PSYC10003 Lecture Notes - Lecture 26: Edward C. Tolman, Social Learning Theory, Cognitive Map
12 Jun 2018
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Lecture 26, Thursday, 5 May 2016
PSYC10003 - MIND, BRAIN & BEHAVIOUR 1
LECTURE 26
COGNITIVE & SOCIAL LEARNING THEORIES
COGNITIVE LEARNING
•Some researchers thought in order to understand learning, they needed to put the mind back into
learning.
•There are internal cognitive processes, even in non-human animals; organisms interpret the
stimulus before they respond to it.
•They are not a ‘black box’, as the Behaviourists stated, but they actively perceive, anticipate,
‘think’ about stimuli in the world.
•These cognitive processes strongly contribute
to learning.
→ Edward Tolman (189-1956)
•Tolman believed cognitive processes play an
important role in learning of complex
behaviours.
•However, it is harder to demonstrate
cognitive processes, and one needs clever
experimental techniques to show them.
•Tolman studied the problem solving
strategies of rats in mazes with food as an
end goal.
•After several trials of running in the maze, the rat would
learn to get to the goal quickly and with few errors.
•When the original maze is suddenly replaced by a new
one, the rats would go in the same direction as where
the food was before. However the rat wouldn’t take the
same straight line straight ahead, it would take the line
that leads to the same general direction of the food.
•Behaviourists would say that this behaviour ^ is
impossible, as this suggests that the rat has a mental
representation of where the food is.
•In other mazes, rats can also learn shortcuts to the food.
•Tolman suggested that rats do not simply learn S-R
associations, but they actually build cognitive maps of
their environment.
•A cognitive map is a mental representation of a the spatial characteristics of a familiar
environment, such as a maze
•This means, the rats could use their maps to actively reason about alternative routes to the goal
•Learning also occurs in the absence of rewards and punishments. Tolman conducted another
experiment, with three groups of rats in mazes.
•Group A: always reinforced (food)
•Group B: never reinforced (no
food)
•Group C: delayed reinforcement
– first no food, then later
suddenly food
•According to Behaviourism,
learning should only take place
under conditions of reward;
group A should learn fast, group !
Document Summary
Think" about stimuli in the world: these cognitive processes strongly contribute to learning. Tolman conducted another experiment, with three groups of rats in mazes: group a: always reinforced (food, group b: never reinforced (no food, group c: delayed reinforcement. First no food, then later suddenly food: according to behaviourism, learning should only take place under conditions of reward; group a should learn fast, group. One of three movie conditions" was shown to children in which a model enters room and hits, kicks and verbally abuses a bobo doll. Condition 1: aggressive model was rewarded with lollies, soft drink and praise by another adult. Condition 2: aggressive model was punished with spanking and verbal criticism. Condition 3: no consequences for the model"s behaviour (no reinforcement or punishment) Each child was then taken individually into a room that had many toys and a bobo doll (watched via a one way mirror).
