Behavioral Learning Theory:
Pavlov and Piaget
Alexis Perno
Dominique Dorsey
Behavioral Learning
Theory
According to the behaviorists, learning can
be defined as “the relatively permanent
change in behavior brought about as a
result of experience or practice.”
Behaviorists recognize that learning is an
internal event. However, it is not
recognized as learning until it is displayed
by overt behavior.
Ivan Pavlov
•Born on September 14, 1849
•In 1875 received the degree of
Candidate of Natural Sciences.
•He was awarded the Nobel Prize
for Physiology or Medicine in
1904 for his work on digestive
secretions.
•Died Feb. 27, 1936
Classical Conditioning
-Learning which has been acquired through
experience.
Pavlov called the unconditioned stimulus (US) and
unconditioned response (UR), respectively. If the neutral stimulus
presented along with the unconditioned stimulus, it would become
a conditioned stimulus (CS). If the CS and the US are repeatedly
paired, eventually the two stimuli become associated and the
organism begins to produce a behavioral response to the CS.
Pavlov called this the conditioned response (CR).
Dog Experiment
The original and most famous example of classical conditioning involved the
salivary conditioning of Pavlov's dogs. During his research on the physiology of
digestion in dogs, Pavlov noticed that, rather than simply salivating in the presence
of meat powder, the dogs began to salivate in the presence of the lab technician
who normally fed them. Pavlov called these psychic secretions. From this
observation he observed that, if a particular stimulus in the dog's surroundings were
present when the dog was presented with meat powder, then this stimulus would
become connected with food and cause salivation on its own. In his initial
experiment, Pavlov used a bell to call the dogs to their food and, after a few
repetitions, the dogs started to salivate in reaction to the bell.
In technical terms, the meat powder is considered an
unconditioned stimulus (UCS) and the dog’s salivation is
the unconditioned response (UCR). The bell is a neutral
stimulus until the dog learns to associate the bell with
food. Then the bell becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS)
which produces the conditioned response (CR) of
salivation after repeated pairings between the bell and
food.
http://nobelprize.org/educational/medicine/pavlov/
Jean Piaget
•Born in Neuchâtel, Switzerland
• Born on August 9, 1896
•In 1918, received his Doctorate in Science
from the University of Neuchâtel
•Received a number of honorary degrees.
-one from the Sorbonne in 1946
-the University of Brussels and the
University of Brazil in 1949
-one from Harvard in 1936.
•Died in Geneva, September 16, 1980
Developmental Theory
-The theory that there are stages of development.
Piaget believes that people begin at the level of Sensory
Motor, moving to Preoperational, then Concrete
Operations and eventually reaching Formal Operations.
Stages of Development
•
•
•
•
Stage Characterised by Sensori-motor (Birth-2 yrs)
Differentiates self from objects Recognizes self as agent of action and
begins to act intentionally: e.g. pulls a string to set mobile in motion or
shakes a rattle to make a noise Achieves object permanence: realizes that
things continue to exist even when no longer present to the sense (pace
Bishop Berkeley)
Pre-operational (2-7 years)
Learns to use language and to represent objects by images and
words Thinking is still egocentric: has difficulty taking the viewpoint of
others Classifies objects by a single feature: e.g. groups together all the red
blocks regardless of shape or all the square blocks regardless of color
Concrete operational (7-11 years)
Can think logically about objects and events Achieves conservation of
number (age 6), mass (age 7), and weight (age 9) Classifies objects
according to several features and can order them in series along a single
dimension such as size.
Formal operational (11 years and up)
Can think logically about abstract propositions and test hypotheses
systematically Becomes concerned with the hypothetical, the future, and
ideological problems
Compare and contrast
Similarities
•Both deal with
organisms
•Both move along with
time
•Both reflect
environmental roles
Differences
• Pavlov’s focus is on
conditioning while Piaget’s
is on natural developments.
•Pavlov’s can be controlled
while Piaget’s takes a span
of time to observe.
•Pavlov’s theory is shown
through experience and
Piaget’s is a one time
experience per observation
unit.
Bibliography
• http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~moursund/M
ath/developmental_theory.htm
• http://www.learningandteaching.info/learni
ng/piaget.htm
• http://piaget.org/
• http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicin
e/laureates/1904/pavlov-bio.html
• http://www.ivanpavlov.com/