(1) Experimental process: tolman believes that the expectation of reward plays an important role in learning behavior. Let's first look at an animal experiment in tolman. He trained two groups of white rats to go astray. When group A mice arrived at the destination box, they got sunflower seeds, while group B mice got maltose. It seems that maltose is more popular than sunflower seeds, because group B mice run faster than group A, but after ten days of training, the experimenter changed the food pairing of the two groups of mice, that is, group A now gets maltose and group B gets sunflower seeds. As a result, the situation was contrary to that ten days ago, and there was an obvious contrast effect, that is, Group B, which had eaten well before, ran slower than before, while Group A, which had eaten badly before, ran faster than before. Therefore, tolman thinks that when the expected service of the organism is realized, that is, the reward is not as good as the expected reward. Not only can it not improve the original operation level, but it will also reduce the original operation level. It can be seen that there is no doubt that an organism has certain expectations for a specific goal.
(2) Enlightenment from the experiment: Here, tolman is studying the influence of animals' expectation of reward on their behavior. So, is there a similar situation in our human learning behavior? The answer is yes. In the process of learning, students will also expect the teacher's motivation. If these expectations are realized, students' learning motivation will be enhanced, otherwise, students' learning motivation will be weakened. Therefore, teachers should contact, communicate and know more about students' psychology and wishes, and meet students' psychological needs as much as possible in teaching, so as to improve students' enthusiasm and initiative in learning and steal students' learning efficiency.
2. detour path experiment: in order to achieve the purpose of learning, we must recognize the learning conditions.
Tolman believes that biological learning is not only purposeful, but also cognitive. Because an organism will encounter all kinds of situations and conditions in the process of achieving its goals, it must recognize these situations and conditions before it can learn the means to achieve its goals and use the means it has mastered to achieve its learning goals.
Tolman used "symbols" to represent the organism's cognition of the environment, and thought that learners learned the symbols that can achieve the goals and the meanings represented by the symbols in the process of achieving the goals, and formed a certain "cognitive map", which is the essence of learning.
(Cognitive map: tolman proposed that animal learning does not establish a connection between a series of stimuli and reactions, but forms a maze pattern in the brain, which tolman called cognitive map. )
(1) Experimental results: If all three channels are clear, rats choose the first channel; If there is a jam, the mouse chooses the second channel; If B is blocked, the mouse chooses the third channel.
(2) Experimental interpretation learning is purposeful, not blind; Learning is the cognition of "symbol-gestalt"; There is an intermediate variable (O) between external stimulus (S) and behavioral response (R). Tolman's learning purpose and learning cognition concept directly come from Gestalt theory of Gestalt School, and absorb some positive achievements of Gestalt School's thought, and think that behavior is a whole behavior and the result of learning cognition.
Tolman combined the theory of trial and error with teleology, and thought that there were intermediary variables such as teleology and cognition between stimulus and response, which not only studied the external performance of behavior, but also discussed the internal brain activity. From the content point of view, he emphasized the cognitive theory, and from the form point of view, he still adopted the S-R theory, so some people say that "tolman is a half-breed, and he has both".
3. Motivation theory experiment-a pioneering experiment on potential learning.
Tolman was one of the earliest psychologists who systematically explored learning motivation. He thinks that when an organism is interested in a specific goal,
The object will be eager to act when it has certain requirements. The level of animal behavior operation is influenced by two factors: reward and internal drive.
(1) Experimental process: He divided the mice into four groups: Group A was not hungry and was not rewarded; Group b is hungry, but no prize is given.
Encourage; Group C was rewarded but not hungry; Group d is hungry and rewarding. The experimental results show that the running speed of mice in group D is the fastest, and the operation level of mice in group A has hardly improved. Therefore, tolman believes that the motivation factor is obviously restricted by two factors. The driving force (internal driving force) and incentive value (reward) of the target object are two factors that determine the animal's requirements, use expectations, cognitive map or other cognitive structure and the degree of appropriate behavior.
(2) Enlightenment from the experiment: tolman believes that the rats in the experimental group are still learning every day without food reward. In the process of walking, they are familiar with the path that can pass through the maze, and form a "cognitive map" about the maze in their minds, forming a cognitive expectation of the path, but this learning effect is not shown without reward. This kind of learning is called latent learning. When the subjects in the experimental group were fortified with food, the effect of this potential learning immediately appeared. Tolman's motivation theory tells us that proper motivation for students' learning behavior can improve students' learning enthusiasm and learning effect more than no motivation. It is better to give incentives on the premise that students have strong intrinsic learning motivation than to give incentives when students lack intrinsic learning motivation.
Therefore, on the one hand, teachers should pay attention to the use of incentive mechanism, on the other hand, teachers should pay attention to the timing when using incentive mechanism, so as to make their own incentives achieve the best results.
4. Summary of tolman experiment.
(1) Learning is a holistic and purposeful behavior. Tolman emphasized the integrity of behavior and thought that behavior was a holistic phenomenon. This holistic behavior is purposeful and cognitive, and it is considered that purpose and cognition are the flesh and blood of behavior and the direct characteristics of behavior. Therefore, some people call tolman's theory "cognitive-teleology". Tolman objected to behaviorists' decomposition of complex behavior sequence into a large number of simple stimulus-response units, and thought that behavior must be understood and explained according to the observable overall characteristics. Therefore, tolman first emphasized that wholeness is obtained through learning, not natural perceptual gestalt; Secondly, it emphasizes the shaping of problem situation and the organization of stimulation. All forms of knowledge are integrated into a complete system, so it is only when we examine the whole sequence of various behaviors with a fixed and predictable purpose that we can understand behaviors; Thirdly, it is considered that the plasticity of behavior is also the characteristic of learning integrity. Tolman also believes that since behavior is plastic, the purpose and cognition of behavior are self-evident.
(2) Intermediate variables. Tolman put forward the intermediate variable for the first time. He proposed that there is an intermediary variable between stimulus (the initial cause of behavior) and behavior, that is, the internal determinant. This intermediary variable is mainly the purpose and cognition of behavior. In this way, the S-O-R coupling formula of behaviorism becomes the S-O-R in tolman's theory, and O is an intermediate variable, which is related to demand and cognition. There are three main types of intermediary variables: ① Need system: physiological deprivation or internal driving situation at a specific moment; (2) Belief value motivation: indicates the intensity of desire to choose certain objects and the relative intensity of these objects in meeting needs; ③ Behavior space: Behavior occurs in individual behavior space. In this behavior space, some objects are attractive (positive valence) and some objects are disgusting (negative valence). Mediator variable can't be directly observed, but it is the decider of behavior.
(3) Learning is the cognition of "symbol-gestalt". "Symbol" is a term used by tolman to stimulate. Gestalt means gestalt. Like gestalt theory, gestalt means that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. He further pointed out that "symbol-gestalt" contains the cognition of meaning goal and means-purpose relationship. Only by combining the external feeling (symbol) with the internal representation (perception) to form the association structure and the combination of various relationships can the gestalt be formed. He believes that the position learning of rats is not a series of stimulus-response processes, but a process of acquiring symbols related to their environment and their representative meanings, and combining symbols (stimulus structure patterns) into a new gestalt in a gestalt, that is, forming a "symbol-gestalt" cognitive structure in their minds, which tolman called "cognitive map". This kind of map is a cognitive structure of "target-object-means". It is when the mice run the tunnel that they get the "cognitive map" through learning, so they can act according to the cognitive map, choose shortcuts and get food.
(4) Learning is the acquisition of expectation. In tolman's learning theory, expectation is one of the core concepts, which refers to a cognitive viewpoint formed through learning and has the meaning of "pre-cognition". He believes that any kind of learning process is a process of establishing expectations for a specific whole (including symbols, goals, means relationships and results). For example, the expectation of "target-object" is the pre-cognition of a specific target-object; The expectation of "means-object" is the cognition of the object and the means to realize it; The expectation of "symbol-gestalt" is the cognition of the symbol of the way to achieve the goal. Therefore, expectation is cognitive and acquired through learning. There are three levels of expectation: "perceptual" expectation; "Memory" expectation; "Reasoning" expectations. In short, learning is the cognition of goals, means, ways and the results of achieving goals, that is, the acquisition of expectations (or cognitive concepts). Tolman's symbol learning theory introduced the cognitive view and behaviorism learning connection theory, which changed the wrong view that learning is blind and mechanical. Creatively designed various rigorous experiments, criticized the connectionist learning theory, and expanded the cognitive explanation of learning. This research paradigm has played a leading role in the birth of modern cognitive psychology. Tolman's general view of psychology is behaviorism, which affects his in-depth discussion of the internal information processing process of learning. Tolman's system is a kind of holistic behaviorism. He believes that behavior contains not only the details of some physiological processes, but also cannot be deduced from muscle twitching. Behavior has its special properties: first, behavior always tends to or avoids a certain goal, which marks the purpose of the whole behavior. Secondly, in the process of pointing to the target, organisms can use various ways and means provided by the environment to show that behavior is both purposeful and cognitive. Third, behavior tends to choose short-term and easy-to-achieve activities, which tolman called "the principle of least effort". Finally, the overall behavior has the characteristics of acceptable education, because it can educate change.