Learning and behavior: a contemporary synthesis

Research on fundamental learning processes continues to tell an important and interesting story. In the Second Edition of his textbook, Mark Bouton recounts that story, providing an in-depth but highly readable review of modern learning and behavior theory that is informed by the history of the field. The text reflects the author's conviction that the study of animal learning has a central place in psychology, and that understanding its principles and theories is important for students, psychologists, and scientists in related disciplines (e.g., behavioral neuroscience and clinical psychology).Lively and current, Learning and Behavior: A Contemporary Synthesis, Second Edition engages students while illustrating the interconnectedness of topics within the field and the excitement of modern research. What's New in This EditionOver 50 new chapter-end Discussion Questions engage the student in reviewing and integrating the chapter material.In addition to new figures, all of the art has been digitally enhanced and updated to full colour.New and expanded coverage of topics such as metacognition in animals, behavioral economics, hybrid attention theory, consolidation and reconsolidation, the motivational control of instrumental behavior, and action and habit learning.

Chapter 1. Learning theory: What it is and how it got this way. -- Chapter 2. Learning and adaptation. -- Chapter 3. The nuts and bolts of classical conditioning. -- Chapter 4. Theories of conditioning. -- Chapter 5. Whatever happened to behavior anyway? -- Chapter 6. Are the laws of condition ing general?. -- Chapter 7. Behavior and its consequences. -- Chapter 8. How stimuli guide instrumental action. -- Chapter 9. The motivation of instrumental action. -- Chapter 10. A synthetic perspective on instrumental action.