Adaptive Learning and the Human Condition

Adaptive Learning and the Human Condition provides a coherent and comprehensive introduction to the basic principles of classical (Pavlovian) and instrumental (Skinnerian) conditioning. When combined with observational learning and language, they are responsible for human accomplishment from the Stone Age to the digital age. This edition has been thoroughly updated throughout, relating adaptive learning principles to clinical applications as well as non-traditional topics such as parenting, moral development, and the helping professions.

Defining learning as an adaptive process enables students to understand the need to review the basic animal research literature in classical and operant conditioning and consider how it applies to human beings in our everyday lives. Divided into four parts, this book covers historical research into psychology and adaptive learning, principles of adaptive learning (prediction and control), adaptive learning and the human condition, and behavior modification and the helping professions.

The book showcases how an adaptive learning strategy can be practical, diagnostic, and prescriptive, making this an essential companion for psychology students and those enrolled in programs in professional schools and helping professions including psychiatry, special education, health psychology, and physical therapy.