Edwin R. Guthrie
Edwin R. Guthrie (1886 – 1959)
Edwin Guthrie was another important scientist whose research advanced the behavioral perspective on learning. Guthrie started his academic career as a mathematician and philosopher, but he turned his scientific attention to the field of psychology at the University of Washington when he was in his 30’s.
As a researcher, Guthrie’s investigations led him to believe that learned human behavior could be reduced to constructs he called movements and acts.
Edwin Guthrie was another important scientist whose research advanced the behavioral perspective on learning. Guthrie started his academic career as a mathematician and philosopher, but he turned his scientific attention to the field of psychology at the University of Washington when he was in his 30’s.
As a researcher, Guthrie’s investigations led him to believe that learned human behavior could be reduced to constructs he called movements and acts.
Movements
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Discrete behaviors that result from muscle contractions.
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Acts
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Large-scale classes of movements that produce outcomes (e.g. playing the piano, writing an essay, having a conversation).
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But how does one learn movements and acts? This happens through associations. Associating (pairing) a stimulus with a response: movement. This notion is evident in his contiguity of stimulus and response principle:
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A combination of stimuli which has accomplished a movement will on its recurrence tend to be followed by that movement. The key element for learning is establishing a close proximity in time between the stimulus and response pairing.
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3.6 Explain Guthrie’s Principle of Associative Strength.
Guthrie also theorized about the strength of stimulus-response pairings, formulating the principle of associative strength:
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A stimulus pattern gains its full associative strength on the occasion of its first pairing with a response.
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The idea of associative strength is central to Guthrie’s “One Trial” theory of learning. He rejected the notion that learning results from multiple exposure to the same stimulus-response pairings, believing instead that if the initial stimulus is strong enough, a movement is immediately associated with it (unlike Thordike’s Law of Exercise). However, Guthrie did not suggest that people learn acts (complex behaviors) by performing them once. He believed that initially one or more movements become associated. Repetition of a situation adds movements, combines movements into acts, and establishes the act under different environmental conditions.
Guthrie applied his fundamental principles (contiguity, associative strength) to many aspects of learning…including memory. For example, he described recalling a memory as a movement (verbalization) that was associated with a specific stimulus condition or events at the time of learning. Forgetting involves new learning and is due to interference in which an alternative response is made to an old stimulus.
Guthrie did not believe that responses needed to be rewarded to be learned. Stimulus-response pairings just need to be contiguous (close in time).
Guthrie published the text The Psychology of Learning in 1935.
Guthrie applied his fundamental principles (contiguity, associative strength) to many aspects of learning…including memory. For example, he described recalling a memory as a movement (verbalization) that was associated with a specific stimulus condition or events at the time of learning. Forgetting involves new learning and is due to interference in which an alternative response is made to an old stimulus.
Guthrie did not believe that responses needed to be rewarded to be learned. Stimulus-response pairings just need to be contiguous (close in time).
Guthrie published the text The Psychology of Learning in 1935.
The last behaviorist researcher profiled in these notes is probably the most influential, by far. The work of B.F. Skinner has had arguably the most profound and lasting impact on education, even today.