ABSTRACT
Early theories of how we learn tended to emphasise changed behaviour as evidence of learning having taken place. To achieve this change, it was assumed that conditioning, a system of rewards and punishments, was fundamental to the process of learning. Furthermore, conditioning requires reinforcement to motivate the learned behaviour. In the classic behavioural laboratory model, animals were often used to demonstrate this process of learning. For example, if an animal presses a lever that produces food, the reinforcement of getting food is likely to encourage the animal to repeat the behaviour. In education, praise or good grades can reinforce acceptable behaviour in a student. This theory of learning stresses the role of the teacher in devising the patterns of conditioning and reinforcement. The student has little involvement in developing the learning programme.
