Lesson 1:

Historical Antecedents and

The Concept of Learning

Dr. Javier Bandrés

PLATO AND ARISTOTLE
APPLE
NIGHT
THUNDER
BREAD
CHAIR
BAT
GIRL
DENTIST
QUIET
SUNSET
ELEPHANT
BLUE
Aristotle’s Three Principles of Associations

• Contiguity—The more closely together in

space or time two items occur, the more likely
the association

• Similarity—Thought of one concept often

leads to the thought of a similar concept

• Contrast—An item often leads to the thought

of its opposite l
 British Associationists

Thomas Hobbes (1651)

John Locke (1690)
David Hume (1711)
Thomas Brown (1820)
James Mill (1829)
John Stuart Mill (1843)
THE BRITISH ASSOCIATIONISTS: THEORY OF
KNOWLEDGE

Empiricism: Knowledge via experience

Direct correspondence:
Experience – Memory
Simple sensations – Simple Ideas

James Mills and Complex Ideas: Two or more

simple sensations are repeatedly presented
together, a product of their union may be a
complex idea. Complex ideas can combine to
form duplex ideas
James Mills and Complex
Ideas: Two or more simple
sensations are repeatedly
presented together, a
product of their union may
be a complex idea.
Complex ideas can combine
to form duplex ideas
 Thomas Brown’s 9 Secondary
Principles of Association
 Length of Time
 Liveliness
 Frequently
 Recently
 Free From Strong Associations
 Constitutional Differences
 Emotional State
 State of the Body
 Prior Habits
 Nativists: Immanuel Kant

Concepts of Space and Time are Inborn

 Ebbinghaus’s Memory
Experiments
 The use of nonsense syllables (e.g., HAQ,
PIF, ZOD)

 The concept of savings—The decrease in

the number of repetitions needed to
relearn the list
DAL
RIK
BOF
ZEX
KOR
VIQ
FOT
JUT
TIL
GEW
 Ebbinghaus’s Major Findings
 Correlation between list
length and study time
 Repetition strengthens
the association
 The Forgetting Curve
 The concept of Backward
Association
 Ivan Sechenov
Reflexes of the Brain (1863)

Mental Processes: Reflexive Physiological

Responses

Reflexes can be triggered or inhibited

Charles Darwin
Early Comparative Psychologists

George Romanes: collecting

examples of animal behavior
C. Lloyd Morgan; Morgan’s dog, Tony
Edward Thorndike; Two puzzle boxes
Thank you !
Ivan Pavlov and collaborators
John B. Watson
B. F. Skinner; A modern “Skinner box”