The Psychology Book (24 page)

cognitive map of

replaces behaviorism as the

their environment,

dominant movement in

which is like a

psychology.

“God-given maze.”

1980s
Joseph Wolpe’s

behavioral therapy and

Aaron Beck’s cognitive

therapy merge into cognitive

behavioral therapy.

Humans think in a

…which can be used

similar way to rats.

to
reach a goal
.

BEHAVIORISM 73

See also:
Ivan Pavlov 60–61 ■ Edward Thorndike 62–65 ■ John B. Watson 66–71 ■ B.F. Skinner 78–85 ■ Joseph Wolpe 86–87 ■ Wolfgang Köhler 160–61 ■ Daniel Kahneman 193

were only rewarded after six days,

route. Further experiments showed

and a third group rewarded after

that the rats learned a sense of

two days, Tolman’s ideas were

location rather than merely the turns

confirmed. The second and third

required to reach a particular place.

groups made fewer errors when

In
Purposive Behavior in Animals

running the maze the day after

and Men
, Tolman outlined his theory

There is more than one

they had been rewarded with food,

of latent learning and cognitive

kind of learning.

demonstrating that they already

maps, bringing together the

Edward Tolman

“knew” their way around the maze,

methodology of behaviorism with

having learned it prior to receiving

Gestalt psychology, and introducing

rewards. Once rewards were on

the element of cognition. ■

offer, they were able to use the

“cognitive map” they had built in

order to negotiate the maze faster.

Tolman questioned the basic

premise of conditioned learning

Latent learning

(that behavior was learned simply

Tolman referred to the rats’ initial

by an automatic response to a

learning period, where there was no

stimulus). He believed that animals

obvious reward, as “latent learning.”

could learn about the world around

He believed that as all animals,

them without the reinforcement

including humans, go about their

of a reward, and later use that

daily lives, they build up a cognitive

knowledge in decision-making.

map of the world around them—the

He designed a series of

“God-given maze”—which they can

experiments using rats in mazes to

apply to locate specific goals. He

examine the role of reinforcement

gave the example of how we learn

A cognitive map
of our surroundings

in learning. Comparing a group of

the locations of various landmarks

develops in the course of our daily

rats that were rewarded with food

on our daily journeys, but only realize

lives. We may not be aware of this

daily for successfully negotiating

what we have learned when we

until we need to find somewhere that

the maze, with another group who

need to find somewhere along the

we have passed without noticing.

Edward Tolman

Edward Chace Tolman was born

here that he experimented

into a well-to-do family in West

with rats in mazes. During

Newton, Massachusetts.

the McCarthy period, he was

He studied at the Massachusetts

threatened with dismissal for

Institute of Technology, graduating

not signing a loyalty oath that

in electrochemistry in 1911, but

he felt restricted academic

after reading works by William

freedom. The case was

James opted for a postgraduate

overturned in 1955. He died in

degree at Harvard in philosophy

Berkeley, aged 73, in 1959.

and psychology. While studying,

he traveled to Germany and was

Key works

introduced to Gestalt psychology.

After gaining his doctorate, he

1932
Purposive Behavior in

taught at Northwestern University,

Animals and Men

but his pacifist views lost him his

1942
Drives Toward War

job, and he moved to the University

1948
Cognitive Maps in Rats

of California at Berkeley. It was

and Men

74

ONCE A RAT HAS VISITED

OUR GRAIN SACK

WE CAN PLAN

ON ITS RETURN

EDWIN GUTHRIE (1886–1959)

IN CONTEXT

APPROACH

B
y the 1920s, when American way, Guthrie said, once a rat has

philosopher Edwin Guthrie

discovered a source of food, it knows

turned his attention to

where to come when it is hungry.

psychology, the stimulus–response

Guthrie expanded his idea into

Learning theory

model of learning formed the basis

a theory of “contiguity,” stating that

BEFORE

of almost all behaviorist theories.

“a combination of stimuli, which

Derived from Ivan Pavlov’s idea of

has accompanied a movement, will

1890s
Ivan Pavlov shows

“classical conditioning,” it claimed

on its reoccurrence tend to be

“classical conditioning” in dogs.

that repeatedly exposing subjects

followed by that movement.”

1890S
Edward Thorndike

to particular stimuli combinations

A movement, not behavior, is

designs the “puzzle box” for

(such as being given food and

learned from stimulus–response

his experiments on cats.

ringing a bell) could eventually

association. Related movements

provoke conditioned responses (such

combine to form an act; repetition

1920S
Edward Tolman queries

as salivating when a bell is rung).

does not reinforce the association

the role of reinforcement in

Although Guthrie was a strict

but leads to the formation of acts,

conditioning.

behaviorist, he did not agree that

which combine to form behavior. ■

AFTER

conditioning needed reinforcement

1938
B.F. Skinner’s
The

to be successful. He believed that a

full association between a specific

Behavior of Organisms
presents

stimulus and response is made in

the idea of operant conditioning,

their very first pairing. Guthrie’s

emphasizing the role of

theory of one-trial learning was

consequences in behavior.

based on a study in which he

We expect one quarrel

1940s
Jean Piaget develops a

observed cats trapped in “puzzle

to change attitudes.

theory of learning that claims

boxes.” The cats, once they had

Edwin Guthrie

children are naturally driven to

discovered the mechanism for

explore and acquire knowledge.

escape, made the association

between escape and their action,

1977
Albert Bandura’s
Social

which they would then repeat on

Learning Theory
states that

subsequent occasions. In the same

behavior is learned from

observing and copying the

See also:
Ivan Pavlov 60–61 ■ Edward Thorndike 62–65 ■ Edward Tolman 72–73 ■

behavior of others.

B.F. Skinner 78–85 ■ Jean Piaget 262–69 ■ Albert Bandura 286–91

BEHAVIORISM 75

NOTHING IS MORE

NATURALTHAN

FOR THE CAT TO

“LOVE” THE RAT

ZING-YANG KUO (1898–1970)

IN CONTEXT

APPROACH

I
n the 1920s, behaviorist John

B. Watson was claiming that

even innate behavior could be

altered by conditioning. But it was

Behavioral epigenetics

the Chinese psychologist

BEFORE

Zing-Yang Kuo who took the

behaviorist idea to its extreme,

1874
Francis Galton addresses

denying the existence of instinct

the nature–nurture controversy

as an explanation for behavior.

in
English Men of Science:

Kuo felt that instinct was just

Their Nature and Nurture.

a convenient way for psychologists

1924
John B. Watson makes

to explain behavior that did not

his famous “dozen infants”

fit current theory: “Our behavior

Harmonious relationships
,
Kuo

boast that anyone, regardless

researches in the past have been

proved, can exist between animals that

of their basic nature, can be

in the wrong direction, because,

are traditionally regarded as enemies.

trained to be anything.

instead of finding how we could

He concluded that there is no “innate

mechanism” driving them to fight.

build nature into the animal, we

AFTER

have tried to find nature in the

1938
B.F. Skinner in
The

animal.” Kuo’s most well-known

Kuo’s work was cut short by political

Behavior of Organisms
explains

experiments involved rearing

events in China, which forced him

his radical behaviorist ideas,

kittens—some raised from birth in

to flee first to the US, then Hong

claiming that circumstances,

cages with rats, others introduced

Kong. His ideas only became known

not instinct, govern behavior.

to rats at later stages. He found that

in the West as behaviorism was

“if a kitten was raised in the same

beginning to wane and cognitive

1942
Edward Tolman

cage with a rat since it was very

psychology was in the ascendant.

publishes
Drives Toward War
,

young, it, when grown-up, became

However, his theory of ongoing

which examines whether

tolerant of rats: not only would it

development without innate

aggression is conditioned

never attack a rat, but it adopted

mechanisms was influential as

or instinctive.

the rat as its ‘mate’, played with it,

a counter to the instinct-based

1966
Konrad Lorenz publishes

and even became attached to it.”

psychology of Konrad Lorenz. ■

On Aggression
, explaining

aggressive behavior as an

See also:
Francis Galton 28–29 ■ John B. Watson 66–71 ■ Edward Tolman 72–73 ■