Theories of Learning
Thomas G. Bowers, Ph.D.Penn State Harrisburg2001
Learning Theory
• Aim is to understand the principles involved in learning and the acquisition of behavior
• Research domain is extensive• Encourage, for this class, adopting a behavioral
point of view– Does not exclude aspects such as thinking,
imagining or feeling
Learning Theory
• Effort will be devoted to understanding behavior, as well as cognition– Memory– Rule-governed behavior– Metaphor – Language– Disorders of cognition
Learning
• What is learning?– Kimble – “A relatively permanent change in behavior
resulting from experience”– General inadequacies in this definition
Basic Procedures to Understand Behavior
• 1. Simplest: Observe behavior• 2. Present stimuli• 3. Arrange for consequences
– Reinforcement– Punishment
• 4. Stimulus control• 5. Establishing operations
Some Early Examples
• Kohler – insight experiments with Sultan the chimp– “Thought experiments”– Chimp managed to solve the problem of the banana – In a single trial, without any intervention
Some Early Examples
• Tinbergen – Varied stimulus qualities and measured effects on pecking behavior Tinbergen noted stimulus tends to elicit response, described as releasers – Fixed Action Patterns (FAP)– Could be complex behaviors, tended to be important
to the survival or continuation of the organism
Some Early Examples
• Thorndike – cat puzzle box– Influence of consequences– Reinforcing consequences maintain behavior or
responding, while punishing consequences decease or suppress the behavior
Some Early Examples
• Pavlov and his classical studies• Pfungst (1911) “Clever Hans”
– Noted discriminative functions of stimulus material
Some Early Examples
• Skinner described the discriminative function of some stimulus material
Law of Effect
• Random variations in behavior• Those with pleasurable consequences are
stamped in while those with noxious consequences are stamped out
• Hedonic assumptions• Instrumental or operant conditioning
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