week 12, march 6, tuesday Inquiry 3 Details Field Trip assignment Behaviorism the one five o

assignments Field Trip observation activity Alternative to field trip Get names of students not going the one five o

inquiry project 3 Thursday, Apr 15 - Proposal due (300 words) the one five o

behaviorism Behaviorism: a broad psychological and philosophical perspective on learning Different areas within the broad perspective of behaviorism Classical conditioning Operant conditioning, a.k.a. instrumental conditioning Social learning the one five o

classical conditioning Example: Learning to dislike science because of a mean teacher. It is natural to have an aversion for mean people It is not natural to have an aversion for science. However, when a mean person teaches science, students may come to associate the aversion with science Learning is acquiring new stimulus-response associations. A pre-existing association between a stimulus (S1) and a response is modified so that the same response is associated with a new stimulus (S2).

classical conditioning What it means to learn Learning is acquiring a new response to a stimulus from the environment How it occurs A pre-existing association between a stimulus (S1) and a response is modified so that the same response is associated with a new stimulus (S2).

classical conditioning Pavlov’s famous experiments with dogs S1 (food)  R (salivating) S1 (food) + S2 (bell)  R (salivating) S2 (bell)  R (salivating) Food and salivation are naturally associated with each other. After conditioning, the sound of the bell causes the dog to salivate

Pavlov wins Nobel Prize with help of drooling dogs

classical conditioning Watson’s Little Albert experiment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2Ns3WViaXw &feature=related Zimbardo’s overview of behaviorism http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVJMhk4oAN M&feature=related

operant conditioning Operant/instrumental conditioning An important development in behaviorism. Enabled the theory to explain for a much wider range of learning. Operant: referring to a learner’s action in the environment that produces a positive or negative consequence

operant conditioning Operant/Instrumental conditioning A learner’s action in the environment produces a positive or negative consequence Behavior  Consequence (pos or neg) Learners operate on the environment: their actions are instrumental (producing an effect)

operant conditioning Operant/Instrumental Conditioning Behavior  Consequence (pos or neg) Compare with Classical Conditioning Stimulus (pos or neg)  Response Associated Stimulus  Response What the similarities and differences?

operant conditioning Distinctive characteristics Focused on the connection between behavior and its consequences Introduces the idea of rewards and punishments The individual is active in the environment. Without activity, nothing can be learned. The environment shapes the behavior, but the learner can also shape the environment. Mutual determinism

laws of learning E. L. Thorndike formulated “laws of learning” Law of Effect: The effect of a behavior makes a difference. The more a behavior is rewarded, the more likely it is to occur again. The less a behavior is rewarded, the less likely it is to occur again. Law of Exercise: The exercise of a behavior makes a difference. The more a behavior occurs, the more likely it occur again (habit, no reward necessary)

operant conditioning: examples Operant condition learning occurs in any situation where desirable behavior is rewarded and less desirable behavior is not. Rewards do not have to come from another person, but may be part of the environment. Discuss: Consider any example of learning. Can you explain it using the ideas of operant conditioning?

behaviorism: summary Three central questions about learning What does it mean to learn? How does learning occur? What motivates learning?

behaviorism: summary What does it mean to learn? Learning is acquisition of new behaviors patterns or contingencies, i.e., new ways of responding to the environment How does learning occur? What motivates learning?

behaviorism: summary How does learning occur?

behaviorism: summary What motivates learning? Learning is motivated by positive and negative reinforcements

behaviorism: historical influences Darwin. Continuity between man and other animals. Important role of the environment The study of animal behavior, how new behaviors are acquired The physical sciences; the ability to predict and control A negative reaction to introspective methods in psychology

behaviorism & the science of learning “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.” (From “Psychology as the behaviorist views it.” John Watson, 1913).

behaviorism and teaching Select a topic to teach in school. How would a behaviorist teacher approach it? What methods would they use and why? How would they assess learning? What kind of research might behaviorist conduct in this classroom?

Watson - behaviorism and possibility “Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select – doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant- chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors. I am going beyond my facts and I admit it, but so have the advocates of the contrary and they have been doing it for many thousands of years.”

B. F. Skinner (1904-1990) Shaping behavior: using carefully directed, contingent rewards can create almost any behavior. Start simple, increase complexity Schedules for reward: rewards not only create behavior, but also maintain it. Implications of behaviorism for education and society (e.g. Walden Two) http://www.bfskinner.org/

behaviorism vs. cognitivism In summary, then, I am not a cognitive psychologist for several reasons. I see no evidence of an inner world of mental life relative either to an analysis of behavior as a function of environmental forces or to the physiology of the nervous system. The respective sciences of behavior and physiology will move forward most rapidly if their domains are correctly defined and analyzed. B. F. Skinner, “Why I am not a cognitive psychologist”

Topics for discussion NPR: NYC & Chicago give cash incentives to the poor NPR: NYC gives cash incentives to the poor http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?st oryId=14472737 Alex: A brilliant bird http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/16/weekinrevi ew/16john.html

behaviorism & teaching Learning is the acquisition of new behavior, not new knowledge Behavior is shaped by the environment. The concept of free will is unnecessary or inaccurate. Teaching is engineering an environment. Any behavior, simple or complex, can be shaped with appropriate reinforcement. Learning in schools is characterized by too much punishment or negative reinforcement and not enough reinforcement. Also, reinforcement is not continent to the behavior it was meant to reinforce.

implications for education I am equally concerned with practical consequences. The appeal to cognitive states and processes is a diversion which could well be responsible for much of our failure to solve our problems. We need to change our behavior and we can do so only by changing our physical and social environments. We choose the wrong path at the start when we suppose that our goal is to change the “minds and hearts of men and women” rather than the world in which they live. - B.F Skinner

social learning theory Why another theory? (New theories are always a reaction to something) Some learned behaviors could not be explained by existing behavioral theories. Ex: How do kids learn from TV commercials?

Bobo doll (Bandura) http://youtube.com/watch?v=pDtBz_1dkuk

social learning theory Albert Bandura "Learning would be exceedingly laborious, not to mention hazardous, if people had to rely solely on the effects of their own actions to inform them what to do… Fortunately, most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling: from observing others one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action."

social learning theory Expanded the notion of reinforcement Not just food and other physical pleasures. Secondary rewards (e.g. money with which to buy food) and social consequences (e.g. praise, smiles, attention, status, power, etc.). Vicarious reinforcement. No action needed, no consequence necessary. "No-trial learning”

social learning theory Expanded the notion of how learning occurs Imitation is central to social learning. Learners observe and copy the behavior of others.

social learning theory The process of social learning (Bandura) Attention Retention Motor Reproduction Motivation (external, vicarious and self reinforcement)

issues for discussion Evaluate Skinner’s critique of the cognitive perspective Discuss behaviorism as a perspective to consider educational issues. Can human motivation be adequately described by the drive to seek rewards and reinforcement? Should a science of learning only study that which is observable, e.g. human behavior? Compare and contrast a behaviorist and cognitive account of a specific example of learning

multimedia & behaviorism BF Skinner (Davidson films) http://youtube.com/watch?v=pUeLzfP8tCA BF Skinner http://youtube.com/watch?v=mm5FGrQEyBY&mode=related&search= http://youtube.com/watch?v=AepqpTtKbwo Watson, Little Albert experiment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4gmwQ0vw0A&feature=related

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