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