Developmental Psychology and Learning SOCIAL EDUCATION COURSE Academic year 2014/2015 EXTENDED SUMMARY Lesson #6 Monday, Oct. 27 th 2014: 19:00/21:00 Friday, Oct. 31 th 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.
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 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 Increase the intensity of the system of the subject. relationship of certain stimuli with certain responses (S-R). Role of the subjcet Basic condition of learning Global appreciation 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. 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. Extended summary: Lesson #6 pg. 2
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 CONTEXTUALIZATION Ivan Petrovich PAVLOV 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
o 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 CONTEXTUALIZATION Burrhus Frederic SKINNER 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
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: 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..) ~ Extended summary: Lesson #6 pg. 5
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
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