Learning Theories
Behavioral learning theories focus on the ways in
which pleasurable or unpleasant
consequences of behavior change individuals' behavior over time and
ways in which individuals model their behavior on that of others. Behavioral
learning theorists try to discover
principles of behavior that apply to all living beings.
Social learning theories focus on the effects of thought on action and
action on thought.
Cognitive learning theories, which emphasize unobservable mental processes
that people use to learn and remember
new information or skulls.
Cognitive
and social learning theorists are concerned
exclusively with human learning.
Actually, however, the boundaries between behavioral and cognitive learning
theories have become increasingly indistinct in recent years as each school of
thought has incorporated the findings of the other.
What is learning?
Learning is usually defined as a change in an individual
caused by experience. Changes caused by development (such as growing taller)
are not instances of learning. Neither are characteristics of individuals that
are present at birth (such as reflexes and responses to hunger or pain).
Learning takes place in many ways. Sometimes it is intentional, as when students acquire
information presented in a classroom. Sometimes it is unintentional, as in the case of the child's reaction to the
needle.
The content of this chapter, the placement of words
on the page, and the smells, sounds, and
temperature of your surroundings are all stimuli.
Your senses are usually wide open to all sorts of stimuli, or environmental
events or conditions, but you are consciously aware of only a fraction of them
at ally one time.
The problem of educators face is not how to get students to learn
but it is how do we present students
with the right stimuli on which to focus their attention and mental
effort o that they will acquire important skills? That is the central problem
of instruction.
Behavioral Learning Theories
Using techniques
borrowed from the physical sciences, researchers began conducting
experiments to understand how people
and animals learn. Two of the most important early researchers were Ivan Pavlov and Edward Thorndike. Among later
researchers, B. F. Skinner
was important for his studies of the relationship
between behavior and consequences.
Pavlov: Classical Conditioning
Classical conditioning: the process of
repeatedly associating a previously neutral stimulus with an unconditioned
stimulus in order to evoke a conditioned response.
Unconditioned stimulus: A stimulus that naturally
evokes a particular response.
Unconditioned response: A behavior that is
prompted automatically by a stimulus.
Neutral stimuli: Stimuli that have no effect on a
particular response.
Conditioned stimulus: A previously neutral stimulus
that evokes a particular response after having been paired with an unconditioned
stimulus.
Thorndike: The Law of Effect
Thorndike developed his Law of Effect, which states
that if an act is followed by a satisfying
change in the environment, the likelihood that the act will be repeated in similar situations increases. However,
if a behavior is followed by an unsatisfying
change in the environment, the chances that the behavior will be repeated decrease. Thus, Thorndike showed that the
consequences of one's present behavior play a crucial role in determining one's
future behavior.
Skinner: Operant Conditioning
Operant
conditioning: The use of pleasant or unpleasant
consequences to control the occurrence of behavior. Skinner proposed another class
of behavior, which he labeled operant behaviors because they operate on the
environment in the apparent absence of any unconditioned stimuli, such as food.
Like Thorndike's, Skinner's work focused on the relation between behavior and
its consequences. For example, if an individual's behavior is immediately
followed by pleasurable consequences, the individual will engage in that
behavior more frequently.
When a teacher reinforces a student who raises her
hand to speak, she is using operant conditioning.
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