PSY201 L5 Guthrie’s Law of Contiguity

PSY201 L5

Edwin Ray Guthrie

• proponent of the Law of Contiguity.

• taught at the University of Washington.

The Psychology of Learning

• Guthrie’s book, published in 1935.

Contiguity

• close timing btwn occurence of stimulus & corresponding response

“What is Learned is What is Done”

• Guthrie’s basic law.

• Learning → Action → Habit

Movement & Response

• part of Guthrie’s Basic Law

• The mechanism through which learning occurs.

• Not just observation, but also…?

Action

• Part of Guthrie’s Basic Law

• This precise element becomes associated with situations.

• Basis of habit and learned behavior

Habit

• Part of Guthrie’s Basic Law

• Learned behaviors in response to various cues.

• Actual Actions have greater effect than Intentions.

Complex Behaviors

• A series of movements, where each movement is a small S-R combination.

Fatigue, Threshold, Incompatible Response

Guthrie’s 3 Methods of Breaking Habits.

Fatigue

• A way to break a habit

• Intentionally repeating a behavior to exhaustion.

Threshold

• A way to break a habit

• a new response must be strong enough to override an existing one.

• More compelling/ immediate association

Incompatible Respnse

• A way to break a habit

• Engage in a behavior that makes the original habit impossible/ impractical.

One-Trial Learning

• Guthrie’s principle

• A stimulus pattern gains its full associative strength on the occasion of its first pairing with a response

• Powerful association on the first time S-R are combined

Cats in a Puzzle Box

• Guthrie’s experiment

• Enforced One-Trial Learning

• association between the box and the escape plan (S-R) established in a single trial

• Learning can occur w/out reward

Law of Frequency

• strength of association btwn S-R depends on frequency it occurs

• More frequent association = stronger association

Recency Principle

• Whatever we did last in a certain situation (set of stimuli) will be what we tend to do again if the situation reocurs.

Movement-Produced Stimuli

1. Response is initiated by external S

2. Body produces internal S (muscle mvmts) for next Overt Response

3. That Overt R becomes the S for the next one

4. Continuous S-Rs until complex behavior is done

Simplicity, Empirical Support, Practical Applications

3 Strengths of Guthrie’s Theory

Simplicity

• straighforward explanation of learning

• Emphasizes direct association btwn S-R

Empirical Support

• Experiments like Cats in a Puzzle box provide evidence that supports One-Trial Learning as a concept.

Practical Applications

• Guthrie’s theory can be applied in education and behavior modification, and other settings.

Thorndike, Cognitive Psychologists, Constructivists

Main critics of Guthrie’s Theory.

Law of Effect

Edward Thorndike’s theory. Critiques Guthrie.

• responses followed by satisfying outcomes are more likely to be repeated

• Reinforcement is critical

• Challenges One-Trial Learning

Ignoring Cognitive Processes

• The main critique of cognitive psychologists

• Guthrie’s model oversimplifies learning by ____ ____ _____ that can influence behavior beyond mere S-R associations.

Constructivists

Critiquers of Guthries’s Theory. Argue that One-Trial Learning ignores more complex processes.

• Active engagement

• Social interaction

• Construction of Knowledge

Neglect of Reinforcement, Limited Scope, Overgeneralization

3 Weaknesses of Guthrie’s Theory

Neglect of Reinforcement

• A weakness of Guthrie’s theory

• Ignores how rewards and punishments can significantly influence behaviors.

Limited Scope

• A weakness of Guthrie’s theory

• focuses only on observable behavior

• Ignores cognitive processes that affect how we respond to stimuli

  • Insight

  • Problem-solving

  • Emotional factors

Overgeneralization

• A weakness of Guthrie’s theory

• One-Trial Learning can’t be applied for more complex learning scenarios

• Require multiple experiences & contextual understanding