GUTHRIE’S CONTIGUOUS

CONDITIONING

Edwin Ray Guthrie (1886-1959) devised a new model of learning by

synthesising the idea of temporal contiguity(togetherness of stimulus and
response) with Pavlovian model of classical conditioning.

Guthrie-Horton experiment
Puzzle box - observed 800 escapes, Learned to escape in its own manner,
They also noted often cats escaping the box ignored the food kept outside the
box (lack of interest in food),Never tried new ways of release (called as
stereotyped behaviour)

On the basis of this experiment Guthrie reached certain conclusion and laid
down basic principle for explaining learning:-

➔ Law of contiguity
Guthrie asserted that all rules by which stimuli and responses
become associated to assist any learning, may flow from a single law-----Law
of contiguity He gave 2 explanations:-

● A combination of stimuli which has resulted in a movement, on its

recurrence, will tend to be followed by that movement(1952)
● What is being noticed becomes a signal for what is being done (1959)

According to these interpretations, If we do something in given situation we

tend to do that thing again incase we are again put into the same situation.
It happens due to the formation of close association of stimuli and the
response.

➔ One Trial learning

 Most behaviourist believe in the law of frequency which implies
that learning is proportional to the strength of an association depending on
the frequency with which it has occurred. Guthrie (1942) completely rejected
the law of frequency by saying:- A stimulus pattern gains its full associative
strength on the association of its pairing Thus there is no need for repetition
of the S-R bond as the association develops its full strength and learning
becomes quite complete only after one pairing between S-R.

➔ The Recency Principle

This states what was being done in the past in the presence of a set
of stimuli will tend to be done next when that stimulus combination occurs.
➔ Movement- produced stimuli function
There is fairly a long interval of time between the stimulus and the response,
there must definitely be something to fill in the gap or interval between the
occurrence of an external stimuli and the final response, Guthrie explained
this by inventing the term Movement- produced stimuli

Movement-produced stimuli are Stimuli which are produced by the

movement of our body and are responsible for conditioning the responses to
elicit the desired behaviour.
Response is initiated by an external stimulus, the body holds the
responsibility of producing the stimulus for the next response and that can
furnish the stimulus for the next one in the form of a chain reaction
Eg: Telephone bell.

➔ Learning of acts or behaviour

Behaviour involves learning of many skills- driving a car, playing a sport etc.
Skills is made up of many acts and acts are made up of many movements
which results from muscular contractions
Therefore learning of a skill or performing an act consists of learning
thousands of associations between specific stimuli and specific movement.
While learning a single movement requires on one trial.

➔ Role of reinforcement or reward

In the behaviour of cats, they often ignored the food placed outside the
box,that did not affect the proficiency in coming outside the box. This
observation caused him disagree with Thorndike and redefined the role of
reward/reinforcement
Reward/reinforcement is not essential conditions for the recurrence of the
previous response.Animal repeats the preserved association between being
in the puzzle box and moving the pole resulting in its release regardless of
the food it gets after the release.
Encountering the food does not intensify the previous behaviour rather
protects that behaviour from being unlearned

➔ Forgetting and extinction of behaviour

Weakening the association between S-R occurs not due to non reinforcement
but due to interference. He accepts an extreme form of retroactive
inhibition(Interference in old learning by new learning) to explain extinction
and forgetting.
One is required to learn something new in such a way that the old learning is
completely reversed.

➔ Role of Punishment
It is effective only through its association resulting in a new response to the
stimuli It is not about inducing certain kind of painful experiences but
because it forces the organism to do something different.
Eg : punishing a dog who chases a motorcycle is to give a slap in his rose so
that he does not follow, if the slap is given to the rear part of the dog he may
follow the motorcycle more faster.

➔ Motives and drives

With the maintenance of the stimuli they keep the organism active until the
goal is reached. Eg. Hunger or thirst - stimulated behaviour maintains till
one is satisfied. Thus it accelerates the movement of the organism to reach
the goal.

➔ Transfer of training
 Guthrie’s theory gives some consideration to Thorndike’s identical element
theory of transfer. According to that, similarity between 2 may act as
deciding factor for the probability of a similar response in 2 situations.
Guthrie’s theory asserts that transfer in two situations can only take place if
stimulating condition in both situations are identical

SUMMARY OF GUTHRIE’S THEORY OF CONTIGUITY

Guthrie’s theory is based on single law of learning, i.e. law of contiguity which
states when 2 events occur together, they are learned, therefore learning is
based on the association or connection between a stimulus and a response
together.
For maintaining the chain of continuity between the external stimuli and
responses finally made by us, our body through its movement tends to
produce the stimulus for subsequent response in a chain like mechanism
Learning occurs in a single trail

Educational Implications of Guthrie’s theory

● Learning is complete after only one pairing between the stimuli and
the response
● If we want to evoke a learned response we have to arrange for the
occurrence of stimulating conditions identical to the ones in which
the response behaviour has been learned.
 Eg. If a student has to be examined in a classroom laboratory/exam set
up, then he can do better if he is taught in conditions which require
him to demonstrate his performance.
● Stresses on the need of drilling and practicing
● Interference caused to past learning by new learning is avoided , for
minimizing forgetting. All types of drive, motives and means like
rewards and punishment must be utilised for evoking and intensifying
response
● Guthrie’s theory provided valuable cues and ways for breaking bad
habits. He outlined the following 3 different techniques:-

❏ Threshold technique - Introducing stimulus at a weak

strength that it will not cause the response and then gradually
increasing the intensity of the stimulus always taking care that it
is below the threshold of the response.
❏ Fatigue technique- it allows the individual to perform the task
concerning the bad habit repeatedly until he becomes too tired
to continue.
❏ Incompatible response technique - an undesired response
elicited by particular stimuli is inhibited by a simultaneous
presentation of both types of stimuli such as Causing undesired
response- other a stronger stimulus produces a response which
is incompatible with the undesired response

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Hull’s Systematic
Behaviour Theory
Clark L Hull (1884-1952) He put forth a systematic mathematical and
scientific theory of human behaviour He rejected Guthrie’s contiguity
approach and Thorndike’s S-R formula
 Few major concepts and theoretical notions emerging :-

Change in traditional S-R notion

Hull rejected the Guthrie’s contiguity approach as well as the S-R formula
given by thorndike. Hull introduced the concept of intervening variables
(process which are thought to be taking place within the organisms but are
not directly observable) between S & R.

Accordingly, when a stimulus (S) impinges on the organisms,it results in a

sensory neural impulse (s) a kind of stimulus trace. This stimulus trace
ultimately cause a motor neural reaction (r) that results in an over response
(R). Thus we may have the formula S-s-r-R instead of the traditional S-R.

There are many other things within the inner mechanism of the organisms
like his interests, needs and drives and also reinforcing mechanisms that may
influence the response or behavior. Consequently, traditional S-R formula
in Hull’s approach was extended to S-O-R incorporating all intervening
variables existing between environmental stimulation and overt response.

Concept of Reinforcement and drive-stimuli Reduction

Hull refuted the Guthrie’s claim that learning is completed in single trail.
Instead, he maintained that it is stamped through a process of repeated
reinforcement like getting food or avoiding pain etc. Hull’s reinforcement
was different from that of Thorndike(law of effect) and Skinner( anything
that increases the probability of the re-occurrence of response). Hull viewed
in terms of reduction of one’s need , drive or drive-stimulus.

Drive, according to him may be referred to as state of tension resulting from

a need
e.g.thirst drive arises from the body’s need to take water

Drive-stimuli are stimuli that characteristically accompany a certain drive

E.g.dryness of mouth, lips and throat accompanies the thirst drive
During his work, he changed his stand twice from need reduction to drive
reduction and finally to drive stimulus reduction for associating it with the
task of reinforcement for the following 2 reasons:-

1. Experimentally observed behaviour of hungry rats could be effectively

reinforced by saccharine-sweetened water which is sweet but utterly
non-nutritive i.e. not possessing the capacity to reduce the food need.
The ingestion of saccharine-sweetened water reduces the hunger
tension for a brief period.

2. Reduction of drive takes considerable time .

E.g. if we consider the thirst drive, it takes a long time or the water to
go into the mouth, the throat, the stomach, the blood, and effects of its
ingestion to be conveyed to the brain to reduce the thirst drive. Water
is taken and soon it results in the reduction of thirst drive-stimuli.
The behaviour is reinforced and thus the reinforcement of one’s
behaviour can be better explained through the concept of drive-
stimulus reduction than the drive reduction.

Aim of reinforcement:
Is to be the reduction of drive or drive stimuli.
Reinforcement are of 2 kinds:
Primary reinforcement : strengthen certain behaviour through
satisfaction of biological needs, drives.

Secondary reinforcement : brought on by an originally neutral stimulus

by association with primary reinforcement ( money-food)

Habit formation and Habit strength

According to Hull, when a stimulus emits a response and it is
accompanied by a reinforcer the association between stimulus and
response is strengthened.
 Repetition of reinforcement progressively strengthen the association,
it brings the organisation in nervous system known as habit (behaviour
is learned). Hull reduced learning to habit formation.

The success of his learning behaviour is measured through a concept

termed as habit strength (sHr)
Hull considered habit strength as a strength of the association between
a stimulus and response. It goes up with the number of trail provided
there is a reinforcement in every trial

Stimulus generalisation
If there are two/more similar stimuli they can elicit same/nearly the
same response from the organism
Habit strength will generalise from one stimulus to another to the
extent to which the two stimuli are similar.
He explained the phenomenon of transfer of training-learning
performed under similar situations was likely to be transferred to a
new situation.

Reaction Potential (sEr)

It indicates the potential of an individual to respond or react
Reaction Potential (sEr) = sHr × D × V × K
Reaction potential depends on 4 factors :

1. Habit strength (sHr) : how often the response was

rewarded in a particular situations.
2. Strength of the Drive (D) : potentially present to
energise the behaviour of an individual in that situation.
3. Stimulus Intensity (V) : the power of the stimulus to
evok a desired response.
4. The Incentive (K) : the degree of attractiveness of a
particular reward present in the situation.
If anyone had a value of zero then the reaction potential would be zero.

Inhibition
Exercises regressive effect on reaction potential:-decreasing/ eliminating
recurrence.
Two types :
Reactive inhibition (Ir)
It is caused by internal physiological and biochemical nature of the
individual and therefore varies from individual to individual. It causes a
reduction in the drive level as well as in the reaction potential of an individual
to r
epeat a response or behaviour. The impact of fatigue may however may
vanish as a result of some rest. This is why there may be spontaneous
recovery of learned response after extinction (non-occurrence of the learned
response is due to reactive inhibition)

Conditional inhibition (sIr)

It is a result of learning and experience. Its based on psychological and
environmental factor.

Effective reaction potential

Inhibitions, reactive and conditioned, both tend to reduce the level of one's
reaction potential which result in effective reaction potential (sĒr)

Effective reaction potential (sĒr) = (sHr × D × V × K ) - (Ir + sIr)

= (Reaction potential ) - (Inhibition)

Momentary effective reaction potential:

Learned responses were seen to be elicited on some trials and not on all - due
to variation in the inhibitory potential depending on internal and external
factors. This concept was called as Oscillation Effect (sOr)

Momentary effective reaction potential ( ):-

=[(sHr× D × V × K ) - I] - sOr
Education implications
1. The concept of Intervening variables between the S-R
2. Gave importance to drives , needs, incentives, motivation-need based
goals in education
3. To reduce need was also a kind of reinforcement
4. Emphasised on good habits as means of learning desired behaviour
5. Individual differences
6. Emphasised on the need for proper rest and measures to reduce fatigue in
any act of learning

Hull’s system of learning advocated the following chain sequence for

improved results in teaching learning process:-
I. Drive : This is something which is needed by the learner inorder to
behave or respond.
II. Cue : There must be something to which the learner must respond
III. Response : The learner must be made to respond or do something in
order to learn some act
IV. Reward : Learners response must be reinforced or rewarded to enable
him learn what he wants to learn.

SUMMARY