Ed 7 – Facilitating Learner-

Centered Teaching

Lesson 4 – Focus on Learning

(Behaviorist-
Perspective

Prepared by:

ARSENIO P. MONTANO, JR.

Subject Teacher
Introduction:
 The theory of behaviorism focuses on the study of
observable and measureable behavior. It
emphasizes that behavior is mostly learned through
conditioning and reinforcement (rewards and
punishments). It does not give much attention to
the mind and possibility of thought processes
occurring in the mind.
 Do you have any teacher that most
uncomfortable for you in elementary or high school
days? Are there things that when you encounter at
present (see, hear, touch, smell) make you “go back
to the past” and recall this teacher? What are these
things? What kinds of rewards and punishments did
your teacher apply in your class and what for is the
reward and punishment.
Learning Outcomes:

1. Explain the basic principles of

behaviorism.
2. Determine how to use rewards in
the learning process more effective.
3. Make a simple plan applying the
primary laws of learning.
Graphic Organizer
Behavioris
m
Classical Connectioni Operant
Conditioni sm Conditioni
ng (Thorndike) ng
Primary
Laws Reinforcem
Law of ent
Readiness
Law of Shaping of
Effect Behavior
Law of
Exercise
Behaviorism
Ivan Pavlov, a Russian
physiologist, is well known for his
work in classical conditioning or
stimulus substitution. His most
renown experiment involved meat,
a dog and a bell. Initially he was
measuring the dog’s salivation in
order to study digestion. This is
when stumbled upon classical
conditioning.
 Classical Conditioning
Based on his experiment he 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.
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 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 sound of the
bell.
Edward l. Thorndike.
Edward Thorndike’s Connectionism
theory gave us the original S-R
framework of behavioral psychology.
More than a hundred years ago he wrote
a text book entitled, Educational
Psychology. He was the first one to use
this term. He explained the learning is
the result of associations forming
between stimuli (S) and responses (R).
Such associations or “habits” become
strengthened or weakened by the nature
of frequency of the S-R pairings.
 Thorndike’s theory on
connectionism, states that
learning has taken place when
a strong connection or bond
between stimulus and response
id formed. He came up with three
primary laws:
Law of Readiness. This 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 and is not
made to respond, it becomes
Law of Effect. The law of effect states
that a connection between a stimulus and
response is strengthened when the
consequences is positive (reward) and the
connection between the stimulus and the
response is weakened when the
consequences is negative. Thorndike later
on, revised this “law” when he found the
negative rewards (punishments) do not
necessarily weaken bonds, and that some
seemingly pleasurable consequences do
not necessarily motivate performance.
Law of Exercise. This 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.

Principles Derived from Thorndike’s
Connectionism:
Learning requires both practice and
rewards (laws of effect/Exercise).
A series of S-R connections can be
chained together if they belong to the
same action sequence (law of
readiness).
Transfer of learning occurs because of
previously encountered situations.
Intelligence is a function of the number
of connections learned.
Burrhus Frederick Skinner. Like
Pavlov, Watson and Thorndike,
Skinner believed in the stimulus-
response pattern of conditioned
behavior. His theory zeroed in only
on changes in observable behavior,
excluding any likelihood of any
processes taking place in the mind.
 Skinner’s work differs from that of three
behaviourists before him in that he studied
operant behavior (voluntary behaviors used in
operating on the environment). Thus, his theory
came to be known as Operant Conditioning.

Operant conditioning is 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. A response produces a
consequence such as defining a word, hitting a
ball, or solving a math problem. When a
particular Stimulus-Response (S-R) pattern is
reinforced (rewarded), the individual is
conditioned to respond.
Reinforcement is the key
element in Skinner’s S-R theory.
A reinforcer is anything that
strengthens the desired
response. There is a positive
reinforcer and a negative
reinforcer.
Apositive reinforcer is any stimulus
that is given or added to increase the
response. An example of positive
reinforcement is when a teacher
promise extra time in the play area to
children who behave well during the
lesson. Another is a mother who
promises a new cell phone for her son
who gets good grades. Still, other
examples include verbal praises, star
stamps and stickers.
A negative reinforcer is any stimulus
that results in the increased frequency of
response when it is withdrawn or
removed. A negative reinforcer is not a
punishment, in fact it is rewarded. For
instance, a teacher announces that a
student who gets an average grade of 1.5
for the two grading periods will no longer
take the final examination. The negative
reinforcer is “removing” the final exam,
which we realize is a form of reward for
working hard and getting an average
grade of 1.5.
 A negative reinforcer is different from a
punishment because a punishment is a
consequence intended to result in reduced
responses. An example would be a student who
always comes late is not allowed to join a group
work that has already began (punishment) and,
therefore, loses points for that activity. The
punishment was done to reduce the response of
repeatedly coming to class late.

Skinner also looked into extinction or non-

reinforcement: Responses that are not
reinforced are not likely to be repeated. For
example, ignoring a student’s misbehaviour
may extinguish that behavior.
Shaping of Behavior. An animal on 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. To
begin shaping, the animal may be
rewarded for simply turning in the
direction of the lever, and finally for
passing the lever.
Implications of Operant Conditioning. These
implications are given for programmed
instruction.

 Practice should take the form of question

(stimulus) – answer (response) frames which
expose the student to the subject in gradual steps.
 Require that the learner makes a response for
every frame and receives immediate feedback.
 Try to arrange the difficulty of the questions so the
response is always correct and hence, a positive
reinforcement.
 Ensure that good performance in the lesson is
paired with secondary reinforcers such as verbal
praise, prizes and good grades.
 Principles Derived from Skinner’s Operant
Conditioning:

 Behavior that is positively reinforced will occur,

intermittent reinforcement is particularly effective.
 Information should be presented in small amounts
so that responses can be reinforced (“shaping”).
 Reinforcement will generalize across similar stimuli
(“stimulus generalization) producing secondary
conditioning.

Looking back at the activity at the beginning, try to

look into the rewards and punishments that your
former teacher used in class. Connect them with
Skinner’s Operant Conditioning. Can you now see
why your teacher used them?
“To change ourselves effectively, we
first had to change our
perceptions.” ― Stephen R. Covey

“Be thankful for what you have;

you'll end up having more. If you
concentrate on what you don't
have, you will never, ever have
enough.” ― Oprah Winfrey
THANK YOU
Activity 4
Instructions:
a. Assume that you will facilitate two
classes (Grade 7 and Grade12).

b. Write one specific class situation

that will exemplify each of the
behaviorist theory/principle
discussed.
 Example of Class Situations
Grade Level Skinner Thorndike Pavlov

Grade 7

Grade 12
Assessment:

1. Discuss briefly the importance

of Behaviorist Perspective
theories in teaching learning
process.