Theories of Learning Thomas G. Bowers, Ph.D. Penn State Harrisburg 2001.
Transcript of Theories of Learning Thomas G. Bowers, Ph.D. Penn State Harrisburg 2001.
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