Learning and Behavior

Learning and Behavior reviews how people and animals learn and how their behaviors are changed because of learning. It describes the most important principles, theories, controversies, and experiments that pertain to learning and behavior that are applicable to diverse species and different learning situations. Both classic studies and recent trends and developments are explored, providing a comprehensive survey of the field. Although the behavioral approach is emphasized, many cognitive theories are covered as well, along with a chapter on comparative cognition. Real-world examples and analogies make the concepts and theories more concrete and relevant to students. In addition, most chapters provide examples of how the principles covered have been employed in applied and clinical behavior analysis.

The text proceeds from the simple to the complex. The initial chapters introduce the behavioral, cognitive, and neurophysiological approaches to learning. Later chapters give extensive coverage of classical conditioning and operant conditioning, beginning with basic concepts and findings and moving to theoretical questions and current issues. Other chapters examine the topics of reinforcement schedules, avoidance and punishment, stimulus control and concept learning, observational learning and motor skills, comparative cognition, and choice.

Thoroughly updated, each chapter features many new studies and references that reflect recent developments in the field. Learning objectives, bold-faced key terms, practice quizzes, a chapter summary, review questions, and a glossary are included. The text is intended for undergraduate or graduate courses in psychology of learning, (human) learning, introduction to learning, learning processes, animal behavior, (principles of) learning and behavior, conditioning and learning, learning and motivation, experimental analysis of behavior, behaviorism, and behavior analysis.

About the Authors

James E. Mazur is CSU Professor Emeritus at Southern Connecticut State University. He has taught and conducted research on learning for over 40 years. He is a former editor of the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. His research interests include reinforcement schedules, self-control, risk-taking, and mathematical models of choice.

Amy L. Odum is Professor of Psychology at Utah State University. She has taught and conducted research on learning for 30 years. She is a former editor of the Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior. Her research interests include behavioral pharmacology, delay discounting and other forms of impulsivity, operant (learned) variability, and behavioral momentum.