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"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”
– Nelson Mandela

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Behaviorism

Behaviorism

Q Please answer 5 out of the 6 questions below: 1. Define learning and behavior according to learning theories (i.e., behaviorism). 2. Define and illustrate classical conditioning 3. Define operant conditioning, including reinforcement and punishment. Provide an illustration of each. 4. Explain Chomsky's argument that Skinner's notions of stimulus and reinforcer cannot be objectively defined, that is, a stimulus and a reinforcer always depend on subjective (i.e., mental) processes. 5. Define latent learning and explain how Tolman's experiment demonstrated that learning takes place in the absence of rewards. In others, explain how Tolman's research disavowed (went against and disproved) the notion that learning must be motivated by extrinsic factors (i.e., external rewards) and instead can be intrinsically motivated. 6. Explain Rom Harre's critique of Skinner's book 'Walden two' as authoritarian. What's the learning paradox in Skinner's approach? (See 'The Behaviorists pg. 18).

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According to the article, classical conditioning "is a learning process" that occurs than two stimuli are paired together repeatedly. At first, the first stimulus evokes a natural response by the subject while the second does not. However, after enough pairings, the second becomes conditioned and causes the response to happen. A Russian Scientist named Ivan Pavlov discovered classical conditioning by accident. He kept dogs in a lab. Therefore, he could study their digestive processes (dogs naturally salivate to food). He surgically implanted special devices in the dog's mouths that he could measure their saliva. However, experiment after experiment, Pavlov noticed that the dogs began to salivate before the food was even presented. They salivated to the sound of the researcher's footsteps or even just to the bowl itself.