceptibly but progressively.

This is a clear illustration of shaping effected through the outcomes of

behaviour (Lefrancois, 1982). In the classroom, peer approval or disapproval,


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sometimes communicated in a very subtle, nonverbal way, can drasticallyalter a student’s behaviour. The classroom ‘clown’ would probably not

continue to be a ‘clown’ if no one paid any attention to her. Indeed,

he might never have been shaped into a ‘clown’ had his audience not

reinforced him in the first place.

a) Identify the schedule of reinforcement represented by following

examples: • Joe gets his salary weekly..

• Susie gives Zack a kiss when he rubs her back for an average

of 10 minutes.

• Bill continues to play at a gambling machine.

• Rosli gets a bonus after every ten items produced.

b) Give other examples from daily life where schedules of

reinforcement have been used to shape or modify behaviour.

ACTIVITY

2.11 APP LYI NG OPE RAN TC ONDITIONING IN THEC LASSR OOM

Biehler and Snowman (1986) in their book Psychology Applied to Teaching,

suggested the following classroom practices based on the principles of

operant conditioning.

• When students are dealing with factual material, do your best to give

FEEDBACK frequently, specically and quickly.

o After giving a problem, go over the correct answer immediately

afterward.

o Have pupils team up and give each other feedback.

o Meet with students in small groups so that you can give each pupil

more individual feedback.

o When you assign reading or give a lecture or demonstration, have a

short self-corrected quiz or an informal Q&A session immediately

afterward.

• When older students are dealing with complex and meaningful material,


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DELAYED FEEDBACK may be more appropriate. o Hand back and discuss all exams even though they may have sat for

the exam two weeks ago.

o Give comments are papers wrien by students besides a grade or marks.

o After having submied an assignment you could ask your students

the following: “If you realised after you completed your work that you

had made a mistake, make a note of it and mention how you would

correct it if you were to do the assignment over again now. Then we

can see if your evaluation agrees with mine”.

• Use SEVERAL KINDS OF REINFORCERS so that each retains its

eectiveness.

o When a student gives a correct answer, makes a good point in class

discussion or doe something helpful, say things like: “Good”. “That’s

right”. “Terric”. “Great”. “Very interesting point”. “I hadn’t thought of

that”. “That was big help”.

o Walk over to stand near and smile encouragingly at a pupil who

seems to be working industriously.

• Use awareness of EXTINCTION to reduce the frequency of undesirable

forms of behaviour.

o If a student exhibits undesirable behaviour to arouse aention, pay noaention and continue with the lesson.

o If a student says something undesirable in class discussion, do not

comment, and immediately call on someone else.

• Using dierent SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT , encourage persistent

and permanent learning.

o When students rst try a new skill or type of learning, praise almost any

genuine aempt, even though it may be inaccurate. Then, as they become

more skilful, reserve your praise only for correct and accurate answers.

o Avoid a set paern or predictable way of commenting on student work.

o Make favourable remarks at unpredictable intervals.• Use reinforcement to MOTIVATE students to learn material that is not

intrinsically interesting.

o Announce to students that if they complete the ‘boring’ task, they will

be rewarded with something they like to do. e.g. read a book of their

choice, work on an art or craft project, work on homework for another

class.

o Make a contract with students on the amount of work to be completed

before they are entitled to the reward.

o Withhold reinforcement and calling aention to rewards that will

follow completion of a task. If that does not work, consider the


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possibility of taking away a privilege or resorting to punishment.• Use the principles of PROGRAMMED INSTRUCTION. Skinner argued

that in a typical classroom situation, a teacher cannot supply reinforcement

quickly enough or often enough. He recommended the use of teaching

machines or programmed instruction.

o State clearly what is to learned i.e. the terminal behaviour (e.g. to be

able to compare X and Y).

o Break down the facts, concepts and principles and arrange them in a

sequence designed to lead the student to the desired end result.

o These series of small linear steps or frames are wrien to maximise

the likelihood that students will supply the correct answer for each

frame. When students do supply the correct answer for one step or

frame, they are reinforced by discovering they are right and motivated

to move on to the next.

• Use programmed approaches to teaching describing terminal behaviour,

organising what is to be learned, and providing feedback.

o Describe the terminal behaviour using instructional objectives or learning

outcomes (e.g. using Bloom’s Taxonomy of Objectives as a guide).

o If appropriate, arrange the material to be learned into a series of steps

into an outline of points (e.g. when giving a lecture or demonstrationgive students an organised list of points to be covered).

o Provide feedback (e.g. quizzes with feedback on correct answers).

Skinner believed that operant conditioning can even be used to teach

thinking (by conditioning the student to develop techniques of self-

management – for example; paying aention and studying eciently),

to foster creativity (by including greater amounts of behaviour andreinforcing what is original), and to encourage perseverance (by

systematically widening the ratios of reinforcement).

Discuss.

ACTIVITY


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Read the following situations and state whether they are examples of

classical or operant conditioning.

Give reasons for your decision.

1. In order to punish my cat for sleeping on the sofa, I paired the sound

of a clicker with geing squirted with water. Now the sound of the

clicker causes the animal to get o the sofa.

2. When my son has gone for a week without arguing with his sister,

he gets to choose which favorite activity he wants to engage in on

Friday night

3. In a weight management class, participants earn points for every

healthy meal they eat and every period of exercise they complete.

Later these points result in refunds of their class fees.

4. When I rst start teaching about a concept, I’ll praise any answer that

is close to the right answer.

5. Each morning when I switch on the radio, my dogs bark and I givethem dog a slice of bread each. After a while, every time I switch on

the radio in the morning, my dogs bark.

ACTIVITY

• Biehler, D. and Snowman, G. (1986). Psychology of learning applied

to teaching. Newark: Wardsworth

• Huitt, W., & Hummel, J. (1997). An introduction to operant(instrumental) conditioning. Educational Psychology Interactive.

Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University.

hp://chiron.valdosta.edu/whui/col/behsys/operant.html.

• Hui, W., & Hummel, J. (1998). An overview of the behavioral

perspective. Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA:

Valdosta State University. hp://chiron.valdosta.edu/whui/col/

behsys/behsys.html.

• Skinner, B.F. (1950). Are theories of learning necessary? Psychological

Review, 57(4), 193-216.

REFERENCES


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• Skinner, B.F. (1954). The science of learning and the art of teaching.Harvard Educational Review, 24(2), 86-97.

• Watson, J. (1913). Psychology as the Behaviorist Views it.

Psychological Review, 20, 158-177.

• Watson, J. B. and Rayner, R. (1920). Conditioned emotional reactions.

Journal of Experimental Psychology. 3(1). 1-14.

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Behavioural Learning Theories (Topic 2)