Learning and Behavior ─ A Contempory Synthesis

After introducing learning theory and its basic findings and concepts within a functional framework, Bouton explains the intellectual developments in the field. He covers what learning theory is and how it got that way, learning and adaptation, the nuts and bolts of classical conditioning, theories of conditioning, whatever happened to behavior anyway, whether the laws of conditioning are general, behavior and its consequences, how stimuli guide instrumental action, the motivation of instrumental action, and a synthetic perspective on instrumental action. The material is for students and practitioners in psychology and behavioral sciences. Annotation c2016 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)

Mark E. Bouton is the Robert B. Lawson Green & Gold Professor of Psychology at the University of Vermont. He is a leading researcher in the field of animal learning, cognition, and behavior. He received his B.A. from Williams College and his Ph.D. from the University of Washington. For many years, his research has investigated the relationships between context, conditioning, memory, and motivation, with a special emphasis on inhibitory processes like extinction. Some of his scientific writing has focused on the connections between modern learning theory, neuroscience, and issues in cognitive behavioral therapy (e.g., panic disorder, fear and anxiety, relapse after therapy). He has been a Fulbright Scholar, a James McKeen Cattell Scholar, a University Scholar at the University of Vermont, and a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (Stanford), and he is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and the Society of Experimental Psychologists. He was Editor of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, the field's most prestigious journal, from 1998 until 2003. He has taught an up-to-date course in Learning, which is given away in his book, for over three decades.