Theories of Learning, Motivation, and Achievement

1. TOPIC 4 LEARNING THEORIES, MOTIVATION AND HUMAN ACHIEVEMENT zarinah- FEM 4101

2. LEARNING THEORIES • Learning theory: belief that behavior could be better explained by principles of learning than by instinct • John B. Watson (1878-1952) (School of Behaviorism) • Concluded that there were only three innate emotional reactions: fear, rage, and love. • Clark Hull (1884-1952) (Drive theory) • Energy for behavior is the result of drives; behavior is caused by the multiplicative effect of drives times habit (Behavior = Drives x Habits) • B. F. Skinner (1904-1990) (Reinforcement Theory) • Behavior can be learned even if there is no biological drive reduction • Behavior modification: altering behavior based on the systematic applications of rewards • Social Learning Theories: Many behaviors (habits) can be acquired in the absence of rewards zarinah- FEM 4101

3. REWARD • Rewards as: • Reinforcers for learning new behaviors • Incentive stimuli that motivate approach behaviors zarinah- FEM 4101

4. REWARD • A reward is something given in exchange for something such as money, trophy, medal or any things wonderful. • A process that reinforces behavior to increase in intensity. • The functions of rewards are based directly on the modification of behavior and less directly on the physical. zarinah- FEM 4101

5. INCENTIVE • Incentive is any factor (financial or non-financial) that provides a motive for a particular course of action, or counts as a reason for preferring one choice to the alternatives • Incentive occur before an action or behavior. zarinah- FEM 4101

6. PUNISHMENT • Punishment is the practice of imposing something unpleasant or response to an unwanted behavior • Punishment is the reduction of a behavior via a stimulus applied ("positive punishment") or removed (“negative punishment") zarinah- FEM 4101

7. Reward as Reinforces • Skinner defined a reinforcer as any stimulus following a behavior that increases the probability that the behavior will occur again. • A punisher is any stimulus following a behavior that decreases the probability that the behavior will occur again. • Reinforcers are desirable outcomes of behavior, and punishers are aversive outcomes of behavior. zarinah- FEM 4101

8. Reward as Reinforces • Reinforcers are most effective if given immediately after a response and are progressively less effective with longer delays. • The delay between a response and a reinforcer can be bridged by a secondary reinforcer, a stimulus that gets its reinforcing power by previous association with some reinforcer. zarinah- FEM 4101

9. Maintaining Behavior: Schedules of Reinforcement • A schedule of reinforcement is some rule for when to deliver reinforcers in relation to responses • Schedules can be response-based or time-based. zarinah- FEM 4101

10. Maintaining Behavior: Schedules of Reinforcement • Response-based: Delivering a reinforcer after every tenth response (a fixed ratio schedule) • Time-based: Reinforcing the first response after some minimum amount of time has passed since the last reinforcement (afixed interval schedule). zarinah- FEM 4101

11. THEORIES OF REINFORCERS • Response Theories • Motivational Theories • Stimulus Theories zarinah- FEM 4101

12. Response Theories • Response Theories: the effective rewarding events are the responses made, not the subsequent stimuli • Functional analysis • The Premark principle • Elicitation theories • The Glickman-Schiff biological theory zarinah- FEM 4101

13. Response Theories • Functional analysis • Reinforces functionally: Any stimulus following a response that increases the probability of that response’s recurring is a reinforcer (Skinner, 1938) • It is difficult to say in advance what will be a good reinforcer for a given person in a given situation • Tried and True stimuli sometimes fail to modify human behavior in the way we expect them to do. zarinah- FEM 4101

14. Response Theories • The Premark principle • A more systematic functional analysis (Premark, 1959). • Any Response A will reinforce any other Response B, if A has a higher response rate than B • Experiment: Operating a candy machine or pinball machine • getting candy reinforced playing pinball – eaters • playing pinball reinforced getting candy - manipulators zarinah- FEM 4101

15. Response Theories • Elicitation Theories (Denny & Adelman) • Requirement for reinforcement: A response be repeatedly elicited by some stimulus. • Example: • Animal gets food following lever pressing Lever Pressing  Running to Food  Response (Eating Food) zarinah- FEM 4101

16. Response Theories • The Glickman-Schiff biological theory (Glickman & Schift, 1967) • A stimulus would be reinforcing if it just activated the neural systems underlying responses even if an overt response did not occur • Example: Animals will normally eat if the lateral hypothalamus is stimulated and food is available zarinah- FEM 4101

17. Motivational Theories • Motivational Theories: Emphasize increases or decreases of drive or arousal as reinforcing • Drive reduction theory • Evidence for drive reduction • Evidence against drive reduction • Arousal theory zarinah- FEM 4101

18. Motivational Theories • Drive reduction theory • Directly ties reinforcement to motivation by saying that drive reduction is a necessary condition for reinforcement (Hull, 1943) • Miller (1951a,1959) argued that any strong stimulus has drive properties, but not all need states produce strong stimuli. • e.g: milk drunk by a hungry rat was a better reinfocer in a T-maze than milk tubed directly into the stomach zarinah- FEM 4101

19. Motivational Theories • Evidence for drive reduction • Drive-reduction theory is supported by research on pain reduction, fear and reward-by-fistula zarinah- FEM 4101

20. Motivational Theories • Evidence against drive reduction • Suggests that drive reduction may be a sufficient condition for reinforcement but not that drive reduction is the only or necessary condition. zarinah- FEM 4101

21. Motivational Theories • Arousal theory • Either increases or decreases in internal arousal can be reinforcing as long as they lead to a more optimal level of arousal zarinah- FEM 4101

22. STIMULUS THEORIES • Stimulus theories: Stimuli that produce positive emotion or provide information are reinforcing • Hedonic reinforcers • Sex and brain stimulation • Stimulus change and information zarinah- FEM 4101

23. STIMULUS THEORIES • Hedonic reinforcers • Animals that are not under any known dietary deficiency and that never have been deprived of food or water will press levers or run through mazes for sweet-tasting substances (e.g.,Young, 1959 zarinah- FEM 4101

24. STIMULUS THEORIES • Sex and brain stimulation • Sexual arousal appears to be very reinforcing. • Electrical stimulation of the brain produces excitement in animals and highly reinforcing zarinah- FEM 4101

25. STIMULUS THEORIES • Stimulus change and information • 2 explanations that have been proposed to account for alternation behavior • Response inhibition theory: the animal tends not to repeat the same response • Stimulation satiation theory: the animal tends not to go to the same stimulus. zarinah- FEM 4101

26. REWARD AS INCENTIVES • Concept of incentive: Rewards do not necessarily affect specific responses • Experiments: Shows that changes in incentive value, increasing or decreasing, quickly produce appropriate changes in performance even though not associated with particular response zarinah- FEM 4101

27. REWARD AS INCENTIVES • Human incentives are also related to fantasy. • Klinger: Proposed that we have commitment to goals (incentives) and this commitment is reflected in our current concerns that persist over time • Current concerns are shown in fantasy, dream and thougths. zarinah- FEM 4101

28. LOCUS OF CONTROL • Locus of Control is considered to be an important aspect of personality. • Locus of Control refers to an individual's perception about the underlying main causes of events in his/her life. zarinah- FEM 4101

29. LOCUS OF CONTROL • A locus of control orientation is a belief about whether the outcomes of our actions are contingent on what we do (internal control orientation) or on events outside our personal control (external control orientation)." (Zimbardo, 1985, p. 275) zarinah- FEM 4101

30. LOCUS OF CONTROL Locus of control is conceptualised as referring to a unidimensional continuum, ranging from external to internal: zarinah- FEM 4101

31. Self-concept • Self-concept as "the perception(s) one has of oneself in terms of personal attributes and the various roles which are played or fulfilled by the individual." (Beane & Lipka, 1984) • They further noted that self-concept represents the "description an individual attaches to himself or herself... in terms of roles and attributes." zarinah- FEM 4101

32. Self-concept • Self concept • determines the goals we set • how we evaluate progress toward those goals • the impact of success and failure on our future goal-directed behavior zarinah- FEM 4101

33. 1. To provide information 2. To provide context Functions of Self-concept 3. To provide integration zarinah- FEM 4101

34. Functions of Self-Concept • To provide information • Provides information that will enable us to make judgments about we can or cannot do. • Individuals whose self-concept underestimates their skills and talents could find it difficult and even impossible to develop aspirations that might motivate them to set difficult goals zarinah- FEM 4101

35. Functions of Self-Concept 2. To provide context • Humans are inclined to view feedback regarding their behavior in the context of their enduring aspirations and goals • Example: Receiving a grade of B might mean very little for someone whose only wish to graduate but a great deal for someone who wants to be admitted to medical school zarinah- FEM 4101

36. Functions of Self-Concept • To provide integration • The self-concept is a storehouse of information about the self and provides the global integration of that information • From the integration of information comes our sense of identity zarinah- FEM 4101

37. SELF-EFFICACY • Self-efficacy is defined as a person’s belief in his or her capability to successfully perform a particular task (Bandura, 1997) • Together with the goals that people set, self-efficacy is one on the most powerful motivational predictors of how well a person will perform at almost any endeavour. zarinah- FEM 4101

38. SELF-EFFICACY • A person’s self-efficacy is a strong determinant of their effort, persistence, strategizing, as well as their subsequent training and job performance. • Self-efficacy is also a much stronger predictor of how effectively people will perform a given task than either their self-confidence or their self-esteem. zarinah- FEM 4101

39. THE SELF-REGULATION OF BEHAVIOR • Self-regulation • The ability to make us of knowledge we have about that lawfulness of human behavior and use that knowledge to achieve goals that we think are in our best interest or simply goals that will make us happy zarinah- FEM 4101

40. The Self-regulation of Behavior • Self regulation involves 3 processes • Self-observation (self-monitoring) • Self-evaluation (self-judgment) • Self-reaction (self-incentive) zarinah- FEM 4101

41. Self-observation (self-monitoring) • Before we can change a behavior, we need to become aware of it • This involves monitoring our behavior. • The more systematically we monitor our behavior, the more quickly we will become aware of what we are doing. • Example: Improving our social skills zarinah- FEM 4101

42. Self-evaluation (self-judgment) • The next step is to decide if what we are doing is congruent with what we want or our personal standards. • Personal standards are developed from information that we gain from significant others. • Social cognitive theory: Most of us possess considerable knowledge about the best course of action to achieve a certain outcome but not to have a clear idea of what we are presently doing. zarinah- FEM 4101

43. Self-reaction (self-incentive) • Self-judgments are typically accompanied by affective reactions. • When we succeed or do well, we experience pleasure or satisfaction, • If fail or perform poorly  a negative mood or dissatisfaction • These self-reactions lead us to set higher goals or to abandon goal zarinah- FEM 4101