EDCK REVIEWER

OPERANT CONDITIONING
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING Operant Conditioning is based upon the notion
that learning. is a result of change in overt
PAVLOV
behavior. Changes in behavior are a the result of
Pavlov’s Experiment. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING. an individual's response to events (stimuli) that
Before conditioning, ringing the bell (neutral occur in the environment. A response produces
stimulus) caused no response from the dog. a consequence such defining a word, hitting a
Placing food (unconditioned stimulus) in front of ball, or solving a math problem.
the dog initiated salivation (unconditioned
BURRHUS FREDERICK SKINNER-OPERANT
response). During conditioning, the bell was
CONDITIONING
rung a few seconds before the dog was
presented with food. After conditioning, the Skinner's work differs from that of the him in
ringing of the bell (conditioned stimulus) alone that he studied operant behavior (voluntary
produced salivation (conditioned response) behaviors used in operating on the
environment). Thus, his theory came to be
Stimulus Generalization. Once the dog has
known as Operant Conditioning.
learned to salivate at the sound of the bell, it
will salivate at other similar sounds. “When a particular Stimulus-Response (S-R)
pattern is reinforced (rewarded), the individual
Extinction. If you stop pairing the bell with the
is conditioned to respond.”
food, salivation will eventually cease in
response to the bell. Positive reinforcer is any stimulus that is given
or added to increase the response. An example
Spontaneous Recovery. Extinguished responses
of positive reinforcement is when a teacher
can be “recovered” after am elapsed time, but
promises extra time in the play area to children
will soon extinguish again if the dog is not
who behave well during the lesson. Another is a
presented with food.
mother who promises a new cell phone for her
Discrimination. The dog could learn to son who gets good grades. Still, other examples
discriminate between similar bells (stimuli) and include verbal praises, star stamps and stickers.
discern which bell would result in the
Negative reinforcer is any stimulus that results
presentation of food and which would not.
in the increased frequency of a response when
Higher-Order Conditioning. Once the dog has it is withdrawn or removed. It is different from a
been conditioned to associated the bell with punishment because 3 punishment is a
food, another unconditioned stimulus, such as a consequence intended to result in reduced
light may be flashed at the same time that the response.
bell is rung. Eventually, the dog will salivate at
Shaping of Behavior. An animal on a cage may
the flash of the light without the sound of the
take a very long time to figure out that pressing
bell.
a lever will produce food. To accomplish such
behavior, successive approximations of the
behavior are rewarded until the animal learns
the association between the lever and the food
reward.
Behavioral chaining comes about when a series “An example of this is why people continue to
of steps are for pressing the lever needed to be buy lotto tickets even when negligible
learned. The animal would master each step in percentage of people actually win.”
sequence until the entire sequence is learned.
This can be applied to a child being taught to tie CONNECTIONISM
a shoelace. The child can be given EDWARD THORNDIKE’S CONNECTIONISM
reinforcement (rewards) until the entire process
of tying the shoelace is learned. The law of effect states that a connection
between a stimulus and response is
Reinforcement Schedules. Once the desired strengthened when the consequence is positive
behavioral response is accomplished, (reward) and the connection between the
reinforcement does not have to be 100%: in stimulus and the response is weakened when
fact, it can be maintained more successfully the consequence is negative. Thorndike later
through what Skinner referred to as partial on, revised this “law” when he found that
reinforcement schedules. negative rewards (punishment) do not
“Partial reinforcement schedules include necessarily weaken bonds, and that some
interval schedules and ratio schedules.” seemingly pleasurable consequences do not
necessarily motivate performance.
Fixed Interval Schedules. The target response is
reinforced after a fixed amount of time has Law of Exercise. This tells us that the more an S-
passed since the last reinforcement. Example, R (stimulus response) bond is practiced the
the bird in a cage is given food (reinforcer) every stronger it will become. “Practice makes
10 minutes, regardless of how many times it perfect” seem to be associated with this.
presses the bar. However, like the law of effect, the law of
exercise also had to be revised when Thorndike
Variable Interval Schedules. This is similar to found practice without feedback does not
fixed interval schedules but the amount of time necessarily enhance performance.
that must pass between reinforcement varies.
Example, the bird may receive food (reinforcer) Law of Readiness. This states that the more
different intervals, not every ten minutes. readiness the learner has to respond to the
stimulus, the stronger will be the bond between
Fixed Ratio Schedules. A fixed number of correct them. When a person is ready to respond to a
responses must occur before reinforcement stimulus and is not made to respond, it
may recur. Example, the bird will be given food becomes annoying to the person.
(reinforcer) every time it presses the bar 5
times. For example, if the teacher say, “Okay we will
now watch the movie (stimulus) you’ve been
Variable Ratio Schedules. The number of correct waiting for.” And suddenly the power goes off.
repetitions of the correct response for The students will feel frustrated because they
reinforcement varies. Example, the bird is given were ready to respond to the stimulus but was
food (reinforcer) after it presses the bar 3 times, prevented from doing so.
then after 10 times, then after 4 times. So the
bird will not be able to predict how many times Principle Derived from Thorndike’s
it needs to press the bar before it gets food Connectionism:
again. 1. Learning requires both practice and rewards
(laws of effect/exercise)
2. A series of S-R connections can be chained learning theories and cognitive learning
together if they belong to the same action theories.
sequence (law of readiness)
Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory
3. Transfer of learning occurs because of
Bandura suggested that the environment also
previously encountered situations.
reinforces modeling. This is in several possible
4. Intelligence is a function of the number of ways:
connections learned.
1. The observer is reinforced by the model. For
SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY example a student who changes dress to fit in
with a certain group of students has a strong
Social learning theory focuses on the learning likelihood of being accepted and thus reinforced
that occurs within a social context. It considers by that group.
that people learn from one another, including
such concepts as observational leaning, 2. The observer is reinforced by a third person.
imitation and modeling. The observer might be modeling the actions of
someone else, for example, an outstanding class
“The ten-year old boy Sergio Pelico did watch leader or student. The teacher notices this and
Saddam’s execution on TV and then must have compliments and praise the observe for
imitate it.” modeling such behavior thus reinforcing that
Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory behavior.

(General principles of social learning theory) 3. The imitated behavior itself leads to
reinforcing consequences. Many behaviors that
1. People can learn by observing the behavior of we learn from others produce satisfying or
others and the outcomes of those behaviors. reinforcing result. For examples, a student in my
multimedia class could observe how the extra
2. Learning can occur without a change in
work a classmate does is fun.
behavior. Behaviorists say that learning has to
be represented by a permanent change in 4. Consequences of the model’s behavior affects
behavior, in contrast social learning theorist say the observer’s behavior vicariously. This is
that because people can learn through where the model is reinforced for a response
observation alone, their learning may not and then the observer shows an increase in that
necessarily be shown in their performance. same response. Bandura illustrated this by
Learning may not result in a behavior change. having students watch a film of model hitting an
inflated clown doll. One group of children saw
3. Cognition plays a role in learning. Over the
the model being praised for such action.
last 30 years, social leaning theory has become
Without being reinforced, the group of children
increasingly cognitive in its interpretation of
began to also hit the doll.
human leaning. Awareness and expectations of
future reinforcements or punishments can have Social learning theory has cognitive factors as
a major effect on the behaviors that people well as behaviorist factors (actually operant
exhibit. factors).
4. Social learning theory can be considered a 1. Learning without performance: Bandura
bridge or a transition between behaviorist makes a distinction between leaning through
observation and the actual imitation of what
has been learned. This is similar to Tolman’s learners who is not ready developmentally to
latent learning. replicate the action. For example, little children
have difficulty doing complex physical motion.
2. Cognitive processing during learning: Social
learning theorist contend that attention is a 4. Motivate – The final necessary ingredients for
critical factor in learning. modeling to occur is motivate. Learner must
want to demonstrate what they have learned.
3. Expectations: As a result of being reinforced,
Remember that since these four conditions vary
people form expectations about the
among individuals, different people will
consequences that future behaviors are likely to
reproduce the same behavior differently.
bring reinforcements and others to bring
punishment. The learning needs to be aware, Effects of modeling on behavior:
however, of the response reinforcements and
1. modeling teaches new behaviors.
response punishment. Reinforcement increases
a response only when the learner is aware of 2. Modeling influences the frequency of
that connection. previously learned behaviors.
4. Reciprocal causation: Bandura proposed that 3. Modeling may encourage previously
behavior can influence both the environment forbidden behaviors.
and the person. In fact each of these three
variables, the person, the behavior, and the 4. Modeling increases the frequency of similar
environment can have an influence on each behaviors. For example a student might see a
other. friend excel in basketball and he tries to excel in
football because he is not tall enough for
5. Modeling: There are different types of basketball.
models. There is the live model, an actual
person demonstrating the behavior. There can PUPOSIVE BEHAVIORISM
also be a symbolic model, which can be a
Purposive behaviorism has also been referred to
person or action portrayed in some other
as Sign Learning Theory and is often seen as the
medium, such as television, videotape,
link between behaviorism and cognitive theory.
computer programs.
Tolman’s theory was founded on two
four conditions that are necessary before an psychological views: those of the Gestalt
individual can successfully model the behavior: psychologist and those of John Watson, the
behaviorist. Tolman’s believed that leaning is a
1. Attention – The Person must first pay cognitive process. Learning involves forming
attention to the model. beliefs and obtaining knowledge about the
2. Retention - The observer must be able to environment and then revealing that knowledge
remember the behavior that has been through purposeful and goal-directed behavior.
observed. One way of increasing this is using Tolman stated in his sign theory that an
the technique of rehearsal. organism learns by pursuing sign to a goal, i.e.,
3. Motor reproduction - The third condition is leaning is acquired through meaningful
the ability to replicate the behavior that the behavior. He stressed the organized of learning:
model has just demonstrate. This means that “The stimuli which are allowed in are not
the observer has to be able to replicate the connected by just simple one-to-one switches
action, which could be a problem with a to the outgoing responses. Rather the incoming
impulse are usually worked over and elaborate representation, needs and other internal or
in the central control room into a tentative environmental variables. Example, in his
cognitive-like map of the environment. And it is experiments with rats he found out that hunger
this tentative map, indicating routes and paths was an intervening variable.
and environmental relationships, which finally
Reinforcement not essential for learning.
determines what responses, if any, the animal
Tolman concluded that reinforcement is not
will finally make.
essential for learning, although it provides an
Tolman’s Key Concepts incentive for performance. In his studies, he
observed that a rat was able to acquire
Learning is always purposive and goal-directed.
knowledge of the way through a maze, i.e., to
Tolman asserted that leaning is always
develop a cognitive map, even in the absence of
purposive and goal-directed. He held the notion
reinforcement.
that an organism acted or responded for some
adaptive purpose. He believed individuals do ROBERT GANE’S CONDITIONS OF
more than merely respond to stimuli; they act
LEARNING
on beliefs, attitudes, changing conditions, and
they strive toward goals. Tolman saw behavior CATEGORIES OF LEARNING
as holistic, purposive and cognitive.
Verbal information
Cognitive maps in rats. In his most famous
experiment, one group of rats was placed at Intellectual skills
random starting locations in a maze but the
Cognitive Strategies
food was always in the same location
Attitudes
This is tendency to “learn location” signified
that rats somehow formed cognitive maps that Motor skills
help them perform well on the maze. He also
found out that organisms will select the shortest
or easiest path to achieve a goal. 9 EVENTS OF INSTRUCTION
Latent Learning. Latent learning is a kind of 1 Gain attention: Obtain students’ attention so
learning that remains or stays with the that they will watch and listen while the
individual until needed. It is learning that is not instructor presents the learning content.
outwardly manifesting at once. According to
Tolman it can exist even without reinforcement. Utilize ice breaker activities, current news
and events, case studies, YouTube videos, and
Applied in human learning, two-year old always so on. The object is to quickly grab student
sees her dad operate the t.v. remote control and attention and interest in the topic.
observes how t.v. is turned on or how channel is
changed, and volume adjusted. Utilize tools such as clickers and surveys to
ask leading questions prior to lecture, survey
The concept of intervening variable. Intervening opinion, or gain a response to a controversial
variables are variables that are not readily seen question.
but serve as determinants of behavior. Tolman
believed that learning is mediated or is In online and hybrid courses, use the
influenced by expectations, perceptions, discussion board for current news and events,
to discuss a controversial topic, or to comment courses, integrate the use of interactive tools
on media. like discussion boards, wikis, blogs, and polls

2. Inform learners of objectives: Allow students 5. Provide “learning guidance”: Provide students
to organize their thoughts and prioritize their with instructions on how to learn, such as
attention regarding what they are about to learn guided activities or common pitfalls. With
and do. learning guidance, the rate of learning increases
because students are less likely to lose time or
Include learning objectives in lecture slides, become frustrated by basing performance on
the syllabus, and in instructions for activities, incorrect facts or poorly understood concepts.
projects, papers, and so on.
Include detailed information such as rubrics
In online and hybrid courses, include for projects and activities.
learning objectives in introductory course
Provide expectations, instructions, and
materials, module pages, lecture slides, and the
timelines..
syllabus, as well as in instructions for activities,
projects, papers, and so on 6. Elicit performance (practice): Allow students
to apply knowledge and skills learned.
Enter
Encourage students to apply what they are
3. Stimulate recall of prior learning: Encourage learning in group or individual projects and
students to build on previous knowledge or activities, written assignments, lab practical's,
skills. and so on. Scaffold high-stakes assessments
with smaller activities so students can practice
Recall events from previous lectures,
and receive feedback before turning in
integrate results of activities into the current
something for a larger grade.
topic, and/or relate previous information to the
current topic. 7. Provide feedback: Give students feedback on
individualized tasks, thereby correcting isolated
In online and hybrid courses, provide problems rather than having little idea of where
discussion board forums as part of “gaining problems and inconsistencies in learning are
attention” with a focus on relating the previous occurring.
topic to the current topic.
Provide detailed feedback on assignments
4. Present the content: Show and explain the
showing students what was done correctly,
material you want students to learn.
what must be improved, and include
Utilize a variety of methods including lecture, explanations. Utilize rubrics when possible. Give
readings, activities, projects, multimedia, and formative feedback on smaller assignments as
others. well as summative feedback on larger
assessments.
Present or post content via a learning
management system to allow students to access Utilize tools such as Turnitin or change
the materials outside of course meeting times. tracking in a word processor to quickly give
In face to face courses, integrate the use of feedback to large audiences. Provide
clickers to keep student attention during feedback to discussion boards in online courses.
content presentation. In online and hybrid Utilize peer-evaluation and self-evaluation or
self-assessment methods.
8. Assess performance: Help students identify
content areas they have not mastered.

Utilize a variety of assessment methods

including exams/quizzes, written assignments,
projects, and so on.

Utilize rubrics when grading activities that

are not standard exam and quiz questions.

Ensure that students have practiced and

received feedback prior to high-stakes
assessments.

9. Enhance retention and transfer to the job:

Prepare students to apply information to
personal contexts. This increases retention by
personalizing information.

Provide opportunities for students to relate

course work to their personal experiences when
designing essays and projects.

Provide opportunities for discussion in small

groups or using a discussion board.

Allow students to reflect on what they have

learned and how they will use that knowledge
or those skills in the future.

Have students create a reference for their

future selves that summarizes what they have
learned