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2.2 Learning Theories 37

Extended reading
A Skinner box, also known as operant conditioning chamber, is an enclosed
apparatus that contains a bar or key that an animal can press or manipulate in
order to obtain food or water as a type of reinforcement. Developed by
B. F. Skinner, this box also had a device that recorded each response provided
by the animal as well as the unique schedule of reinforcement that the animal
was assigned.

When put into the box, the cat would show evident signs of discomfort and impulse
to escape from confinement. It tries to squeeze through any opening; it claws and
bites at the wire; it thrusts its paws out through any opening and claws at everything
it reaches…. It does not pay very much attention to the food outside but seems
simply to strive instinctively to escape from confinement. The cat that is clawing all
over the box in her impulsive struggle will probably claw the string or loop or button
so as to open the door. And gradually all the other unsuccessful impulses will be
stamped out and the particular impulse leading to the successful act will be stamped
in by the resulting pleasure, until, after many trials, the cat will, when put in the box,
immediately claw the button or loop in a definite way (Thorndike, 1898, p. 13).

2.2.2 Cognitivism

Cognitivism psychology was initiated in the late 1950s and became dominant in the
late 1970s and the early 1980s. The main representatives include Jean Piaget
(1896–1980), Jerome S. Bruner (1915–2016), David P. Ausubel (1918–2008), and
Robert M. Gagné (1916–2002), among others.
Cognitivism arose within psychology as behaviorism was proved to be insuffi-
cient to explain complex human learning, such as language learning. In order to
explain some human behaviors, psychologists turned to investigate the information
processing in the mind which is considered as unobservable black box by behav-
iorists (Spector, 2016). People are no longer viewed as collections of responses to
external stimuli as understood by behaviorists, but as information processors.
Main ideas
In cognitive psychology, learning is conceptualized as the acquisition of knowl-
edge: The learner is an information processor who absorbs information, undertakes
cognitive operations on it, and stocks it in memory.
According to cognitivism, learning is not a stimulus–response sequence, but the
formation of cognitive structures. The learners do not simply receive stimuli
mechanically and react passively, but, rather, learners process stimuli and determine
appropriate responses.
Cognitivism has its roots in cognitive psychology and information processing
theory. The best way to introduce cognitivism is through Anderson’s(1983)