Learning Theories

Contents
 Behaviourism
 Cognitivism
 Constructivism

Behaviourism
 All things should be looked at from the
perspective of behaviour.
 And it doesn’t matter what is going on in the
mind, it just matters what the behaviour
 So there is no difference in the behaviourist
mind between external behaviour and internal
thoughts.

Behaviourists (before Dr. Phil)
 Ivan Pavlov
 Edward Lee Thorndike
 John B. Watson
 B.F. Skinner

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov
 Born Sept 14, 1849
 Died Feb 27, 1936
 born in Ryazan, Russia
 physiologist,
psychologist, and
physician
 awarded the Nobel
Prize in Physiology or
Medicine in 1904 for
research on the
digestive system

Edward Lee Thorndike
 Born August 31, 1874
 Died August 9, 1949
 Born in Williamsburg,
Massachusetts
 Studied animal behaviour
and the learning process
 led to the theory of
connectionism
 Laying the foundation for
modern educational
psychology.

Cats in Puzzle Boxes
Thorndike looked at how cats learned to
escape from puzzle boxes
The puzzle box experiments were
motivated by Thorndike's dislike for
statements that animals made use of
extraordinary faculties such as insight in
their problem solving.

 Thorndike's instruments in answering this
question were learning curves revealed by
plotting the time it took for an animal to
escape the box each time it was in the box
 if the animals were showing insight, then their
time to escape would suddenly drop to a
negligible period, which would also be shown
in the learning curve as an abrupt drop;
 while animals using a more ordinary method
of trial and error would show gradual curves.

His finding was that cats consistently
showed gradual learning.

So it was trial-and-error
These led Thorndike to formulate
first his Principles of Learning and
then his Theory of Learning that
became the foundation of modern
educational psychology.

Principles of Learning
 Thorndike specified three conditions that
maximizes learning:
 The Law of Effect states that the likely
recurrence of a response is generally governed
by its consequence or effect generally in the form
of reward or punishment.
 The Law of Recency states that the most recent
response is likely to govern the recurrence.
 The Law of Exercise stated that stimulus-
response associations are strengthened through
repetition.

Law of Effect
 "Of several responses made to the same situation, those which are
accompanied or closely followed by satisfaction to the animal will, other
things being equal, be more firmly connected with the situation, so that,
when it recurs, they will be more likely to recur; those which are
accompanied or closely followed by discomfort to the animal will, other
things being equal, have their connections with that situation weakened,
so that, when it recurs, they will be less likely to occur"
 Thorndike, E. L. (1911). “Animal intelligence:
Experimental Studies”. p. 244

Theory of Learning
 Thorndike created 13 basic rules
 I want us to pause after each one and check
if you think this is a universal principle.
 Also see if there is some technology or
teaching approach you can imagine that
might help support this rule

Theory of Learning
1. The most basic form of learning is trial and
error learning.

Theory of Learning
2. Learning is incremental not insightful.

Theory of Learning
3. Learning is not mediated by ideas.

Theory of Learning
4. All mammals learn in the same manner.

Theory of Learning
5. Law of Readiness: Interference with goal
directed behaviour causes frustration and
causing someone to do something they do
not want to do is also frustrating.
 a. When someone is ready to perform some act, to do
so is satisfying.
 b. When someone is ready to perform some act, not
to do so is annoying.
 c. When someone is not ready to perform some act
and is forced to do so, it is annoying.

Theory of Learning
6. Law of Exercise: We learn by doing. We
forget by not doing, although to a small extent
only.
 a. Connections between a stimulus and a response
are strengthened as they are used. (law of use)
 b. Connections between a stimulus and a response
are weakened as they are not used. (law of disuse)

Theory of Learning
7. Law of Effect: If the response in a
connection is followed by a satisfying state of
affairs, the strength of the connection is
considerably increased whereas if followed
by an annoying state of affairs, then the
strength of the connection is marginally
decreased.

Theory of Learning
8. Multiple Responses: A learner would keep
trying multiple responses to solve a problem
before it is actually solved.

Theory of Learning
9. Set or Attitude: What the learner already
possesses, like prior learning experiences,
present state of the learner, etc., while it
begins learning a new task.

Theory of Learning
10. Prepotency of Elements: Different
responses to the same environment would be
evoked by different perceptions of the
environment which act as the stimulus to the
responses. Different perceptions would be
subject to the prepotency of different
elements for different perceivers.

Theory of Learning
11. Response from analogy: New problems
are solved by using solution techniques
employed to solve analogous problems.

Theory of Learning
12. Associative Shifting: Let stimulus S be
paired with response R. Now, if stimulus Q is
presented simultaneously with stimulus S
repeatedly, then stimulus Q is likely to get
paired with response R.

Theory of Learning
13. Belongingness: If there is a natural
relationship between the need state of an
organism and the effect caused by a
response, learning is more effective than if
the relationship is unnatural.

John Broadus Watson
 Born Jan 9, 1878
 Died Sept 25, 1958
 Born in Greenville,
South Carolina
 American psychologist
 established the
psychological school of
behaviourism
 “Little Albert”
experiment

The Behaviorist Manifesto
 In 1913, Watson published the article
"Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It" —
sometimes called "The Behaviorist
Manifesto". In this article, Watson outlined
the major features of his new philosophy of
psychology, called "behaviorism".

The Behaviorist Manifesto
 The first paragraph of the article concisely described
Watson's behaviorist position:
 “Psychology as the behaviorist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of
natural science. Its theoretical goal is the prediction and control of behavior.
Introspection forms no essential part of its methods, nor is the scientific value of its
data dependent upon the readiness with which they lend themselves to
interpretation in terms of consciousness. The behaviorist, in his efforts to get a
unitary scheme of animal response, recognizes no dividing line between man and
brute. The behavior of man, with all of its refinement and complexity, forms only a
part of the behaviorist's total scheme of investigation.”

"Little Albert" experiment
 Occurred in 1920
 One of the most
controversial
experiments in the
history of psychology
 It was an experiment
showing empirical
evidence of classical
conditioning in humans
Rosalie Rayner
Albert B.
John B. Watson

 Watson and Rayner selected an infant
named Albert, at approximately 9 months of
age, he was tested and was judged to show
no fear when successively observing a
number of live animals (e.g., a rat, a rabbit, a
dog, and a monkey), and various inanimate
objects (e.g., cotton, human masks, a
burning newspaper).

 He was, however, judged to show fear
whenever a long steel bar was unexpectedly
struck with a claw hammer just behind his
back.

 Two months after testing Albert's apparently
unconditioned reactions to various stimuli, Watson
and Rayner attempted to condition him to fear a
white rat. This was done by presenting a white rat to
Albert, followed by a loud clanging sound (of the
hammer and steel bar) whenever Albert touched the
animal. After seven pairings of the rat and noise (in
two sessions, one week apart), Albert reacted with
crying and avoidance when the rat was presented
without the loud noise.

However
 Ben Harris in
“Whatever Happened
to Little Albert?” 1979
says that “critical
reading of Watson and
Rayner's (1920) report
reveals little evidence
that Albert developed a
rat phobia”

Little Albert Video
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVt0k9IPQ-A

Burrhus Frederic Skinner
 Born March 20, 1904
 Died August 18, 1990
 Born in Susquehanna,
Pennsylvania
 American psychologist,
author, inventor, advocate
for social reform and poet.
 Innovated his own
philosophy of science called
Radical Behaviorism

Radical Behaviorism
 Radical behaviourism seeks to understand
behaviour as a function of environmental
histories of reinforcing consequences.
 Reinforcement processes were emphasized
by Skinner, and were seen as primary in the
shaping of behaviour.
 A common misconception is that negative
reinforcement is some form of punishment.

Radical Behaviorism
 Positive reinforcement is the strengthening of
behaviour by the application of some event (e.g.,
praise after some behaviour is performed),
 Negative reinforcement is the strengthening of
behaviour by the removal or avoidance of some
aversive event (e.g., opening and raising an
umbrella over your head on a rainy day is reinforced
by the cessation of rain falling on you).
 Both types of reinforcement strengthen behaviour,
or increase the probability of a behaviour
reoccurring.

Radical Behaviorism
 Punishment and extinction have the effect of
weakening behaviour, or decreasing the
probability of a behaviour reoccurring, by the
application of an aversive event (punishment)
or the removal of a rewarding event
(extinction).

Inventor
Cumulative Recorder
Operant Conditioning Chamber
(“Skinner Box”)
Air Crib
Teaching Machine

Cumulative Recorder
 an instrument used to
automatically record
behaviour graphically
 The needle would start at
the bottom of the page and
the drum would turn the roll
of paper horizontally. Each
response would result in the
marking needle moving
vertically along the paper
one tick.

Operant Conditioning Chamber
(“Skinner Box”)

(“Skinner Box”)
 A box large enough to easily accommodate
the animal being used as a subject (including
lab rats, pigeons, and primates).
 It contains one or more levers which an
animal can press, one or more stimulus lights
and one or more places in which reinforcers
like food can be delivered.
 It is often sound-proof and light-proof to avoid
distracting stimuli.

(“Skinner Box”)
 In one of Skinner’s experiments a hungry rat
was introduced into the box. When the lever
was pressed by the rat a small pellet of food
was dropped onto a tray. The rat soon
learned that when he pressed the lever he
would receive some food. In this experiment
the lever pressing behaviour is reinforced by
food.

(“Skinner Box”)
 If pressing the lever is reinforced (the rat gets
food) when a light is on but not when it is off,
responses (pressing the lever) continue to be
made in the light but seldom, if at all, in the
dark. The rat has formed discrimination
between light and dark. When one turns on
the light, a response occurs, but that is not a
Pavlovian conditioned reflex response.

(“Skinner Box”)
 In this experiment Skinner demonstrated the
ideas of "operant conditioning" and "shaping
behaviour." Unlike Pavlov's "classical
conditioning," where an existing behaviour
(salivating for food) is shaped by associating
it with a new stimulus (ringing of a bell or a
metronome), operant conditioning is the
rewarding of an act that approaches a new
desired behavior.

(“Skinner Box”)
 Skinner's operant chamber allowed him to
explore the rate of response as a dependent
variable, as well as develop his theory of
schedules of reinforcement. The first operant
chambers were attached to cumulative
records on drums producing characteristic
pauses, scallops, and other lines.

Teaching Machine
 In 1954 B.F. Skinner embarked
upon a series of studies designed to
improve teaching methods for
spelling, math, and other school
subjects by using a mechanical
device that would surpass the usual
classroom experience.
 He believed the classroom had
disadvantages because the rate of
learning for different students was
variable and reinforcement was also
delayed due to the lack of individual
attention.
 Since personal tutors for every
student was usually unavailable,
Skinner developed a theory of
programmed learning that was to be
implemented by teaching machines.

Teaching Machine
 The teaching machine is composed of mainly a
program, which is a system of combined teaching
and test items that carries the student gradually
through the material to be learned.
 The "machine" is composed by a fill-in-the-blank
method on either a workbook or in a computer. If the
subject is correct, he/she gets reinforcement and
moves on to the next question. If the answer is
incorrect, the subject studies the correct answer to
increase the chance of getting reinforced next time.

Teaching Machine
 The teaching machine is merely a device for presenting the
set of frames of which the program is composed.
 However, it is not supplementary but all-inclusive. The
program will do all the teaching through a response/reward
mechanism.
 Skinner also noted that the learning process should be
divided into a large number of very small steps and
reinforcement must be dependent upon the completion of
each step.
 Skinner suggested that the machine itself should not teach,
but bring the student into contact with the person who
composed the material it presented. He believed this was the
best possible arrangement for learning because it took into
account the rate of learning for each individual student.

Skinner on Education
 Skinner says that there are
five main obstacles to
learning:
1. People have a fear of
failure.
2. The task is not broken
down into small enough
steps.
3. There is a lack of
directions.
4. There is also a lack of
clarity in the directions.
5. Positive reinforcement is
lacking.

Skinner on Education
 Skinner says that there are
five main obstacles to
learning:
1. People have a fear of
failure.
2. The task is not broken
down into small enough
steps.
3. There is a lack of
directions.
4. There is also a lack of
clarity in the directions.
5. Positive reinforcement is
lacking.
 Use five principles to
remedy the above
problems:
1. Give the learner immediate
feedback.
2. Break down the task into
small steps.
3. Repeat the directions as
many times as possible.
4. Work from the most simple
to the most complex tasks.
5. Give positive
reinforcement.

Skinner’s Critics
 We will look at two of Skinner’s most
famous critics
 Anthony Burgess
 Noam Chomsky

Anthony Burgess
 In his novel, A Clockwork Orange,
Anthony Burgess criticizes Skinner's
theories as being immoral, claiming that
moral choice is a necessary part of one's
humanity.
 The novel's protagonist, Alex, believes
he can be released from prison early by
participating in an Ivan Pavlov/B.F.
Skinner inspired rehabilitation program
referred to as the "Ludovico technique,"
which conditions criminals to become
nauseous from the mere thought of
violence.
 Before participating in the program the
prison chaplain warns against it,
declaring that an action is only good if
derived from good intentions. Thus
conditioning in any form is criticized for
being dehumanizing and oppressive.

Noam Chomsky
 In 1959, Chomsky published a
widely influential review of Skinner's
book Verbal Behavior, Chomsky
broadly and aggressively challenged
the behaviourist approaches to
studies of behaviour dominant at the
time, and contributed to the
cognitive revolution in psychology.
 In the review Chomsky emphasized
that the scientific application of
behavioural principles from animal
research is severely lacking in
explanatory adequacy and is
furthermore particularly superficial
as an account of human verbal
behaviour because a theory
restricting itself to external
conditions, to "what is learned",
cannot adequately account for
generative grammar.

Noam Chomsky
 Chomsky raised the examples of
rapid language acquisition of
children, including their quickly
developing ability to form
grammatical sentences, and the
universally creative language use of
competent native speakers to
highlight the ways in which Skinner's
view exemplified under-
determination of theory by evidence.
 He argued that to understand
human verbal behaviour such as the
creative aspects of language use
and language development, one
must first postulate a genetic
linguistic endowment. The
assumption that important aspects
of language are the product of
universal innate ability runs counter
to Skinner's radical behaviourism.

Noam Chomsky
 Skinner, who rarely responded
directly to critics, never formally
replied to Chomsky's critique. Many
years later, Kenneth
MacCorquodale's reply was
endorsed by Skinner.
 He claimed that Chomsky did not
possess an adequate understanding
of either behavioural psychology in
general, or the differences between
Skinner's behaviourism and other
varieties; consequently, it is argued
that he made several serious errors.
 Chomsky has maintained that the
review was directed at the way
Skinner's variant of behavioral
psychology "was being used in
Quinean empiricism and
naturalization of philosophy"

Did you know?
 Opening Skinner's Box:
Great Psychological
Experiments of the
Twentieth Century by
Lauren Slater (2004)
 In this book Slater reveals
that B.F. Skinner raised his
daughter Deborah in an
operant conditioning
chamber and subjected her
to psychological
experiments

Did you know?
 Opening Skinner's Box: Great Psychological
Experiments of the Twentieth Century by Lauren
Slater (2004)
 “. . . caged for two full years, placing within her cramped square space bells and
food trays and all manners of mean punishments and bright rewards, and he
tracked her progress on a grid. And then, when she was thirty-one and frankly
psychotic, she sued him for abuse in a genuine court of law, lost the case, and shot
herself in a bowling alley in Billings, Montana. Boom-boom went the gun.”

Deborah Skinner is alive and
well, living in the UK. She was
understandably upset about
these stories (something of an
urban legend) and wrote an
article in The Guardian

The Guardian, Friday 12 March 2004
I was not a lab rat
By Deborah Skinner Buzan

Learning Theories

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Learning Theories

Similar to Learning Theories (20)

More from Nithya Patrick

More from Nithya Patrick (6)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Learning Theories