Associative Learning, Memory, and Instinctive Behavior

Associative Learning

According to psychologists Hilgard and Marquis, learning reflects a stable behavioral change that allows living organisms to adapt to their environment. This means changing or acquiring a new, stable behavior that aids in environmental adaptation. The initial explanations of how we learn come from:

Reflexology or Classical Conditioning

Ivan Pavlov, a key figure in this field, conducted the famous "Pavlov's Dog" experiment. He aimed to demonstrate how humans and animals learn. He placed a capsule in the dog's mouth to collect saliva. When presented with food (an unconditioned stimulus), the dog's unconditioned response was to salivate. Pavlov then paired the food with a sound (a bell). After several repetitions, the dog responded to the bell alone (a conditioned stimulus), salivating as a conditioned response.

American Behaviorism or Operant/Instrumental Conditioning

Led by B.F. Skinner, this theory posits that we learn more than just passively. In his experiments, a rat or pigeon was placed in a box with a lever. Accidentally pressing the lever released food. The animal, observing this, repeated the behavior, learning that lever-pressing resulted in food. Much of human behavior is conditioned by responses termed "reinforcement" in psychology. E. Thorndike established three laws, the last stating that humans and higher animals are more likely to repeat actions that result in a reward, while actions followed by punishment become less frequent. Much of our behavior operates in this manner.

Memory

Memory is a cognitive process involving the fixation, retention, preservation, and reproduction of knowledge. When imagination works to fix, retain, store, and replay images corresponding to a previous perception, it's called reproductive imagination, recreating situations we've experienced. When it involves creative elaboration based on previous perception, it's called creative imagination or fantasy. Imagination prepares us for future events. Behavior must adapt to the environment for our actions to be satisfactory. Different schools have studied behavior:

1. Instinctive Behavior
2. Associative Learning
3. Perceptual-Cognitive Learning
4. Intelligence

Instinctive Behavior

Instinctive behavior is innate; it is not learned or modified by experience. According to Jose Luis Pinilla, a prominent Spanish psychologist, instincts are broad, innate behavioral patterns common to all members of a species, used for stereotyped adaptation to the environment.