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Tolman's Cognitive Challenge to Behaviorism
Edward C. Tolman, another behaviorist, presented findings that conflicted with the strict behaviorist principle of immediate reinforcement. His experiments with rats demonstrated that learning could take place without an instant reward, providing evidence for a cognitive component in the learning process.
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Social Learning Theory
An experiment is conducted to test how individuals learn a complex maze. Three groups are used. Group 1 receives a reward each time they complete the maze. Group 2 never receives a reward. Group 3 receives no reward for the first ten trials, but then begins receiving a reward for each completion from trial eleven onward. A researcher who believes that internal mental representations are part of learning would predict which outcome?
In a landmark experiment, one group of rats was rewarded with food each time they completed a maze, and their performance steadily improved. A second group received no reward for the first 10 days and showed little improvement. However, when this second group started receiving rewards on day 11, their performance almost immediately matched that of the first group. This finding most directly challenges which fundamental behaviorist idea?