March 2022
Cumulative Record. Chapter 7: Are Theories of Learning Necessary. Quote 24
Beyond the collection of uniform relationships lies the need for a formal representation of the data reduced to a minimal number of terms. A theoretical construction may yield greater generality than any assemblage of facts. (pp. 99-100)
Cumulative Record. Chapter 7: Are Theories of Learning Necessary. Quote 22
By occasionally reinforcing a response on one key or the other without favoring either key, we obtain equal rates of responding on the two keys . . . This follows the rule that tendencies to respond eventually correspond to the probabilities of reinforcement. (p. 92)
Cumulative Record. Chapter 7: Are Theories of Learning Necessary. Quote 19
Even after prolonged extinction an organism will often respond at a higher rate for at least a few moments at the beginning of another session . . . The only way to achieve full extinction in the presence of the stimulation of starting an experiment is to start the experiment repeatedly. (p. 85)
Cumulative Record. Chapter 7: Are Theories of Learning Necessary. Quote 14
[Many events do not occur] often enough to make a rate of response meaningful. But these activities are not responses. They are not simple unitary events lending themselves to prediction as such. If we are to predict marriage, success, accidents, and so on, in anything more than statistical terms, we must deal with the smaller […]
Cumulative Record. Chapter 7: Are Theories of Learning Necessary. Quote 13
If we are to predict behavior (and possibly to control it), we must deal with probability of response. The business of a science of behavior is to evaluate this probability and explore the conditions which determine it. (p. 76)
Cumulative Record. Chapter 7: Are Theories of Learning Necessary. Quote 6
A science of behavior must eventually deal with behavior in its relation to certain manipulable variables. Theories—whether neural, mental, or conceptual—talk about intervening steps in these relationships. But instead of prompting us to search for and explore relevant variables, they frequently have quite the opposite effect. (pp. 70-71)
Cumulative Record. Chapter 7: Are Theories of Learning Necessary. Quote 4
The term theory will . . . refer here . . . to any explanation of an observed fact which appeals to events taking place somewhere else, at some other level of observation, described in different terms, and measured, if at all, in different dimensions. (p. 69)