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Developmental Psychology and Learning
SOCIAL EDUCATION COURSE
Academic year 2014/2015
EXTENDED SUMMARY
Lesson #6

Monday, Oct. 27th 2014: 19:00/21:00

Friday, Oct. 31th 2014, 09:00/11:00
LESSON PLAN:
HUMAN LEARNING
GENERAL ASPECTS
LEARNING FROM A BEHAVIOURIST POINT OF VIEW
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING (PAVLOV)
OPERANT CONDITIONING (SKINNER)
LEARNING BY OBSERVATION OF MODELS (BANDURA)
SUMMARY
HUMAN LEARNING
GENERAL ASPECTS
GENERAL DEFINITION OF LEARNING:
LEARNING

common-sense notion of learning covers a limited scope:-usually
associated with
o school materials;
o mastery of a skill or specific activity.
DEFINITION: - WHAT LEARNING IS

changes arising from the experience of the individual, that is, of what
happens to him, of the stimuli and conditions offered by the
environment in which the person lives.
Psychology of Development & Learning
2014/2015
DEFINITION: WHAT IS NOT:

learning is not something that can only be found in contexts of
education, but rather something that happens on an ongoing basis and
continuously every day of our lives;

is not limited to something that is "correct";

does not have to be deliberate or conscious - we don't realize most of
the stuff we've learned;

does not involve only the acquisition of knowledge or motor skills emotions and attitudes are also learned.
DIVERSITY OF LEARNING CONCEPTS IN PSYCHOLOGY:

different schools and lines of thought in and psychology have different
definitions of learning or, at least, emphasize different elements in
their definitions;

Common elements:
o all models of learning include the notions of change and
experience.

Distinctive elements:
o behaviorist theories see learning as a change in behavior –
observable responses;
o cognitivist theories see the behavior change as only a reflection
of internal change that took place in the cognitive system of the
person.
DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE BEHAVIOUR AND COGNITIVE MODELS
Notion of learning
Role of the subjcet
Basic condition of
learning
Global appreciation
BEHAVIORISM
COGNITIVISM
 Change of behaviour defined as
 Change of insights, of points of
physical, visible, reaction to an external view or in solvin problems.
stimulus.
 Restructuring of the cognitive
system of the subject.
 Increase the intensity of the
relationship of certain stimuli with
certain responses (S-R).
 The subject is passive;
 The relation with environment is
mechanical in nature
 The subject only reacts to stimulus.
 Repeated presentation of
environmental stimuli:
 The power of stimulation.
 Focuses on change of observable
behaviors - action over exterior
conditions.
Extended summary: Lesson #6
 The subject is active;
 The relation with environment is
an interactive process;
 The intention of the subject, even
involuntary, of making sense of
what appears as incoherent.
 Focuses on change of mental
processes of knowing and
thinking, - the meaning that tasks
have to the subject.
pg. 2
Psychology of Development & Learning
2014/2015
LEARNING FROM A BEHAVIOURIST POINT OF VIEW
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING (PAVLOV)
Classical conditioning is a form of associative learning, learning produced by the pairing
of stimuli and responses in time and place. It contributes to likes and dislikes, emotional
reactions, and reflex-like responses to things.
RELEVANT AUTHORS

Ivan Petrovich PAVLOV
CONTEXTUALIZATION

Pavlov's initial concern was to study the physiology of digestion;

Influenced and defined the foundations of American Behaviorism;

Influenced popular culture.
BASIC NOTIONS AND CONCEPTS

Learning results from the association between an unconditioned
stimulus (US) and a conditioned stimulus, (CS) in order to produce a
conditioned response (CR);

The unconditional stimulus serves as reinforcement and is antecedent
to the conditioned response.

Four basic processes:
o Acquisition:-acquisition phase represents the initial learning of
conditioned response;
o Extinction:-Describes the elimination of conditioned response
through the repeated presentation of the conditioned stimulus
without the unconditioned stimulus;
o Generalization:-after an animal having learned a conditioned
response to stimuli he starts responding to similar stimuli without
any kind of training;
Extended summary: Lesson #6
pg. 3
Psychology of Development & Learning
o
2014/2015
Discrimination: it is the opposite of generalization – a subject
learns to produce the conditioned response to a type of stimuli,
but not to a similar kind.
RELEVANCE TO THE TEACHING/LEARNING PROCESS

Creating positive environments in the classroom to help students
overcome fears and anxieties associated with the school.
OPERANT CONDITIONING (SKINNER)
Operant conditioning (or instrumental conditioning) is a type of learning in which an
individual's behavior is modified by its antecedents and consequences.
RELEVANT AUTHORS

Burrhus Frederic SKINNER
CONTEXTUALIZATION

Operant refers to "any acts which operates in the environment in order
to generate consequences” (B. F. Skinner, 1953);

Social engineering is always possible someone provoke in others
certain behaviors.
BASIC NOTIONS AND CONCEPTS

Notion of behavior: - Sequence of concrete and observable actions
performed by a human or animal subject.

Two categories:
o Respondent behaviors: - behaviors that can be automatically
triggered by a specific not learned or unconditional stimulus.
o Operant behaviors: - behaviors that occur spontaneously, without
having been triggered by an unconditional stimulus.

Our behavior is controlled by its consequences;

Learning results from the association of operative behavior to a
stimulus that works as reinforcement;

Reinforced behaviors tend to be maintained and increased.
Extended summary: Lesson #6
pg. 4
Psychology of Development & Learning
2014/2015
For a video version:
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-lgMnvPDQ0
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQtDTdDr8vs

Types of consequences contingent to a particular behavior:
~

Extended summary: Lesson #6
Concept of reinforcement
o Definition:- reinforcement is an event that increases or maintains
the frequency of a behavior.
o Types of reinforcement:
a. Primary non conditioned: - do not need learning to exercise
their reinforcing role of (food, sex, etc..)
pg. 5
Psychology of Development & Learning
2014/2015
b. Secondary conditioned reinforcement:-its value is acquired
by learning (money, praise, etc.).

Notion of punishment
o Definition: - unpleasant or painful consequence that follows a
particular kind of behavior exhibited by a given person.
o Types of punishments:
a. Primary non conditioned punishments - don't depend on
learning, such as pain or malaise or physical hunger, and
b. Secondary conditioned punishments are acquired by
learning, such as a verbal rebuke.

Reinforcement schedules
o Continuous reinforcement: - All occurrences of behavior are
reinforced;
a. Learning occurs quickly, but without the reinforcement,
extinction occurs quickly too;
b. In real life, continuous reinforcement schedules are rare.
o Partial reinforcement: - Only some occurrences of behavior are
reinforced;
a. Learning takes longer, at first, but is more "resistant" to
extinction;
b. Four patterns:
i. Fixed Rate Schedules - response reinforced after a
certain fixed number of responses;
ii. Variable- Rate schedules - response reinforced after
an unpredictable number of responses;
iii. Fixed Interval schedules –response reinforced after
a given period of time;
iv. Variable-Interval schedules – response reinforced
after varying time intervals.
RELEVÂNCIA PARA O ENSINO /APRENDIZAGEM

Teaching machine
For a video version:
 With a earlier version of the Teaching Machine
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTH3ob1IRFo
 With more recent version of the Teaching Machine
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm9VMdQaAQQ
Extended summary: Lesson #6
pg. 6
Psychology of Development & Learning

2014/2015
Use of punishment as a method of behavioral control
o Use the punishment rarely.
o Make it clear why the punishment.
o Give the student a chance to provide one alternative response,
and then reinforce it.
o Reinforce behaviors incompatible with those we want to
extinguish.
o Avoid physical punishment.
o Avoid punishing when you're emotionally disturbed.
o Punish initial manifestations behavior.
GLOBAL
Operant conditioning is distinguished from classical conditioning (or respondent
conditioning) in that operant conditioning deals with the reinforcement and punishment
to change behavior. Operant behavior operates on the environment and is maintained by
its antecedents and consequences, while classical conditioning is maintained by
conditioning of reflexive (reflex) behaviors, which are elicited by antecedent conditions.
Behaviors conditioned through a classical conditioning procedure are not maintained by
consequences. They both, however, form the core of behavior analysis and have grown
into professional practices.
Faro, October 22, 2014
Professor in charge:
Extended summary: Lesson #6
pg. 7