Learning Theories in the Classroom: Classical, Operant, and Social Learning

Posted on Sep 4, 2024 in Psychology and Sociology

Classical Conditioning

Definition: A type of learning in which an organism learns to transfer a natural response to a stimulus to a previously neutral stimulus, which then becomes conditioned.

Requirements of Classical Conditioning:

  1. Order of Presentation of Stimuli: Firstly, we present the Neutral Stimulus (NS) and shortly after the Unconditioned Stimulus (US).
  2. Time: Seconds must mediate between the NS and US.
  3. Repetition: The sequence is repeated several times to produce the pairing of stimuli.

Features of Classical Conditioning:

  1. Pleasurable feelings are not sufficient but necessary for a learning experience to be enjoyable.
  2. Learning occurs in the subject without them being aware, so it can encompass a risk of not having control over stimuli.
  3. The main figure (teacher) should be concerned with avoiding unpleasant stimuli and providing pleasant ones.

Uses of Classical Conditioning in the Classroom:

  1. Prevention: Prevent the development of negative emotional reactions. We must associate the professor with positive stimuli and classroom situations.
  2. Remedy: Address already developed negative emotional reactions.

Operant Conditioning

Definition: Describes the relationship between behavior and consequences. What we do, what we say, to whom we speak, with whom we interact, all depends on the behavior and the consequences that influence its repetition.

Operant conditioning is a process through which we learn to give adequate answers for some benefit or to avoid something that displeases us.

Reinforcement:

Reinforcement produces a pleasant result.

Types of Reinforcements:

  1. Primary Reinforcement: Has reinforcing value for subjects naturally, without them having to be trained (not learned).
  2. Secondary Reinforcement: Learned reinforcement, can be divided into:
    • Social Reinforcement
    • Material Reinforcement
    • Activity Reinforcement
    • Tokens or Points
  3. Extrinsic Reinforcement: Reinforcement is not inherent in the behavior itself (e.g., studying for a degree, working for wages).
  4. Intrinsic Reinforcement: Takes place when the subject is reinforced by the behavior itself.
  5. Positive Reinforcement: Occurs when a pleasant enhancer is presented to the subject.
  6. Negative Reinforcement: Any event that increases the likelihood of a response because it disrupts an unpleasant or aversive situation (e.g., “You lose your leisure time until you finish your homework.”).

Similarities Between Classical and Operant Conditioning:

  1. Stimulus Generalization: Occurs when the subject identifies and gives the same type of response even though the stimuli are somewhat different.
  2. Stimulus Discrimination: The subject distinguishes between similar but not identical stimuli and gives different answers.
  3. Extinction: The result of discrimination of the response rate as a consequence of the lack of reinforcement.

Social Learning (Observational or Vicarious Learning)

Definition: Social learning theories are rooted in behaviorism and share one of its basic principles: if the consequences are reinforcing, they will influence the repetition of the behavior, but if the consequences are experienced as punitive, the behavior is less likely to be repeated.

However, social learning theorists introduced cognitive processes such as expectations, thoughts, and beliefs that cannot be observed directly.

Elements of Observational Learning:

  1. Desire to Learn: Motivation is needed.
  2. Motivation and Reinforcement: Acquisition is a different process from implementation. For the subject to execute and maintain a learned behavior, they need to be motivated to do so.
  3. Focus: From all activities offered in the environment, only a few are useful.
  4. Retention: Encoding and translating the information we have seen, organizing and storing it in memory to review it mentally (if I retain, I learn; if I learn, I retain).
  5. Production: Translating the symbolic and visual conceptions of modeled events into overt behavior (the observed behavior will be implemented in different ways depending on the person).

Types of Reinforcement:

Bandura identifies three forms of reinforcement that can promote learning by observation:

  1. Direct Reinforcement: Reinforcing the observer. If the observer reproduces the model’s behavior and gets a reinforcer, it is called direct.
  2. Vicarious Reinforcement or Indirect Reinforcement: Reinforces the model. For Bandura, results observed in the behavior of others can change behavior in the same way as results obtained through direct experience.

Learning by Observation in the Classroom:

  1. Teaching New Behaviors: Characteristics, motor skills (physical), mental tasks.
  2. Development of Emotions.
  3. Facilitating Behavior.
  4. Changes in Inhibition.