Book Description: The Considerable Progress That Has Been Made Researching Fundamental Learning Processes Tells An Important And Interesting Story. In This New Book Written For Undergraduates, Graduate Students, And Curious Professionals Mark Bouton Recounts That Story, Providing A Strong Background In Modern Learning And Behavior Theory That Is Informed By The History Of The Field. The Text Reflects The Author's Conviction That The Study Of Animal Learning Has A Central Place In Psychology, And That Understanding Its Principles And Theories Is Important For Students, Psychologists, And Scientists In Related Disciplines (e.g., Behavioral Neuroscience And Clinical Psychology). Almost All Of The Chapters Are Organized To Illustrate How Knowledge Is Accumulated Through The Systematic Development Of Theory And Research. The Book Opens With A Brief History That Connects The Modern Issues With Their Philosophical And Biological Roots.^ The Second Chapter Addresses The Idea That Basic Learning Processes Are Designed To Help An Organism Adapt To A Changing World; In The Process, It Introduces The Reader To A Wide Range Of Interesting Examples Of Learning. After Analyzing Some Fundamental Phenomena In Pavlovian Learning, The Book Then Provides A Very Clear And Readable Review Of Modern Conditioning Theories Since The Rescorla-wagner Model, Discusses Memory Retrieval And Behavior-system Processes That Govern Performance, And Addresses The Question (posed By Research In The Late 1960s And 1970s) Of Whether The Laws Of Learning And Behavior Uncovered In The Laboratory Maze And Skinner Box Have Generality By Studying Learning In Honey Bees And Categorization And Causal Judgments In Humans.^ Instrumental Learning Is Then Discussed From Various Perspectives In Chapters On Behavior And Its Consequences (research In Behavior Analysis), How Stimuli Guide Instrumental Action (a Survey Of The Field Of Animal Cognition), And How Motivation Influences Instrumental Action. The Final Chapter Reviews And Integrates The Major Themes Of The Book, Describing Avoidance Learning, Learned Helplessness, And Related Examples Of Learning Before Reviewing The Modern Cognitive And Synthetic Perspective On Instrumental Action. Lively And Current, Learning And Behavior: A Contemporary Synthesis Engages Students While Illustrating The Interconnectedness And Excitement Of Modern Research. Preface -- 1: Learning Theory: What It Is And How It Got This Way: -- Philosophical Roots: -- Are People Machines? -- Associations And The Contents Of The Mind -- Biological Roots: -- Reflexes, Evolution, And Early Comparative Psychology -- Rise Of The Conditioning Experiment -- Science Of Learning And Behavior: -- John B Watson -- B F Skinner -- Edward C Tolman -- Computer And Brain Metaphors -- Human Learning And Animal Learning -- Tools For Analyzing Learning And Behavior: -- Learning About Stimuli And About Behavior -- Crows Foraging At The Beach -- Kids At Play -- People Using Drugs -- Relations Between S, R, And S -- 2: Learning And Adaptation: -- Evolution And Behavior: -- Natural Selection -- Adaptation In Behavior -- Fixed Action Patterns -- Innate Behavior -- Adaptation In Instrumental Conditioning: -- Law Of Effect -- Reinforcement -- Shaping -- Adaptation In Classical Conditioning: -- Signals For Food -- Territoriality And Reproduction -- Fear --^ Conditioning With Drugs As S*s -- Sign Tracking -- Other Parallels Between Signal And Response Learning: -- Extinction -- Timing Of S* -- Size Of S* -- Preparedness -- 3: Nuts And Bolts Of Conditioning: -- Basic Conditioning Experiment: -- Pavlov's Experiment -- What Is Learned In Conditioning? -- Variations On The Basic Experiment -- Methods For Studying Classical Conditioning: -- Eyeblink Conditioning In Rabbits -- Fear Conditioning In Rats -- Autoshaping In Pigeons -- Taste Aversion Learning In Rats -- Things That Affect The Strength Of Conditioning: -- Time -- Novelty Of The Cs And The Us -- Intensity Of The Cs And The Us -- Pseudoconditioning And Sensitization -- Conditioned Inhibition: -- How To Detect Conditioned Inhibition -- How To Produce Conditioned Inhibition -- Two Methods That Do Not Produce True Inhibition -- Information Value In Conditioning: -- Cs-us Contingencies In Classical Conditioning -- Blocking And Unblocking -- Relative Validity In Conditioning --^ 4: Theories Of Conditioning: -- Rescorla-wagner Model: -- Blocking And Unblocking -- Extinction And Inhibition -- Other New Predictions -- Cs-us Contingencies -- Summary: What Does It All Mean? -- Some Problems With The Rescorla-wagner Model: -- Extinction Of Inhibition -- Latent Inhibition -- Another Look At Blocking -- Role Of Attention In Conditioning: -- Mackintosh Model -- Pearce-hall Model -- Summary: What Does It All Mean? -- Short-term Memory And Learning: -- Priming Of The Us -- Priming Of The Cs -- Habituation -- Summary: What Does It All Mean? -- Nodes, Connections, And Conditioning: -- Wagner's Sop Model -- Sensory Versus Emotional Us Nodes -- Elemental Versus Configural Cs Nodes -- Summary: What Does It All Mean? 5: Whatever Happened To Behavior, Anyway?: -- Memory And Learning: -- How Well Is Conditioning Remembered? -- Causes Of Forgetting -- Remembering, Forgetting, And Extinction -- Other Examples Of Ambiguity And Interference -- Summary -- Modulation Of Behavior: -- Occasion Setting -- Three Properties Of Occasion Setters -- What Does It All Mean? -- What Is Learned In Occasion Setting? -- Configural Conditioning -- Other Forms Of Modulation -- Summary -- Understanding The Nature Of The Conditioned Response: -- Two Problems For Stimulus Substitution -- Understanding Conditional Compensatory Responses -- Conditioning And Behavior Systems -- What Does It All Mean? -- Conclusion -- 6: Are The Laws Of Conditioning General?: -- Everything You Know Is Wrong: -- Special Characteristics Of Flavor Aversion Learning: -- One-trial Learning -- Long-delay Learning -- Learned Safety -- Hedonic Shift -- Compound Potentiation -- Summary -- Some Reasons Why Learning Laws May Be General: --^ Evolution Produces Both Generality And Specificity -- Generality Of Relative Validity -- Associative Learning In Honeybees And Humans: -- Conditioning In Bees -- Category And Causal Learning In Humans -- Some Disconnections Between Conditioning And Human Category Causal Learning -- Causes, Effects, And Causal Power -- Conclusion -- 7: Behavior And Its Consequences: -- Basic Tools And Issues: -- Reinforcement Versus Contiguity Theory -- Flexibility, Purpose, And Motivation -- Operant Psychology -- Conditioned Reinforcement -- Relationship Between Behavior And Payoff: -- Different Ways To Schedule Payoff -- Choice -- Choice Is Everywhere -- Impulsiveness And Self-control -- Behavioral Economics: Are Reinforcers All Alike? -- Theories Of Reinforcement: -- Drive Reduction -- Premack Principle -- Problems With The Premack Principle -- Behavioral Regulation Theory -- Selection By Consequences -- 8: How Stimuli Guide Instrumental Action: -- Categorization And Discrimination: --^ Trees, Water, And Margaret -- Other Categories -- How Do They Do It? -- Basic Processes Of Generalization And Discrimination: -- Generalization Gradient -- Interactions Between Gradients -- Perceptual Learning -- Mediated Generalization And Acquired Equivalence -- Summary -- Another Look At The Information Processing System: -- Visual Perception In Pigeons -- Attention -- Working Memory -- Reference Memory -- Cognition Of Time: -- Time Of Day Cues -- Interval Timing -- How Do They Do It? -- Cognition Of Space: -- Cues That Guide Spatial Behavior -- Spatial Learning In The Radial Maze And Water Maze -- How Do They Do It? 9: Motivation Of Instrumental Action: -- How Motivational States Affect Behavior: -- Motivation Versus Learning -- Does Drive Merely Energize? -- Is Motivated Behavior A Response To Need? -- Anticipating Reward And Punishment: -- Bait And Switch -- Hullian Response: Incentive Motivation -- Frustration -- Another Paradoxical Reward Effect -- Partial Reinforcement And Persistence -- Motivation By Expectancies -- What Does It All Mean? -- Dynamic Effects Of Motivating Stimuli: -- Opponent-process Theory -- Emotions In Social Attachment -- Further Look At Addiction -- Conclusion -- 10: Synthetic Perspective On Instrumental Action: -- Avoidance Learning: -- Puzzle And Solution: Two-factor Theory -- Problems With Two-factor Theory -- Species-specific Defense Reactions -- Cognitive Factors In Avoidance Learning -- Learned Helplessness -- Summary: What Does It All Mean? -- Parallels In Appetitive Learning: -- Misbehavior Of Organisms -- Superstition Revisited -- General Role For Stimulus Learning In Response Learning Situations -- Punishment -- Summary: What Does It All Mean? -- Cognitive Analysis Of Instrumental Action: -- Knowledge Of The R-s* Relation -- Knowledge Of The S-s* Relation -- S-(r-s*) Learning (occasion Setting) -- S-r And Habit Learning -- Glossary -- References -- Author Index -- Subject Index. Mark E. Bouton. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 434-467) And Indexes.

Mark E. Bouton

Sunderland, Mass.: Sinauer Associates, Publishers

Oxford University Press, Incorporated

Sinauer Associates, Incorporated

University of Vermont

United States, United States of America

Sunderland, Mass., Basingstoke, ©2007

First edition, October 3, 2006

1st, First Edition, US, 2006

Includes bibliographical references (p. [434]-467) and indexes.

The considerable progress that has been made researching fundamental learning processes tells an important and interesting story. In this new book written for undergraduates, graduate students, and curious professionals Mark Bouton recounts that story, providing a strong background in modern learning and behavior theory that is informed by the history of the field. The text reflects the author s conviction that the study of animal learning has a central place in psychology, and that understanding its principles and theories is important for students, psychologists, and scientists in related disciplines (e.g., behavioral neuroscience and clinical psychology). Almost all of the chapters are organized to illustrate how knowledge is accumulated through the systematic development of theory and research. The book opens with a brief history that connects the modern issues with their philosophical and biological roots. The second chapter addresses the idea that basic learning processes are designed to help an organism adapt to a changing world; in the process, it introduces the reader to a wide range of interesting examples of learning. After analyzing some fundamental phenomena in Pavlovian learning, the book then provides a very clear and readable review of modern conditioning theories since the Rescorla-Wagner model, discusses memory retrieval and behavior-system processes that govern performance, and addresses the question (posed by research in the late 1960s and 1970s) of whether the laws of learning and behavior uncovered in the laboratory maze and Skinner box have generality by studying learning in honey bees and categorization and causal judgments in humans. Instrumental learning is then discussed from various perspectives in chapters on behavior and its consequences (research in behavior analysis), how stimuli guide instrumental action (a survey of the field of animal cognition), and how motivation influences instrumental action. The final chapter reviews and integrates the major themes of the book, describing avoidance learning, learned helplessness, and related examples of learning before reviewing the modern cognitive and synthetic perspective on instrumental action. Lively and current, Learning and A Contemporary Synthesis engages students while illustrating the interconnectedness and excitement of modern research.

xiii, 482 p. : 25 cm
Includes bibliographical references (p. [434]-467) and indexes
Learning theory : what it is and how it got this way -- Learning and adaptation -- The nuts and bolts of conditioning -- Theories of conditioning -- What ever happened to behavior, anyway? -- Are the laws of conditioning general? -- Behavior and its consequences -- How stimuli guide instrumental action -- The motivation of instrumental action -- A synthetic perspective on instrumental action

2023-06-28