1. Dog Philosophy Questions:

2. A Brief History of Learning Theory

3. First Assignment:
May me the answers OR use reggienet (directly or by attachment!).
There are eight (8) places (HINT: Highlighted in RED) on the syllabus online that are questions for you to answer.
Please answer each of these to the BEST of your ability. That is, do NOT look up the answer, just take a guess.

4. Remember: How do we evaluate theories?
Testability (Falsifiability)
theory should make unambiguous predictions that can be tested against the facts.
Falsifiability: a good theory is one that, in principle, can be proven wrong
is a poor theory if is untestable, or unfalsifiable
Simplicity or Parsimony:
given two theories that are equal in testability, one that uses fewer hypothetical constructs and assumptions is the preferred theory
Generality:
theories that deal w/more phenomena with a greater range of oservations are usually judged to better than those w/less
Fruitfulness:
theories that stimulate further research and further thinking about a particular topic are usually judged to be better
Agreement w/data:
theories that are supported by data (obviously) are better theories

5. Learning theory depends upon:
Epistemology:
Branch of philosophy that deals with nature of knowledge
The study of knowledge
Asking and examining answers to several critical questions:
What is knowledge?
What can we know?
What are limits of knowledge?
What does it mean to know?
What are origins of knowledge?
How has this been accomplished across the history of academics?
Why do we care?
What does it tell us about today’s research approaches?

6. Early history of learning theory: Plato and Socrates
Plato: Socrates was his teacher, Aristotle was his student
Nativism: Knowledge is
Inherited and a natural component of the human mind
A matter of recollection, and not of learning, observation, or study
Not empirical, and that it comes from divine insight.
Every object in physical world has corresponding abstract idea or form that causes it
We experience a “tree” but not “treeness”
Rationalism: One gains knowledge by reflecting on the contents of one’s mind:
The mind’s eye: gaining insight
Turn inward to ponder what is innately available
Believes in a soul
Reminiscence: recollection of our experience that our soul had in heaven which is beyond heaven

7. Plato’s Cave analogy

8. Early history of Learning Theory: Aristotle
Aristotle: Plato’s student
Empiricism:
Knowledge derived from sensory experiences
Is NOT inherited
Rationalism:
Mind is actively involved in attainment of knowledge
Must integrate sensory experiences with own knowledge
Nativism:
Mind must actively ponder the information provided by the senses to discover the knowledge contained within the information
Described in detail the human senses
Laws of association: Experience or recall of one object will elicit recall of things
Similar to that object (similarity)
Opposite that object (contrast)
That were once originally experienced with that object (contiguity)

9. Early History of Learning Theories: Rene DesCartes
Gentleman Soldier
Knowledge is innate
Mind versus body problem
Separate laws govern each
Only humans have souls (mind)
Body has “animal spirits”
Two do influence one another
Reflex arc:
Why important? Showed mechanisms of body

10. Early History of Learning Theories: British Empiricists
The British Empiricist (including, but not limited to):
Thomas Hobbes (1651)
John Locke (1690)
James Mill (1829)
John Stuart Mill (1843)
Source of all knowledge was sensory experience
People are born knowing nothing
Gradually we gather knowledge via experience
Tabula rasa or blank slate idea (Locke)
Opposite of Kant's Nativism
Embraced phenomenalism, rational empiricism, pragmatism
Extreme position = Empiricist position

11. Set hypotheses for Associationism:
Empiricists first outlined:
How old concepts become associated in memory
How new concepts are formed
Hypothesized a direct correspondence between experience and memory
Proposed a 1:1 correspondence between simple sensations and simple ideas
experience = sensations
memory = ideas
idea = form of a sensation
Complex ideas: James Mill
2 or more simple sensations repeatedly presented together, product of union may be complex idea
once complex idea formed, can also be evoked by process of association from simple sensations or ideas

12. Set hypotheses for Associationism:
Thomas Browne ( ): Secondary Principles of Association:
Attempt to make Mills theory more complete
No data yet…just assumptions and hypotheses
Several hypotheses
The length of time 2 sentences coexist determines the strength of association
The liveliness or vividness of sensations also affects strength of association
The frequency of pairings: more frequent = stronger association
Recency of pairings: more recent = stronger association
Freedom from other strong associations
Constitutional differences
current emotional states
momentary state of body
individual prior habits

13. Variations on Associationism
John Stuart Mill: ( ) Complex associations
Most important contribution: The whole is different from the sum of its parts
(Wait, didn’t the Gestaltists say this!?!!?)
George Berkely: ( ): We can experience only secondary qualities
Nothing exists unless it is perceived
To be is to be perceived
David Hume: ( ): We know nothing for certain about ideas
We can be sure of nothing
Mind = stream of ideas, memories, imaginings, associations, feelings
We experience empirical world only indirectly through our own ideas
“Habitual order of ideas” give rise to general concepts like causation

14. Early History of Learning Theories Continentalists
Back to knowledge = innate
French: Jean-Jacques Rousseau:
Wrote Emile, or On Education
Knowledge is innate but is developed by experience
Believed in stages of human development
Critical for French revolution and our own formation of the U.S.
German: Immanual Kant ( ): Innate categories of thought:
Careful analysis of our experiences reveals certain categories of thought
Categories included: Causality, unity, totality, reality, existence, necessity, reciprocity, (and 5 more)
Mental faculties superimposed over our sensory experiences, providing them with structure and meaning

15. Other Historical influences
Thomas Reid: Naïve Realism ( )
What we perceive = naïve realism
Mind has powers of its own which strongly influence how we perceive world
Faculty of psychology: mixture of nativism, rationalism, empiricism
Franz Joseph Gall: Role of Physiology ( )
Faculties housed in specific brain locations
Before this assumed the heart held all important information!
Phrenology: two lasting effects
Led to emerging neuroscience research
Belief that faculties become stronger with practice- the mental muscle

16. Other Historical influences
More “contemporary” influences OUTSIDE philosophy
Three important scientists/philosophers make an important impact on how we approach learning theory today:
Charles Darwin
Karl Marx
Sigmund Freud
What? Why those 3?
Darwin: suggests we have common ways in which our bodies and our learning operate.
Karl Marx: suggested that people were equal
Royalty or upper class were not “smarter”
People were people
Freud: suggested that our early experiences were critical for forming our later experiences

17. Evolution’s influence on Psychology
Charles Darwin ( ):  Biological and Behavioral Evolution
1859 book: Origin of Species
Argued species originated from other species and eventually become distinct from their ancestors
Thus: many animals have common, but very distant, ancestors
Evidence from domesticated plants and animals
  Breeding programs;  hybrid plants, purebred dogs, cats, etc.
  Great similarity in body parts across animals:  paws, arms, etc.
  Embryology: most embryos look HIGHLY similar
  Fossil records:

18. Natural Selection: Darwin’s 5 major premises:
The members of particular species have characteristics that vary
 Some of these variable characteristics are passed on from parents to siblings
 Some of these variable characteristics aid survival
 Species produce more offspring than survive to become adults
Those characteristics that aid survival will become more common across generations, those that impede survival will die out.
Remember the time line for these changes: MANY generations
For humans, this means thousands of years

19. First “Psychological” Research in Learning
Hermann Ebbinghaus ( )
First empirical test of associationist hypotheses
used nonsense syllables to avoid prior associations
served as own subject
measured length of time took to learn, amount remembered after some passage of time
Results: Several major findings
List length: the greater the list- the greater the time to learn PER item
Effects of repetition: over-learning and mastery
Effects of time on remembering and forgetting:
discovered forgetting curve
serial position curve
Role of contiguity: more contiguity = greater learning
Backwards associations
Provided DATA for associationist principles

20. Pavlov’s Contribution
Ivan Pavlov was
Son of a Russian Orthodox priest
Russian physiologist: Studied salivation
1901: discovered and wrote about classical conditioning
Found that his dogs reacted to both his presence and the time of day for feeding/experimentation
Wanted a way to study conditioned reflexes systematically
Researched this:
Measured amount of salivation during baseline:
Present food to dogs
Measure slobber
Then added a predictive stimulus: a Bell
Presented the BellFood
Measured slobber to see if dogs would begin to slobber to the bell

22. Classical Conditioning
Remember the Reflex Arc
Reflex is elicited by a stimulus
At first, must directly stimulate this reflex
But, a predictive stimulus can elict the reflex after many pairing
Classical conditioning is learning to react to a predictive stimulus
The predictive stimulus predicts the eliciting stimulus
The eliciting stimulus elicits the reflex
Learn to anticipate the reflex behavior so that it occurs to the predictive stimulus is productive and potentially lifesaving!

23. Classical Conditioning Procedure

24. American Behaviorism
E.L. Thorndike: ( ): Studied animal behavior and how animals learned to react to consequences.
Did not have access to Pavlov’s work
John B. Watson ( ) founded the school of psychology known as behaviorism.
Psychology should be a science of behavior only.
Believed that environment molds behavior
By 1920s, behaviorism became dominant force in American psychology
B.F. Skinner ( ): Blended Watson and Thorndike’s approaches
Heavily influenced by Edwin Guthrie, Clark Hull, Edward Tolman
Studied how behavior is shaped by rewards and punishments
Principles of learning apply to animals and humans alike
Thordike(s) and Guthrie also had profound effects on learning/education

25. Thorndike: began to look at Instrumental Behavior
Son of a Methodist Minister
Graduate of Harvard, student of and highly influenced by William James
Professor at Columbia University, influential in starting the psych program there
Animal Intelligence (1911)
Rated the intelligence of various animals
One of the first contemporary psychologists to examine how animals learned
Focus on trial and error learning
Did NOT have access to Pavlov’s work.
Experimented with cats in a puzzle box
Put cats in the box
Cats had to figure out how to pull/push/move lever to get out; when out got reward
The cats got faster and faster with each trial

26. Thorndike: Law of Efect
Law of Effect emerged from this research:
When a response is followed by a satisfying state of affairs, that response will increase in frequency.
When a response is followed by a non-satisfying state of affairs, that response will decrease in frequency

27. Also studied conditioned reflex
University of Chicago PhD. With John Dewey, who’s ideas he rejected
STRICT behaviorism: Everything is learned, no affect from biology
Started out as an educator; developed his theory of behaviorism
Felt that any research should use ONLY observable events: rejecting structualism and gestalt schools
Rejected traditional study of “thoughts” and “feelings”
Had access to Pavlov’s work (unlike E.L. Thorndike)
But felt that this Classical Conditioning could be used in other ways
Most famous work: Little Albert Study
Demonstrated classical conditioning of the emotion of fear
But: got in hot water:
Behavioral “eugenics”: believed if he could control environmental variables, could control outcome of any human
Had an affair with his grad student
Ethics of Little Albert study

28. Burris Frederick Skinner

29. Skinner’s influence on modern Behaviorism
Skinner studied at Harvard
Started out as English major, but was unsuccessful
Taught at Minnesota and Indiana University; founded a true Psych department at Indiana just after Harvard started theirs
Lifelong friend of Fred Simmons Keller: Keller was developing concepts of operant conditioning at Harvard with more of an applied/educational focus
Also Nate Schoenfield at Columbia
Formed the first “group” of behaviorists
Behavior of Organisms (1948)
Laid out tenants of his operant or instrumental conditioning
Focus on contingencies and consequences
Again, avoided non-observable events
but did not say they didn’t exist, just that they needed to be operationalized as observable to be studied
For more information see his books On Verbal Behavior or Beyond Freedom and Dignity
Utopian society: Walden Two (1948)

30. Rise of Behaviorism as a field of study
As popularity of research grew, several specialized journals popped up:
Journal of The Experimental Analysis of Behavior (JEAB): 1958
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA): 1968
Verbal Behavior
The Behavior Analyst
Division 25 in APA is called Experimental Analysis of Behavior
International Association of Behavior Analysis: late 1970’s
Several international conferences each year
General conference
Autism
Several specialized experimental conferences
National conferences in variety of countries

31. Assumptions of Modern Behaviorism
Focus on classical and operant behavior; highly influenced by neuroscience
Include internal events as part of an organism’s environment
Both external AND internal environments influence behavior
But: avoid use intervening variables like cognitivists
Instead of saying “memory” study relationship between items recalled and length of time between presentation of stimulus and behavior.

32. Selection as a Causal Process
Skinner’s Principle of Selection by Consequences
Behavior is selected by our environment
Which behavior we engage in is selected by the consequences
Three levels of this selection:
Selection over generations for genes related to survival and reproduction
Selection for behavior within the lifetime of an individual organism
Selection for behavior patterns in groups of organisms that endure beyond the lifetime of a single individual

33. Evolution of Behavior?
Yes, behavior evolves! Behavioral flexibility is critical for survival
We must adjust to our environment and the changing contingencies within that environment
Those who don’t adapt are….dead.
This allows for behavior change that occurs on all three of Skinner’s levels
Thus: some behavior is genetic, some is cultural, some is learned by the individual.
Suggest biology will be important for behavior analysis!

34. Evolution of Behavior? Operants are selected by their consequences:
(Huh?)
Your responses are selected by the consequences to that behavior
E.g., greetings: Say “hi” to someone.
They smile and say hi back
They frown and flip you off
Your response will differ to these two consequences.
If you are continually punished for saying hi- you will stop
If you are continually reinforced for saying hi- you will keep saying hi!

35. Selection of Behavior occurs on Cultural Levels as well
Don’t discuss this as often!
Groups of people are shaped by their consequences.
Culture = conditions, events, stimuli arranged by other organisms that regulate others of those organisms
Dress codes; language; social norms
Most come about by operant conditioning
Occurs in animals and humans
Think about all the cultural norms that you have learned over the years- what contingencies control those behaviors?

36. Assumptions of Modern Behaviorism
Feelings and behavior:
Don’t consider feelings as “cause” of behavior, but rather as a behavior in and of themselves.
Feelings are REAL behaviors that can be studied
Again, look for environmental events that may be causal (internal and external)
But: also remember that self reported “feelings” can be unreliable:
What you think you feel and why you feel it may causal!’
Thinking = behavior
Thinking and talking are BEHAVIORS
Language = verbal behavior
Thinking = private behavior
Assume same rules that govern other behaviors will govern thoughts and feelings
Obviously, verbal behavior is MUCH more complex in humans but can be studied in similar ways as any behavior

37. Behaviorism Today Not Skinner’s behaviorism!
Focus on both theoretical and applied areas
Experimental Analysis of Behavior: focus on developing theories of behavior
How do animals learn about contingencies
How do animals categorize/organize stimuli
How do animals make decisions
Applied Behavior Analysis: focus on application
Biggest impact on autism, developmental disabilities
Also in education, business, industry
Emerging as major force in animal behavior, particularly with domestic and companion animals