- Behaviorism is a theory of learning based on conditioning through interactions with the environment. Classical conditioning involves pairing a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus to elicit the same response, as shown through Pavlov's dog experiments. Operant conditioning, developed by Skinner, demonstrates that behaviors followed by reinforcement will be repeated, while behaviors followed by punishment will not. Behaviorism provides frameworks used in physical therapy to shape patients' behaviors through reinforcement of positive responses.

1. BEHAVIORISM
CHINESE GENERAL HOSTPITAL COLLEGES
A d a j o – C r u z – E s p i r i t u – M i l l s – S a n t o s - W u

2. TOPIC OVERVIEW
TODAY'S DISCUSSION
• What’s Behaviorism
• Connectionism
• Classic Conditioning
• Contiguous Conditioning
• Operant Conditioning

3. John B. Watson (1878–1958), generally considered to be
the founder and champion of modern behaviorism
Pavlov (1897), published the results of an experiment on
conditioning after originally studying digestion in dogs.
Watson (1913), launches the behavioral school of psychology,
publishing an article, Psychology as the behaviorist views it.
Watson and Rayner (1920), conditioned an orphan called Albert B
(aka Little Albert) to fear a white rat.
Skinner (1936), wrote The Behavior of Organisms and introduced
the concepts of operant conditioning and shaping.
Bandura (1963), publishes a book called the Social Leaning
Theory and Personality development which combines both
cognitive and behavioral frameworks.
Watson (1916), thought that Pavlov’s conditioning model (discussed later
in this chapter) was appropriate for building a science of human behavior.

4. WHAT IS BEHAVIORISM
•Behaviorism, also known as behavioral psychology,
is a theory of learning based upon the idea that all
behaviors are acquired through conditioning.
•Conditioning occurs through interaction with the
environment
•Behaviorists believe that our responses to
environmental stimuli shape our actions.

5. CONNECTIONISM
Edward L. Thorndike (1874–1949)

7. TRIAL-AND-ERROR LEARNING
• Thorndike's most famous work involved cats trying to navigate
through various puzzle boxes. In this experiment, he placed hungry
cats into homemade boxes and recorded the time it took for them
to perform the necessary actions to escape and receive their food
reward. Thorndike discovered that with successive trials, cats
would learn from previous behavior, limit ineffective actions, and
escape from the box more quickly. He observed that the cats
seemed to learn, from an intricate trial and error process, which
actions should be continued and which actions should be
abandoned; a well-practiced cat could quickly remember and
reuse actions that were successful in escaping to the food reward

8. THREE LAWS OF LEARNING
1. LAW OF EFFECT
• Learning is strengthened when accompanied by a pleasant or
satisfying feeling
• Learning is weakened when associated with unpleasant feeling
• Learning takes place properly when it results in satisfaction
and the learner derives pleasure out of it
2. LAW OF EXERCISE
• Things most often repeated are best remembered
• Students do not learn complex task in a single session
3. LAW OF READINESS
• Individuals learn best when they are physically, mentally and
emotionally ready to learn, and they do not learn well if they
see no reason for learning

9. CLASSIC
CONDITIONING
Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936)

10. CLASSIC CONDITIONING
The Process In Which An Automatic, Conditioned Response
Is Paired With Specific Stimuli
• Noticed that dogs often would salivate at the sight of the
attendant bringing them food or even at the sound of the
attendant’s footsteps.
⚬ The attendant was not a natural stimulus for the reflex of
salivating; rather, the attendant acquired this power by being
associated with food.

11. Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS), elicits an Unconditioned
Response (UCR).
Presented a hungry dog with meat powder (UCS), which would
cause the dog to salivate (UCR).
To condition the animal requires repeatedly presenting an initially
neutral stimulus for a brief period before presenting the UCS.
In the early trials, the ticking of the metronome produced no
salivation.
Eventually, the dog salivated in response to the ticking
metronome prior to the presentation of the meat powder.
The metronome had become a conditioned stimulus (CS) that
elicited a conditioned response (CR) similar to the original UCR
Used a ticking metronome as the neutral stimulus.

12. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
PROCEDURE

13. CONTIGUOUS
CONDITIONING
Edwin R. Guthrie (1886–1959)

14. CONTIGUOUS CONDITIONING
• Contiguity Learning implies that a behavior in a situation
will be repeated when that situation recurs.
• States that “a stimulus that causes a response will cause
the same response". If so, whenever the stimuli/stimulus
experienced then the behavior will be repeated whenever
the same situation happened again.
• Habit is one of the influential aspects of Guthrie’s work

15. Experiment with cats; used a puzzle box similar to
Thorndike’s.
Touching a post in the center triggered the mechanism that
sprang open the door, allowing the cat to escape
When cats initially were placed in the box, they explored it and
made a series of random movements.
They may have hit the post with a paw; brushed against it; or
backed into it.
The cat’s last response (hitting the pole) was successful because
it opened the door, and cats repeated their last response when
put back into the box.
Eventually they made a response that released the mechanism, and they
escaped.

16. OPERANT
CONDITIONING
Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1904–1990)

17. OPERANT CONDITIONING
• Skinner believed that we both predict & control
behavior.
• Thus by manipulating the environment, you can
manipulate behavior
• Defined as: A learning process in which the
consequences which follow a response determine
whether the behavior will be repeated
• Behavior will likely be repeated which has
reinforced
• And tend not to be repeated with punishment

19. SKINNER BOX – POSTIVE REINFORCMENT
• Initially behavior was random, but can
inadvertently tripped lever and was
rewarded with a food pellet
• The rat didn't take long to learn that
the lever represented a means of
obtaining the reinforcer
• The consequence of receiving food (a
desirable stimulus) for lever pressing
ensured that it would repeat the
action

20. SKINNER BOX – NEGATIVE REINFORCMENT
• Rat was subjected to unpleasant electric current
• Accidental lever pressing —switched off electric current
• The consequence of escaping the electric current (an
aversive stimulus) ensured that it would repeat the action
(of lever pressing)
• Subsequently: A light would be switched on, just prior to
electric current
• Thus lever pressing after the light was negatively
reinforced

21. RELEVANCE OF
BEHAVIORISM
FOR PHYSICAL
THERAPIST

22. RELEVANCE OF
BEHAVIORISM FOR
PHYSICAL THERAPIST