Learning and Behavior [antikvár]

Preface The purpose of this book is to introduce the reader to the branch of psychology that deals with how people and animals learn and how their behaviors are later changed as a result of this learning. This is a broad topic, for nearly all of our behaviors are influenced by prior learning experiences in somé way. Because examples of learning and learned behaviors are so numerous, the goal of most psychologists in this field has been to discover generál principles that are applicable to many different species and many different learning situations. What continues to impress and inspire me after many years in this field is that it is indeed possible to make such generál statements about learning and behavior. This book describes somé of the most important principles, theories, controversies, and experiments that have been produced by this branch of psychology in its first century. This text is designed to be suitable for introductory or intermediate level courses in learning, conditioning, or the experimentál analysis of behavior. No prior knowledge of psychology is assumed, but the reading may be a bit easier for those who have had a course in introductory psychology. Many of the concepts and theories in this field are fairly abstract, and to make them more concrete (and more relevant), I have included many real-world examples and analogies. In addition, most of the chapters include sections that describe how the theories and principles have been used in the applied field of behavior modification. Roughly speaking, the book proceeds from the simple to the complex, both with respect to the difficulty of the material and the types of learning that are discussed. Chapter 1 discusses the nature of scientific theories and experiments, and it outlines the behavioral approach to learning and contrasts it with the cognitive approach. Chapter 2 first describes somé of the earliest theories about the learning process, and then presents somé basic findings about the physiological mechanisms of learning. Chapter 3 discusses innate behaviors and the simplest type of learning, habituation. Many of the terms and ideas introduced here reappear in later chapters on classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and motor skills learning. The next two chapters deal with classical conditioning. Chapter 4 begins with basic principles and ends with somé therapeutic applications. Chapter 5 describes more recent theoretical developments and experimentál findings in this area. The next three chapters discuss the various facets of operant conditioning: Chapter 6 covers the basic principles and terminology of positive