Theories of Learning (Part 4)

David Hartley (1849) stated that there was physical basis for association of ideas. This physical basis was in the brain, he contended, and the process of association was interlocked with bodily processes and not with ideas alone.

He also believed that mental life was composed of sense impressions which left copies of themselves in the form of simple ideas or sensations, and, through association, these impressions gained the ability to call up other ideas.

Alexander Bain, an evolutionist and contemporary of William James, described (1855) behavior in terms of reflex and instinct. He noted that "Actions, Sensations and States of Feeling, occurring together or in close succession, tend to grow together, or cohere, in such a way that, when any one of them is afterwards presented to the mind, the others are apt to be brought up in idea." Bain was interested in determining the conditions of learning. He would have liked to be able to explain retention as a neurological process rather than as a mental function.

A pioneer in objectivity, Edward L. Thorndike, the father of the theory of "connectionism" (1914), believed that simple association was not enough to insure future connection, but that a desirable effect was necessary to confirm it. His concept was that there must be contiguity, that if ideas act together they make up another intelligible association, and we then have a stimulus and response association.

The hypothesis from which he started was that a neural bond was formed. He conducted experiments to find out by what forces the learning process was conditioned when it was regarded as a connecting of bonds. Among his conclusions was the conviction that the learner's response to a given stimulus—other things being equal—depends upon the "strength of the connection" between them. Thus, the importance of 'stamping in' in learning.

Thorndike listed numerous laws to state his theory.

• The Law of Effect states that, through use, the neural bonds are strengthened but that painful association decreases their strength.



• The Law of Exercise states that a modifiable connection increases the strength, the lack of such connection will decrease strength.



• The Law of Readiness deals with motivation and the explanation that it is satisfying to the subject to conduct when the conduction unit is ready.



• The Law of Multiple Response describes trial and error learning.



• The Law of Attitudes, Dispositions and 'Set* claims that these conditions affect learning.



• The Law of Partial Activity points out that there is a choice of elements that will lead to the aim.



• The Law of Assimilation or Analogy states that the response is adapted from the experiences of the past.



• The Law of Associative Shifting derives from study of the conditioned response.

Thorndike later offered an altered Law of Exercise which stated that mere repetition was not enough to insure learning, but that the degree of satisfaction involved must be given much importance. He also changed the Law of Effect to state that reward strengthens the connection, but punishment weakens it very little.