2. Educational Psychology
Developed by W. Huitt & J. Hummel (1999)

3. Behavioral Learning Theory
According to the behaviorists, learning
can be defined as “the relatively
permanent change in behavior brought
about as a result of experience or
practice.”
Behaviorists recognize that learning
is an internal event. However, it is not
recognized as learning until it is
displayed by overt behavior.

4. Behavioral Learning Theory
• The term "learning theory" is often
associated with the behavioral view.
• The focus of the behavioral approach
is on how the environment impacts
overt behavior.
• Remember that biological maturation or
genetics is an alternative explanation for
relatively permanent change.

5. Behavioral Learning Theory
The behavioral learning theory is
represented as an S-R paradigm. The
organism is treated as a “black box.”
We only know what is going on inside
the box by the organism’s overt
behavior.
Stimulus Organism Response
(S) (O) (R)

6. Behavioral Learning Theory
The feedback loop that connects overt
behavior to stimuli that activate the
senses has been studied extensively
from this perspective.

8. Behavioral Learning Theory
Notice that the behaviorists are only
interested in that aspect of feedback
that connects directly to overt
behavior.
Behaviorists are not interested in the
conscious decision of the individual
to disrupt, modify, or go against the
conditioning process.

9. Behavioral Learning Theory
There are three types of behavioral
learning theories:
• Contiguity theory
• Classical or respondent
conditioning theory
• Operant or instrumental
conditioning theory

10. Contiguity Theory
Contiguity theory is based on the work
of E. R. Guthrie.
It proposes that any stimulus and
response connected in time and/or
space will tend to be associated.

11. Contiguity Theory
Examples:
• A baseball player wearing a certain
pair of socks on the day he hits three
home runs associates wearing the
socks and hitting home runs.
• A student making a good grade on a
test after trying a new study
technique makes an association
between the stimulus of studying
and the response of getting a good
grade.

12. Contiguity Theory
Guthrie’s contiguity theory is one
foundation for the more cognitively-
oriented learning theory of neural
networks.

13. Classical Conditioning Theory
Classical conditioning was the first type
of learning to be discovered and studied
within the behaviorist tradition (hence
the name classical).
The major theorist in the development of
classical conditioning is Ivan Pavlov, a
Russian scientist trained in biology and
medicine (as was his German
contemporary, Sigmund Freud).

14. Classical Conditioning Theory
Pavlov was studying the digestive system of dogs
and became intrigued with his observation that
dogs deprived of food began to salivate when one
of his assistants walked into the room.
He began to investigate this phenomena and
established the laws of classical conditioning.
Skinner renamed this type of learning
"respondent conditioning” since in this type
of learning, one is responding to an
environmental antecedent.

15. Classical Conditioning Theory
• General model: Stimulus (S) elicits
>Response (R)
• Classical conditioning starts with a reflex (R):
an innate, involuntary behavior.
• This involuntary behavior is elicited or caused
by an antecedent environmental event.
• For example, if air is blown into your eye,
you blink. You have no voluntary or
conscious control over whether the blink
occurs or not.

16. Classical Conditioning Theory
The specific model for classical
conditioning is:
• A stimulus will naturally (without
learning) elicit or bring about a reflexive
response
• Unconditioned Stimulus (US) elicits >
Unconditioned Response (UR)

17. Classical Conditioning Theory
The specific model for classical
conditioning is:
• Neutral Stimulus (NS) --- does not
elicit the response of interest
• This stimulus (sometimes called an
orienting stimulus as it elicits an
orienting response) is a neutral
stimulus since it does not elicit the
Unconditioned (or reflexive)
Response.

19. Classical Conditioning Theory
The Neutral/Orienting Stimulus (NS) is
repeatedly paired with the
Unconditioned/Natural Stimulus (US).

21. Classical Conditioning Theory
• The Neutral Stimulus (NS) is
transformed into a Conditioned
Stimulus (CS).
• That is, when the CS is presented by itself,
it elicits or causes the CR (which is the
same involuntary response as the UR.
• The name changes because it is
elicited by a different stimulus.
• This is written CS elicits > CR.

23. Classical Conditioning Theory
• In the area of classroom learning,
classical conditioning is seen primarily in
the conditioning of emotional behavior.
• Things that make us happy, sad,
angry, etc. become associated with
neutral stimuli that gain our
attention.

24. Classical Conditioning Theory
• For example, the school, classroom,
teacher, or subject matter are initially
neutral stimuli that gain attention.
• Activities at school or in the
classroom automatically elicit
emotional responses and these
activities are associated with the
neutral or orienting stimulus
• After repeated presentations, the
previously neutral stimulus will elicit
the emotional response

25. Classical Conditioning Theory
Example:
• Child is harassed at school
• Child feels bad when
harassed
• Child associates being
harassed and school
• Child begins to feel bad when
she thinks of school

26. Classical Conditioning Theory
In order to extinguish the associated of
feeling bad and thinking of school, the
connection between school and being
harassed must be broken.

27. Operant Conditioning Theory
• Operant conditioning is the study of
the impact of consequences on
behavior.
• With operant conditioning we are
dealing with voluntary behaviors.

28. Operant Conditioning Theory
If, when an organism emits a behavior
(does something), the consequences of that
behavior are reinforcing, it is more likely to
emit (do) it again. What counts as
reinforcement, of course, is based on the
evidence of the repeated behavior, which
makes the whole argument rather circular.

30. Operant Conditioning Theory
Learning is really about the increased
probability of a behavior based on
reinforcement which has taken place
in the past, so that the antecedents of
the new behavior include
the consequences of previous
behavior.