Integrating basic principles of ethology and the psychology of learning and illuminating them in the context of actual experiments, this text offers a conceptually coherent introduction to what is known about how all living organisms profit from experience and adapt to their environments. Throughout the book, the focus is on the operational definition of theory. The book's primary focus is the tools of enquiry in this field. Consequently, descriptions of experiments and series of experiments which build on each other appear in some depth. The text shows how experimental operations develop from experiment to experiment by describing them in historical series and in enough detail to show continuity. The strategy is intended to provoke interest in experimental operations by questioning traditional views. The volume presents major traditional positions in detail but demands that readers examine evidence, recognize weaknesses and consider alternatives.
Table of Contents:
Contents: Introduction. Classical Conditioning. Instrumental Conditioning. Mechanisms of Conditioning. Reinforcement Versus Expectancy. Sequence and Anticipation. Feed Forward Versus Feed Backward. Contiguity Versus Contingency. Appetite, Aversion, and Conflict. Excitation, Inhibition, and Competition. Reward Versus Nonreward. Places, Paths, and Bearings. Transfer. Teaching Sign Language to Chimpanzees. Concepts and Communications.
About the Author :
R. Allen Gardner, Beatrix Gardner
Review :
"The breadth, depth, and extraordinary scholarship of this work reflects the Gardners' own deep understanding of the real and significant issues in the psychology of learning. Particularly impressive ... is the presentation of learning not as a reified abstraction, but as a dynamic and ecologically-relevant activity of living organisms, themselves embedded in developmental and evolutionary histories. This is a wonderful book and it is to be hoped that it will achieve a wide circulation."
—Matthew J. Sharps
California State University, Fresno
"An outstanding text in the best tradition of scientific psychology...eminently readable--a benchmark. The Gardners lead the reader through a critical evaluation of learning theories and issues while integrating contributions from ethology and the laboratory. They challenge the reader to think carefully about evidence while pointing out how many learning theories, including the popular behavior and cognitive theories, are at logical odds with ethological findings."
—Michael C. Pullen
State University of New York, Geneseo
"The Gardners have erased the line between ethology and laboratory studies of animal learning. By employing sound operational definitions and the rule of parsimony, they present convincing evidence that animals in nature, as well as in laboratories, learn without food rewards and navigate environments without cognitive maps. They show that learning obeys a feedforward, not a feedbackward, principle and that learning takes place whether or not animals are hungry. Calling upon their years of work with Washoe and the other signing chimpanzees, they show that human language is not a uniquely human trait. The book reminds us that science eventually erases the lines we humans draw across Nature."
—Lester J. Hunt
Northern Arizona University
"A refreshing and intriguing treatment of learning and related areas--the first breath of fresh air in learning textbooks in many years. A combination of a solid approach with a well thought-out reassessment of traditional views of learning. This book was a pleasure to read."
—Harvard L. Armus
University of Toledo
"The Gardners provide a fascinating account of animal and human behavior, weaving together a century's worth of research findings from laboratory experiments, field studies, and systematic observation of animals in their natural environments."
—Larry Upton
North Carolina State University
