Theories of Learning

GROUP 1
Agbisit, Lana Shereen Devera, Christopher Doneza, Kaygee Mallari, Marjorie Reyes, Jannie Lynn Ronquillo, Paulene Tantay, Ma. Cecilia

WRITTEN REPORT: Edwin Ray Guthrie

Submitted to Mr. Darwin Rungduin

Major Theoretical Concepts of Edwin Ray Guthrie

 The One Law of Learning Law of Contiguity - The principle that when two ideas or psychologically perceived events have once occurred in close association, they are likely to occur in close association again, the subsequent occurrence of one tending to elicit the other. In other words, if you did something in a given situation, the next time you are in that situation, you will tend to do the same thing. In 1959, he revised his law of contiguity to read What is being noticed becomes a signal for what is being done. There is a similarity between Guthries thinking and Thorndikes concept of prepotency of elements. One-Trial Learning states that learning takes place in a single pairing of a response and stimulus and is not strengthened over time by repeated exposure to a stimulus. Guthrie did not believe in conditioned learning where a reward following a behavior reinforces it. This principle completely rejects the law of frequency as a learning principle.

The Recency Principle

This principle holds that the response last made to a situation is the response that will be made when that situation occurs again.

Movement-Produced Stimuli

A delayed external stimulus triggers an internal movement in the individual which serves as a stimulus (M/S) for the next movement, till the final movement is made. Caused by the movements of the body.

 Movements, Acts & Skills

1. Movements are minute responses made by the muscles that get associated with impinging stimuli. Movements are learnt responses. These are muscle contractions. 2. Acts are a conglomerate of a number of learnt movements. Acts are learnt behaviors, like learning to press keys on a keyboard. 3. Skills are made up of many acts that are repeated (practice) to develop performance proficiency. Fast typing is a skill.

Nature of Reinforcement For Guthrie, reinforcement was merely a mechanical arrangement, which he felt could be explained by his one law of learning. Reinforcement changes prevents unlearning. the stimulating conditions and thereby

Guthrie-Horton Study (1946) Guthrie and Horton used a puzzle box similar to Thorndike, and recorded 800 escapes in cats. Horton took photographs. Guthrie took notes. 1. Each cat learned its own peculiar stereotypical movement to escape the box. Thus Guthrie suggested it reflected one-trial learning, unlike Thorndikes proposal that cats learnt through repetition. 2. Guthrie also proposed that cats did not need reinforcement to learn. This also opposed Thorndikes idea that reinforcement was required. To Guthrie, reinforcement was a potent stimulus that prevented unlearning. Forgetting

Like one-trial learning, forgetting also occurs in just one trial. In the presence of a stimulus pattern when an old movement is replaced by new movement forgetting takes place. All forgetting must involve new learning. This is an extreme form of retroactive inhibition, which refers to the fact that old learning is interfered with by new learning.

Breaking Habits To break habits determine the cues (pattern of stimuli) that initiate the undesired habit. Replace the undesired habit with a desired habit in the presence of those cues. 1. Threshold/Tolerance Method Introduce a stimulus, weak in strength so that it does initiate the bad habit. Increase the intensity of the stimulus slowly making sure that the animal tolerates the stimulus and does not engage in the undesired behavior before moving on to the next stronger stimulus. Examples: 1. Spitting peas. 2. Horse breaking

2. Fatigue/Exhaustion Method
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The undesired habit needs to be repeated for long periods to cause fatigue or tiredness. Undesired habit will be removed by the negative consequences of fatigue or exhaustion. Similar to flooding (Pavlov). Examples: 1. Bronco-busting. 2. Dog chasing chickens.

3. Incompatible Response Method Stimuli that cause undesired responses are presented with other stimuli that produce a desired response. Incompatibility of a desired response removes the undesired response. Similar to counter conditioning. Example: Removal of fear from a toy panda with the introduction of mothers warmth.

Sidetracking Habits

Guthrie suggested that breaking undesirable habits was difficult, so avoiding stimuli that cause undesirable habits was to sidetrack them. Undesirable behavioral patterns (like smoking) in one environment can be sidetracked by going to a completely new environment (where cigarettes/tobacco is not available).

Punishment 1. Punishment needs to convey information, what the individual needs to do, e.g., dog chasing car. Pain during punishment is meaningless. 2. Punishment should produce an incompatible behavior to the unwanted behavior. 3. Punishment must be applied along with other stimuli, and it should be salient enough to change the undesired behavior. 4. If 2 or 3 are not met then punishment is ineffective, and in fact may strengthen the undesired behavior.

Drives & Intentions - For Guthrie, food (external stimulus) and hunger drive (internal stimulus) were parts of a stimulus pattern. Drives like hunger are maintaining stimuli that keep the individuals going till the goal is reached. - Though maintaining stimuli like hunger are internal, they can also be external like praise. - Intentions are conditioned responses (purposive behaviors), associated with maintaining stimuli leading the individual to reach goals.

Transfer of Training 1. Guthrie like Thorndike did not believe in transfer of training as proposed by formal discipline. 2. Guthrie accepted Thorndikes Identical Element Theory in explaining how contextual stimuli have similarity in producing the same response in a familiar and an unfamiliar situation. Adding 2+2 on the blackboard is different than adding 2+2 on the seat or at home. But one comes up with the same response (4) because important elements (2+2) remain the same.

Examples: Macro Level 1. At first, you dont like President P-Noy because you are pro-Villar, but then you learned to like P-Noy as you realize that he fulfills his promises and gives his best to serve our country. (Breaking Habits- Threshold Method) 2. If there is new law enforcement by the government, the people should follow it or else they might pay a penalty or be imprisoned. (Punishment) Micro Level 1. When you are being influenced by your friends to drink alcohols every now and then, you would tend to keep distance with them and little by little find other friends. (Sidetracking Habits) 2. When you use a particular technique or move in playing chess and you always lose, you would try to forget this move and use another technique that will enable you to win. (Forgetting) Educational Premise 1. When you see your professor entering the class room with the students blue books, you would suddenly take a look on your notes and try to review because he might be giving a quiz like what he did on the last time of your meeting. (Recency Principle) 2. When the students hear the bell rings, they would automatically be reminded of the dismissal time and so their body would tend to respond by fixing and keeping their things inside their bags. (Movement-Produced Stimuli)