Behavioral and Cognitive Learning Theories

1. Behavioral and CognitiveLearning Theories By: Sheila Smith

2. Learning Theories • What is a learning theory? • A learning theory is a model of psychology that explains human responses through the concept of learning. • There are two popular perspective that have had the greatest impact on instructional design. • Behaviorism • Cognitivism

3. Learning Theories Continued • Behaviorism • The behaviorism theory lead most of the 20th century. • Behaviorism dominated how instructional designers approached their work • Behaviorist Perspective: • Altering behavior as a result of experience that can be measured

4. Learning Theories Continued • Cognitivism • Succeeded behaviorism after WWII by providing an alternative viewpoint of the mind and how people think. • The human mind is considered to be highly complex and is compared to a computer.

5. (1904-1990) Behavioral Learning Theorist Skinner is considered to be one of the best behavioral learning theorists because of his development of the operant conditioning. By observing pigeons and rats, Skinner observed that the frequency of behavior was more likely to increase if it was followed immediately by a reinforcer (Skinner 1974).

6. B. F. Skinner’s View on Learning • Skinner believed there was two types of learning: • Classical conditioning • Operant conditioning • The learners role according to Skinner: • Learn by doing • Experiencing • Engaging in repeated trial and error

7. Operant Conditioning • Process through which a person comes to deal effectively with a new environment. • Operant behavior is voluntary. • Produces behavior that has the kind of consequences called reinforcing which is more likely to occur again (reinforcement due to survival value). Example: a glass of water is positively reinforcing when we are thirsty, and if we then draw and drink a glass of water, we are more likely to do so again on similar occasions (Skinner 1974).

8. Richard Mayer Cognitive Learning Theorist Richard Mayer is a Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research interests are in educational and cognitive psychology. His current research involves the connection of cognition, instruction, and technology with a special focus on multimedia learning and computer-supported learning.

9. Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning • Multimedia Principle • People lean more deeply from words and pictures than from words alone (Mayer 47). • Three main cognitive methods the learner engages in are: • Selecting • Is applied to incoming verbal information to yield a text base and is applied to incoming visual information to yield an image base (Mayer & Moreno).

10. Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning Continued • Organizing • Is applied to the word base to create a verbally-based model of the to-be-explained system and is applied to the image base to create a visually-based model of the to-be-explained system (Mayer & Moreno). • Integrating • Occurs when the learner builds connections between corresponding events (or states or parts) in the verbally-based model and the visually based model (Mayer & Moreno).

11. How the Behaviorism Theory of Operant Conditioning Impacts Teaching/Training • Behaviorism theory of operant conditioning impacts teaching/training by: • Breaking down complex tasks into sub-skills that are taught frequently and rewarding the student. • Students work for things that bring them positive feelings, and for approval from people they admire.

12. How the Cognitivism Theory of Multimedia Learning Impacts Teaching/Training • Cognitivism theory of multimedia learning impacts teaching/training by: • Design principle with providing coherent verbal, pictorial information, directing the learner to select relevant words and images and reducing the load for a single processing channel.

13. The Applicability of the Behaviorism Theory in an Adult Education Environment • Adult learning programs tend to have much structure and control and are instructor-driven when it follows the behaviorism theory. • An instructor will repeat a positive or negative event until it produces the expected outcome.

14. The Applicability of the Cognitive Theory of Multimedia for an Adult Education Environment • PowerPoint is one way to apply the cognitive theory of multimedia to an adult education environment. • PowerPoint is not just a presentation device: • Uses visual tools • Connects ideas and pictures • Matches words and pictures • Uses organizational tools • Organize graphics • Organize lessons

15. References Bjork, Daniel W. (1993). B. F. Skinner. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publications, Inc. Brown, Abbie, & Green, T. D. (2006). The Essentials of Instructional Design. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc. Mayer, R. E. (2001). Multimedia learning. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Mayer, R. E.; R. Moreno (1998). A Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning: Implications for Design Principles. Retrieved October 9, 2009 from http://www.unm.edu/ ~moreno/PDFS/chi.pdf. Simply Psychology. (n.d.). BF Skinner: Operant Conditioning. Retrieved September 27, 2009, from http://www.simplypsychology.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/operant- conditioning.html Skinner, B. F. (1974). About Behaviorism. New York: Alfred A Knopf.