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GUTHRIE’S CONTIGUOUS CONDITIONING

Presented by,

Ansheera.p

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EDWIN RAY GUTHRIE(1886-1959)

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Guthrie was born in Lincoln, Nebraska on Jan. 9, 1886.

He received his PhD in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania (1912), and joined University of Washington (1918) as an assistant professor.

Published Psychology of Learning (1935).

Collaborated With Horton (1936-39) On Stereotypical Behavior Of Cats In A Puzzle Box.

Revised The Psychology Of Learning (1952).

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Received a gold medal from American Psychological Foundation (1958).

Died in 1959.

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In general, most learning theories can be thought of as attempts to determine the rules by which stimuli and responses become associated. Guthrie felt that the rules that had been generated by theorist like Thorndike and Pavlov were unnecessarily complicated and In their place he proposed one law of learning, THE LOW OF CONTIGUITY

ARISTOTLE’S LAWS OF ASSOCIATION

Law of AssociationA thought (or an idea) that was originally experienced along with other thoughts, will on their recurrence will lead to the recall of the associated thoughts.

Contiguity principle asserts that the basis for items to be associated are closeness in time and/or space.

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GUTHRIE’S LAW OF CONTIGUITY

“A combination of stimuli which has accompanied a movement will on its recurrence tend to be followed by

that movement”

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Another way of stating the law of contiguity is to say that if you did something in a given situation, the next time that you are in that situation you will tend to do the same thing

Example:

A student making a good grade on a test after trying a new study technique makes an association between the stimulus of studying and the response of getting a good grade.

In his last publication before he died, Guthrie (1959) revised his law of contiguity

“what is being noticed becomes a signal for what is being done”

ONE-TRIAL LEARNING

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ARISTOTLE’S LAW OF FREQUENCY

Stimuli and their resulting responses have to be repeated frequently for a strong association to form between them.

Repetition of stimulus and a response strengthens the bond between them.

Most behaviorists believe in the law of frequency

Thondike emphasized repetitions and drill for a satisfactory state of affaires

Watson and Pavlov also emphasized repetition of the association between conditioned and unconditioned stimuli for the conditioning of a required response.

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Guthrie completely rejected the low of frequency as a learning principle

Guthrie however proposed, that stimulus pattern gains its full associative strength on its first pairing with the movement (response).

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Thus, to Guthrie learning is the result of contiguity between a pattern of stimulation and a response, and learning is complete (the association at full strength)after only one pairing between the stimuli and the response

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THE RECENCY PRINCIPLEThe principle of contiguity and one trial learning necessitate the recency principle

In other words, whatever we did last under a given set of circumstances will be what we will tend to do again if those circumstances are reencountered

“Recency principle states that recent stimuli will form associations with an action or

movement than previous stimuli”.

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MOVEMENT-PRODUCED STIMULI

Movement-produced stimuli: stimuli which are caused by movements of the body

If we hear a sound and turn toward it, for example, the muscles, tendons, and joints produce stimuli that are distinctly different from the external stimulation that caused us to move

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The important fact about movement-produced stimuli is that they can have responses conditioned to them

That is, after a response has been initiated by an external stimulus, the body itself can produce the stimulus for the next response and that response can furnish the stimulus for the next one.

External stimulation(e.g.: telephone ringing

overt response(Eg: turning toward telephone)

movement produced stimuli

overt response(Eg: rising from chair)

movement produced stimuli

overt response(Eg: walking toward telephone

movement produced stimuli

overt response(Eg: picking up telephone)

EXAMPLE:-

Thus, the interval between the occurrence of an external stimulus and the response finally made to it is filled with movement produced stimulus

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WHY DOES PRACTICE IMPROVE PERFORMANCE

To answer this question Guthrie differentiated between acts and movements

Movements are simple muscle contractions

Acts are made up of a large number of movements

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Acts are usually defined in terms of what they accomplish, that is, what change they make in the environment(Typing a letter, eating a meal, throwing a ball, reading a book)

Learning a skill consists of learning thousands of association between specific stimuli and specific movements

Practice allows more and more of these specific association to be made

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A skill is made up of many acts, and acts are made up of many movements

The relationship between one set of stimuli and one movement is learned at full strength in one trial, but this does not bring about proficiency at a skill

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NATURE OF REWARDGuthrie took issue with Thorndike(LAW OF EFFECT)

LAW OF EFFECT: learning depend upon the outcome of an action. when a response led to a satisfying state of affairs, its probability of recurring increased

Guthrie felt the law of effect was completely unnecessary

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For Guthrie, reward was merely a mechanical arrangement which he felt could be explained by his own law of learning

According to Guthrie, reward changes the stimulating conditions and thereby prevents unlearning

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THE GUTHRIE-HORTON EXPERIMENT

Guthrie and Horton carefully observed approximately eight hundred escape by cats from a puzzle box

Horton took photographs. Guthrie took notes.The puzzle box they used was very similar to the apparatus that Thorndike used in his selecting and connecting experiment

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Each cat learned its own peculiar stereotypical movement to escape the box. Thus Guthrie suggested it reflected one-trial learning, unlike Thorndike’s proposal that cats learnt through repetition.

Guthrie also proposed that cats did not need reinforcement to learn. This also opposed Thorndike’s idea that reinforcement was required. To Guthrie, reinforcement was a potent stimulus that prevented unlearning.

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FORGETTINGLike one-trial learning, forgetting also occurs in just one trial. In the

presence of a stimulus pattern when an old movement is replaced by new movement forgetting takes place.

Contiguity theory implies that forgetting occurs when one habit prevents another due to some stronger stimuli.

Guthrie stated that forgetting is due to interference because the stimuli become associated with new responses

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HABIT FORMATION AND CHANGE

A habit is a response that has become associated with a large number of stimuli.

The more the stimuli elicit the response, the stronger the habit.

E.g. smoking, can be a strong habit because the response of smoking has taken place of so many cues .each cues present as a person smokes will tends to elicit smoking when next it is encountered

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METHOD OF CHANGING HABITTHRESHOLD:

Introduce weak stimulus. Increase stimulus but keep it below threshold value that will produce unwanted response.

FATIGUE:

Force the child to make unwanted response repeatedly in presenting stimulus.

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INCOMPATIBLE RESPONSE:

The stimuli for the undesired response are presented along with other stimuli that produce a response which is incompatible with the undesired response

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PUNISHMENT

Punishment works not because of the pain experienced by the individual but because it changes the way he responds to certain stimuli.

Punishment is effective only when it results in a new response to the same stimuli.

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DRIVES Physiological drive provide what Guthrie called maintaining stimuli that keep the organism active until a goal is reached.

Physiological drives are only one source of maintaining stimuli. Any persistent source of stimulation whether it be internal or external, can provide maintaining stimuli.

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INTENTIONSResponses that are conditioned to maintaining stimuli are called intentions.

They are called intentions because maintaining stimulation from a drive usually last for a period of time

The sequence of behavior preceding the drive reducing response is next repeated next time the drive with the related stimuli occurs

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TRANSFER OF TRAININGGuthrie would expect very little transfer of training.

According to Guthrie, the best place to study is in the room where you are going to be tested because all the stimuli in that room will associated the information that you are studying.

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THANK YOU