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Tolman'S Purposive Behaviorism

Tolman's purposive behaviorism asserts that learning is a cognitive process involving forming beliefs about the environment and pursuing goals. Learning occurs through meaningful behavior as organisms acquire knowledge about signs that lead to goals. According to Tolman, organisms develop "cognitive maps" of their environment rather than simply forming stimulus-response connections. He argued that learning is always purposive and goal directed, as organisms act to fulfill adaptive purposes. Through experiments with rats in mazes, Tolman demonstrated that rats could learn the layout of mazes to find food rewards, even when rewards were in different locations, supporting the idea that rats form cognitive maps.

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286 views7 pages

Tolman'S Purposive Behaviorism

Tolman's purposive behaviorism asserts that learning is a cognitive process involving forming beliefs about the environment and pursuing goals. Learning occurs through meaningful behavior as organisms acquire knowledge about signs that lead to goals. According to Tolman, organisms develop "cognitive maps" of their environment rather than simply forming stimulus-response connections. He argued that learning is always purposive and goal directed, as organisms act to fulfill adaptive purposes. Through experiments with rats in mazes, Tolman demonstrated that rats could learn the layout of mazes to find food rewards, even when rewards were in different locations, supporting the idea that rats form cognitive maps.

Uploaded by

marjory alberto
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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TOLMANS

PURPOSIVE
BEHAVIORISM

PURPOSIVE BEHAVIORISM
Has been referred to as sign learning theory
and is often seen as the link between
behaviorism and cognitive theory.

PSYCHOLOGICAL VIEWS :
Gestalt psychologists
John Watson, the behaviorist

Tolmans believe that learning is a cognitive


process.
Learning involves forming beliefs and
containing knowledge about the
environment and then revealing that
knowledge and goal directed behavior.
Tolman stated in his theory, that an
organism learns by pursuing signs to goal.
Learning is acquired through meaningful
behavior.

The stimuli which are allowed in are not


connected by just simple one to one switches to
the out going responses. Rather the incoming
impulses are usually worked over and elaborated
in the central control room into a tentative
cognitive like map of the environment. And it is
thus tentative map, indicating routes, and paths
and environmental relationships, which finally
determines what response, if any, the animal will
make.

TOLMANS KEY CONCEPT :


LEARNING IS ALWAYS PURPOSIVE AND GOAL
DIRECTED
Tolman asserted that learning is learning always
purposive and goal directed. He held the notion that an
organism acted or responded for some adaptive purpose.

COGNITIVE MAPS IN RATS


In his famous experiments, one group of rats was p[laced
at random starting locations in a maze but the food was
always in the same location. Another group of rats had the
food placed in different locations which always require
exactly the same pattern of turns from their starting location.

LATENT LEARNING
A kind of learning that remains or stays WITH THE
INDIVIDUAL UNTIL NEEDED. IT IS LEARNING THAT
IS NOT OUTWARDLY MANIFESTED AT ONCE.

THE CONCEPT OF INTERVENING


VARIABLE
Intervening variable are variable that are not readily
seen but serve as determinants of behavior. Tolmans
believed that learning is mediated or is influenced by
expectations, perceptions, representations, needs and
other internal or environmental variables.

REINFORCEMENT NOT ESSENTIAL FOR


LEARNING
Tolman concluded that reinforcement is not
essential for learning, although it provides an
incentive for performance. In his studies, he
observed that a rat was able to acquired
knowledge of the way through a maze. To
develop a cognitive map, even in the absence of
reinforcement.

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