The document summarizes the work and learning theory of Edwin Guthrie. It discusses that Guthrie proposed one law of learning - the law of contiguity, which states that stimuli and responses become associated based on their closeness in time and space. Guthrie believed that learning occurred through a single pairing of a stimulus and response, in contrast to theorists like Thorndike who argued learning required repetition. The document also describes Guthrie's experiments with cats in a puzzle box and how they informed his views on learning, forgetting, and the lack of need for reinforcement. Overall, the document provides an overview of Guthrie's influential law of contiguity and its implications for understanding learning.

1. Presented by,
Ansheera.p
5/16/2015
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3.  Guthrie was born in Lincoln, Nebraska on Jan. 9, 1886.
 He received his PhD in philosophy from the University of
Pennsylvania (1912), and joined University of Washington
(1918) as an assistant professor.
 Published Psychology of Learning (1935).
 Collaborated With Horton (1936-39) On Stereotypical
Behavior Of Cats In A Puzzle Box.
 Revised The Psychology Of Learning (1952).
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4.  Received a gold medal from American
Psychological Foundation (1958).
 Died in 1959.
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5. In general, most learning theories can be thought of as
attempts to determine the rules by which stimuli and
responses become associated. Guthrie felt that the
rules that had been generated by theorist like
Thorndike and Pavlov were unnecessarily complicated
and In their place he proposed one law of learning,
THE LOW OF CONTIGUITY
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6. Law of Association
A thought (or an idea) that was originally
experienced along with other thoughts, will on their
recurrence will lead to the recall of the associated
thoughts.
Contiguity principle asserts that the basis for items
to be associated are closeness in time and/or space.

7. “A combination of stimuli which has accompanied a
movement will on its recurrence tend to be followed by
that movement”
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8. Another way of stating the law of contiguity is to say
that if you did something in a given situation, the next
time that you are in that situation you will tend to do
the same thing
Example:
A student making a good grade on a test after trying a
new study technique makes an association between the
stimulus of studying and the response of getting a good
grade.
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9. In his last publication before he died, Guthrie (1959)
revised his law of contiguity
“what is being noticed becomes a signal for what is
being done”

11.  Stimuli and their resulting responses have to be
repeated frequently for a strong association to form
between them.
 Repetition of stimulus and a response
strengthens the bond between them.
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12. Most behaviorists believe in the law of frequency
Thondike emphasized repetitions and drill for a
satisfactory state of affaires
Watson and Pavlov also emphasized repetition of the
association between conditioned and unconditioned
stimuli for the conditioning of a required response.

13. Guthrie completely rejected the low of frequency as
a learning principle
Guthrie however proposed, that stimulus pattern
gains its full associative strength on its first pairing
with the movement (response).
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14. Thus, to Guthrie learning is the result of contiguity
between a pattern of stimulation and a response, and
learning is complete (the association at full
strength)after only one pairing between the stimuli
and the response
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15. The principle of contiguity and one trial learning
necessitate the recency principle
In other words, whatever we did last under a given
set of circumstances will be what we will tend to do
again if those circumstances are reencountered 5/16/2015 15
“Recency principle states that recent
stimuli will form associations with an action or
movement than previous stimuli”.

16.  Movement-produced stimuli: stimuli which are
caused by movements of the body
If we hear a sound and turn toward it, for example,
the muscles, tendons, and joints produce stimuli that
are distinctly different from the external stimulation
that caused us to move
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17. The important fact about movement-produced stimuli is
that they can have responses conditioned to them
That is, after a response has been initiated by an external
stimulus, the body itself can produce the stimulus for the
next response and that response can furnish the stimulus
for the next one.
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18. External stimulation(e.g.:
telephone ringing
overt response(Eg: turning
toward telephone)
movement produced stimuli overt response(Eg: rising from
chair)
movement produced
stimuli
overt response(Eg: walking
toward telephone
movement produced stimuli overt response(Eg: picking
up telephone)
EXAMPLE:-

19.  Thus, the interval between the occurrence of an external
stimulus and the response finally made to it is filled
with movement produced stimulus

20. To answer this question Guthrie differentiated
between acts and movements
Movements are simple muscle contractions
Acts are made up of a large number of movements
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21. Acts are usually defined in terms of what they accomplish,
that is, what change they make in the environment(Typing
a letter, eating a meal, throwing a ball, reading a book)
Learning a skill consists of learning thousands of
association between specific stimuli and specific
movements
Practice allows more and more of these specific association
to be made
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22. A skill is made up of many acts, and acts are made up of
many movements
The relationship between one set of stimuli and one
movement is learned at full strength in one trial, but this
does not bring about proficiency at a skill
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23. Guthrie took issue with Thorndike(LAW OF EFFECT)
LAW OF EFFECT: learning depend upon the outcome of an action.
when a response led to a satisfying state of affairs, its probability of
recurring increased
Guthrie felt the law of effect was completely unnecessary
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24. For Guthrie, reward was merely a mechanical arrangement
which he felt could be explained by his own law of
learning
According to Guthrie, reward changes the stimulating
conditions and thereby prevents unlearning
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25. Guthrie and Horton carefully observed approximately eight
hundred escape by cats from a puzzle box
Horton took photographs. Guthrie took notes.
The puzzle box they used was very similar to the apparatus
that Thorndike used in his selecting and connecting
experiment
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27. Each cat learned its own peculiar stereotypical movement
to escape the box. Thus Guthrie suggested it reflected one-
trial learning, unlike Thorndike’s proposal that cats learnt
through repetition.
Guthrie also proposed that cats did not need reinforcement
to learn. This also opposed Thorndike’s idea that
reinforcement was required. To Guthrie, reinforcement was
a potent stimulus that prevented unlearning.
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28. Like one-trial learning, forgetting also occurs in just one trial. In the
presence of a stimulus pattern when an old movement is replaced
by new movement forgetting takes place.
Contiguity theory implies that forgetting occurs when one habit
prevents another due to some stronger stimuli.
Guthrie stated that forgetting is due to interference because the
stimuli become associated with new responses
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29. A habit is a response that has become associated with a large
number of stimuli.
The more the stimuli elicit the response, the stronger the habit.
E.g. smoking, can be a strong habit because the response of
smoking has taken place of so many cues .each cues present as
a person smokes will tends to elicit smoking when next it is
encountered
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30. THRESHOLD:
Introduce weak stimulus. Increase stimulus
but keep it below threshold value that will produce
unwanted response.
FATIGUE:
Force the child to make unwanted response
repeatedly in presenting stimulus.
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31. INCOMPATIBLE RESPONSE:
The stimuli for the undesired response are
presented along with other stimuli that produce a response
which is incompatible with the undesired response
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32. Punishment works not because of the pain experienced by
the individual but because it changes the way he responds
to certain stimuli.
Punishment is effective only when it results in a new
response to the same stimuli.
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33. Physiological drive provide what Guthrie called
maintaining stimuli that keep the organism active
until a goal is reached.
Physiological drives are only one source of
maintaining stimuli. Any persistent source of
stimulation whether it be internal or external, can
provide maintaining stimuli.
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34. Responses that are conditioned to maintaining stimuli are
called intentions.
They are called intentions because maintaining stimulation
from a drive usually last for a period of time
The sequence of behavior preceding the drive reducing
response is next repeated next time the drive with the related
stimuli occurs
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35. Guthrie would expect very little transfer of training.
According to Guthrie, the best place to study is in the room
where you are going to be tested because all the stimuli in
that room will associated the information that you are
studying.
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