Last update: 04/05/2015

An overview of the basic concepts of learning theories, including behaviorism, classical conditioning, and operant conditioning.

If you're taking a learning psychology test or are simply interested in the topic, then this short guide to major topics including classical conditioning and operant conditioning will be of great help.
First, let's look at what learning is.

Learning is relative constant change in behavior that occurs as a result of a particular experience. In the first half of the twentieth century, a school of thought known as behaviorism proposed several theories to explain educational process. According to behaviorism, there are three types of learning.

Behaviorism is a scientific school of psychology that considers only the external manifestations of behavior. The essence of the behaviorist doctrine, formed by , is that psychology is an experimental and objective science that should not consider internal mental processes, since they cannot be observed and measured.

Classical conditioning

is a learning process in which a direct associative connection is established between a previously neutral stimulus and a stimulus that causes a certain reaction. For example, in classic example Pavlova, the smell of food was always accompanied by the ringing of a bell. Once a permanent connection was established between these two phenomena, the sound of a bell alone could cause the required reaction.

Operant conditioning

is a learning process in which the likelihood of a desired response is increased or decreased through reward or punishment. The essence of this method, originally studied by Edward Thorndike and then by B.F. Skinner, is that the consequences of our actions shape our behavior.

Observational learning

is a learning process that occurs through observing and imitating the behavior of others. As shown in Albert Bandura's Bobo Doll experiment, people imitate other people's behavior even without additional incentive. Effective observational learning requires four important elements: attention, good motor skills, motivation, and memory.

Unlike the considered theories, in which innate instincts are considered as a source of child development, learning theory is based on the idea that social environment, the influence of which shapes a person, is the main factor in his mental development. The subject of research in this area of ​​psychology is not inner world person (not his emotions, experiences or mental actions), but externally observable behavior. Therefore, this direction was called behaviorism(from the English word behavior - behavior).

The main provisions of this theory are associated with the ideas of the famous Russian physiologist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, who discovered the mechanism conditioned reflex. with their own famous experiments with dogs, Pavlov showed that initially neutral stimuli for the body (sound, sight, smell) acquire physiological significance, if they are associated with vital positive or negative reinforcement. For example, ringing a bell or turning on a light bulb before feeding, after several combinations, begins to cause salivation in dogs. If the same signals are combined with negative reinforcement (for example, electric shock), they will cause defensive reaction. This mechanism for the formation of connections between external stimuli and reactions (S - R) was taken by the American scientist J. Watson, the founder of behaviorism, as the basis for the formation of human behavior in general and child development in particular. However, this formula was significantly supplemented by new factors.

Thus, the outstanding American scientist B. Skinner introduced the concept of instrumental (or operant) conditioning. If in the classical sense conditioning involves establishing a connection between stimulus and response, then in instrumental conditioning certain forms of behavior are associated with subsequent reinforcement. If any sequence of actions triggers reinforcement, those actions will be repeated. For example, if a dog is given a piece of sugar every time he stands on his hind legs and “dances,” he will likely repeat this action often in order to get the desired reward. This pattern is also characteristic of humans. When parents reward a child for good behavior, this encouragement is viewed by behaviorists as positive reinforcement that reinforces desired behaviors. Punishment, on the contrary, is negative reinforcement that inhibits a child's bad behavior. Thus, the child learns to behave correctly and socially acceptable forms of behavior are reinforced.

However, the “stimulus-response” (S-R) formula soon revealed its limitations. As a rule, stimulus and response are in such difficult relationships that it is impossible to trace a direct connection between them. One of the largest representatives of neobehaviorism, E. Tolman, added a significant component to this scheme. He proposed placing a middle link, or “intermediate variables” (V), between S and R, as a result of which the formula acquired next view: S - V - R. By intermediate variables Tolman meant internal processes, which mediate the action of the stimulus, i.e. influence external behavior. These include goals, ideas, desires, in a word, phenomena of internal mental life person. However, these variables themselves were of interest to adherents of behaviorism only insofar as they influence human behavior.

In the 1930s, American scientists N. Miller, J. Dollard, R. Sears and others made an attempt to translate the most important concepts psychoanalytic theory into the language of learning theory. It was they who introduced the concept of “social learning” into scientific use. On this basis, the concept has been developed for more than half a century social learning, the central problem of which is the problem of socialization. Transforming Freudian ideas, N. Miller and J. Dollard replaced the pleasure principle with the principle of reinforcement. They called reinforcement what strengthens the tendency to repeat a response. Learning is the strengthening of the connection between stimulus and response that occurs through reinforcement. The main forms of social reinforcement are praise, attention from adults, their evaluation, etc. The task of parents is to support the correct, socially acceptable behavior of the child, reject unacceptable forms of behavior and thus socialize him. If the child’s behavioral repertoire does not have an appropriate response, it can be acquired by observing the behavior of the “model.” Learning through imitation in social learning theory is the main way of acquiring new forms of behavior. American psychologist A. Bandura placed particular emphasis on the role of imitation. He believed that reward and punishment were not sufficient to induce new behavior in a child. Children acquire new behavior through imitation. One of the manifestations of imitation is identification - a process in which a person borrows not only actions, but also thoughts and feelings from another person acting as a “model”. Imitation leads to the fact that the child can imagine himself in the place of the “model” and experience sympathy for this person.

The famous American psychologist R. Sears introduced into scientific use the dyadic principle of studying child development, according to which adaptive behavior and its reinforcement should be studied taking into account the behavior of the other partner. Sears's main focus was on the mother's influence on the child's development. The main condition for learning in his theory is dependence. Reinforcement always depends on contact between mother and child. The child constantly experiences dependence on the mother, and the motivation for dependence (active demand for love, attention, affection, etc.) - critical need child that cannot be ignored. At the same time, development baby is coming on the way to overcoming this dependence and changing its forms. It can be seen that in this approach the theory of social learning is most closely intertwined with the ideas of psychoanalysis.

The theory of social learning is based not only on the description of behavior according to the “stimulus-response” formula, but also on the provisions of Freud’s teachings. Freud and the behaviorists agree not on the issue of sexuality, but on the child and society. The child is seen as a being alien to society. He enters society like a “rat in a maze,” and an adult must guide him through this maze so that as a result he becomes like an adult. The initial antagonism between the child and society unites these two directions and reduces mental development to learning acceptable forms of behavior.

From the standpoint of behaviorism, child development is a purely quantitative learning process, i.e. gradual accumulation of skills. This learning does not imply the emergence of qualitatively new mental formations, since it occurs in the same way at all stages of ontogenesis. Therefore, in behaviorism we're talking about not about mental development child, but about his social learning. The child’s experiences, ideas, and interests are not the subject of research here, since they cannot be seen and measured. And adherents of behavioral psychology considered it legitimate to use only objective methods based on the registration and analysis of external observable facts and processes. This is both the strength and weakness of the ideas of behaviorism. On the one side, this direction scientific thought added clarity, objectivity, and “measurability” to psychology. Thanks to him, psychology turned to the natural scientific path of development and became an exact, objective science. The method of measuring behavioral reactions has become one of the main ones in psychology. This explains the enormous popularity of behaviorism among psychologists around the world.

On the other hand, behaviorists ignored the significance of the phenomena of the human psyche (consciousness, his will and own activity) (This weak side this direction). According to behaviorism theory, classical and operant conditioning are universal learning mechanisms common to humans and animals. In this case, learning occurs as if automatically: reinforcement leads to “consolidation” in nervous system successful reactions, regardless of the will and desires of the person himself. From here, behaviorists conclude that with the help of incentives and reinforcements, it is possible to “sculpt” any human behavior, since it is strictly determined by them. In this understanding, a person is a slave to external circumstances and his past experience.

Behavioral psychotherapy is based on behavioral psychology and uses the principles of learning to change cognitive, emotional and behavioral structures. Behavioral psychotherapy includes a wide range of methods. The development of methodological approaches within this direction reflects the evolution of the goals of behavioral psychotherapy from external to internal learning: from methods aimed at changing open forms behavior, directly observed behavioral responses (based primarily on classical and operant conditioning) to methods aimed at changing deeper, closed psychological formations (based on social learning theories, modeling and cognitive approaches).

The theoretical basis of behavioral psychotherapy is the psychology of behaviorism.

Behaviorism. This direction in psychology was formed at the beginning of the 20th century. Watson is the founder of behaviorism. Thorndike's experiments, which laid the foundation for its emergence, as well as the works of Pavlov and Bekhterev, also had a significant influence on the formation of behaviorism.

From the point of view of representatives of behaviorism, psychology should have become the science of behavior, since behavior is the only psychological reality, accessible to direct observation and having parameters that can be directly measured and influenced and, therefore, studied in the same way as is customary in the natural sciences.

Orthodox behaviorism essentially identifies the psyche and behavior. Behavior is understood here as a set of reactions of the body to the influences of the external environment, to a set of recorded stimuli. A person is considered as a bearer of certain forms

behavior formed according to the “stimulus-response” principle. which is considered as the basic unit of behavior..

The complication of the traditional behaviorist “stimulus-response” scheme through the introduction of intermediate (intervening, mediator) variables marks the transition to neobehaviorism, which is associated with the names of Tolman and Hull. The basic formula of behaviorism is transformed into the formula “stimulus - plan, image - response” (S -n-o -R).

In accordance with this, stimuli began to be designated as independent variables, and reactions as dependent variables. Intermediate variables are those psychological education, which mediate the body's reactions to certain stimuli. The study of intervening variables is one of the main tasks of behavioral psychology.

The central problem of behaviorism is the problem of acquisition individual experience or the problem of learning (training) as the acquisition of various skills. The learning theories developed by behaviorism served as the basis for the development of specific methodological approaches to behavioral psychotherapy.

Learning. Learning is the process and result of acquiring individual experience, knowledge, skills and abilities. Learning acts as the main methodological principle and main task behavioral psychotherapy (as well as important factor therapeutic effect in other psychotherapeutic systems, in particular in group psychotherapy).

Central location These theories focus on the processes of classical and operant conditioning and model learning. Accordingly, there are three types of learning: S-type learning, R-type learning and social learning.

Classical conditioning. Classical conditioning is closely associated with the name of Pavlov, who made fundamental contributions to the theory of classical conditioning, which became the basis for the development of behavioral psychotherapy.

The basic scheme of the conditioned reflex is S - R, where S is the stimulus, R is the reaction (behavior). In the classical Pavlovian scheme, reactions occur only in response to the influence of some stimulus, an unconditioned or conditioned stimulus. The formation of a conditioned reflex occurs under conditions of: a) contiguity, coincidence in time of indifferent and unconditional times

irritants, with some advance of the indifferent stimulus, b) repetition, multiple combinations of indifferent and unconditioned stimuli.

The experimenter influences the body with a conditioned stimulus (bell) and reinforces it with an unconditioned stimulus (food), that is, the unconditioned stimulus is used to evoke unconditional reaction(secretion of saliva) in the presence of an initially neutral stimulus (bell). The result or product of learning according to this scheme is respondent behavior - behavior caused by a certain stimulus (S). Supplying reinforcements to in this case associated with the stimulus (S), therefore this type learning, during which a connection is formed between stimuli, is referred to as type S learning.

Operant conditioning. The theory of instrumental or operant conditioning is associated with the names of Thorndike and Skinner. Skinner is one of the most prominent representatives behaviorism, showed that the impact environment determines human behavior, he considers culture, the content of which is expressed in a certain set reinforcement complexes. With their help you can create and modify human behavior in the right direction. Behavior modification methods, which are used not only in psychotherapeutic practice, but also in the practice of, for example, educational influences, are based on this understanding.

According to the principle of operant conditioning, behavior is controlled by its outcome and consequences. In accordance with the operant conditioning scheme, the experimenter, observing behavior, records random occurrences of the desired, “correct” reaction and immediately reinforces it. Thus, the stimulus follows the behavioral response, using direct reinforcement through reward and punishment. The result of such learning is operant conditioning, or operant. This type of learning is referred to as Type R learning. Operant or instrumental behavior (R behavior) is behavior caused by reinforcement following the behavior.

It is necessary to pay attention to the relationship between such concepts as positive And negative reinforcement and punishment, distinguish between punishment and negative reinforcement. Positive or negative reinforcement strengthens behavior (therefore, sometimes simply the term “reinforcement” is used, suggesting that the purpose of the influence is to strengthen the reaction, regardless of whether the reinforcement is positive or negative), punishment weakens it.

Positive reinforcement is based on the presentation of stimuli (rewards) that enhance a behavioral response. Negative reinforcement involves strengthening behavior by removing negative stimuli.

Punishment is also divided into positive And negative: the first is based on depriving the individual of a positive stimulus, the second is based on the presentation of a negative stimulus. Thus, any reinforcement (both positive and negative) increases the frequency of a behavioral reaction, strengthens behavior, any punishment (both positive and negative), on the contrary, reduces the frequency of a behavioral reaction, weakens behavior.

Social learning. This type of learning is based on the idea that a person learns new behavior not only on the basis of his own, direct experience (as in classical and operant conditioning), but also on the basis of the experience of others, based on observation of other people, that is, through modeling processes . Therefore, this type of learning is also called modeling or learning from models. Learning from Models

involves learning through observation and imitation of social behavior patterns. This direction is associated primarily with the name American psychologist Bandura, a representative of the mediator approach (Bandura called his theory the mediator-stimulus associative theory).

From Bandura's point of view, complex social behavior formed through observation and imitation social models. Observing a model contributes to the development of new reactions in the observer, facilitates the implementation of previously acquired reactions, and also modifies existing behavior.

Bandura identifies three main regulatory systems functioning of the individual: 1) previous stimuli (in particular, the behavior of others, which is reinforced in a certain way); 2) feedback (mainly in the form of reinforcements for the consequences of behavior); 3) cognitive processes (a person represents external influences and the response to them symbolically in the form of “ internal model outside world"), providing stimulus and reinforcement control.

17. BEHAVIORAL DIRECTION IN PSYCHOTHERAPY. CONCEPT OF PATHOLOGY (CONCEPT OF NEUROSIS) .

Being psychological basis In behavioral psychotherapy, behaviorism defines the approach to the problem of health and illness. According to these views, health and illness are the result of what a person has learned and what has not been learned, and personality is the experience that a person has acquired throughout life.

The focus is not so much on the disease as on the symptom, which is understood as behavior, or more precisely, as a behavioral disorder. A neurotic symptom (neurotic behavior) is considered as maladaptive or pathological behavior resulting from incorrect learning. Behavioral disorders within behavioral guidelines

Definitions are acquired; they represent a learned incorrect reaction that does not provide the necessary level of adaptation.

This maladaptive reaction is formed in the process of “wrong” learning. An example of such “wrong” learning could be the interaction of parents with a child, to whom the parents pay attention and pick them up only when he does something wrong, for example, is capricious; or a child who experiences a clear lack of external manifestations of love, attention, warmth and care receives it in abundance when he gets sick. Thus, the child’s need for attention is fully satisfied only when he behaves “badly”, in other words, “bad”, maladaptive behavior is positively reinforced (a significant need is satisfied).

Representatives of cognitive behavioral approach focus on intervening variables (cognitive processes), emphasizing their role in the development of disorders. Thus, Beck believes that psychological problems emotional reactions And clinical symptoms arise due to distortions of reality based on erroneous premises and generalizations, there is a cognitive component between stimulus and response.

The person himself may view them as justified and reasonable, although others may often perceive them as inadequate. Automatic thoughts contain a greater distortion of reality than ordinary thinking and, as a rule, are poorly understood by a person, also underestimated.

Their impact on emotional condition. They do not provide adequate regulation of behavior, which leads to maladaptation.

Within the framework of this approach, an attempt is made to highlight the most typical, frequently occurring distortions or errors of thinking. Among them are filtering, polarization of assessments, excessive generalization or generalization, alarmism, personalization, erroneous perception of control, correctness, erroneous ideas about fairness, etc. It is emphasized that automatic thoughts are individual in nature, but they exist general thoughts for patients with the same diagnosis, that is, certain automated thoughts that underlie the respective disorders.

Ellis, like Beck, believed that between stimulus and response there is a cognitive component - a person’s belief system. Alice identifies two types of cognitions - descriptive and evaluative. Descriptive(descriptive) cognitions contain information about reality, information about what a person has perceived in the world around them (pure information about reality). Evaluative cognitions contain an attitude towards this reality (evaluative information about reality). Descriptive cognitions are related to evaluative ones, but connections between them can be varying degrees rigidity. Flexible connections between descriptive and evaluative

cognitions form rational system attitudes (beliefs), rigid - irrational. Irrational attitudes are rigid connections between descriptive and evaluative cognitions that are absolutist in nature (such as prescriptions, requirements, mandatory orders that have no exceptions). Irrational attitudes do not correspond to reality both in strength and quality of this prescription. If a person cannot implement irrational attitudes, then the consequence of this is long-term, inappropriate emotions that interfere with the normal functioning of the individual. From Ellis's point of view, emotional disorders are caused precisely by impairments in the cognitive sphere, irrational beliefs or irrational attitudes.

18. BEHAVIORAL DIRECTION IN PSYCHOTHERAPY. PSYCHOTHERAPY.

From a behavioral perspective, health and illness are the result of what a person has and has not learned. Maladaptive behavior and clinical symptoms are viewed as the result of a person not learning something or learning it incorrectly, as a learned maladaptive reaction that was formed as a result of incorrect learning.

In accordance with these ideas about normality and pathology, the main goal of clinical and psychological interventions within the framework of the behavioral approach is to retrain, replace non-adaptive forms behavior into adaptive, “correct”, standard, normative, and the task of behavioral psychotherapy as a therapeutic system itself is to reduce or eliminate the symptom.

In general, behavioral psychotherapy (behavior modification) is aimed at managing human behavior, retraining, reducing or eliminating symptoms and bringing behavior closer to certain adaptive forms of behavior - replacing fear, anxiety, restlessness with relaxation until the reduction or complete elimination of symptoms, which is achieved in the process of learning through the use of certain techniques. Learning within the framework of behavioral psychotherapy is carried out on the basis of the learning theories we have already discussed, formulated by behaviorism.

In behavioral psychotherapy, learning is carried out directly, being a purposeful, systematic process, conscious of both the psychotherapist and the patient.

The patient must learn and practice new alternative behaviors. The behavior of the psychotherapist in this case is also completely determined by the theoretical orientation: if the tasks of psychotherapy are training, then the role and position of the psychotherapist should correspond to the role and position of the teacher or technical instructor, and the relationship between the patient and the psychotherapist is of a teaching (educational, educational) nature and can be defined as a “teacher-student” relationship.

Psychotherapy is an open, systematic process directly controlled by the therapist. The psychotherapist and the patient draw up a treatment program with clear definition goals (establishing a specific behavioral reaction - a symptom that must be modified), explaining tasks, mechanisms, stages healing process, defining what the therapist will do and what the patient will do. After each psychotherapeutic session, the patient receives certain tasks,

and the psychotherapist monitors their implementation. The main function of the psychotherapist is to organize an effective learning process.

Within the framework of behavioral psychotherapy, three main types (or three groups of methods) can be distinguished, directly related to three types of learning:

3) a direction methodologically based on the paradigm of social learning.

Methods based on the classical Pavlovian paradigm, on classical conditioning, use the stimulus-response scheme and systematic desensitization or other symptom reduction techniques. An example of this methodological approach may serve as a method

classical systematic desensitization by Wolpe, aimed at reducing or completely eliminating a symptom by replacing it with relaxation.

Methods based on Skinner's operant paradigm, use the “response-stimuli” scheme and different kinds reinforcements An example of such a methodological approach is the so-called token system, some types of training.

Methods based on the social learning paradigm, use the “stimulus - intermediate variables - response” scheme. Various systems of directive psychotherapy are used here, the goal of which is to change numerous psychological parameters, considered as intermediate variables. Depending on which psychological processes are considered as mediators (attitudes, as, for example, in Ellis's rational-emotional psychotherapy, or cognition, as in Beck's cognitive psychotherapy), psychotherapeutic targets are determined. Thus, all existing methods of behavioral psychotherapy are directly related to certain theories of learning. In clinical practice, behaviorism is not only the theoretical basis of behavioral psychotherapy, but also had a significant influence on the development of such a direction as environmental therapy.

Lecture 6. Sociogenetic theories of development

The origins of the sociogenetic approach come from the tabula rasa theory that arose in the Middle Ages, formulated John Locke(1632-1704), according to which the human psyche at the moment of birth is a “blank slate”, but under the influence of external conditions, as well as upbringing, all the mental qualities characteristic of a person gradually arise in him. Locke put forward a number of ideas about organizing children's education on the principles of association, repetition, approval and punishment.

A representative of this trend was the French philosopher of the 18th century. Claude Adrian Helvetius(1715-1771), who believed that all people are born identical in their natural abilities and the inequality between them in the field of mental abilities and moral qualities is due only to unequal external environmental conditions and various educational influences.

Sociologizing ideas were consonant with the ideology that dominated the USSR until the mid-80s. According to this theory, with the help of targeted training and education, any qualities and behavioral properties can be formed in a child. In order to study a child, you need to study the structure of his environment.

The sociogenetic approach is associated with the behavioristic direction in psychology, according to which a person is what his environment makes of him. The main idea of ​​behaviorism is the identification of development with learning, with the child’s acquisition of new experience. American researchers took the idea of ​​I.P. Pavlov that adaptive activity is characteristic of all living things. The phenomenon of the conditioned reflex was perceived as some kind of elementary behavioral phenomenon. The idea of ​​combining stimulus and response, conditioned and unconditional stimuli came to the fore: the time parameter of this connection was highlighted. The main theories of behaviorism include:

1. The theory of classical and instrumental conditioning I.P. Pavlova

2. Associationistic concept of learning by D. Watson and E. Ghazri.

3. The theory of operant conditioning by E. Thorndike.

4. B. Skinner's theory. With the help of reinforcement, you can shape any type of behavior.

The very idea of ​​conducting a rigorous scientific experiment, created by I.P. Pavlov to study the digestive system, entered into American psychology. The first description of such an experiment by I. P. Pavlov was in 1897, and the first publication by J. Watson was in 1913. Already in the first experiments of I. P. Pavlov with the salivary gland brought out, the idea of ​​​​connecting dependent and independent variables was realized, which runs through all American studies of behavior and its genesis not only in animals, but also in humans. Such an experiment has all the advantages of real natural scientific research, which is still so highly valued in American psychology: objectivity, accuracy (control of all conditions), accessibility for measurement. It is known that I.P. Pavlov persistently rejected any attempts to explain the results of experiments with conditioned reflexes with references to subjective state animal.

American scientists perceived the phenomenon of the conditioned reflex as a kind of elementary phenomenon, accessible to analysis, something like a building block, from many of which a complex system of our behavior can be built. The genius of I.P. Pavlov, according to his American colleagues, was that he managed to show how simple elements can be isolated, analyzed and monitored in the laboratory. The development of the ideas of I.P. Pavlov in American psychology took several decades, and each time the researchers were confronted with one of the aspects of this simple, but at the same time not yet exhausted phenomenon in American psychology - the phenomenon of the conditioned reflex.

In the earliest studies of learning, the idea of ​​combining stimulus and response, conditioned and unconditioned stimuli, came to the fore: the time parameter of this connection was highlighted. This is how the associationist concept of learning arose (J. Watson, E. Ghazri). J. Watson started "his" scientific revolution, putting forward the slogan: “Stop studying what a person thinks; let’s study what a person does!”

1. Behaviorism

Watson John Brodes

(1878 – 1958). American psychologist, founder of behaviorism (from the English behavior - behavior), one of the most widespread theories in Western psychology of the 20th century.

In 1913 His article “Psychology from the Point of View of a Behaviorist” was published, assessed as a manifesto of a new direction. Following this, his books “Behavior: An Introduction to Comparative Psychology” (1914), “Behaviorism” (1925) appeared, in which for the first time in the history of psychology the postulate that the subject of this science is consciousness (its content, processes, functions, etc.).

Influenced by the philosophy of positivism, Watson argued that only what can be directly observed is real. He argued that behavior should be explained from the relationship between the directly observable effects of physical stimuli on the organism and its also directly observable responses (reactions). Hence Watson’s main formula, adopted by behaviorism: “stimulus-response” (S-R). It followed from this that psychology must eliminate the processes between stimulus and response - whether physiological (nervous) or mental - from its hypotheses and explanations.

Methodologists of behaviorism proceeded from the assumption that the formation of basic mental processes occurs during life. Lipsitt and Kaye (Lipsitt, Kaye, 1964) conducted experiments on the development of conditioned reflexes in 20 three-day-old infants. Ten infants were classified as experimental group, and for them the combination of unconditional (nipple) and conditioned stimuli (pure tone) was repeated 20 times. The researchers wanted to obtain the suckling response to the sound tone that a pacifier would naturally produce. After twenty combinations of stimuli, infants from the experimental group began to make sucking movements in response to the sound, while children from control group, who were not exposed to combinations of stimuli, did not show this response. This research shows that learning occurs from the earliest days of life. It also suggests that a behaviorist approach can provide insight into development and that through conditioning, researchers can study infants' ability to process sensory information long before they acquire language.

D. Watson proved the ideas of classical conditioning in his experiments on the formation of emotions. He experimentally demonstrated that it is possible to form a fear response to a neutral stimulus. In his experiments, a child was shown a rabbit, which he picked up and wanted to stroke, but at that moment received an electric shock. Naturally, the child scaredly threw the rabbit and began to cry. However, the next time he approached the animal again and received an electric shock. By the third or fourth time, for most children, the appearance of a rabbit, even in the distance, caused fear. After this negative emotion was consolidated, Watson tried once again to change the emotional attitude of the children, forming an interest and love for the rabbit. In this case, they began to show it to the child during a tasty meal. The presence of this important primary stimulus was an indispensable condition for the formation of a new reaction. At the first moment, the child stopped eating and began to cry, but since the rabbit did not approach him, remaining far away, at the end of the room, and tasty food (for example, chocolate or ice cream) was nearby, the child quickly calmed down and continued eating. After the child stopped reacting by crying to the appearance of a rabbit at the end of the room, the experimenter gradually moved the rabbit closer and closer to the child, while simultaneously adding tasty things to his plate. Gradually, the child stopped paying attention to the rabbit and, in the end, reacted calmly, even when it was located near his plate, took the rabbit in his arms and tried to feed him something tasty. Thus, Watson argued, our emotions are the result of our habits and can change dramatically depending on circumstances.

Watson's observations showed that if the formed fear reaction to a rabbit was not converted to a positive one, a similar feeling of fear subsequently arose in children when they saw other fur-covered objects. Based on this, he sought to prove that persistent affective complexes can be formed in people based on conditioned reflexes according to a given program. Moreover, he believed that the facts he discovered proved the possibility of forming a certain, strictly defined model of behavior in all people. He wrote: “Give me a hundred children of the same age, and after a certain time I will form them absolutely identical people, with the same tastes and behavior."

The principle of behavior control gained wide popularity in American psychology after the work of Watson. His merit is also that he expanded the sphere of the psyche to include the bodily actions of animals and humans. But he achieved this innovation at a high price, rejecting as a subject of science the enormous riches of the psyche, irreducible to externally observable behavior.

Edwin Ray Ghazri

(1886 – 1959). He was a professor of psychology at the University of Washington from 1914 until his retirement in 1956. His major work was The Psychology of Learning, published in 1935 and reprinted in new edition in 1952

He proposed a single law of learning, the law of contiguity, which he formulated as follows: “A combination of stimuli which accompanies a movement, when reappeared, tends to produce the same movement. Notice that there is nothing said here about “confirmatory waves,” or reinforcement, or states of satisfaction.” Another way to define the law of contiguity is that if you did something in a given situation, then the next time you find yourself in the same situation, you will strive to repeat your actions.

E. Ghazri explained why, despite the possible truth of the law of contiguity, the prediction of behavior will always be probabilistic. Although this principle, as just stated, is short and simple, it will not be understood without some explanation. The phrase “tends” is used here because behavior at any point in time depends on a large number of different conditions. Conflicting “tendencies” or incompatible “tendencies” are always present. The outcome of any stimulus or stimulus pattern cannot be predicted with absolute accuracy because other stimulus patterns exist. We can express this by saying that the behavior presented is caused by the entire situation. But in saying this, we cannot flatter ourselves that we have done more than find an explanation for the impossibility of predicting behavior. No one has yet described, and no one will ever describe, the entire stimulus situation, or observe any complete situation, so as to speak of it as a “cause,” or even as a pretext for misconceptions about a small part of behavior.

In a recent publication, E. Ghazri revised his law of contiguity to clarify: “What is noticed becomes the signal for what is done.” For Ghazri, this was a recognition of the enormous number of stimuli that an organism encounters at any given time, and the fact that it is apparently impossible to form associations with all of them. Rather, the organism responds selectively to only a small fraction of the stimuli encountered, and this is the fraction that is associated with any response caused by those stimuli. One can pay attention to the similarities between Ghazri’s way of thinking and the concept of “predominance of elements” by Thorndike, who also believed that organisms react selectively to various manifestations of the environment.

Edward Lee Thorndike

(1874–1949). American psychologist and educator. President of the American Psychological Association in 1912.

Conducted research studying animal behavior. They were aimed at getting out of the “problem box”. By this term E. Thorndike meant an experimental device in which experimental animals were placed. If they left the box, they received reinforcement of the reflex. The research results were displayed on certain graphs, which he called “learning curves.” Thus, the purpose of his research was to study the motor reactions of animals. Thanks to these experiments, E. Thorndike concluded that animals act by the method of “trial and error and random success.” These works led him to the theory of connectivism.

E. Thorndike concludes that the behavior of any living creature is determined by three components:

1) a situation that includes both external and internal processes that affect the individual,

2) reaction or internal processes occurring as a result of this impact;

3) a subtle connection between the situation and the reaction, i.e. association. In his experiments, Thorndike showed that intelligence as such and its activity can be studied without resorting to reason. He transferred the emphasis from establishing internal connections to establishing connections between the external situation and movements, which introduced new trends in associative psychology. In his theory, Thorndike combined mechanical determinism with biological, and then with biopsychic, significantly expanding the field of psychology, previously limited by limits consciousness.

Based on his research, Thorndike derived several laws of learning:

1. The law of exercise. There is a proportional relationship between the situation and the reaction to it with the frequency of their repetition).

2. The law of readiness. The condition of the subject (the feelings of hunger and thirst he experiences) is not indifferent to the development of new reactions. Changes in the body's readiness to conduct nerve impulses are associated with exercise.

3. Law of associative shift. When reacting to one specific stimulus out of several acting simultaneously, other stimuli that participated in this situation subsequently cause the same reaction. In other words, a neutral stimulus, associated by association with a significant one, also begins to cause desired behavior. Thorndike also identified additional conditions for the success of a child's learning - the ease of distinguishing between stimulus and response and awareness of the connection between them.

4. Law of effect. The last, fourth, law caused a lot of controversy, since it included a motivation factor (a purely psychological factor). The Law of Effect states that any action pleasure-inducing V certain situation, is associated with it and subsequently increases the likelihood of repeating this action in a similar situation, while displeasure (or discomfort) during an action associated with a certain situation leads to a decrease in the likelihood of committing this act in a similar situation. This implies that learning is also based on certain polar states within the organism. If the actions taken in a certain situation lead to successful results, then they can be called satisfying, otherwise they will be violating. Thorndike gives the concept of a successful result at the neuronal level. At successful action the neuronal system, when alerted, is actually functioning, not inactive.

E. Thorndike, B. Skinner. They identified development with learning.

Burres Frederick Skinner

(1904 – 1990). American psychologist, inventor and writer. He made a huge contribution to the development and promotion of behaviorism.

Skinner is best known for his theory of operant conditioning, and less so for his fiction and journalism in which he promoted the widespread use of behavior modification techniques (such as programmed training) to improve society and make people happy, as a form of social engineering. Continuing the experiments of D. Watson and E. Thorndike, B. Skinner designed the so-called “Skinner box”, which made it possible to accurately measure behavior and automatically supply reinforcement. The Skinner box, reminiscent of a rat or pigeon cage, has a metal pedal, which, when pressed, the animal receives a portion of food into the feeder. With this very simple device, Skinner was able to make systematic observations of the behavior of animals under different conditions of reinforcement. It turned out that the behavior of rats, pigeons, and sometimes people is quite predictable, since they follow certain laws of behavior, at least in this situation. In Skinner's experiments (as in Thorndike's experiments), food was usually the reinforcer.

A typical Skinner model usually includes following components: discriminated stimulus, individual response, and reinforcement. A discriminable stimulus usually signals to the individual that learning has begun. In Skinner's experiments, light and sound signals, as well as words, were used as discriminative stimuli. The response is the emergence of operant behavior. Skinner called his type of conditioning operant conditioning because the individual's response operates the mechanism of reinforcement. Finally, a reinforcing stimulus is given for an adequate response. Therefore, reinforcement increases the likelihood of subsequent operant behavior. Operant behavior can also be taught through avoidance conditioning, where reinforcement consists of ending exposure to an aversive stimulus. For example, bright light can be turned off, a loud sound can be muted, an angry parent can be calmed down. Thus, in operant conditioning, an individual learns a response when the reinforcement consists of stopping exposure to an unpleasant stimulus.

Skinner developed a method of conditioning behavior through successive approximations, which forms the basis of operant conditioning. This method consists in the fact that the entire path from the initial behavior (even before the start of training) to the final reaction that the researcher seeks to develop in the animal is divided into several stages. In the future, all that remains is to consistently and systematically reinforce each of these stages and thus lead the animal to the desired form of behavior. With this method of learning, the animal is rewarded for every action that brings it closer to the final goal, and it gradually develops the desired behavior.

According to Skinner and other behaviorists, this is how most human behavior is developed. From Skinner's point of view one can explain very quick learning child's first words (without, however, extending this concept to language acquisition as a whole). At first, when the child is just beginning to utter some articulate sounds, the babbling “me-me-me” already causes delight among those around him, and especially the happy mother, who already thinks that the child is calling her. However, soon the parents' enthusiasm for such sounds cools down until the baby, to everyone's joy, utters “mo ... mo.” Then these sounds cease to be reinforced for the newborn until a relatively articulate “mo-mo” appears. In turn, this word, for the same reasons, will soon be replaced by the combination “moma”, and, finally, the child will clearly pronounce his first word - “mom”. All other sounds will be perceived by others only as “baby talk” in the literal sense of the word, and they will gradually disappear from the “lexicon” of the newborn. Thus, as a result of selective reinforcement from family members, the infant discards those incorrect responses for which he does not receive social reinforcement, and retains only those that are closest to the expected result.

Operant reactions in Skinner's sense should be distinguished from automatic, purely reflex reactions associated with unconditioned and conditioned reflexes. An operant response is an action that is voluntary and purposeful. However, Skinner defines goal-directedness in terms of feedback (i.e., influencing behavior by its consequences) rather than in terms of goals, intentions, or other internal states- mental or physiological. In his opinion, the use of these "internal variables" in psychology involves the introduction of dubious assumptions that add nothing to the empirical laws that relate observed behavior to observable environmental influences. It is these laws that are the real means of predicting and controlling the behavior of humans and animals. Skinner emphasized that “the objection to internal states is not that they do not exist, but that they are irrelevant for functional analysis.” In this analysis, the probability of an operator response appears as a function external influences- both past and present.

In the field of education, Skinner put forward the concept of programmed learning. According to him, such training can free the student and teacher from the boring process of simple knowledge transfer: the student will gradually advance in mastering a particular topic at his own rhythm and in small steps, each of which is reinforced; These steps constitute the process of successive approximation (Skinner, 1969). However, it was very soon discovered that such training quickly reaches its “ceiling”, and this is due precisely to the fact that only minimal effort is required from the student and therefore reinforcement soon becomes ineffective. As a result, the student quickly becomes bored with such training. In addition, personal contact with the teacher seems to be necessary to constantly maintain student motivation and orderly transfer of knowledge. All of this can perhaps be explained by the principles underlying social learning, and in particular observational learning.

Introduction

Relevance of the research topic. At the beginning of the 21st century, the psychology of behaviorism is gaining more and more wide use in Russia. The situation of transition from Soviet system To western path development caused in most people enormous social and ideological upheavals associated with the deprivation of a sense of belonging to a powerful state, the loss of a consolidating and elevating social idea, devaluation moral values etc.

The focus of behaviorism is precisely the problem of a person faced with the need to independently, in confusion and doubt, determine his identity and the values ​​for which he lives. Developing one's own individuality becomes both a task and a way to cope with the new social reality.

The general situation in psychology, characterized by the movement from the natural science paradigm to the humanities, from the explanatory approach to the understanding, from the study of man as an isolated object to the consideration of the inextricable connection between man and the world, also contributes to the development and spread of behaviorism and the desire for the active exchange of ideas with it on the part of others psychological directions.

The purpose of this work is to substantiate the question of the features of the behavioristic concept of learning.

Behavioral concept of learning

B. Skinner's theory of operant conditioning

Translated from English, behaviorism means “behavior.” It was this that became the central focus of attention in this direction.

Behaviorism recognized the existence of complex behavior, which was explained by combinations of chains of stimuli and reactions. Actually, their study was also part of the main tasks of the current.

Learning (training, teaching) is the process of a subject acquiring new ways of carrying out behavior and activities, their fixation and/or modification. Stolyarenko L.D. Basics of psychology. - Rostov-on-Don: Phoenix, 2006. - P. 68-72. Change psychological structures, which occurs as a result of this process, provides the opportunity for further improvement of activities.

For the first time, the laws of learning established experimental methods, were established within the framework of behaviorism. The theory developed by B.F. Skinner (1904-1990), called the theory of operant conditioning.

Skinner's goal was to explain the mechanisms of learning in humans and animals (rats and pigeons) based on a limited set of basic principles. The main idea was to manipulate the environment, control it, while obtaining orderly changes. He said: “Control the conditions, the environment, and order will be revealed to you.” Skinner B. Operant behavior // History of foreign psychology: Texts. M: AsT, 2006. P. 60-82 4.

The training procedure is called “operant conditioning.”

It consisted in the experimenter's desire to establish a connection between stimulus (S) and response (R) through reinforcement - reward or punishment. In the stimulus-response (S-R) circuit, the key for Skinner was the response. The reactions were considered from the point of view of simplicity and complexity. Simple - salivation, withdrawal of the hand; complex - solution mathematical problem, aggressive behavior.

Operant conditioning is the process by which the characteristics of a response are determined by the consequences of that response. The implementation of operant behavior is inherent in biological nature body. Skinner viewed learning as a process.

Reinforcement is one of the principles of conditioning. Already from infancy, according to Skinner, people’s behavior can be regulated with the help of reinforcing stimuli Skinner B. Operant behavior // History of foreign psychology: Texts. M. AsT, 2006. S, 60-82 5. There are two different types reinforcements Some, such as food or pain relief, are called primary reinforcers because... they have natural reinforcing powers. Other reinforcing stimuli (smile, adult attention, approval, praise) are conditioned reinforcers. They become such as a result of frequent combination with primary reinforcers.

Operant conditioning relies mainly on positive reinforcement, i.e. to such consequences of reactions that support or enhance them, for example, food, monetary reward, praise. However, Skinner emphasizes the importance of negative reinforcement, which leads to response extinction. Such reinforcing stimuli can be physical punishment, moral influence, psychological pressure.

In addition to reinforcement, the principle of conditioning is its immediacy. It was found that in initial stage experiment, you can bring the reaction to highest level only if you reinforce it immediately. Otherwise, the reaction that has begun to form will quickly fade away.

With operant conditioning, as well as with respondent conditioning, generalization of stimuli is observed. Generalization is an associative connection of a reaction with stimuli that has arisen during the process of conditioning, similar to the initial development of a conditioned reflex. Examples of generalization are: fear of all dogs, which was formed as a result of an attack by one dog, a positive reaction of a child (smiling, saying the words “dad” when in contact with men similar to his father, moving towards a meeting, etc.)

Formation of a reaction is very difficult process. The reaction does not occur immediately and suddenly; it takes shape gradually, as a series of reinforcements are implemented. Serial reinforcement is the development of complex behaviors through reinforcement of actions that gradually become more similar to the final form of behavior that was intended to be formed. Continuous behavior is formed in the process of reinforcement of individual elements of behavior, which together form complex actions.

The following reinforcement modes were identified: continuous reinforcement - presentation of reinforcement every time the subject gives the desired response; intermittent or partial reinforcement. For more strict classification Two parameters were identified for reinforcement regimes: temporary reinforcement and proportional reinforcement. In the first case, they reinforce only when the period during which it is necessary to perform the corresponding activity has expired, in the second: they reinforce for the amount of work (number of actions) that must be performed.

Based on two parameters, four modes of reinforcement were described: Watstone J. Behavior as a subject of psychology (behaviorism and neobehaviorism) // a textbook on the history of psychology / Ed. P.Ya.Galperina, A.N. Zhdan. - M.: Moscow State University Publishing House, 1980. - P.34-44. 6

Constant ratio reinforcement schedule. Reinforcement is carried out in accordance with the established volume of reactions. An example of such a regime could be payment for a certain, constant amount of work.

Constant interval reinforcement schedule. Reinforcement is given only when a firmly established, fixed time interval has expired. For example, monthly, weekly, hourly payment, rest after a strictly established time of physical or mental work.

Variable ratio reinforcement schedule. In this mode, the body is reinforced based on an average predetermined number of reactions.

Variable interval reinforcement schedule. The individual receives reinforcement after an indefinite interval has passed.

Skinner talked about the individuality of reinforcements, the variability in the development of a particular skill in different people, as well as in different animals. Moreover, the reinforcement itself is unique in nature, because it is impossible to say with certainty that this person or an animal, it can act as a reinforcer.

As the child develops, his responses are learned and remain controlled by environmental reinforcers. Reinforcing influences include food, praise, emotional support, etc. He believes that speech acquisition occurs according to the general laws of operant conditioning. The child receives reinforcement when pronouncing certain sounds. Reinforcement is not food and water, but the approval and support of adults.

From the point of view of learning psychology, there is no need to look for an explanation of the symptoms of the disease in hidden underlying reasons. Pathology, according to behaviorism, is not a disease, but either (1) the result of an unlearned response, or (2) a learned maladaptive response.

Behavior change is also based on the principles of operant conditioning, on a system of behavior modification and associated reinforcements.

Changes in behavior can occur as a result of self-control. Self-control includes two interdependent reactions: Ufimtseva O.V. Behaviorism. - M.: Nauka, 2008. P.178 7

A control response that influences the environment by changing the likelihood of secondary reactions occurring ("withdrawing" to avoid expressing "anger"; removing food to discourage overeating).

A controlling reaction aimed at the presence of stimuli in the situation that can make the desired behavior more likely (the presence of a table for the educational process).

Behavior change can also occur as a result of behavioral counseling. Much of this type of counseling is based on learning principles.

Advantages:

The desire for rigorous testing of hypotheses, experimentation, and control of additional variables.

Recognition of the role of situational variables, environmental parameters and their systematic study.

The pragmatic approach to therapy allowed the creation of important procedures for behavior change.

Flaws:

Reductionism is the reduction of principles of behavior obtained from animals to the analysis of human behavior.

Low external validity is caused by the behavior of experiments in laboratory conditions, the results of which are difficult to transfer to natural conditions.

Ignoring cognitive processes when analyzing S-R connections.

There is a big gap between theory and practice.

Behavioral theory does not produce consistent results.