Behaviourism — Classical and Operant Conditioning

Overview

Behaviourism is one of the most frequently tested theories in Child Development and Pedagogy for OTET. It views learning as a change in observable behaviour caused by environmental stimuli, rejecting the study of internal mental states. For exam purposes, you must know three founding figures—Pavlov, Thorndike, and Skinner—along with their experiments, key terms, and educational implications.

This topic connects directly to questions on how children acquire habits, why reinforcement works better than punishment, and how teachers can shape classroom behaviour. Expect 2–4 direct questions in both Paper I and Paper II, often asking you to match a psychologist with their concept or identify the correct type of conditioning in a classroom scenario.

Mastery requires distinguishing classical conditioning (involuntary responses) from operant conditioning (voluntary behaviour), knowing the laws of learning proposed by Thorndike, and understanding Skinner's reinforcement schedules. These distinctions appear repeatedly in OTET question patterns.

Key Concepts

• **Behaviourism assumes learning is observable**: Internal thoughts are ignored; only stimulus-response (S-R) connections matter. The learner is seen as passive, shaped by the environment.

• **Classical conditioning involves involuntary responses**: Pavlov showed that a neutral stimulus (bell) paired repeatedly with an unconditioned stimulus (food) eventually produces a conditioned response (salivation to bell alone).

• **Operant conditioning involves voluntary behaviour**: Skinner demonstrated that behaviour followed by reinforcement increases in frequency, while behaviour followed by punishment decreases.

• **Thorndike's connectionism bridges both**: His trial-and-error learning with cats in puzzle boxes established laws governing S-R bonds, laying groundwork for Skinner's operant model.

• **Reinforcement is more effective than punishment**: Positive and negative reinforcement both strengthen behaviour; punishment suppresses but does not teach alternative responses.

• **Extinction occurs when reinforcement stops**: In both classical and operant conditioning, the learned response fades if the stimulus or reinforcement is withdrawn consistently.

• **Generalisation and discrimination apply to both types**: Learners respond similarly to similar stimuli (generalisation) but can learn to differentiate (discrimination) through selective reinforcement.

Formulas / Key Facts

| Psychologist | Experiment | Core Concept | Key Terms | |--------------|------------|--------------|-----------| | Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936) | Dogs salivating to bell | Classical conditioning | UCS, UCR, CS, CR, extinction, spontaneous recovery | | Edward Thorndike (1874–1949) | Cats in puzzle box | Connectionism / Trial-and-error | Law of Effect, Law of Exercise, Law of Readiness | | B.F. Skinner (1904–1990) | Rats/pigeons in Skinner box | Operant conditioning | Positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment, shaping, schedules of reinforcement |