Adaptive Learning and the Human Condition

Adaptive Learning and the Human Condition presents the basic principles of classical (Pavlovian) and instrumental (Skinnerian) conditioning in a more coherent and expansive manner than is the case in other textbooks. Learning is defined as an adaptive process through which individuals acquire the ability to predict, and where possible, control the environment. This overarching definition enables integration of traditional Pavlovian and Skinnerian principles and terminology and makes explicit why treatment of the learning process is essentially limited to these two historical research paradigms. Pavlov developed a methodology for studying animals under circumstances where they could predict, but not control, sequences of environmental events. Skinner studied animals under circumstances where their behavior had an effect upon environmental events. Observational learning and symbolic communication (i.e., spoken or written language) are incorporated as indirect learning processes through which individuals can acquire the ability to predict or control. This treatment creates a perspective within which it is possible to consider the fundamental nature of the learning process in understanding the human condition and in addressing significant individual and social concerns. Examples of applications and issues not included in similar textbooks include: The role of classical and instrumental conditioning in language acquisition The administration of rewards and punishers in Baumrind’s parental styles as related to Kohlberg’s stages of moral development Stone-Age hunter-gatherer and technologically-advanced cultures: How did we get from there to here? Self-control and self-actualization While covering traditional technical and theoretical issues, the book is written in a clear, engaging style. The narrative builds across chapters, culminating in the treatment of applications and societal concerns of import and interest to students and faculty alike. Upon completing this book, readers should be able to: explain the significance of human condition through adaptive learning; present the basic principles of classical and instrumental conditioning; and understand the significance of scientific research

Table of Contents:
Part 1:  A Science of Adaptive Learning Chapter 1:  Science, Psychology, and Adaptive Learning Chapter 2:  Adaptive Learning Research Methods    Part 2:  Predictive Learning Chapter 3:  Predictive Learning: Basic Principles and Phenomena Chapter 4:  Predictive Learning: Basic Variables and Theoretical Issues  Chapter 5:  Predictive Learning: Applications         Part 3:  Control Learning Chapter 6:  Control Learning: Basic Principles and Phenomena     Chapter 7:  Control Learning: Basic Variables and Theoretical Issues    Chapter 8:  Control Learning: Applications   Chapter 9:  Schedules of Reward and Maintenance of Learned Behavior Part 4:  The Human Condition Chapter 10:  Personality, Socialization, and Culture Chapter 11:  Becoming Human and Transforming the Human Condition Chapter 12: Becoming Human through Indirect Social Learning Chapter 13:  Individual and Cultural Self-Actualization Chapter 14:  Self-Actualization through Self-Control    FULL TABLE OF CONTENTS:   Part 1:  A Science of Adaptive Learning Chapter 1.  Science, Psychology, and Adaptive Learning The Human Condition      Explanation and Empiricism       The Scientific Method      Early History of Psychology       Psychology Today    Scientific Explanation in Psychology    Where Does Psychology Look for Explanations?    Definitions of Learning Direct and Indirect Learning   Summary    Key Terms   Chapter 2.  Adaptive Learning Research Methods Internal and External Validity      Non-Experimental Research Methods    Experimental Research Methods    Adaptive Learning Research Methods and External Validity     Summary    Key Terms   Part 2.  Predictive Learning Chapter 3.  Predictive Learning: Basic Principles and Phenomena   Pavlov’s classical conditioning paradigm   Measurement Procedures    Basic predictive learning phenomena    Predictive learning schema with excitatory and inhibitory stimuli       Summary    Key Terms   Chapter 4.  Predictive Learning: Basic Variables and Theoretical Issues   Variables influencing predictive learning   Theoretical Issues Summary    Key Terms   Chapter 5.  Predictive Learning: Applications      Basic and applied science      Direct classical conditioning of emotions       Indirect classical conditioning of emotions      Desensitization and sensitization procedures     Classical conditioning of word meaning   Classical conditioning of attitudes     Classical conditioning of drug tolerance      Summary      Key Terms   Part 3.  Control Learning Chapter 6.  Control Learning: Basic Principles and Phenomena   Thorndike and Skinner          Apparatuses used to study control learning      Skinner’s contingency schema      Adaptive learning overview of predictive and control learning   Learned and unlearned appetitive and aversive stimuli   Discriminative stimuli and warning stimuli      Stimulus-response chains      Basic control learning phenomena Species specific characteristics and control learning Other basic control learning phenomena     Summary      Key Terms   Chapter 7.  Control Learning: Basic Variables and Theoretical Issues   Variables influencing control learning     Theoretical issues Summary    Key Terms   Chapter 8:  Control Learning: Applications   Speech and Language (verbal symbolic behavior) Parenting    Treating behavioral problems with non-verbal individuals    Treating behavioral problems with verbal individuals Empirically validated therapeutic techniques Using technology to facilitate control learning Relapse prevention Summary    Key Terms   Chapter 9.  Schedules of Reward and Maintenance of Learned Behavior   Skinnerian methodology Skinner’s schema of intermittent schedules of reinforcement Why do ratio schedules produce higher response rates than interval schedules? Maintenance of learned behavior Differential reinforcement schedules as alternatives to punishment Extinction as an alternative to punishment Non-contingent reinforcement as an alternative to punishment Summary Key Terms   Part 4.  The Human Condition Chapter 10.  Personality, Socialization, and Culture   Multiple schedules, personality, and culture Stimulus control, baseball, and the human condition Measuring stimulus control in the laboratory Determinants of stimulus control test patterns The peak shift and Spence’s model of discrimination learning Attention theory and discrimination learning Summary Key Terms   Chapter 11.  Becoming Human and Transforming the Human Condition    Concept learning Learning to learn Basic research in problem-solving The general problem-solving process Tools, technology, and the human condition The phonetic alphabet and Arabic numbering system Summary Key Terms   Chapter 12.  Becoming Human through Indirect Social Learning   Observational learning Speech and language Preparing for school and the 3 Rs Summary Key Terms   Chapter 13.  Individual and Cultural Self-Actualization   The Nukak’s physiological needs The Nukak’s shelter and safety needs The Nukak’s love and interpersonal needs The Nukak’s esteem needs The Nukak’s self-actualization needs Our physiological needs Our shelter and safety needs Our love and interpersonal needs Developmental tasks and stages for the Nukak and us Our esteem needs Our self-actualization needs Bridges, globalization, and the human condition Summary Key Terms   Chapter 14.  Self-Actualization through Self-Control   Concurrent schedules and the matching law Self-control – magnitude and delay of reinforcement Matching, impulsiveness, and adaptive learning Determinism and Freedom Lightning, sharks, and human predators Will Power and Self-Control Self-Control as Problem Solving Improving the human condition through humanistic ecology Summary Key Terms

About the Author :
Jeffrey C. Levy’s professional career at Seton Hall University may be divided into three stages, BC, DC, and AC (before, during, and after his 24-year term as chair of the Department of Psychology).  Frequently recognized for teaching excellence, he received the Deans Advisory Council’s Outstanding Teacher Award for the College of Arts & Sciences, Sears-Roebuck Award for College Teaching and Campus Leadership, and was twice nominated by Seton Hall for National CASE Professor of the Year recognition.  Trained as an experimental psychologist with interests in behavior modification, Levy regularly taught the undergraduate Learning course with and without a related animal laboratory and a graduate course in Behavior Modification.  A sabbatical opportunity subsequent to his service as chair enabled him to dedicate a year to elaborating upon this teaching experience and drafting Adaptive Learning and the Human Condition.

Review :
“The text has a focus on adaptive learning which not only underscores the relationship between operant and classical learning but highlights our individual ability to operate on and control our own environments and, thus, our own learning. Students should find this premise enormously interesting and relatable” - Margherita Rossi, Broome Community College “I am interested! The approach appears to be unique in its focus on the adaptive function of learning, something I always emphasize in my course. I may be especially interested in this text for my graduate course in Learning, as my students are PsyD candidates. The strengths are the evolutionary emphasis and the writing style. I really liked his careful discussion of the Tolman experiment because I think it would help students understand the importance of each aspect of the design.” - Cora Sherburne, IUP “I'm intrigued by the Levy's approach to "modernizing" the teaching of basic learning processes. I have been teaching this course for a very long time and little has been done, successfully, to deviate from the traditional approach. Levy's attempt to bring respondent and operant learning together rather than to clarify their distinctions might just work.” - Kris Biondolillo, Arkansas State University “It takes a different approach to the coverage of behavior theory in psychology by including topics that are typically not found in most textbooks (e.g., emphasis on adaptation to the environment, social learning and culture, human applications of principles of learning).” - Peter Butera, Niagara University “The goal of the text is to bridge the gap between science and practice. My reading of the contents suggests that it goes a long way toward meeting its goal. The author seems to have arranged the text by introducing a problem with basic-science findings and then showing their relevance to applied concerns.” - Daniel Cerutti, California State University East Bay