Module 8

Neo
Behaviorism:
Tolman and
Bandura
INTRODUCTION
With new researches, explanations
provided but the basic principles of
behaviorism appeared not satisfy all
learning scenarios. New theories came
into view which maintained some of the
behaviorist concepts but excluded
others, and added new ideas which later
came to be associated with the
cognitive views of learning. The neo-
behaviorists, then, were a transitional
group, bridging the gap behaviorism
and cognitive theories of learning.
Activity 1
Working on MAZE
 Neo Behaviorism

Tolman’s Bandura’s
Purposive Behaviorism Social Learning Theory

Goal - Directedness Principles

Cognitive Maps Modeling

Four Conditions for

Latent Learning
effective Modeling

Intervening Variables
Tolman’s Purposive
Behaviorism

AKA “ Sign Learning Theory ”

Learning is a cognitive
process
Learning is acquired through
meaningful behavior
“ 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.”
A new stimulus ( the sign)
becomes associated with
already meaningful stimuli (the
significant) through a series
of pairings; there was no need
for reinforcement in order to
establish learning.
 Tolman’s Key
Concepts
Learning is always purposive and
goal – directed
 Individuals do more than merely
respond to stimuli; they act on
beliefs, attitudes, changing
conditions, and they strive
towards goal.
 Tolman’s Key
Concepts
Cognitive Maps
Famous experiment
on rats concluded
that Organism or
Individual to be exact
learned the location
and will select the
shortest or easiest
path to achieve goal.
Ex. Going to school
everyday.
 Tolman’s Key
Concepts
Latent Learning
Learning that
remains or stays
with the individual
until needed.
Learning that is
outwardly
manifested at once.
Ex. A 2 yr. old handling
remote for the first time.
 Tolman’s Key
Concepts
The Concept of
Intervening Variable
Variables that are not
readily seen but serves as
determinants of behavior.
Learning is mediated or
influenced by expectations,
perceptions,
representations, needs and
other internal or
environmental variables.
Ex. Experiment on Rats - Hunger
 Tolman’s Key
Concepts
Reinforcement Not
Essential for Learning
Reinforcement is not
essential for learning,
although it provides an
incentive for
performance.
Ex. Rats acquired knowledge of
the way through maze in the
absence of reinforcement.
Activity 2

Reading a News
Article

10-Year-Old Boy in Texas

Hangs Himself After
Watching Saddam
Execution
TYPES OF OBSERVATIONAL
LEARNING EFFECTS
 GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF
SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY
1. People can learn by observing the
behavior of the others and the outcomes
of those behaviors.
2. Learning can occur without a change
in behavior.
3. Cognition plays a role in learning.
4. Social learning theory can be
considered a bridge or a transition
between behaviorist learning theories
and cognitive learning theories.
 HOW ENVIRONMENT AND
PUNISHES MODELING
People are often to reinforced
for modeling the behavior
of others. Bandura
suggested that the
environment also
reinforces modeling.
This is in several possible ways:
 HOW ENVIRONMENT AND
PUNISHES MODELING
1. The
observer is
reinforced by
the model
 HOW ENVIRONMENT AND
PUNISHES MODELING
2. The
observer
reinforce by
a third
person.
 HOW ENVIRONMENT AND
PUNISHES MODELING

3. The imitated
behavior
itself leads to
reinforcing
consequences.
 HOW ENVIRONMENT AND
PUNISHES MODELING

4. Consequences
of the model’s
behavior affect
the observer’s
behavior
vicariously.
CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL LEARNING
PERSPECTIVE OF REINFORCEMENT
AND PUNISHMENT

1.Contemporary theory proposes that 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 process that
promote learning.
 COGNITIVE FACTORS IN
SOCIAL LEARNING
1. Learning without performance
(through observation and actual imitation)

2. Cognitive processing during learning

(attention)

3. Expectations (consequences)
4. Reciprocal causation (person, behavior
and
environment)

5. Modeling (live models and symbolic models)

 BEHAVIOR THAT CAN BE
LEARNED THROUGH MODELING
 Many behaviors can be learned at least
partly, through modeling.
 Aggression can be learned through
models.
 Moral thinking and moral behavior
are influence by observation and modeling.
 Moral judgment regarding right and
wrong which can, in part, develop through
modeling.
 FOUR ELEMENTS OF
OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING
 FOUR ELEMENTS OF
OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING
 FOUR ELEMENTS OF
OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING
Motor Reproduction
 FOUR ELEMENTS OF
OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING
 EFFECTS OF MODELING
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.
 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. This can involve
discussing with learners about the rewards and consequences of various
behavior.
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.
Reporter:
Tintin Rodriguez Morales
BSE II –MF
Holy Child Jesus College