North Central Mindanao College: Maranding, Lala, Lanao Del Norte

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MODULE NO.

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NORTH CENTRAL MINDANAO COLLEGE
Maranding, Lala, Lanao del Norte

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
EDUC PCK 1: CHILD AND ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT
1st Semester of A.Y. 2020-2021

Topic
BEHAVIORIST PERSPECTIVE
Behaviorism: Pavlov, Thorndike, Watson, Skinner

Rationale

This course focuses on child and adolescent development with emphasis on current research and theory on
biological, linguistic, cognitive, social and emotional dimensions of development. Further, this includes
factors that affect the progress of development of the learners and shall include pedagogical principles
applicable for each development level

Intended Learning Outcomes

ILO 1: explain the basic principles of behaviorism


ILO 2: make a simple plan applying the primary laws of learning
ILO 3: .determine how to use rewards in the lear

Activity/Activities

Lecture, Online Quiz, HW

Discussion
The theory of behaviourism focuses on the study of observable and measurable behaviour.
Behaviourism, also known as behavioural psychology, is a theory of learning which states all behaviours
are learned through interaction with the environment through a process called conditioning. Thus,
behaviour is simply a response to environmental stimuli.

Behaviourism is only concerned with observable stimulus-response behaviours, as they can be studied in
a systematic and observable manner.

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Think of a teacher that is most unforgettable to you in elementary or high school.

Are there things or memory that when you encounter at present make you “go back to the past” and recall this
teacher? What are these things?

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

Did he or she ever gave you a reward or a punishment for your behaviour?

Behaviourism emphasizes the role of environmental factors in influencing behavior, to the near exclusion of
innate or inherited factors. This amounts essentially to a focus on learning.

We learn new behaviour through classical or operant conditioning (collectively known as 'learning theory').

Therefore, when born our mind is 'tabula rasa' (a blank slate).

What is conditioning?

Conditioning is a type of learning that links some sort of trigger or stimulus to a human behaviour or
response. When psychology was first starting as a field, scientists felt they couldn’t objectively describe what
was going on in people’s heads. However, they could observe behaviours so that’s what they focused on in
their experiments. The major theories about learning come from the conclusions drawn from these
experiments.

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CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
(PAVLOV/WATSON)

Major concepts

Classical conditioning is Stimulus (S) elicits >Response (R) conditioning since the antecedent stimulus
(singular) causes (elicits) the reflexive or involuntary response to occur. Classical conditioning starts with a
reflex: an innate, involuntary behavior elicited or caused by an antecedent environmental event.

For example, if air is blown into your eye, you blink. You have no voluntary or conscious control over
whether the blink occurs or not.

The specific model for classical conditioning is:

1. Unconditioned Stimulus (US) elicits > Unconditioned Response (UR): a stimulus will naturally
(without learning) elicit or bring about a reflexive response
2. Neutral Stimulus (NS) ---> does not elicit the response of interest: this stimulus (sometimes called an
orienting stimulus as it elicits an orienting response) is a neutral stimulus since it does not elicit the
Unconditioned (or reflexive) Response.
3. The Neutral/Orienting Stimulus (NS) is repeatedly paired with the Unconditioned/Natural Stimulus
(US).
4. The NS is transformed into a Conditioned Stimulus (CS); that is, when the CS is presented by itself,
it elicits or causes the CR (which is the same involuntary response as the UR; the name changes
because it is elicited by a different stimulus. This is written CS elicits > CR.

In classical conditioning no new behaviors are learned. Instead, an association is developed (through pairing)
between the NS and the US so that the animal / person responds to both events / stimuli (plural) in the same
way; restated, after conditioning, both the US and the CS will elicit the same involuntary response (the
person / animal learns to respond reflexively to a new stimulus)

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In the area of classroom learning, classical conditioning primarily influences emotional behaviour. Things
that make us happy, sad, angry, etc. become associated with neutral stimuli that gain our attention. For
example, if a particular academic subject or remembering a particular teacher produces emotional feelings
in you, those emotions are probably a result of classical conditioning

Findings:

Stimulus Generalization.

Extinction.

Spontaneous Recovery.

Discrimination

Higher-Order Conditioning

Watson is best known for taking his theory of behaviorism and applying it to child development. He
believed strongly that a child's environment is the factor that shapes behaviors over their genetic makeup or
natural temperament. Watson is famous for saying that he could take a 'dozen healthy infants... and train any
one of them to become any type of specialist he might select - doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes,
even beggar-man and thief.' In other words, he believed that you can expose the child to certain
environmental forces and, over time, condition that child to become any type of person you want. As you
might imagine, this was radical thinking and a type of behavioral control that many people were not
comfortable with at that time.

He studied this phenomenon in the famous and controversial "Little Albert" study. In this study, he used
loud noises to condition (or teach) a baby to be fearful of white rats, rabbits, or another similar neutral
stimulus. In another study, Watson also found that such fears could be unlearned through exposure to the
feared object and learning new associations between stimuli.

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MODULE NO.6
https://youtu.be/xvVaTy8mQrg

Please watch "Little Albert" study:

https://youtu.be/9hBfnXACsOI

https://youtu.be/KJnJ1Q8PAJk

CONNECTIONISM
(EDWARD L. THORNDIKE)

In Thorndike’s view, learning is the process of forming associations or bonds, which he defined as “the
connection of a certain act with a certain situation and resultant pleasure”; learning has taken place when a
strong connection or bond between stimulus and response is formed.

The learning theory of Thorndike represents the original S-R framework of behavioural psychology:
Learning is the result of associations forming between stimuli and responses. Such associations or “habits”
become strengthened or weakened by the nature and frequency of the S-R pairings. The paradigm for S-R
theory was trial and error learning in which certain responses come to dominate others due to rewards. The
hallmark of connectionism (like all behavioural theory) was that learning could be adequately explained
without referring to any unobservable internal states.
https://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/connectionism/

THREE LAWS OF LEARNING:

1) law of effect – responses to a situation which are followed by a rewarding state of affairs will be
strengthened and become habitual responses to that situation

2) law of readiness – a series of responses can be chained together to satisfy some goal which will result in
annoyance if blocked, and

3) law of exercise – connections become strengthened with practice and weakened when practice is
discontinued. A corollary of the law of effect was that responses that reduce the likelihood of achieving a
rewarding state (i.e., punishments, failures) will decrease in strength.

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.

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OPERANT CONDITIONING
(SKINNER)

Operant conditioning is based upon the notion that learning is a result of change in overt behaviour. Changes
in behaviour are the result of an individual’s response to events (stimuli) that occur in the environment. A
response produces consequence such a defining a word, hitting a ball or solving a math problem. When a
particular Stimulus-Response (S-R) pattern is reinforced (rewarded) the individual is conditioned to response.

Reinforcement is the key element in Skinner’s S-R theory.

A reinforcer is anything that strengthens the response.

When a certain deliberate behavior is reinforced, that behavior will become more common. Psychology
divides reinforcement into four main categories:

● Positive reinforcement - receiving a reward for acting in a certain way.

Examples:

⮚ Many people train their pets with positive reinforcement. Praising a pet or providing a treat
when they obey instructions -- like being told to sit or heel -- both helps the pet understand
what is desired and encourages it to obey future commands.
⮚ When a child receives praise for performing a chore without complaint, like cleaning their
room, they are more likely to continue to perform that chore in the future.
⮚ When a worker is rewarded with a performance bonus for exceptional sales figures, she is
inclined to continue performing at a high level in hopes of receiving another bonus in the
future.

● Negative reinforcement - rewards a behavior by removing an unpleasant stimulus, rather than


adding a pleasant one.

⮚ An employer offering an employee a day off is an example of negative reinforcement. Rather


than giving a tangible reward, they reduce the presence of something undesirable; that is, the
amount of time spent at work.

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⮚ In a sense, young children condition their parents through negative reinforcement.
Screaming, tantrums and other "acting out" behaviors are generally intended to draw a
parent's attention. When the parent behaves as the child wants, the unpleasant condition - the
screaming and crying - stops. That's negative reinforcement.
⮚ Negative reinforcement is common in the justice system. Prisons will sometimes ease
regulations on a well-behaved prisoner, and sentences are sometimes shortened for good
behavior. The latter in particular is classic negative reinforcement: the removal of something
undesirable (days in prison) in response to a given behavior.

● Punishment - punishment doesn't necessarily mean what it means in casual usage. Psychology
defines punishment as something done after a given deliberate action that lowers the chance of that
action taking place in the future. Whereas reinforcement is meant to encourage a certain behavior,
punishment is meant to discourage a certain behavior.

● Extinction – or non-reinforcement, responses that are not reinforced are not likely to be repeated.

WATCH:

Difference between classical and operant conditioning by TED-Ed:

https://youtu.be/H6LEcM0E0io

KNOW MORE

Read about the following:

● Shaping of behaviour
● Behavioral chaining
● Reinforcement Schedules
● Fixed Interval Schedules
● Variable Interval Schedules
● Fixed Ratio Schedules
● Variable Ratio Schedules

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Assessment

1. Explain the basic principles of behaviourism.

2. Explain how to use rewards in the learning process effectively.

Reflection

Make a reflection about this video clip.


State your realizations and write how you will spread positive attitude amidst difficult circumstances.

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Wendy Smith -
In her talk Wendy shares with us her journey from motor bike accident to paralympian. She tells us the
lessons she learnt along the way and the simple of power of saying "I can" rather than "I can't".

Watch:

TEDxTALKS

https://youtu.be/MZ9Ywl3iCpc

Resources

Corpuz, Brenda B., Lucas, Ma. Rita D.Child and adolescent Development, 776 Aurora, Quezon City, Metro
Manila, Lorimar Publishing Inc 2015.
Thorndike, E. (1913). Educational Psychology: The Psychology of Learning. New York: Teachers College
Press.
Thorndike, E. (1921). The Teacher’s Word Book. New York: Teachers College.
Thorndike, E. (1932). The Fundamentals of Learning. New York: Teachers College Press.
Thorndike, E. at al. (1927). The Measurement of Intelligence. New York: Teachers College Press.
Thorndike, E. et al. (1928). Adult Learning. New York: Macmillan

Web:
https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/behavior/learning-slug/a/classical-and-operant-conditioning-
article

https://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/connectionism/

https://youtu.be/MZ9Ywl3iCpc

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Prepared By
Isabelle L. Paiso, LPT
COE Faculty

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