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Behaviorism, Pavlov,
Module 7 Thorndike, Watson,
Skinner

INTRODUCTION

Behaviorism is a psychological paradigm that emphasizes the influence of environmental factors in shaping
behavior. It is a theory of learning based on the idea that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning,
and conditioning occurs through interaction with the environment. Behaviorists believe that our actions are
shaped by environmental stimuli, and that only observable behavior should be studied, as cognition,
emotions, and mood are far too subjective.

Behaviorism can be traced back to the early 20th century, when John B. Watson published his classic paper,
"Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It". Watson is often considered the father of behaviorism, and he
believed that all behaviors are the result of experience.

OBJECTIVES

● Explain the basic principles of behaviorism.

● Determine how to use rewards in the learning process more effectively.
● Discuss, describe and be familiarized with the contributions in the development of the behaviorist
theory.
● Identify the principles derived.

ABSTRACTION
Behaviorism

> Focuses on the study of observable and measurable behavior.

> It emphasizes that behavior is mostly learned through conditioning and reinforcement (reward
and punishment).
> Contributions in the development of the behaviorist theory largely came from Pavlov, Thorndike,
Watson and Skinner.

R.E. DALUSONG, MAED (2024)

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Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (26 September 1849 - 27 February 1936)

> He's a Russian Physiologist known primarily for his work in classical conditioning or stimulus
substitution.
> He trained a hungry dog to salivate at the sound of a bell which was previously associated with
the sight of food.
> His most renowned experiment involved meat, a dog and a bell. Initially, Pavlov was measuring
the dog's salivation in order to study digestion. This is when he stumbled upon classical
conditioning.

Classical Conditioning (The Three Stages of Classical Conditioning)

> Before Conditioning

> During Conditioning
> After Conditioning

Before conditioning, ringing the bell (neutral stimulus) caused no response from the dog. Placing food
(unconditioned stimulus) in front of the dog initiated salivation (unconditioned response). During
conditioning, the bell was rung a few seconds before the dog was presented with food. After
conditioning, the ringing of the bell (conditioned stimulus) alone produced salivation (conditioned
response). This is classical conditioning.

Pavlov also had the following findings:

Stimulus Generalization. Once the dog has learned to salivate at the sound of the bell, it will salivate at
other similar sounds.

Extinction. If you stop pairing the bell with the food, salivation will eventually cease in response to the
bell.

Spontaneous Recovery. Extinguished responses can be "recovered” after an elapsed time, but will soon
extinguish again if the dog is not presented with food.

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Discrimination. The dog could learn to discriminate between similar bells (stimuli) and discern which bell
would result in the presentation of food and which would not.

Higher-Order Conditioning. Once the dog has been conditioned to associate the bell with food, another
unconditioned stimulus, such as a light may be flashed at the same time that the bell is rung. Eventually,
the dog will salivate at the flash of the light without the bell.

Edward Lee Thorndike (August 31, 1874 - August 9, 1949)

> He gave us the original S-R framework of behavioral psychology and more than a hundred years
ago he wrote a textbook entitled “Educational Psychology”.
> He was the first one to use this term. He explained that learning is the result of associations
forming between stimuli (S) and responses (R).
> Thorndike's theory on connectionism, states that learning has taken place when a strong
connection or bond between stimulus and response is formed.

Theory of Connectionism (Three Primary Laws)

Law of Effect
Law of Exercise
Law of Readiness

Law of Effect - states that a connection between a stimulus and response is strengthened when the
consequence is positive (reward) and the connection between the stimulus and the response is weakened
when the consequence is negative. Later on, revised this "law" when he found that negative rewards
(punishment) do not necessarily weaken bonds, and that some seemingly pleasurable consequences do
not necessarily motivate performance.

Law of Exercise - tells us that the more an S-R (stimulus response) bond is practiced the stronger it will
become. "Practice makes perfect'' seem to be associated with this. However, like the law of effect, the law
of exercise also had to be revised when Thorndike found that practice without feedback does not necessarily
enhance performance.

Law of Readiness - states that the more readiness the learner has to respond to the stimulus, the
stronger will be the bond between them. When a person is ready to respond to a stimulus made to respond,
it becomes annoying to the person.

R.E. DALUSONG, MAED (2024)

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Principles Derived from Thorndike's Connectionism:

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

John B. Watson

- was the first American psychologist to work with Pavlov's ideas.

- he considered that humans are born with a few reflexes and the emotional reactions of love
and rage.
- all other behavior is learned through stimulus-response associations through conditioning.
A. Experiment on Albert

- Watson applied classical conditioning in his experiment concerning Albert, a young child and a
white rat.
- In the beginning, Albert was not afraid of the rat but Watson made a sudden loud noise each
time Albert touched the rat.
- Because Albert was frightened by the loud noise, he soon became conditioned to fear and avoid
the rat.
- The child’s response was generalized to other small animals. Watson then extinguished or
named the child unlearned fear by showing the rat without the loud noise.
* Watson’s method would be questioned today but his work showed the role of conditioning in
the development of emotional responses to certain stimuli. This may help us understand the
fear, phobia, and prejudice that people develop.

Burrhus Frederick Skinner

Operant Conditioning- based upon the notion that learning is a result of change in overt
behavior. Changes in behavior are the result of an individual’s response to events (stimuli) that
occur in the environment. When a particular stimulus – response (S-R) pattern is reinforced
(rewarded) the individual is conditioned to respond.

Elements of the S-R Theory

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A. Reinforcement – key element in Skinner’s S-R theory

- Reinforcer- anything that strengthens the desired response.

Positive Reinforcer
1. An example of positive reinforcement is when a teacher promises extra time in a play area
to children who behave well during the lesson.
2. Another is a mother who promises a new cellphone for her son who gets good grades.
3. Other examples include verbal praises, star stamps, and stickers.
Negative Reinforcer
– any stimulus that results in the increased frequency of a response when it is withdrawn
or removed.
- it is not a punishment; in fact, it is a reward.

Example:
A teacher announces that a student who gets an average of 1.5 for the two grading periods
will no longer take the final exam.

Negative reinforcement is a consequence intended to result in reduced responses and is

different from punishment.
Example: A student who always comes late is not allowed to join a group work that has already
begun.
B. Shaping Behavior

- An animal in a cage may take a very long time to figure out that pressing 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.

C. Behavioral Chaining

- comes about when a series of steps are needed to be learned.

Example:

The animal would master each step in sequence until the entire sequence is learned. This
can be applied to a child being taught to tie a shoelace. The child can be given reinforcement
(rewards) until the entire process of tying the shoelace is learned.

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D. Reinforcement Schedules

- Reinforcement does not have to be 100%; in fact, it can be maintained more successfully
through what Skinner referred to as partial reinforcement schedules.

E. Fixed Interval Schedules

- The target response is reinforced after a fixed amount of time has passed since the last
reinforcement.

F. Variable Interval Schedules

- This is similar to fixed interval schedules but the amount of time that must pass between
reinforcement varies.

Example:

The bird may receive food (reinforcer) at different intervals, not every 10 minutes.

G. Fixed Ratio Schedules

- A fixed number of correct responses must occur before reinforcement may recur.

Example:

The bird will be given food (reinforcer) everytime it presses the bar 5 times.

H. Variable Ratio Schedules

- The number of correct repetitions of the correct response for reinforcement varies.

Example:

The bird is given food (reinforcer) after it presses the bar 3 times, then after 10
times, then after 4 times. So the bird will not be able to predict how many times it needs
to press the bar before it gets food again.

Implications of Operant Conditioning

These implications are given for programmed instruction.

1. Practice should take the form of question (stimulus)- answer (response) frames which expose
the student to the object in gradual steps.

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2. Require that the learner makes a response for every frame and receives immediate feedback.

3. Try to arrange the difficulty of the questions so the response is always correct and hence, a
positive reinforcement.

4. Ensure that good performance in the lesson is paired with secondary reinforcers such as verbal
praise, prices, and good grades.

Principles Derived from Skinner’s Operant Conditioning:

1. Behavior that is positively reinforced will reoccur; intermittent reinforcement is particularly

effective.

2. Information should be presented in small amounts so that responses can be reinforced

(“shaping”).

3. Reinforcement will generalize across similar stimuli (“stimulus generalization”) producing

secondary conditioning.

R.E. DALUSONG, MAED (2024)