Adaptive Learning and the Human Condition presents the basic principles of classical (Pavlovian) and instrumental (Skinnerian) conditioning in a more coherent and expansive manner than is the case in other textbooks. Learning is defined as an adaptive process through which individuals acquire the ability to predict, and where possible, control the environment. This overarching definition enables integration of traditional Pavlovian and Skinnerian principles and terminology and makes explicit why treatment of the learning process is essentially limited to these two historical research paradigms. Pavlov developed a methodology for studying animals under circumstances where they could predict, but not control, sequences of environmental events. Skinner studied animals under circumstances where their behavior had an effect upon environmental events. Observational learning and symbolic communication (i.e., spoken or written language) are incorporated as indirect learning processes through which individuals can acquire the ability to predict or control. This treatment creates a perspective within which it is possible to consider the fundamental nature of the learning process in understanding the human condition and in addressing significant individual and social concerns. Examples of applications and issues not included in similar textbooks include: * The role of classical and instrumental conditioning in language acquisition * The administration of rewards and punishers in Baumrind's parental styles as related to Kohlberg's stages of moral development * Stone-Age hunter-gatherer and technologically-advanced cultures: How did we get from there to here? * Self-control and self-actualization While covering traditional technical and theoretical issues, the book is written in a clear, engaging style. The narrative builds across chapters, culminating in the treatment of applications and societal concerns of import and interest to students and faculty alike. Upon completing this book, readers should be able to: explain the significance of human condition through adaptive learning; present the basic principles of classical and instrumental conditioning; and understand the significance of scientific research

Table of Contents:
Part 1: A Science of Adaptive Learning Chapter 1: Science, Psychology, and Adaptive Learning Chapter 2: Adaptive Learning Research Methods Part 2: Predictive Learning Chapter 3: Predictive Learning: Basic Principles and Phenomena Chapter 4: Predictive Learning: Basic Variables and Theoretical Issues Chapter 5: Predictive Learning: Applications Part 3: Control Learning Chapter 6: Control Learning: Basic Principles and Phenomena Chapter 7: Control Learning: Basic Variables and Theoretical Issues Chapter 8: Control Learning: Applications Chapter 9: Schedules of Reward and Maintenance of Learned Behavior Part 4: The Human Condition Chapter 10: Personality, Socialization, and Culture Chapter 11: Becoming Human and Transforming the Human Condition Chapter 12: Becoming Human through Indirect Social Learning Chapter 13: Individual and Cultural Self-Actualization Chapter 14: Self-Actualization through Self-Control FULL TABLE OF CONTENTS: Part 1: A Science of Adaptive Learning Chapter 1. Science, Psychology, and Adaptive Learning The Human Condition Explanation and Empiricism The Scientific Method Early History of Psychology Psychology Today Scientific Explanation in Psychology Where Does Psychology Look for Explanations? Definitions of Learning Direct and Indirect Learning Summary Key Terms Chapter 2. Adaptive Learning Research Methods Internal and External Validity Non-Experimental Research Methods Experimental Research Methods Adaptive Learning Research Methods and External Validity Summary Key Terms Part 2. Predictive Learning Chapter 3. Predictive Learning: Basic Principles and Phenomena Pavlov's classical conditioning paradigm Measurement Procedures Basic predictive learning phenomena Predictive learning schema with excitatory and inhibitory stimuli Summary Key Terms Chapter 4. Predictive Learning: Basic Variables and Theoretical Issues Variables influencing predictive learning Theoretical Issues Summary Key Terms Chapter 5. Predictive Learning: Applications Basic and applied science Direct classical conditioning of emotions Indirect classical conditioning of emotions Desensitization and sensitization procedures Classical conditioning of word meaning Classical conditioning of attitudes Classical conditioning of drug tolerance Summary Key Terms Part 3. Control Learning Chapter 6. Control Learning: Basic Principles and Phenomena Thorndike and Skinner Apparatuses used to study control learning Skinner's contingency schema Adaptive learning overview of predictive and control learning Learned and unlearned appetitive and aversive stimuli Discriminative stimuli and warning stimuli Stimulus-response chains Basic control learning phenomena Species specific characteristics and control learning Other basic control learning phenomena Summary Key Terms Chapter 7. Control Learning: Basic Variables and Theoretical Issues Variables influencing control learning Theoretical issues Summary Key Terms Chapter 8: Control Learning: Applications Speech and Language (verbal symbolic behavior) Parenting Treating behavioral problems with non-verbal individuals Treating behavioral problems with verbal individuals Empirically validated therapeutic techniques Using technology to facilitate control learning Relapse prevention Summary Key Terms Chapter 9. Schedules of Reward and Maintenance of Learned Behavior Skinnerian methodology Skinner's schema of intermittent schedules of reinforcement Why do ratio schedules produce higher response rates than interval schedules? Maintenance of learned behavior Differential reinforcement schedules as alternatives to punishment Extinction as an alternative to punishment Non-contingent reinforcement as an alternative to punishment Summary Key Terms Part 4. The Human Condition Chapter 10. Personality, Socialization, and Culture Multiple schedules, personality, and culture Stimulus control, baseball, and the human condition Measuring stimulus control in the laboratory Determinants of stimulus control test patterns The peak shift and Spence's model of discrimination learning Attention theory and discrimination learning Summary Key Terms Chapter 11. Becoming Human and Transforming the Human Condition Concept learning Learning to learn Basic research in problem-solving The general problem-solving process Tools, technology, and the human condition The phonetic alphabet and Arabic numbering system Summary Key Terms Chapter 12. Becoming Human through Indirect Social Learning Observational learning Speech and language Preparing for school and the 3 Rs Summary Key Terms Chapter 13. Individual and Cultural Self-Actualization The Nukak's physiological needs The Nukak's shelter and safety needs The Nukak's love and interpersonal needs The Nukak's esteem needs The Nukak's self-actualization needs Our physiological needs Our shelter and safety needs Our love and interpersonal needs Developmental tasks and stages for the Nukak and us Our esteem needs Our self-actualization needs Bridges, globalization, and the human condition Summary Key Terms Chapter 14. Self-Actualization through Self-Control Concurrent schedules and the matching law Self-control - magnitude and delay of reinforcement Matching, impulsiveness, and adaptive learning Determinism and Freedom Lightning, sharks, and human predators Will Power and Self-Control Self-Control as Problem Solving Improving the human condition through humanistic ecology Summary Key Terms