Chapter 1
Human Learning: Science and Theory
Theory
To understand behavior, psychologists need to simplify, to discover regularity
and predictability, and to invent comparisons.
Theories, Principles, Laws, and Beliefs
A scientific theory is a collection of related statements
whose main function is to summarize and explain observations.
Hypotheses are “if-then” statements about relationships that
researchers believe exist.
Principles are statements that relate to some predictability
in nature or behavior. (maybe empirical generalizations)
Laws are statements whose accuracy is beyond reasonable
doubt. (Not truth; truth can never be found to be untrue.)
Beliefs describe statements that are more private and more
personal than are principles or laws; attempts to describe general facts.
Bubba psychology and folk beliefs – large bodies of commonly
held beliefs about human behavior held by all societies; may or may not be true.
Characteristics of good theories:
summarize and organize observations accurately
clear and understandable
adhere to principle of parsimony
is falsifiable
useful
internally consistent
based on not a large number of assumptions
thought-provoking and provide satisfying explanations
Learning Theory
Recent origins of learning theory
early attempts to explain behavior on the basis of instincts and emotion
William James and Edward Bradford Titchener relied heavily on introspection,
examining one’s feelings and motives and generalizing from these.
Establishment of a psychological lab in Leipzig, Germany by Wilhelm Wundt in
1879, is considered by many as the beginning of psychology as a science.
Wundt used objective methods of science to study mentalistic concepts such as
consciousness, sensation, feeling, imagining, and perceiving.
Classifications of learning theories
Behaviorism
stimuli – conditions that lead to behavior
responses – actual behavior
Cognitivism – interested in human mental activity, specifically information
processing, representation, and self-awareness.
gestalt theories
Bruner, Piaget, and Vygotsky
More recent computer models of thinking
Current investigations of memory
Current investigations of motivation
Psychology and Learning
Psychology is the study of human behavior and thinking.
Epistemology is the study of knowledge; asks how we know the world and how we
know that what we think is real, actually is.
Aristotle
Plato
DesCartes