Ivan Pavlov discovered classical conditioning through his famous experiment with dogs, meat, and a bell. He found that dogs could learn to associate stimuli and respond to neutral stimuli that signaled rewards. Edward Thorndike proposed connectionism theory, which stated that behaviors followed by rewards become more strongly connected, while behaviors followed by punishments become more weakly connected. B.F. Skinner expanded on this with operant conditioning, showing how behaviors are shaped through reinforcement and extinction schedules.

1. BEHAVIORISM
By: Jamaica A. OIaivar

4. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
Ivan Pavlov, a
Russian physiologist,
well known for his
work in classical
conditioning or
stimulus substitution.
His most renowned
experiment involved
meat, a dog and a
bell.

6. 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 the other similar sound.
• 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 the food.

7. • 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. A situation in
which a stimulus that was previously neutral
is paired with a conditioned stimulus

8. CONNECTIONISM THEORY
Edward Thordike wrote
a textbook entitled,
Educational Psychology.
The proponent of
Connectionism theory

9. Three primary laws:
• Law of Effect- 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.
• Law of Exercise- the more an S-R (stinulus-
response) bond is practiced the stronger it will
become.

10. • Law of Readiness- the more readiness the
learner has to respond to the stimulus, the
stronger will be the bond between them.

11. EXPERIMENT ON ALBERT
John B. Watson was
the first American
Psychologist who work
with Pavlov’s ideas. He
too was initially
involved in animal
studies, then later
became involved in
human behavior
research.

13. OPERANT CONDITIONING
Burrhus Frederick
Skinner was the
proponent of Operant
Conditioning. Skinner’s
1948 book, Walden
Two, is about a utopian
society based on
operant conditioning.

16. EXTINCTION/NON-REINFORCEMENT
• Behavioral Chaining
• Reinforcement Schedules
• Fixed Interval Schedules
• Variable Interval Schedules
• Fixed Ratio Schedules
• Variable Ratio Schedules