MODULE 3:

FOCUS ON THE
LEARNING
 MODULE 3:
FOCUS ON THE
LEARNING
 Tolman's theorizing has been called purposive
behaviorism and is often considered the bridge
between behaviorism and cognitive theory. According
to Tolman's theory of sign learning, an organism
learns by pursuing signs to a goal, i.e., learning is
acquired through meaningful behavior.
Topic 2:
The social learning theory of Bandura emphasizes the
Neo Behaviorism: importance of observing and modeling the behaviors,
Tolman and attitudes, and emotional reactions of others. Bandura
(1977) states: "Learning would be exceedingly
Bandura laborious, not to mention hazardous, if people had to
rely solely on the effects of their own actions to
inform them what to do. Fortunately, most human
behavior is learned observationally through modeling:
from observing others one forms an idea of how new
behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this
coded information serves as a guide for action."
 Learning Outcomes:

Topic 2: After completing this module, you

Neo Behaviorism: should be able to:
Tolman and
1. Explain Tolman's purposive
Bandura behaviorism and Bandura's social
learning theory
 Learning Content

Tolman's (1932) classification introduced five types of learning—approach,

escape, avoidance, choice-point, and latent learning—all hinging on means-end
readiness and goal-oriented behavior influenced by internal and environmental
factors. Departing from traditional behaviorism, Tolman's approach
emphasized stimulus relationships rather than simple stimulus-response
connections. In his studies, rats navigating mazes demonstrated place learning,
showcasing the animals' ability to understand locations rather than just
memorizing specific turn sequences. Although Tolman intended his theories for
human learning, much of his research was conducted with rats.
 Learning Content

Bandura's Social Learning Theory, on the other hand, has found extensive
applications in understanding aggression, psychological disorders, and
behavior modification. Bandura's focus shifted to self-efficacy in various
contexts in recent years. Social learning principles are evident in everyday
scenarios, such as television commercials, where the suggestive influence of
advertisements on behavior, driven by attention and motivation, is widespread.
This form of modeling behavior is notably influential, as seen in the
consumer's choice to purchase products based on the perceived benefits
portrayed in commercials.
 Biography of Tolman

Edward C. Tolman Overview:

•Known for cognitive behaviorism, research on cognitive maps, latent learning
theory, and the concept of intervening variables.
•Born on April 14, 1886, and passed away on November 19, 1959
 Biography of Tolman

Early Life:
•Initially studied physics, mathematics, and chemistry at MIT.
•Shifted focus to psychology after reading William James' Principles of
Psychology.
•Enrolled at Harvard, influenced by James, Kurt Koffka, and Kurt Lewin,
graduating with a Ph.D. in 1915.
 Biography of Bandura

Early Life and Education:

•Born December 4, 1925, in Mundare, Alberta, Canada.
•Youngest of six children, of Eastern European descent.
•Father from Kraków, Poland; mother from Ukraine; both immigrants to
Canada.
•Graduated from the University of British Columbia with a psychology degree
in 1949.
 Biography of Bandura

Academic Journey:
•Completed graduate studies at the University of Iowa, earning a master's
degree (1951) and a doctorate in clinical psychology (1952).
•Joined Stanford University in 1953, securing a professorship and later
becoming the David Starr Jordan Professor of Social Science in Psychology.
•Appointed chairman of the psychology department in 1976.
 Biography of Bandura

Significant Contributions:
•Conducted the influential "Bobo doll" experiment demonstrating
observational learning of aggression in children (1961).
•Introduced the concept of self-efficacy (1977), showcasing its impact on
choices, effort, and emotional experiences.
•Originated social cognitive theory (1986), highlighting the interplay of
environment, cognition, and behavior in determining an individual's
functioning.
 Biography of Bandura

Recognition and Awards:

•Received numerous awards, including the APA Award for Outstanding
Lifetime Contribution to Psychology (2004) and the University of Louisville
Grawemeyer Award for Psychology (2008).
•Ranked as the fourth most eminent psychologist of the 20th century by the
Review of General Psychology (2002).
•Awarded the National Medal of Science in 2016.
 Biography of Bandura

Literary Contributions:
•Associated with various academic journals and authored/coauthored several
influential books, such as "Social Learning Theory" (1977).
 Biography of Bandura

Organizational Involvement:
•Held significant organizational memberships and positions, including APA
president in 1974 and AAAS fellow in 1980.
 Biography of Bandura

Albert Bandura's life and work have left an enduring impact on psychology,
particularly in the areas of observational learning, self-efficacy, and social
cognitive theory. His contributions have been widely recognized, and his
influence extends across academic institutions and scholarly publications.
 Neo Behaviorism

Tolman’s purposive Bandura’s Social-

Behaviorism Learning Theory
Goal Directness Principles
Cognitive Maps Modeling
Latent Learning Four Conditions for
Intervening Variables Effective Modeling
 Tolman’s Purposive Behaviorism

Tolman's Purposive Behaviorism, also known as Sign Learning Theory, serves

as a crucial link between behaviorism and cognitive theory. Founded on the
perspectives of Gestalt psychologists and behaviorist John Watson, Tolman's
theory posits that learning is fundamentally a cognitive process. According to
his sign theory, organisms learn by pursuing signs towards a goal, emphasizing
the organized nature of learning.
 Tolman’s Purposive Behaviorism

In Tolman's framework, stimuli are not directly connected to responses;

instead, incoming impulses are processed and elaborated in a central control
room, forming a cognitive-like map of the environment. This tentative map
guides purposeful and goal-directed behavior, demonstrating Tolman's belief in
the cognitive aspect of learning.
 Tolman’s Purposive Behaviorism

Tolman's behaviorism focuses on the relationships between stimuli rather than

simple stimulus-response connections. Notably, he asserted that reinforcement
is unnecessary for learning. Using the example of maze activities, Tolman
illustrated how a new stimulus (maze B) becomes associated with already
meaningful stimuli (maze A) through pairings, emphasizing the role of
knowledge and experience in learning to respond to new stimuli.
 Tolman Key Concepts

Purposive and Goal-Directed Learning:

•Tolman asserted that learning is always purposive and goal-directed,

emphasizing that organisms act with adaptive purposes.
 Tolman Key Concepts

Cognitive Maps in Rats:

•Famous maze experiment demonstrated rats' ability to learn locations, not just
specific turn sequences.
•Rats formed cognitive maps, selecting the shortest or easiest path to achieve a
goal.
•Application in Human Learning Example: Student forming a cognitive map of
the route to school for efficient navigation despite transportation re-routing.
 Tolman Key Concepts

Latent Learning:
• Learning that remains with the individual until needed, not immediately
manifested.
• Demonstrated in rat experiments where knowledge of the maze was only
expressed when needed.
• Application in Human Learning Example: Child observing TV remote
operation, demonstrating latent learning when using the remote for the
first time.
 Tolman Key Concepts

•Intervening Variables:

• Variables not readily seen but influencing behavior, including

expectations, perceptions, representations, and needs.
• Example: Hunger as an intervening variable in rat experiments.
 Tolman Key Concepts

Reinforcement Not Essential:

•Tolman concluded that reinforcement is not essential for learning, although it

provides an incentive for performance.
•Observation: Rats acquired knowledge of a maze without reinforcement,
highlighting the role of cognitive processes.
 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 ten-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.
 General Principles of Social Learning Theory

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.
 General Principles of Social Learning Theory

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
 General Principles of Social Learning Theory

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 Modelling

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.
 How the Environment Reinforces and Punishes Modelling

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 the behavior.
 How the Environment Reinforces and Punishes Modelling

3. The imitated behavior itself leads to reinforcing consequences. Man,

behaviors that we learn from others produce satisfying or reinforcement
results. For example, a student in my multimedia class could observe how the
extra work a classmate does is fun. This student in tins would do the same
extra work and also experience enjoyment.
 How the Environment Reinforces and Punishes Modelling

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

vicariously. This is known as vicarious reinforcement. This is where the model
is reinforced 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 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 or main cause.
Contemporary Social Learning Perspective of Reinforcement and Punishment

2. Reinforcement and punishment influence the extent to which an individual

exhibits a behavior that has been learned.
Contemporary Social Learning Perspective of Reinforcement and Punishment

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

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.
 Cognitive Factors in Social Learning

2. Cognitive processing during learning: Social learning theorists contend that

attention is a critical factor in learning.
 Cognitive Factors in Social 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.
 Cognitive Factors in Social Learning

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.
 Cognitive Factors in Social Learning

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 1ncreasing this is using the technique of
rehearsal.
 Conditions Necessary for Effective Modeling to Occur

3. Motor reproduction- The third condition is the ability to replicate the

behavior that the model has just demonstrated. This means that the observer
has to be able to replicate the action, which could be a problem with a learner
who is not ready developmentally to replicate the action. For example, little
children have difficulty doing complex physical motion.
 Conditions Necessary for Effective Modeling to Occur

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.
 Educational Implications of Social Learning Theory

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.
 Educational Implications of Social Learning Theory

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.
Thank You