Human Learning I:

Behavioural Views of Learning

Classical conditioning
Operant conditioning

EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY (SPPP 1012)

By:
Dr. Mohd Rustam Mohd Rameli
 Outline

 Explaining Behavioral Views of Learning

 Principles of Behavioral Learning Theory
 Behavioral Learning Theory
 Reinforcement
 Punishment

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 Behavioral Views of Learning
• Learning – A relatively permanent change in behavior,
feelings or knowledge that occurs as a result of experience

• Behaviorism – A perspective that psychology should be

concern with the study of human behavior rather than with the
study of the human mind.

• The behavioral view: Learning is a relatively enduring

change in observable behavior that results from experience.
• Mental processes not observable, and therefore not considered.
• Based on animal learning research.

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Contrasting Three Theories of Learning
• Behavioral – Environment/behavior
– Changes in the environment will result in changes in
behavior
• Cognitive – Individual plays a key role
– Interpretation of stimuli in the environment may vary by
individual
• Sociocultural – Environment/behavior
– Influence of environment on behavior of individuals that
includes history of practice and expertise in the community

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 Principles of Behavioral Learning Theory

 Classroom management
 Can help teachers address students’ misbehavior and
social skill deficits
 Promoting appropriate behaviors
 Social or motor skills
 Self-regulation
 Discouraging inappropriate behaviors
 Behavioural of Learning
Theory

1. Classical Conditioning 2. Operant Conditioning

 A behaviorist learning theory

in which individuals learn by  The study of how animals
association, pairing automatic learn to operate on their
responses to new stimuli environments
 Stimuli and Responses
Pavlov’s Classical Conditioning Paradigm:

• Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) – Stimuli, that, without

prior learning, produces an automatic physiological
response

• Unconditioned response (UCR) – Behavior that is

produced in response to a stimulus without prior learning,
automatic physiological response

• Conditioned stimulus (CS) – Stimuli that, with

experience, produces a learned or acquired response

• Conditioned response (CR) – Response that is linked to

a particular stimulus through conditioning by being paired
with the stimulus
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(Neutral
stimulus)

(Neutral
stimulus)
 How does classical conditioning work in
classroom?
Before conditioning

Please be quite!

During conditioning

Please be quite!

After conditioning
HOW DOES CLASSICAL CONDITIONING WORK IN
CLASSROOM?
Before conditioning UCR
UCS

Please be quite!

NS No Response

During conditioning NS UCR

UCS

Please be quite!
After conditioning CS CR
Classical Conditioning in the Classroom

• Automatic, natural reaction to environmental stimuli

– Fear, anxiety, emotional response, nausea

• Aversive stimuli
– Stimuli that produce negative emotional response

• Teachers behaviors may be the stimulus for negative

or positive emotional responses from students
Phases of Classical Conditioning
• Acquisition
– Phase to acquiring / learning new response

• Extinction
– Phase of dying of conditioned stimulus

• Spontaneous recovery
– Phase of regaining back the previously conditioned
response
 Generalization and Discrimination
• Generalization:
– Tendency for a new stimulus that is similar to the original
stimulus to produce a similar response.
– E.g.: Every time hears a teacher claps 3 times, will stop
talking and keep silent (originally conditioned for one time
clap)
• Discrimination
– Individuals respond to certain stimuli but not to others.
– E.g.: Even though hears 3 times claps, students will stop
talking and keep silent only when Teacher A does it, not
Teacher B, C or D
– E.g.: Only stop talking when hear 3 times claps, not once or
twice or more than 3 times
 Operant Learning
(Thorndike & Skinner)
• Actions by a learner, the consequences of which influence
further behavior
• Operants means deliberate actions to “operate” on the
environment to change it in a certain way

– Mediated by the law of effect

 Phenomenon in which behavior that produces good effects tends
to become more frequent while behavior that produces bad
effects tends to become less frequent
 Behaviors that are followed by a positive outcome are
strengthened and behaviors that are followed by negative
outcomes are weakened.

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 Reinforcement vs. Punishment
• Reinforcement
– Process of applying reinforcers with the aim to
increase desired/desirable behaviour
Strengthen/
Behaviour Reinforcer repeated
behaviour
• Punishment
– Process of applying reinforcers with the aim to
decreased undesirable behaviour
Behaviour Punisher Weaken/
decreased
behaviour
 Reinforcers vs Punishers
– Reinforcers – Cause a behavior to become more frequent

– Punishers – Cause behavior to become less frequent

– *Satiation – When too much reinforcement of a desirable

behavior decreases the occurance of the desirable behavior

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 Reinforcement
• Reinforcer
– Positive reinforcer – An environmental event that, when
given, increases the frequency of a behavior
– Negative reinforcer – Any environmental event that, when
removed, increases the frequency of a behavior

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 Positive Reinforcement
Occurs when stimulus is presented after a
behavior and the behavior increases as a result
A desirable behavior is displayed.
The reinforcer is temporally contiguous/
connected to the behavior.
The reinforcer is contingent on the behavior.
The reinforcer is a desirable consequence.
 Classroom Example
1. Students make an overt response for a teacher to consider
reinforcing such response.
 E.g. Student submits a worksheet on time

2. Reinforcer needs to be presented immediately after the displayed

behavior
 E.g. A teacher pastes a token at a board

3. The reinforcer should occur only when the desired response

occurred.
 E.g. A teacher only gives a token when student submits a worksheet on
time

4. The right reinforcer for a student is one that is personally

meaningful to her or him.
 E.g. A token can be exchanged with something meaningful to student
 Negative Reinforcement
 does not mean bad – it means
Negative

removal
 Removing an aversive consequence/stimulus when the desirable behavior is displayed.
 Examples:
 Making a final exam optional for students who achieve an average score of 80%
or higher on all other tests
 Dropping students’ lowest grade when they submit all classroom assignments on
time
 Removing a stare at a student after he or she starts working at an assignment.

*Removing an unpleasant environmental event when students demonstrate good

behavior

 Negative reinforcement is NOT punishment.

 Continous vs Intermittent Reinforcement
• Continuous (after every occurence) • Intermittent (only after some occurrence of
target behavior)
– Most effective for
 Once students master a
helping students acquire
response, intermittent
new behaviors
reinforcement works better
– Desirable behaviors
 Fixed schedule of
increase rapidly during
reinforcement show less
reinforcement
persistence and faster
– Once reinforcement extinction
stops, students will be
 Students show the most
likely to stop displaying
persistence on variable-
the desired behavior.
interval schedules
 Rewards
• Anything given in return for another person’s
service or achievement

– A reward functions as a reinforcer only if the

learner values it.
– Caution: Some praise may be punitive rather than
reinforcing if learners do not value the reward.

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 Punisher
• Punisher – A consequence of behavior that weakens
or decreases behavior

– Positive punisher – Any environmental event

that, when given, decreases the frequency of a
behavior
– Negative punisher – Any event that, when taken
away, decreases the frequency of a behavior
 Negative Punisher (Removal Punishment)
• Time-out – Procedure in which the teacher directs the student to leave a
highly reinforcing environment and go to one that offers little or no
reinforcement (Remove students from the class and physically isolate them from their
classmates)

• Detention– Keeping students in school outside of school hours (used more

frequently with older students)

• In-school suspension – A method where students are placed in a quiet

room inside the school for one or more days to work on the same activities
that non suspended students are working at, under the supervision of an
adult

• Response cost – Remove tangible reinforcers and privileges that were

previously acquired

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 Side Effects of Punishment
• Punishment teaches aggression.
• Punishment produces negative emotions.
• Punishment undermines the quality of the
interpersonal relationship.
• Punishment often exacerbates misbehavior.

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 Ways to Promote Good Behavior
• Cue students when they display inappropriate
behaviors
• Explain why certain behaviors are not
acceptable
• Avoid the negative effect of punishment
• Get help from others (counsellor)
• Do not assume that typical reinforcers or
punishers will have the intended effect on all
students
 Diversity and Behaviorism
 All students respond to reinforcers

 Effectiveness of specific rewards and deterrents of undesirable

behavior can be influenced by students’ individual differences:
 Interests
 Needs
 Values
 Goals
Behavioral Learning Theory and
Special Needs Students
• Teachers need to give them positive behavioral
supports.
• Reinforcement help students set goals, accomplish
goals, and regulate their academic and social
behavior.
• Reauthorization of IDEA (2004) requires parents
prove a behavior considered for discipline is related
to the child’s disability.
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 Increasing Desirable Behaviors
• Shaping – Reinforcement of gradual approximations
of the desired behavior

• Incentive – Environmental event that attracts a

person toward a particular course of action

• Prompts – Physical, verbal, or other assists that help

a person perform a desired behavior that he or she
would be unlikely to perform without such assistance

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 Preventing Behavioral Escalations

• Intervene early in the sequence.

• Understand how such incidents ended in the past.
• Know the function of problem behaviors.
• Use good judgment about which behaviors to punish.
• Teach students socially appropriate behavior to
replace problem behavior.
• Teach academic survival skills and set students up for
success.
Thank you

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 QUIZ 2

1. What are Piaget’s stage of cognitive

development and their characteristics?
2. As you have learned, for most elementary
school, children think at a concrete
operational level, which is different level than
young children and adolescents. Please
explain some strategies for advancing
children’s thinking at the concrete
operational level.