Educational Psychology
Xianyou He
Department of Psychology,
South China Normal University,
Guangzhou,PRC
Tolman’s Learning Theory
? Instructional objectives:
? ※ What does one learn in his learning,
according to Tolman?
? ※ What is the opinion of Tolman about
reinforcement and reinforcement
expectancy?
Tolman’s Learning Theory
? 1,Edward Chace Tolman:
? (1886-1959),American
psychologist.
? Received his M.A.(1912)
and Ph.D.(1915) degrees
at Harvard Uni.
? Famous for his learning
theory.
Tolman’s Learning Theory
? 2,Major theoretical notions:
? ＊ What is learned?
? ＊ What is latent learning?
? ＊ Is reinforcement itself or reinforcement
expectancy more important?
Tolman’s Learning Theory
? 2,Tolman’s Learning Theory,an overview
? a blend of Gestalt theory and behaviorism,
? His main disagreement with the behaviorists
was over the unit of behavior to be studied.
? molar behavior （ 克分子的） or molecular （ 分子
的） behavior?
? Molar behavior are large,intact(完整无缺的）,
meaningful behavior patterns,e.g,a rat
running a maze,a man driving home to
dinner.
Tolman’s Learning Theory
? (1) What is learned?
? Cognitive map is a picture of the
environment that can be used to get around
in it,
? Learning is essentially a process of
discovering what leads to what in the
environment,
Tolman’s Learning Theory
Tolman’s Learning Theory
? (2) Latent learning:
? Latent learning is learning that is not
translated into performance,In other words,
it is possible for learning to remain dormant
for a considerable length of time before it is
manifested in behavior.(learning without
reinforcement).
? The empirical evidence from Tolman and
Honzik in 1930:
Tolman’s Learning Theory
Tolman’s Learning Theory
? (2) Latent learning:
? Conclusion,Reinforcement is a
performance variable and not a learning
variable.
Tolman’s Learning Theory
? (3) Reinforcement expectancy:
? An experiment by Elliott in 1928:
? He trained one group of rats to run a maze for
bran mush(麦芽糖） and another to run a maze
for sunflower seeds,On the tenth day of
training,the group that had been trained on
bran mush was switched to sunflower
seeds.The results are as follows:
Tolman’s Learning Theory
Chapter 5 Tolman’s Learning Theory
? (4) Place learning versus response learning:
? Tolman maintained that animal learn where
things are,whereas the S-R theorists
maintained that specific responses are learned,
A typical experiment was done by
Tolman,Ritchie,and Kalish(1946).The
apparatus is as the following:
? response group:
? place learning group:
Chapter 5 Tolman’s Learning Theory
Chapter 5 Tolman’s Learning Theory
? 3 Implications for education
? 3.1 Emphasizing the importance of thinking
and understanding,
? 3.2 Students should be exposed to a topic from
different viewpoints.
? 3.3 Extrinsic reinforcement is unnecessary for
learning to take place.
Chapter 5 Tolman’s Learning Theory
? 4 Evaluation of Tolman’s theory
? Contributions:
? ＊ His experiments had been identified as the
predecessor of current studies in comparative
cognition(Olton,1992）,
? ＊ Many current theories that emphasize the
learning of expectances and claim that the
function of reinforcement is to provide
information rather than to strengthen
behavior owe a great debt to Tolman.
Chapter 5 Tolman’s Learning Theory
? Criticisms:
? ＊ Tolman actually caused regression of psy,back
into the mentalistic orientations of the 19th century
rather than progression of psy,through 20th
century(Malone,1991).(because of too many
variables).
? ＊ Have no immediate applicability to practical
problems.
? ＊ Animal experiments:Dedicated his book
Purposive Behavior in Animal and Men(1932) to
the white rats,
Tolman’s Learning Theory
? To summarize:
? ＊ What one learns is cognitive map.
? ＊ Reinforcement is not necessary in
learning,
? ＊ Reinforcement expectancy is more
important than reinforcement itself.
Questions
? 1.What are the differences between Tolman’s theory
and Watson’s theory? What are the similarities
between Tolman’s theory and Gestalt theory?
? 2,Give instances from your own person life that
would either support or refute Tolman’s theory of
learning?
? References:
? 1,An Introduction to Theories of Learning,By
B.R.Hergenhalm,2001.
? 2,Educational Psychology,Theory and Practice,By
Robert E,Slavin,1994,
Thanks for your listening