Lecture 2: Historical and Philosophical Roots

Learning, Psychology 5310

Spring, 2015

Professor Delamater

Associative Learning: 3 Influences

1. Philosophy of Mind2. Russian Physiology3. Evolutionary Theory

Philosophy of Mind

1. Descartes2. British Empiricists (e.g., Hobbes, Hume, Locke)3. Rationalists (e.g., Kant)

Philosophy of Mind

Descartes1. Mind/Body Dualism

a. Non-physical | Physicalb. Voluntary | Involuntary Behaviorb. Human | Animal Mindsc. No Laws controlling Mind| Involuntary behavior is lawfuld. No mechanisms of mind | Reflex is basic mechanism of invol beh

Philosophy of Mind

British Empiricists1. Offered mechanistic explanation for mind

a. Hobbes: Law of hedonismb. Hume, Locke:

- Empiricism- Elementalism- Associationism (e.g., Law of Temporal Contiguity)

Russian Physiologists

Sechenov1. All behavior controlled by stimulus antecedents2. Inhibitory Reflex (to help explain voluntary behavior)3. Reflex acted as a trigger, not energy reflected (as

Descartes imagined)

Pavlov1. Developed a method (a paradigm) to study learning & brain2. This method could be used to study empirical laws3. Excitatory & Inhibitory Unconditioned & Conditioned reflexes

control behavior

Evolutionary Theory

Darwin1. Mental Continuity among species (justifies search

for general laws of behavior)2. Species diversity (there may be differences as well)

Thorndike1. Applied idea of random variation and natural selection to

help explain the behavior of individual organisms within their lifetime

2. This can be illustrated through his law of effecta. Random Response variationb. Reinforcement “selects” the correct response by

strengthening a connection between the stimulus situation and the correct response (S-R association)