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However, many learning theories were developed in the past century and a half. It is

               important to note that many of these theories developed simultaneously, or
               influenced each other, and so should not be understood as being distinct

               movements.


               Behaviourism

               Behaviourism is a theory arising from psychology
               that focuses on observable behaviour. The

               behaviourist relies on responses as evidence of
               what is happening in mind. This means that a state

               of mind, like beliefs, desires or consciousness, is

               considered irrelevant or non-existent, especially if
               there is no visible behaviour associated with that

               mental state.


               Ivan Pavlov (1849-1963) was one of the early              Figure 8 Ivan Pavlov
                                                                         (http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_pri
               behaviourists, and his famous experiment with his         zes/)
               salivating dogs showed that behaviour can be seen

               as a response to a stimulus. Pavlov viewed the reaction of his salivating dogs to the
               bell that was rung at feeding time as a type of learning – or conditioning. The dog

               had learned that the signal meant food (McLeod, 2018). Therefore, learning happens

               through repetition.
                                                   B.F. Skinner (1904-1990) followed in Pavlov’s

                                                   footsteps, but his view of human behaviour was
                                                   more complicated. For Skinner, the best way to

                                                   look at human behaviour was through the lens of
                                                   action and consequence, i.e. operant conditioning.

                                                   Skinner, through a series of experiments using

                                                   mice, found that behaviour that is rewarded was
                                                   reinforced, and a behaviour that was not reinforced

                                                   would diminish(McLeod, 2018).

               Figure 9 B.F. Skinner
               (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:B.F
               ._Skinner.jpg)


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