03 Neo-Behaviorism

NEO – BEHAVIORISM:
Tolman & Bandura
Objectives:
• Explain Tolman’s Purposive
Behaviorism
• Explain Bandura’s Social Learning
Theory of Learning
• Give specific applications of each
theory in teaching
Influenced by behaviorism (focused on

external factors in learning) but also reflect
cognitive perspective (focused on internal
elements)
Purposive Behaviorism
• Proposed by Edward Tolman
• Often seen as the link between behaviorism and cognitive theory
because of its foundations on two psychological views:
• Gestalt psychologists
• Behaviorist J. Watson
• Learning is a cognitive process
• Form beliefs and obtain knowledge about the environment and then
show that knowledge through purposeful and goal- directed behavior
• Learning is acquired through meaningful behavior
• An organism learns by pursuing signs to a goal
• Stresses the relationship between stimuli rather than stimulus-
response.
• A new stimulus (the sign) becomes associated with already meaningful stimulus (the significate)
through a series of pairings in order to establish learning.
Purposive Behaviorism: Key Concepts

1. Learning is always purposive and goal- oriented.
 Individuals do more than respond to stimuli; they act on
beliefs, attitudes, changing conditions, and they strive
towards goals.
 Behavior is holistic, purposive and cognitive
2. Cognitive maps in rats

 Experiment findings led to the conclusion that the tendency
to “learn location” signified that rats formed cognitive maps
to help them perform well in the maze.
 Organisms will select the shortest or easiest path to achieve a
goal.
3. Latent Learning
 A kind of learning that remains or stays with the
individual until needed.
 Learning that is not outwardly manifested at once.
 Can exist even without reinforcement
4. Intervening variables
 Variables not readily seen but serve as determinants of
behavior.
 Perceptions, expectations, needs and other internal or
environmental variables
5. Reinforcement
 Not essential for learning though it provides incentive
for performance
Social/ Observational Learning Theory
 Contributed by Albert Bandura
 Focuses on the learning that occurs within a social context where people learn from one another,
including such concepts as observational learning, imitation, and modeling.
Social/ Observational Learning: General Principles:
1. People can learn by observing the behavior of others and the outcomes of those behavior.
2. Learning can occur without a change in behavior or by observation alone.
3. Cognition plays a role in learning.
4. Social learning theory can be considered a bridge or a transition between behaviorist and cognitive
learning theories.
How environment reinforces or punishes modeling.
1. The observer is reinforced by the model.
2. The observer is reinforced by a third person.
3. The imitated behavior itself leads to reinforcing consequences.
4. Consequences of the model’s behavior affect the observer’s behavior vicariously (vicarious
reinforcement).
Contemporary social learning perspective of punishment and rewards.
1. Both reinforcement and punishment have indirect effects on learning.
2. Reinforcement and punishment influence the extent to which an individual exhibits a behavior that
has been learned.
3. The expectation of reinforcement influences cognitive processes that promote learning. Thus,
attention plays a critical role in learning which in turn is influence by the expectation of
reinforcement.
Cognitive factors in social learning
1. Learning without performance.
2. Cognitive processing during learning.
3. Expectations of reinforcement or punishment
4. Reciprocal causation
5. Types of model
• Live model
• Symbolic model
Behaviors that can be learned through modeling
1. Aggression
2. Moral behavior/ moral judgments
3. Habits (reading)
Conditions necessary for effective modeling to occur
1. Attention
2. Retention
3. Motor reproduction
4. Motivation
Effects of modeling on behavior
1. Modeling teaches new behavior.
2. Modeling influences the frequency of previously learned behaviors.
3. Modeling may encourage previously forbidden behaviors.
4. Modeling increases the frequency of similar behaviors.
Educational implications of social learning theory
1. Students often learn a great deal simply by observing other people.
2. Describing the consequences of behavior can effectively increase the appropriate behaviors and
decrease inappropriate ones.
3. Modeling provides an alternative to shaping for teaching new behaviors.
4. Teachers and parents must model appropriate behaviors and be aware of their actions.
5. Teachers should expose learners to a variety of models.

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NEO – BEHAVIORISM:

Tolman & Bandura

Influenced by behaviorism (focused on

Purposive Behaviorism: Key Concepts

2. Cognitive maps in rats

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