- Thorndike proposed theories of connectionism and the law of effect, exercise, and readiness to explain learning as the formation of stimulus-response associations that are strengthened by rewards and practice. He believed intelligence is the number of connections formed. - Pavlov demonstrated classical conditioning where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with an unconditioned stimulus to elicit a conditioned response. His work showed acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, and discrimination of conditioned responses. - Skinner's operant conditioning model explained how behaviors are reinforced or punished by their consequences, influencing the probability of behaviors occurring again in the future. Positive and negative reinforcement and punishment shape behaviors through consequences.

1. CONDITIONING
THEORIES

2. DEFINITION
•Refers to the behavioral process, whereby a
reaction (response) becomes more frequent to a
given object (stimulus) as a result of reinforcement,
which is a reward for the response in a given
situation.

3. TWO MAIN THEORIES OF CONDITIONING

4. EDWARD L. THORNDIKE(1874-1949)

5. •Thorndike characterized the two
most basic intelligences as Trial-
and-Error and Stimulus-Response
Association.

6. PRINCIPLES
• Learning requires both practice and rewards (laws of effect /exercise)
• A series of S-R connections can be chained together if they belong to
the same action sequence (law of readiness).
• Transfer of learning occurs because of previously encountered
situations.
• Intelligence is a function of the number of connections learned.

7. CONNECTIONISM
•Defined teaching as arranging the classroom to
enhance desirable connections and associations.
•Focused on testing the relationship between a stimulus
and a response (classical conditioning)
•Defined learning as habit formation.

8. HE BELIEVED THAT THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL
TYPE OF LEARNING INVOLVES
The forming of
associations
(connections)
Sensory
experiences
(perceptions of
stimuli or events)
Neural impulses
(responses)

9. APPLICATIONS
• Connectionism was meant to be a general theory of learning for
animals and humans. Thorndike was especially interested in the
application of his theory to education including mathematics
(Thorndike, 1922), spelling and reading (Thorndike, 1921),
measurement of intelligence (Thorndike et al., 1927) and adult
learning (Thorndike at al., 1928).

10. EXAMPLE
•The classic example of Thorndike’s S-R
theory was a cat learning to escape from a
“puzzle box” by pressing a lever inside the
box.

12. THORNDIKE PROPOSED THAT THERE
WERE FOUR GENERAL DIMENSIONS OF
ABSTRACT INTELLIGENCE:
• Altitude: the complexity or difficulty of tasks one can perform
(most important)
• Width: the variety of tasks of a give difficulty
• Area: a function of width and altitude
• Speed: the number of tasks one can complete in a given time .

13. THREE
PRIMARY LAWS

14. THE LAW OF
EFFECT
a)Responses to a situation that are followed
by satisfaction are strengthened; and
b)Responses that are followed by discomfort
are weakened.

15. LAW OF EFFECT

16. LAW OF EXERCISE
•A connection is strengthened in
proportion to its frequency, and
its average intensity and duration

17. Law of
Exercise
Law of Use Law of Disuse
A response to a
stimulus strengthens
their connections.
When a response is not
made to a stimulus, the
connection’s strength is
weakened (forgotten).

18. LAW OF EXERCISE

19. LAW OF READINESS
•Emphasizes the role of
motivation

20. LAW OF READINESS EXAMPLE

21. THREE BROAD CLASSES OF
INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONING
1. Abstract Intelligence- Standard intelligence tests
2. Mechanical Intelligence - the ability to visualize
relationships among objects and understand how the
physical world worked
3. Social Intelligence - the ability to function
successfully in interpersonal situations

22. ASSOCIATIVE SHIFTING
• Refers to a situation in which responses made to
a particular stimulus eventually are made to an
entirely different stimulus of, on repeated trials,
there are small changes in the nature of the
stimulus.

23. TRANSFER (GENERALISATION)
•Strengthening or weakening of one connection
produces a similar change in another
connection.
•Transfer occurs when situations have identical
elements and call for similar responses.

24. TRANSFER (GENERALISATION)
• Practice or training in a skill in a specific context did not
improve one’s ability to execute that skill generally.
• E.g. Training on estimating the area of rectangles does not
advance learners’ ability to estimate the areas of triangles,
circles, and irregular figures

25. IMPLICATIONS OF
THORNDIKE’S THEORY
IN TEACHING AND
LEARNING

26. LAW OF EFFECT
• Teacher should prepare a learning environment which the
opportunities of experiencing success for students exist.
• Praise… Gifts… Rewards…
• On the other hand, advice should be given for students
who are mischievous.

27. LAW OF EXERCISE
•In order to ensure the lesson goes
smoothly, a variety of evaluation to apply
the knowledge learnt should be done more
frequent to enhance learning.

28. LAW OF READINESS
•Teacher should prepare the facilities
required for students before starting
a topic or teaching and learning
activity.

29. IVAN PAVLOV
1849-1936

30. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
• Also known as respondent conditioning refers
to form of learning that occurs through the
repeated association of two or more different
stimuli

31. FOUR KEY ELEMENTS THAT ARE USED TO DESCRIBE
THE PROCESS OF CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
1. Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)- is any stimulus that consistently produces
a particular, naturally occurring, automatic response.
2. Unconditioned Response (UCR)- is the response that occurs automatically
when UCS is presented. It is a reflexive, involuntary response that is
predictably caused by UCS.

32. FOUR KEY ELEMENTS THAT ARE USED TO DESCRIBE
THE PROCESS OF CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
3. Conditioned Stimulus (CS) – is the stimulus that is neutral at the start of
the conditioning process and does not normally produce the UCR. Yet,
through repeated association with the UCS, the CS triggers a very similar
response to that caused by the UCS.
4. Conditioned Response(CR)- is the learned response that is produced by
the CS. It occurs after the CS has been associated with the UCS.

33. KEY PROCESSES IN CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
DISTUINGUISHED BY PAVLOV
1. Acquisition- is the overall process during which the organism learns to
associate two events
2. Extinction- is the gradual decrease in the strength or rate of a CR that
occurs when the UCS is no longer presented.
3. Spontaneous Recovery- in classical conditioning, spontaneous recovery
is the reappearance of a CR when the CS is presented, following a rest
period after the CR appears to have been extinguished.

34. KEY PROCESSES IN CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
DISTUINGUISHED BY PAVLOV
4. Stimulus Generalization- is the tendency for another stimulus to
produce a response that is similar to the CR. The greater the
similarity between the stimuli, the greater the possibility that a
generalization will occur.
5. Stimulus Discrimination- occurs when a person or an animal
responds to the CS only, but no to ay other stimulus that is similar to
the CS.

36. BURRHUS FREDERICK SKINNER
1904-1990

37. OPERANT CONDITIONING
•Also called as an Instrumental Conditioning, which
means learning is developed through the rewards and
punishments given for a particular behavior.

38. THREE ELEMENTS THAT RESULT IN THE
DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW BEHAVIOR:
1.Stimulus Situation (the event or
object)
2.Behavioral response to the situation
3.Consequence of a response

39. REINFORCEMENT COMES IN TWO
FORMS:
1. Positive Reinforcers- are favorable events or outcomes that are
given to the individual after the desired behavior which may
come in the form of praise, rewards, etc.
2. Negative reinforcers- typically are characterized by the removal
of an undesired or unpleasant outcome after the desired behavior.
A response is strengthened as something considered negative is
removed.

40. TWO TYPES OF PUNISHMENT
1. Positive Punishment – this works by presenting a
negative consequence after undesired behavior is
exhibited, making the behavior less likely to happen in
the future.
2. Negative Punishment- this happens when a certain
desired stimulus/item is removed after a particular
undesired behavior is exhibited, resulting in the
behavior happening less often in the future.

42. THE END 