Learning and Behavior: A Contemporary Synthesis

Providing a strong background in modern learning and behavior theory, this book reflects the importance of the study of animal learning in psychology. Written by a leading researcher in the field, topics covered include learning and adaptation, modern conditioning theories, memory retrieval, instrumental learning, avoidance learning and learned helplessness. Lively and current, "Learning and Behavior" engages students while illustrating the interconnectedness and excitement of modern research.

Table of Contents:
LEARNING THEORY: WHAT IT IS AND HOW IT GOT THIS WAY - Philosophical Roots - Biological Roots - A Science of Learning and Behavior - Tools for Analyzing Learning and Behavior - Summary - LEARNING AND ADAPTATION - Evolution and Behavior - Adaptation in Instrumental Conditioning - Adaptation in Classical Conditioning - Other Parallels between Signal and Response Learning - Summary - THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF CONDITIONING - The Basic Conditioning Experiment - Methods for Studying Classical Conditioning - Things That Affect the Strength of Conditioning - Conditioned Inhibition - Information Value in Conditioning - Summary - THEORIES OF CONDITIONING - The Rescorla-Wagner Model - Some Problems with the Rescorla-Wagner Model - The Role of Attention in Conditioning - Short-Term Memory and Learning - Nodes, Connections, and Conditioning - Summary - WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BEHAVIOR, ANYWAY? - Memory and Learning - The Modulation of Behavior - Understanding the Nature of the Conditioned Response - Summary - ARE THE LAWS OF CONDITIONING GENERAL? - Everything You Know is Wrong - Special Characteristics of Flavor Aversion Learning - Some Reasons Why Learning Laws May Be General - Associative Learning in Honey Bees and Humans - Conclusion - Summary - BEHAVIOR AND ITS CONSEQUENCES - Basic Tools and Issues - The Relationship between Behavior and Payoff - Theories of Reinforcement - Summary - HOW STIMULI GUIDE INSTRUMENTAL ACTION - Introduction - Categorization and Discrimination - Basic Processes of Generalization and Discrimination - Another Look at the Information Processing System - The Cognition of Time - The Cognition of Space - Summary - THE MOTIVATION OF INSTRUMENTAL ACTION - How Motivational States Affect Behavior - Anticipating Reward and Punishment - Dynamic Effects of Motivating Stimuli - Summary - A SYNTHETIC PERSPECTIVE ON INSTRUMENTAL ACTION - Avoidance Learning - Parallels in Appetitive Learning - A Cognitive Analysis of Instrumental Action - Summary

About the Author :
MARK E. BOUTON is Professor of Psychology at the University of Vermont, USA, and a leading researcher in the field of animal learning, cognition, and behavior. He has been a Fulbright Scholar, a James McKeen Cattell Scholar, a University Scholar at the University of Vermont, and a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (Stanford). He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science, and was Editor of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, the field's most prestigious journal, from