The Principles of Learning and Behavior: Active Learning Edition

This active learning edition includes a new, built-in workbook that provides examples and exercises to help students practice and remember what they read in the text. In addition, students read graphs and make their own interpretations of what the information yields about behavior. Each exercise begins with a short lesson, and then has short assignments that range from 1 minute to 30 minutes worth of work—some are short answer, some are projects, and some are more involved. The workbook also incorporates students exercises for SNIFFY THE VIRTUAL RAT, VERSION 2.0. Known for its currency and clear writing style, PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING AND BEHAVIOR provides a comprehensive and systematic introduction to elementary forms of learning that have been the focus of research for much of the twentieth century. The book covers habituation, classical conditioning, instrumental conditioning, stimulus control, aversive control, and their applications to the study of cognition and to the alleviation of behavior problems. Biological constraints on learning are integrated throughout the text, as are applications boxes that relate animal research to human learning and behavior. The book closely reflects the field of research it represents in terms of topics covered, theories discussed, and experimental paradigms described.

As historically emphasized areas of psychology, learning and behavior are part of the foundation for students in the field. Domjan's (psychology, U. of Texas) text serves as an introduction to students on what learning and behavior encompass and how to study it. He describes different categories of behavior and research on that behavior, with an emphasis on types of conditioning and controlling behavior. The fifth edition incorporates new research and summaries of research on animal cognition in memory and learning. Annotation ©2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Michael Domjan is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. Domjan specializes in various areas of learning including animal learning, biological constraints on learning, learning mechanisms in reproductive behavior, and comparative psychology. He has been recognized with the MERIT Award from the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH) (1993), the G. Stanley Hall Award from the American Psychological Association (APA) (1995), and election as President of the Division of Behavioral Neuroscience and Comparative Psychology of the APA (1999-2000). He is the recipients of 16 grants for research from the National Science Foundation, NIMH, and other agencies and has published more than 100 papers and presented in his area of specialization at more than 115 conventions.