PROF.ED.

321 – FACILITATING LEARNER-CENTERED TEACHING

CHAPTER 5. Neo Behaviorism:

Tolman and Bandura

Learning Outcome:
 Explain Tolman’s purposive behaviourism.
 Explain Bandura’s social learning theory.
 Give specific applications of each theory in teaching.

Pre-Activity
Solve the following maze.

What strategy did you use in solving the maze?

What did you notice in solving the maze? Was Maze B easier to solve?

START HERE!

Neo Behaviorism: Tolman and Bandura

Tolman's Purposive Behaviorism
Usually, people who worked on the maze activity which you just did would say they
found the second maze easier. This is because they saw that the two mazes were
identical, except that the entrance and exit points were reversed. Their experience in
doing maze A helped them answer Maze Ba lot easier. People create mental maps
of things they perceived. These mental maps help them respond to other things or
tasks later, especially if they see the similarity. You may begin to respond with trial
and error (behavioristic), but later on your response becomes more internally driven
(cognitive perspective). This is what neo behaviorism is about. It has aspects of
behaviorism but it also reaches out to the cognitive perspective.

There are two theories reflecting neo behaviorism that stands out. Edward Tolman's
Purposive Behaviorism and Albert Bandura's Social Learning Theory. Both theories
are influenced by behaviorism (which is focused on external elements in learnings,
but their principles seem to also be reflective of the cognitive perspective focused on
more internal elements).

Prepared and Compiled by:

Frazel May V. Bonesto
Instructor
PROF.ED. 321 – FACILITATING LEARNER-CENTERED TEACHING

Tolman's Purposive Behaviorism

Purposive behaviorism has also been referred to as Sign Learning Theory and is
often seen as the link between behaviorism and cognitive theory Tolman's theory
was founded on two psychological views: those of the Gestalt psychologists and
those of John Watson, the behaviorist.

Tolman believed that learning is a cognitive process. Learning involves forming

beliefs and obtaining knowledge about the environment and then revealing that
knowledge through purposeful and goal-directed behavior. 
Tolman stated in his sign theory that an organism learns by pursuing signs to a goal,
i.e., learning is acquired through meaningful behavior. He stressed the organized
aspect of learning. The stimuli which are allowed in are not connected by just simple
one-to-one switches to the outgoing responses. Rather the incoming impulses are
usually worked over and elaborated in the central control room into a tentative
cognitive-like map of the environment And it is this tentative map, indicating routes
and paths and environmental relationships, which finally determines what responses,
if any, the animal will finally make."

Tolman's form of behaviorism stressed the relationships between stimuli rather than
stimulus-response. Tolman said that a new stimulus (the sign) becomes associated
with already meaningful stimulus (the significate) through a series of pairings, there
is no need for reinforcement in order to establish learning. In your maze activity, the
new stimulus or "sign (mare B) became associated with already meaningful stimuli,
the significate (maze A). So you may have connected the two stimuli, mare A and
maze B; and used your knowledge and experience in mare A to learn to respond to
maze B.

Tolman's Key Concepts

Learning is always purposive and goal-directed. Tolman asserted that learning is
always purposive and goal-directed He held the notion that an organism acted or
responded for some adaptive purpose. He believed individuals do more than merely
respond to stimuli; they act on beliefs, attitudes, changing conditions, and they strive
toward goals. Tolman saw behavior as holistic, purposive and cognitive.

Cognitive maps in rats. In his most famous experiment, one group of rats was
placed at random starting locations in a maze but the food was always in the same
location. Another group of rats had the food placed in different locations which
always required exactly the same pattern of turns from their starting location. The
group that had the food in the same location performed much better than the other
group, supposedly demonstrating that they had learned the location rather than a
specific sequence of turns. This tendency to learn location signified that rats
somehow formed cognitive maps that help them perform well on the maze. He also
found out that organisms will select the shortest or easiest path to achieve a goal.

Applied in human learning, since a student passes by the same route going to school
everyday, he acquires a cognitive map of the location of his school. So when
transportation re-routing is done, he can still figure out what tums to make to get to
school the shortest or easiest way.

Prepared and Compiled by:

Frazel May V. Bonesto
Instructor
PROF.ED. 321 – FACILITATING LEARNER-CENTERED TEACHING

Latent Learning. Latent learning is

a kind of learning that remains or stays with the individual until needed. It is learning
that is not outwardly manifested at once. According to Tolman it can exist even
without reinforcement. He demonstrated this in his rat experiments wherein rats
apparently "learned the maze" by forming cognitive maps of the maze, but
manifested this knowledge of the maze only when they needed to.

Applied in human learning, a two-year old always sees her dad operate the tv remote
control and observes how the t.v. is turned on or how the channel is changed, and
volume adjusted. After some time, the parents are surprised that on the first time that
their daughter holds the remote control, she already knows which buttons to press
for what function. Through latent learning, the child knew the skills beforehand, even
though she has never done them before.

The concept of intervening variables. Intervening variables are variables that are
not readily seen but serve as determinants of behavior. Tolman believed that
learning is mediated or is influenced by expectations, perceptions, representations,
needs and other internal or environmental variables. Example, in his experiments
with rats he found out that hunger was an intervening variable.

Reinforcement not essential for learning. Tolman concluded that reinforcement is

not essential for learning, although it provides an incentive for performance. In his
studies, he observed that a rat was able to acquire knowledge of the way through a
maze, i.e., to develop a cognitive map, even in the absence of reinforcement.

Albert Bandura's Social Learning Theory

Social learning theory focuses on the learning that occurs within a social context. It
considers that people learn from one another, including such concepts as
observational learning, imitation and modeling. The set-year old boy Sergio Pelico
did watch Saddam's execution on TV and then must have imitated it.

Among others, Albert Bandura is considered the leading proponent of this theory.

General principles of social learning theory

1. People can learn by observing the behavior of others and the outcomes of
those behaviors.

2. Learning can occur without a change in behavior, Behaviorists say that learning
has to be represented by a permanent change in behavior, in contrast social learning
theorists say that because people can learn through observation alone, their learning
may not necessarily be shown in their performance. Learning may or may not result
in a behavior change.

3. Cognition plays a role in learning. Over the last 30 years, social learning theory
has become increasingly cognitive in its interpretation of human learning. Awareness
and expectations of future reinforcements or punishments can have a major effect on
the behaviors that people exhibit

Prepared and Compiled by:

Frazel May V. Bonesto
Instructor
PROF.ED. 321 – FACILITATING LEARNER-CENTERED TEACHING

4. Social learning theory can be considered a bridge or a transition between

behaviorist learning theories and cognitive learning theories.

How the environment reinforces and punishes modeling

People are often reinforced for modeling the behavior of others. Bandura suggested
that the environment also reinforces modeling. This is in several possible ways:

1. The observer is reinforced by the model. For example a student who changes
dress to fit in with a certain group of students has a strong likelihood of being
accepted and thus reinforced by that group.

2. The observer is reinforced by a third person. The observer might be modeling the
actions of someone else, for example, an outstanding class leader or student. The
teacher notices this and compliments and praises the observer for modeling such
behavior thus reinforcing that behavior.

3. The imitated behavior itself leads to reinforcing consequences. Many behaviors

that we learn from others produce satisfying or reinforcing results. For example, a
student in my multimedia class could observe how the extra work a classmate does
is fun. This student in tum would do the same extra work and also experience
enjoyment.

4. Consequences of the model's behavior affect the observer's behavior vicariously.

This is known as vicarious reinforcement. This is where the model is reinforces for a
response and then the observer shows an increase in that same response. Bandura
illustrated this by having students watch a film of a model hitting on an inflated clown
doll. One group of children saw the model being praised for such action without
being reinforced, the group of children began to also hit the doll.

Contemporary social learning perspective of reinforcement and punishment

1. Contemporary theory proposes that both reinforcement and punishment have

indirect effects on learning. They are not the sole cause.

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. Therefore, attention pays a critical role in learning and attention is
influenced by the expectation of reinforcement. An example would be, when the
teacher tells a group of students that what they will study next is not on the test.
Students will not pay attention because they do not expect to know the information
for a test.

Cognitive factors in social learning

Prepared and Compiled by:

Frazel May V. Bonesto
Instructor
PROF.ED. 321 – FACILITATING LEARNER-CENTERED TEACHING

Social learning theory has cognitive

factors as well as behaviorist factors (actually operant factors),

1. Learning without performance: Bandura makes a distinction between learning

through observation and the actual imitation of what has been learned. This is similar
to Tolman's latent learning.

2 Cognitive processing during learning: Social learning theorists contend that

attention is a critical factor in learning.

3. Expectations: As a result of being reinforced, people form expectations about the

consequences that future behaviors are likely to bring. They expect certain behaviors
to bring reinforcements and others to bring punishment. The learner needs to be
aware, however, of the response reinforcements and response punishment.
Reinforcement increases a response only when the learner is aware of that
connection.

4. Reciprocal causation: Bandura proposed that behavior can influence both the
environment and the person. In fact each of these three variables, the person, the
behavior, and the environment can have an influence on each other.

5. Modeling: There are different types of models. There is the live model, an actual
person demonstrating the behavior. There can also be a symbolic model, which can
be a person or action portrayed in some other medium, such as television,
videotape, computer programs.

Behaviors that can be learned through modeling

Many behaviors can be learned, at least partly, through modeling
Examples that can be cited are, students can watch parents read, students can
watch the demonstrations of mathematics problems, or see someone act bravely in a
fearful situation. Aggression can be learned through models Research indicates that
children become more aggressive when they observed aggressive or violent models.
Moral thinking and moral behavior are influenced by observation and modeling. This
includes moral judgments regarding right and wrong which can, in part, develop
through modeling

Conditions necessary for effective modeling to occur

Bandura mentions four conditions that are necessary before an individual can
successfully model the behavior of someone else:

1. Attention - The person must first pay attention to the model.

2. Retention - The observer must be able to remember the behavior that has been
observed. One way of increasing this is using the technique of rehearsal. 

3. Motor reproduction - The third condition is the ability to this means that the
observer has to be able to replicate the action which could be a problem with a
learner who is not read developmentally to replicate the action. For example, little
children have difficulty doing complex physical motion.
Prepared and Compiled by:
Frazel May V. Bonesto
Instructor
PROF.ED. 321 – FACILITATING LEARNER-CENTERED TEACHING

4. Motivation - The final necessary ingredient for modeling to occur is motivation.

Learners must want to demonstrate what they have learned. Remember that since
these four conditions vary among individuals, different people will reproduce the
same behavior differently.

Effects of modeling on behavior:

1. Modeling teaches new behaviors.
2. Modeling influences the frequency of previously learned behaviors.
3. Modeling may encourage previously forbidden behaviors.
4. Modeling increases the frequency of similar behaviors. For example a student
might see a friend excel in basketball and he tries to excel in football because he is
not tall enough for basketball.

Educational implications of social learning theory

Social learning theory has numerous implications for classroom use.

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. This can involve discussing with
learners about the rewards and consequences of various behaviors.

3. Modeling provides an alternative to shaping for teaching new behaviors. Instead of

using shaping, which is operant conditioning. modeling can provide a faster, more
efficient means for teaching new behavior. To promote effective modeling, a teacher
must make sure that the four essential conditions exist; attention, retention, motor
reproduction, and motivation.

4. Teachers and parents must model appropriate behaviors and take care that they
do not model inappropriate behaviors.

5. Teachers should expose students to a variety of other models.

This technique is especially important to break down traditional stereotypes.

Apply it!
Give at least one teaching applications of the two Neo Behaviorism Theory. Expound
your ideas by showing a scenario on how to use the applications inside your class.
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Share your Thought

Prepared and Compiled by:

Frazel May V. Bonesto
Instructor
PROF.ED. 321 – FACILITATING LEARNER-CENTERED TEACHING

In not less than 5 sentences,

explain your own thoughts in
a. Tolman’s Purposive behaviorism
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b. Bandura’s Social learning theory
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Reference/s:
Corpuz, Brenda B., & Lucas, Maria Rita D., (2020) Facilitating Teacher-Centered Teaching, 5th Ed.,
Lorimar Publishing Inc.,Quezon City, Metro Manila

Prepared and Compiled by:

Frazel May V. Bonesto
Instructor