An Introduction to Theories of Learning

Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Preface
Part One Introduction to Learning
	Chapter 1 What is Learning?
		Must Learning Result in a Behavioral Change?
			How Permanent Is Relatively Permanent?
			Learning and Performance
			Why Do We Refer to Practice or Experience?
			Does Learning Result from a Specific Kind of Experience?
			A Modified Definition of Learning
		Are There Different Kinds of Learning?
			Classical Conditioning
			Instrumental Conditioning
		Learning and Survival
		Why Study Learning?
	Chapter 2 Approaches to the Study of Learning
		The Systematic Study of Learning
			What Is Science?
			Aspects of Theory
			From Research to Theory
			Theories as Tools
			The Principle of Parsimony
		The Learning Experiment
			Arbitrary Decisions in Setting Up a Learning Experiment
		The Use of Models
		Learning in the Laboratory versus Naturalistic Observation
		Kuhn’s Views of How Sciences Change
		Popper’s View of Science
			Kuhn versus Popper
	Chapter 3 Early Notions about Learning
		Epistemology and Learning Theory
		Plato
			Reminiscence Theory of Knowledge
		Aristotle
		The Beginning of Modern Psychology
		Other Historical Influences on Learning Theory
		Psychology’s Early Schools
			Voluntarism
			Structuralism
			Functionalism
			Behaviorism
		Summary and Overview
Part Two Predominantly Functionalistic Theories
	Chapter 4 Edward Lee Thorndike
		Animal Research Before Thorndike
		Major Theoretical Concepts
			Connectionism
			Selecting and Connecting
			Learning Is Incremental, Not Insightful
			Learning Is Not Mediated by Ideas
			All Mammals Learn in the Same Manner
		Thorndike Before 1930
			The Law of Readiness
			The Law of Exercise
			The Law of Effect: Thorndike on Reinforcement
		Secondary Concepts Before 1930
			Multiple Response
			Set or Attitude
			Prepotency of Elements
			Response by Analogy
			Associative Shifting
		Thorndike After 1930
			Revised Law of Exercise
			Revised Law of Effect
			Belongingness
			Spread of Effect
		Thorndike on Education
		Evaluation of Thorndike’s Theory
			Contributions
			Criticisms
	Chapter 5 Burrhus Frederic Skinner
		Major Theoretical Concepts
			Radical Behaviorism
			Respondent and Operant Behavior
			Type S and Type R Conditioning
			Skinner on Reinforcement
			The Skinner Box
			The Cumulative Recording
			Conditioning the Lever-Pressing Response
			Shaping
			Extinction
			Spontaneous Recovery
			Superstitious Behavior
			Discriminative Operant
			Secondary Reinforcement
			Generalized Reinforcers
			Chaining
			Positive and Negative Reinforcers
			Punishment
			Alternatives to Punishment
			Comparison of Skinner and Thorndike
			Schedules of Reinforcement
			Skinner’s Attitude toward Learning Theory
		The Relativity of Reinforcement
			David Premack
			Revisions of the Premack Principle
			William Timberlake
		Skinner on Education
		Skinner’s Legacy: PSI, CBI, and Online Learning
			Personalized Systems of Instruction
			Computer-Based Instruction
		Evaluation of Skinner’s Theory
			Contributions
			Criticisms
	Chapter 6 Clark Leonard Hull
		Hull’s Approach to Theorizing
		Major Theoretical Concepts
		Major Differences Between Hull’s 1943 and 1952 Theories
			Incentive Motivation (K)
			Stimulus-Intensity Dynamism
			Change from Drive Reduction to Drive Stimulus Reduction
			Fractional Antedating Goal Response
			The Habit Family Hierarchy
			Hull’s Final System Summarized
		Hull on Education
		Evaluation of Hull’s Theory
			Contributions
			Criticisms
		Kenneth W. Spence
		Abram Amsel
		Neal E. Miller, Visceral Conditioning and Biofeedback
Part Three Predominantly Associationistic Theories
	Chapter 7 Ivan Petrovich Pavlov
		Empirical Observations
			Development of a Conditioned Reflex: Pavlov on Reinforcement
			Experimental Extinction
			Spontaneous Recovery
			Higher-Order Conditioning
			Generalization
			Discrimination
			Relationship between the CS and the US
		Major Theoretical Concepts
			Excitation and Inhibition
			The Dynamic Stereotype
			Irradiation and Concentration
			Excitatory and Inhibitory Conditioning
			Summary of Pavlov’s Views on Brain Functioning
			First and Second Signal Systems
		A Comparison Between Classical and Instrumental Conditioning
		Recent Research on Classical Conditioning
			The Rescorla-Wagner Theory of Classical Conditioning
			Contingency Not Contiguity
		Learned Helplessness
		Other Theoretical Accounts of Classical Conditioning
		Learned Irrelevance, Latent Inhibition, and Superconditioning
		Conditioned Taste Aversion: The Garcia Effect
		John B. Watson’s Experiment with Little Albert
		Further Applications of Classical Conditioning to Clinical Psychology
		Applications of Classical Conditioning to Medicine
		Pavlov on Education
		Evaluation of Pavlov’s Theory
			Contributions
			Criticisms
	Chapter 8 Edwin Ray Guthrie
		Major Theoretical Concepts
			The One Law of Learning
			One-Trial Learning
			The Recency Principle
			Movement-Produced Stimuli
			Why Does Practice Improve Performance?
			Guthrie on Reinforcement
			The Guthrie-Horton Experiment
			Forgetting
			Summary of Guthrie’s Theory as Presented Thus Far
		How to Break Habits
			Sidetracking a Habit
			Punishment
			Summary of Guthrie’s Views on Punishment
			Drives
			Intentions
			Transfer of Training
		Voeks’s Formalization of Guthrie’s Theory
		Guthrie on Education
		Evaluation of Guthrie’s Theory
			Contributions
			Criticisms
	Chapter 9 William Kaye Estes
		Major Theoretical Concepts
			Generalization
			Extinction
			Spontaneous Recovery
			Probability Matching
		Estes’s Markov Model of Learning
		Estes and Cognitive Psychology
			The Cognitive Array Model: Classifying and Categorizing
			Estes on Reinforcement
		The current status of mathematical models of learning
		Evaluation of Estes’s Theory
			Contributions
			Criticisms
Part Four Predominantly Cognitive Theories
	Chapter 10 Gestalt Theory
		Opposition to Voluntarism, Structuralism, and Behaviorism
		Major Theoretical Concepts
			Field Theory
			Nature versus Nurture
			Law of Prägnanz
		The Brain and Conscious Experience
		Subjective and Objective Reality
		Gestalt Principles of Learning
			The Presolution Period
			Insightful Learning Summarized
			Transposition
			The Behaviorists’ Explanation of Transposition
		Gestalt Psychology on Educaton: Productive Thinking
			Gestalt Psychology on Reinforcement
			Was Popper a Gestalt Theorist?
		The Memory Trace
			Individual Trace versus Trace System
		Evaluation of Gestalt Theory
			Contributions
			Criticisms
	Chapter 11 Jean Piaget
		Major Theoretical Concepts
			Intelligence
			Schemata
			Assimilation and Accommodation
			Equilibration: Piaget on Reinforcement
			Interiorization
		Stages of Development
		Optimal Conditions for Learning
		Into What Camp Does Piaget’s Theory Fall?
		Piaget on Education
		Summary of Piaget’s Theory
		Evaluation of Piaget’s Theory
			Contributions
			Criticisms
	Chapter 12 Edward Chace Tolman
		Molar Behavior
		Purposive Behaviorism
			The Use of Rats
		Major Theoretical Concepts
			What Is Learned?
			Confirmation: Tolman on Reinforcement
			Vicarious Trial and Error
			Learning versus Performance
			Latent Learning
			Place Learning versus Response Learning
			Reinforcement Expectancy
		The Formal Aspects of Tolman’s Theory
			Environmental Variables
			Individual Difference Variables
			Intervening Variables
		Six Kinds of Learning
			Cathexes
			Equivalence Beliefs
			Field Expectancies
			Field-Cognition Modes
			Drive Discriminations
			Motor Patterns
			Tolman’s Attitude toward His Own Theory
		Tolman on Education
		Evaluation of Tolman’s Theory
			Contributions
			Criticisms
	Chapter 13 Albert Bandura
		Earlier Explanations of Observational Learning
			Thorndike’s and Watson’s Explanations of Observational Learning
			Miller and Dollard’s Explanation of Observational Learning
			The Skinnerian Analysis of Observational Learning
			Nonhumans Can Learn by Observing
		Bandura’s Explanation of Observational Learning
			Empirical Observations: Bandura on Reinforcement
		Major Theoretical Concepts
			Attentional Processes
			Retentional Processes
			Behavioral Production Processes
			Motivational Processes
			Reciprocal Determinism
			Self-Regulation of Behavior
			Moral Conduct
		Practical Applications of Observational Learning
			What Modeling Can Accomplish
			Modeling in the Clinical Setting
		The Influence of the News and Entertainment Media
		Social Cognitive Theory
		Mirror Neurons: Observational Learning
		Bandura on Education
		Summary
		Evaluation of Bandura’s Theory
			Contributions
			Criticisms
Part Five A Predominantly Neurophysiological Theory
	Chapter 14 Donald Olding Hebb
		Major Theoretical Concepts
			Restricted Environments
			Enriched Environments
			Cell Assemblies
			Phase Sequences
			Arousal Theory: Hebb on Reinforcement
			Long-Term and Short-Term Memory
			Consolidation and the Brain
		Hebb’s Influence on Neuroscientific Research
			Reinforcement and the Brain
			Making Connections: Real Cells and Real Cell Assemblies
			Learning in Aplysia
			Long-Term Potentiation
			Long-Term Depression
			Neuroplasticity
		New Connectionism
			Artificial Cells and Artificial Cell Assemblies
		Hebb on Education
		Summary
		Evaluation of Hebb’s Theory
			Contributions
			Criticisms
Part Six An Evolutionary Theory
	Chapter 15 Robert C. Bolles and Evolutionary Psychology
		Darwin’s Theory and Evolutionary Psychology
			Natural Selection and Adaptations
			Inclusive Fitness and Neo-Darwinian Theory
		Bolles’s Theory of Learning
			Major Theoretical Concepts: Bolles on Reinforcement
		The Biological Boundaries of Learning
			Instrumental Conditioning
			Operant Conditioning and the Misbehavior of Organisms
			Autoshaping
			Classical Conditioning
			Biological Behaviorism
		Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
			The Development of Phobias
			Mate Selection
			Avoiding Disease
			Language
		Evolutionary Psychology on Education
		Evaluation of Evolutionary Psychology
			Contributions
			Criticisms
Part Seven
	Chapter 16 A Final Word
		Current Trends in Learning Theory
			Less Ambitious Theories
			Everyone Is a Neuroscientist
			Neuroscience and Education
			Learning Styles
			Practical Problems
		Some Unanswered Questions about Learning
			How Does Learning Vary as a Function of Maturation?
			How Many Kinds of Learning Exist?
			What About Reinforcement?
		No Final Answers About the Learning Process
Glossary
References
Name Index
Subject Index