Here we look a more cognitive theories beyond Gestalt Psychology. Piaget's view of learning is unique. Tolman's is groundbreaking but incomplete. Bandura more fully developed cognitive ideas but did not discard the long history of S-R theorizing. But, he also added much to it.
Chapter 11 Jean Piaget
Biographical Details
Swiss
Published scientific paper at age 11 (mollusks)
Interested in Epistemology
n. the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature, origin, and limitations of knowledge. It is also concerned with the justification of truth claims.
Mainly owing to the work of René Descartes, epistemology has been the dominant question in philosophy since the 17th century (see Cartesianism; Cartesian self; modernism).
In psychology, interest in epistemology arises from two principal sources.
First, as the study of the behavior of human beings, psychology has long had interest in the processes of knowledge acquisition and learning of all sorts.
Second, as a science, psychology has an interest in the justification of its knowledge claims. In connection with this concern, most work on epistemology in psychology has concentrated on the scientific method and on the justification of scientifically derived knowledge claims.
In general, the guiding epistemology of psychology has been empiricism, although some approaches to the subject, such as psychoanalysis, the developmental psychology of Jean Piaget, and the humanistic psychology of Carl Rogers, are heavily influenced by rationalism.--APA Dictionary of Psychology
Worked at Binet Testing Laboratory
Stanford-Binet Test: a standardized assessment of intelligence and cognitive abilities for individuals of ages 2 to 89 years.
It currently includes five verbal subtests and five nonverbal subtests that yield Verbal, Nonverbal, and Full Scale IQs (with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15) as well as Fluid Reasoning, Knowledge, Quantitative Reasoning, Visual-Spatial Processing, and Working Memory index scores.
The Stanford–Binet test was so named because it was brought to the United States in 1916 by Lewis M. Terman, a professor at Stanford University, as a revision and extension of the original Binet–Simon Scale (the first modern intelligence test) developed in 1905 by Alfred Binet and French physician Théodore Simon (1873–1961) to assess the intellectual ability of French children.
The present Stanford–Binet Intelligence Scale (SB5), developed by U.S. psychologist Gale H. Roid (1943– ) and published in 2003, is the fourth revision of the test; the first and second revisions were made by Terman and U.S. psychologist Maud Merrill (1888–1978) and published in 1937 and 1960, respectively; and the third revision, by U.S. psychologists Robert L. Thorndike (1910–1990), Elizabeth P. Hagen (1915–2008), and Jerome M. Sattler (1931– ), was published in 1986.--APA Dictionary of Psychology
Piaget realized that children did not think like adults
He used the clinical method: the process by which a health or mental health professional arrives at a conclusion, judgment, or diagnosis about a client or patient in a clinical situation.--APA Dictionary of Psychology
Became head of the Jean-Jacques Rousseau Institute
Studied his own children
FYI: so did I
Here is my daughter Cara at age 5 performing Piaget's conservation task with water and glasses of different sizes
FYI: a few weeks later she told me to inform the class that both glasses contained the same amount of water
PS: She gave permission for me to publish the video
Did Piaget study learning?
Yes, but we will see that his idea is very different than the ones we have studied thus far
Major Theoretical Concepts
Intelligence
allows organisms to deal with their environments
creates conditions for organism's survival under existing circumstances
is dynamic
His definition is called genetic epistemology
a term used by Jean Piaget to denote his theoretical approach to and experimental study of the development of knowledge.--APA Dictionary of Psychology
Schemata (plural of "schema")
A schema is:
a collection of basic knowledge about a concept or entity that serves as a guide to perception, interpretation, imagination, or problem solving. For example, the schema “dorm room” suggests that a bed and a desk are probably part of the scene, that a microwave oven might or might not be, and that expensive Persian rugs probably will not be. Also called cognitive schema. APA Dictionary of Psychology. I added: or a script or a frame
schemata occur throughout life
an early example in the first years of life is the pencil grasping schema (video)
How do you hold a pencil? Look at others and how they hold pencils.
You are developing a schema or set of schemata about learning theories :-)
Let's look now at how schemas develop and change
Assimilation and Accommodation
All kinds of schemas exist and most are the products of experience
Here is an example. I call it the unsupervised child
The child's parents like lit candles
The child likes them too
On day, the child drips some water on a lit candle; it goes out
A schema is created: liquid puts out fire
Here comes some assimilation
Later, the child drips some milk on another candle; it too goes out
Later still, the child drips a soft drink on yet another candle; again the candle goes out
Why is this assimilation? Because the child's "experiments" yield the same results.
Remember, this is an unsupervised child
Now for some accommodation
After the parents hold a wild party and fail to clean up, the child finds a nearly empty glass of rum
What happens when the child drips that on the flame?
WHOOSH! Blue fire!
Insert your favorite surprise expression here, I like Ooops!
The child just LEARNED something: Not ALL liquids put out fire. Some, cause the fire to grow.
That is accommodation. The child's schema just changed.
FYI: I like to say whenever Ooops! happens, then accommodation has just taken place.
Or, being that this is a class in learning theory, we can say some learning just occurred
So, for Piaget, accommodation is the mechanism for learning and schema creation and modification is what happens
Assimilation and Accommodation are the steps in the learning process and they work throughout life
The content is what changes. Or in Piagetian terms, the schemas change
Equilibration
This is Piaget's closest brush with reinforcement
Basically, he's arguing that being out of balance (in terms of your schemata) is maladaptive
Innately, humans want to understand the world and will alter a schema when forced to
Interiorization
Early in life, children learn about the physical demands of their environment
Think of children opening and closing the kitchen drawers over and over or mastering the skills needed on the playground
Later, their "thinking" (see p. 301) becomes covert
Piaget calls those cognitive steps: operations
Examples:
Reversibility
5 + 3 = 8 and 8 - 3 = 5
Concrete Operations
Work on real things
Formal Operations
Work on cognitive things
Note: Piaget (and later researchers) discovered that the stages of development (see below) are not universally timed or even expected
Stages of Development
Sensorimotor Stage
Created schemata about self and environment
Example: grasping
Preoperational Stage
Creating schemata about concepts and developing naive ideas about the world
Example: Conservation (see video above)
Example:
Dennis the Menace cartoon--Dennis is carrying a chair in the living room where is mother is speaking with a female visitor
His mother asks why he is carrying a chair. He responds, "I want to see her talk the leg off of it."
Dennis, of course, is in trouble. But, having heard his parents talk about the visitor before, he wants to see that leg come off!
Concrete Operational Stage
Problem solving about non-abstract topics
Example:
One of my children asked to learn about chess early on (age 6)
By the time he was 11 he could play chess well enough to join a chess club and play college students
One day he told me he wanted to quit the club so I asked why.
He said the club's sponsor kept asking him why he was making particular moves
Why was he upset? Because he did not know why he was making those moves
In other words, he was thinking like a concrete operational child
So, I chatted with the sponsor and asked him not to ask questions
Today, my son plays chess online for fun (and knows why he's making moves))
Did you solve the problem at the bottom of page 303?
The answer is "E"
Formal Operational Stage
Ability to deal with abstract problems, hypothetical situations, and unreal concepts
Example:
Tell me all of the ways you could group the following playing cards:
Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10
A formal operational thinker would approach the problem systematically
In other words think about groups of one card, two cards, three cards, four cards, and, of course, five cards
Example;
Formal operational thinkers understand topics such as politics and imaginary scenarios
This video reviews all of the stages and concentrates on formal operations
Optimal Conditions for Learning
It's not trial-and-error, it's trial-and-success (Thorndike)
Learning Dilemma (Dollard and Miller): Learning depends on failure
Failure of assimilation, causes accommodation = learning (Piaget)
Piaget, because of individual differences, favored a one-on-one relationship between teacher and student
The social environment is more important than the physical environment to Piaget
Into What Camp Does Piaget's Theory Fall?
Not an S-R theorist
Knowledge is equated with cognitive structures (e.g., the schemata)
But, cognitive structures create the physical environment AND vice versa
In other words, the two interact; they are not separate as behaviorists would assume
Piaget and Gestalt Psychology?
Similar:
Experiences are organized
There is an innate need for psychological balance
Different
Source of organizational ability/Gestalt--the brain/Piaget--development (progressive equilibrium)
Educational practices/Gestalt--perceiving the whole/Piaget--focusing on the individual
Piaget on Education
Teacher must know student's cognitive structure
Material must be incompletely known
Know--already assimilate
Unknown--accommodated later
Material should be mildly challenging
In other words, pitched at the appropriate "Three Bears" level: Not too hot, not too cold, just right
Piaget:
Believed that discovery was the was more important than instruction (e.g., "active learning")
Believed education should be individualized
Evaluation of Piaget's Theory
Contributions
Identified the qualitative aspects of learning
Assimilation and Accommodation
Hard to classify his system
Criticisms
His methodology (The Clinical Method) was suspect in the eyes of many
Underestimated young children's cognitive abilities
Did not realize that not all adults reached formal operations
Notice that society and technology have acknowledged this last point
See cash registers at fast food restaurants with pictures of meals instead of number
See cash registers that automatically compute change for overpayments
Guided discovery is better than discovery, many now believe
Molar: Examples of molar behaviors included maze learning (whether running it, swimming it, or wading through it) and driving home from work (regardless of the route taken).
Molecular: Molecular behaviors were closely linked to physiology (e.g., muscle contractions or glandular secretions).
Purposive Behaviorism
A system that sought cognitive relationships between stimuli and between stimuli and responses.
Major Theoretical Concepts
What is Learned?
S-S relationships
Motivation important
"lay of the land"
Cognitive maps
Confirmation: Tolman on Reinforcement
Expectancies: an internal state in which an organism anticipates an event based upon prior learning trials.
I walk into my house, I flip on the light switch, nothing happens.
I begin to search for why my expectancy (the light should have come on) was violated
Did the bulb burn out?
Are the neighbor's lights on?
Did I pay the light bill?
Vicarious Trial and Error:
Organisms "try out" responses in their minds
Learning Versus Performance
Important to Tolman
Learning has already occurred but its action takes place when needed
See drinking fountain example (p. 321)
Latent Learning
The rats in group HNR-R had already learned the maze
They did not show their learning until necessary (when food was in goal box)
Place Learning Versus Response Learning
Place learners solved problem faster (p. 324)
Reinforcement Expectancy
Reinforcer is part of of the expectancy
Changing the reinforcer disrupts the previously learned behavior
The Formal Aspects of Tolman's Theory
Environmental Variables
Deprivation schedule
Goal object appropriateness
Type and mode of stimuli
Type of motor response required
Pattern of maze units
Individual Difference Variables
Heredity
Age
Previous training
Special
Intervening Variables
Variables that lay between a physical stimulus and an observable behavior
Tolman proposed intervening variables
Hull adopted them as well
Six Kinds of Learning
Cathexes
Objects associated with drive states
Example: goat eyeballs are a delicacy in some cuisines
Shall I bring you some?
Equivalence Beliefs
Similar to secondary reinforcement, but temporary
Example: "A" grade could be equivalent to love and approbation (see p. 333)
Field Expectancies
Organism learns patterns
Once a certain sign is perceived it predicts another sign from its experience
Example: Seeing a restaurant predicts: menus, waitstaff, tables, chairs...
Field-Cognition Modes
Basically, problem solving strategies
They can transfer to new problems
Drive Discriminations
Organisms determine their own drive states (e.g., hungry or thirsty)
If drive states are unclear then behavior may be inappropriate
Motor Patterns
Agreed with Guthrie
Motor patterns that lead to escape, for example may be learned in this manner
Tolman on Education
Agreed with Gestaltists
Thinking
Understanding
Eliminating incorrect responses or strategies
Learn individually
Develop and test hypotheses
Expose students to different viewpoints
Extrinsic reinforcement not necessary for learning
Evaluation of Tolman's Theory
Contributions
I name him the "grandfather" of cognitive psychology and comparative cognition
Not the same thing: Observational learning may or may not involve imitation
Example: swerving to miss pothole after driver in front of you hit pothole. You did not imitate, you observed and gained information (and missed the pothole)
FYI, I had a similar doll when I was 9. I put a hole in it using one of my toy soldiers
Children's behavior was affected by vicarious reinforcement and by vicarious punishment
Like Tolman, Bandura saw reinforcement as a performance variable, not a learning variable
Bandura offered that all of the following were missing in observational learning:
Discriminative stimuli
Overt responding
Reinforcement
Major Theoretical Concepts
Attentional Processes
Models more likely to be attended to:
Are similar to observer (e.g., same demographics)
Are respected
Have high status
Have demonstrated competence
Are viewed as powerful
Are viewed as attractive
Retentional Processes
Information is stored imaginally (actual stored pictures) and verbally (using language) (both those are symbolic)
Both types are difficult to separate
Information stored is retrievable, rehearseable, and changeable
Behavioral Production Processes
Can the information be converted into action?
Example: I can watch a pro tennis star serve all day long, but can I reproduce that serve, motorically, myself?
Regardless, a period of cognitive rehearsal is necessary
Motivational Processes
Functions of reinforcement
Creates expectation that model's reinforced behaviors will continue to be reinforced
Creates incentive to perform the learned behavior when appropriate
Reinforcement functions are informational and motivational
For Bandura, neither reinforcement nor direct experience are necessary for learning
Reciprocal Determinism
Bandura's different answer to the question: "Why do people act as they do?"
Reciprocal Determinism
Interaction of:
Behavior
Person
Environment
Self-Regulation of Behavior
Human behavior is largely self-regulated
Indidual performance standards are learned and they become the basis for self-evaluation
Intrinsic reinforcement comes from self-evaluation
Extrinsic reinforcement is less influential
High performance standards may lead to distress
"Subgoals of moderate difficulty are...likely to be the most motivating and satisfying." (p.. 355)
Perceived Self-Efficacy
Perception of one's own capabilities
Comes from:
Personal accomplishments and failures
Seeing similar persons succeed or fail
Verbal persuasion
But, direct or vicarious experience is the strongest source
Perceived self-efficacy and Real self-efficacy do not always match
Moral Conduct
A Moral Code develops via interaction with models: Parents, primarily
Self-Contempt comes from violations of one's Moral Code
Bandura opposes stage theories and trait theories
Bandura maintains that human behavior is inconsistent
Mechanisms
Moral Justification
My immoral behavior served a higher purpose
Euphemistic Labeling
Changing name of immoral act to make it less likely to arouse self-contempt
Advantageous Comparison
What I did was less immoral than what they did.
Displacement of Responsibility
I was following orders.
Diffusion of Responsibility
We were all immoral.
Disregard or Distortion of Consequences
I did not do anything immoral. Or, I had no idea that what I did would cause harm.
Dehumanization
Those people are not like us.
Attribution of Blame
They were asking for it.
FYI, can you see how far we getting from just talking about learning?
Practical Applications of Observational Learning
Acquisition: comes from vicarious reinforcement
Inhibition: comes from vicarious punishment
Disinhibition: comes from observing unpunished participation in a feared activity
Facilitation: comes from observer making a similar response
Creativity: can arise from facilitation
Abstract Modeling can:
Solve problems
Be applied to new situation
Has three components
Observing a wide variety of situations that have rule or principle in common
Extracting the rule or principle in common
Utilizing the rule or principle in a new situation
Modeling in the Clinical Setting
Fear reduction
Single modeling and Multiple modeling
Multiple led to less fear
Direct modeling and Symbolic modeling
Direct was more effective
Bandura, Blanchard, and Ritter (1969)
Live modeling with participation was most effective in reducing fear
So too were: Symbolic modeling and Systematic desensitization but not as much as live modeling with participation
The Influence of the News and Entertainment Media
Media can act as a model
Doomsday Flight example: Led to copycat attempts to the movie's plot (p. 364)
Pornographic movies
Can be used as therapy those suffering sexual anxieties and dysfunctions
Social Cognitive Theory
Unlike Tolman and Dollard and Miller, Bandura's theory is more comprehensive
Bandura differentiated between "social learning theory" and his "social cognitive theory"
Agency: n. the state of being active, usually in the service of a goal, or of having the power and capability to produce an effect or exert influence.--APA Dictionary of Psychology
Agency makes Bandura's approach broader than other theories we have studied
