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Chapter 1: Introduction – Historical Developments in the study of the Mind

Chapter 1: Introduction – Historical Developments in the study of the Mind. Learning theory can trace its roots to the philosophy of Rene Descartes (1596-1650) . Cartesian Dualism  Two classes of human behavior Involuntary (Body) Voluntary (Mind). More Historical developments .

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Chapter 1: Introduction – Historical Developments in the study of the Mind

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  1. Chapter 1: Introduction – Historical Developments in the study of the Mind • Learning theory can trace its roots to the philosophy of Rene Descartes (1596-1650). • Cartesian Dualism •  Two classes of human behavior • Involuntary (Body) • Voluntary (Mind)

  2. More Historical developments • Nativism vs. Empiricism • Does this argument sound familiar? • Nature/Nurture argument • Human behaviors as a result of Nature? • Human behaviors as result of Nurture? • Are these concepts every truly separate? • Always an interaction of nature and nurture

  3. More Historical antecedents • Descartes believed that the mind did not function in an orderly and predictable manner. • To maintain Free will? • The Empiricists disagreed. • Hobbes – the principle of hedonism • People do things in the pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain.

  4. Empiricists concept of association • Believed all contents of the mind were learned • attempted to explain how • knowledge was derived through the association of sensory stimuli. • Led to the Four Tenets of Association Theory

  5. Four Tenets of Association Theory • 1) Temporal Contiguity • We are better able to associate stimuli that occur close together in time. • 2) Intensity • More intense stimuli are more easily associated. • 3) Frequency • The more often we are presented with stimuli increases their ability to be learned. • 4) Similarity • Some things seem to belong together

  6. The Dawn of the Modern Era • The Darwinian Revolution • Comparative Cognition and the Evolution of Intelligence • First let’s discuss the theory of evolution

  7. Theory of Evolution • Charles Darwin (1809-1882) • Origin of Species (1859) • There is diversity in living things even within a species • We don't all look alike • We don't all behave alike • Those traits can be passed on from parent to offspring • Darwin didn't know how. • Mendel did = Genes • There is a struggle to survive • Many organism mass produce offspring and few make it. • There is fairly high infant mortality for humans as well in some places

  8. Theory of Evolution • Organisms that are best suited to their environment have a survival advantage • Doesn't necessarily mean the strongest • At times it might be good to be small and quiet (early mammals) • Survival of the fittest • Those with a survival advantage will produce more offspring and pass their traits on to those offspring, thus the population will begin to have those particular traits • Natural selection • Already known from "unnatural selection" breeding techniques • Large boar with large sow = large piglet.

  9. Influence of Darwin on Psychology • Darwin argued that human intelligence evolved from lower organisms. • The human mind is a product of evolution. • George Romanes (1848-1894) • Animal Intelligence • tended to evaluate how an animal behaved according to how he would have behaved in a similar situation • Freeing trapped ants • Anthropomorphism? • Not good science

  10. C. Lloyd Morgan (1852-1936) was against flippantly attributing human abilities to animals. • Morgan’s canon • “in no case may we interpret an action as the outcome of the exercise of a higher psychical faculty if it can be interpreted as the outcome of the exercise of one which stands lower in the psychological scale.”

  11. Animal Models • Darwin’s ideas allowed for the use of animal models • Modern Psychology, Neuroscience, and Medical Research relies heavily on animal models. • Why?

  12. Methodological aspects of the study of learning • Learning is an Experimental Science • What is the difference between an experimental approach and an observational approach to science? • Why emphasize experimentation in learning research? • Observation alone cannot tell us if a behavior is learned. • There are always alternative explanations that are not ruled out. • Put a rat in an operant chamber and provide a pellet of food for every lever press. • I see that lever pressing goes up. • Conclude that reward increases behavior? • Known as the learning performance distinction 

  13. The learning and Performance distinction. • There can be many reasons for changes in behavior, that are unrelated to learning.  • Motivation • Fatigue • We must rule out these alternative explanations with control groups • Also - sometimes learning can occur without an immediate change in performance. • Childs knowledge of driving? • Tolman and Honzik (1930)

  14. HNR= Hungry not Rewarded, HR = Hungry Rewarded, HNR-R, Hungry not Rewarded until day 11

  15. The General-Process Approach to the Study of Learning • Thus, comparative psychologists tend to study things using simple preparations, and subjects that are cheap, and cooperative. • Operant chambers • Rats • pigeons

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