Associationist theory: its authors and psychological contributions

The ability to associate It is basic when it comes to being able to do an apprenticeship. We can know and react to certain stimuli because we are able to link events.

We smell a certain fragrance and salivate thinking that our favorite dish awaits us. We walk away from a meal that in previous experiences has had us vomiting for hours.

Someone looks at us in a certain way and we infer that they are angry or attracted to us. The associationist theory of learning, base of behaviorism and from this base of numerous techniques and psychological schools, argues that our response in this way is given because we are capable of linking phenomena and situations, learning and acquiring said association.

What is the Associationist Theory?

Based on the contributions of Aristotelian and numerous philosophers such as Locke and Hume, this theory would be developed by David Hartley and John Stuart Mill, who postulated that all consciousness is a consequence of the combination of stimuli and elements captured through the senses. Thus, mental processes are produced continuously based on a series of laws with which we link the stimuli of the environment.

In a simple and generic way, the associationist theory can be summarized as that which proposes that knowledge is acquired by the experience, linking the sensations produced by the presence and interaction with the stimuli in a mechanical way and whenever they meet a series of basic requirements known as association laws. As new associations are added, thought and behavior become more and more complex, being able to explain human performance based on learning the links between phenomena.

However, this theory would be considered solely philosophical until the arrival of behaviorism, which through numerous experiments and empirical tests they ended up elevating associationism to scientific theory.

The laws of the association

The associationist theory considers that when linking or relating the different stimuli or phenomena, we follow a series of universal rules that are innately imposed on us. The main laws of the association are the following, although later they would be revised and re-elaborated by the various authors who worked from associationism and behaviorism.

1. Law of contiguity

Initially, according to the law of contiguity, two events or stimuli are associated when they occur very closely in time and space. With time and systematic study, this law varied to refer to the need for mental representation of these stimuli appear jointly or closely in our mind, without requiring a physical proximity as such.

2. Law of similarity

For associationist theory, when two stimuli activate similar mental representations or have common characteristics, they are much more likely to be linked to each other based on that similarity.

3. Contrast law

Two stimuli will also be associated if they are completely contrary, because the existence of a contrast in the same stimulate quality is perceived.

4. Frequency law

The links between the most recurring events they tend to be stored more frequently, strengthening the association between these events or stimuli.

5. Law of recency

According to the law of recency, the more recent and the less temporal distance there is between both stimuli, the stronger the bond that is established between them.

6. Law of effect

This law was formulated by Edward thorndike as the basis of instrumental conditioning (later renamed by B. F. Skinner What operant conditioning) in order to explain conduct and behavior.

According to said law, the responses made by a subject that maintain contiguous relationships with reinforcing consequences they will be associated with great force to the original stimulus that produced said response, increasing its probability of repetition. If this response is followed by aversive consequences, the link with the stimulus will cause the response to be performed less frequently (initially it was proposed that because the association was less, but later this would be rectified).

Behaviorism and the association between stimuli

The association theory would eventually become one of the main pillars of behaviorism, which aims to investigate human behavior in a scientific way from the observable. Although behaviorism obviates mental processes in its study of human behavior as they are not directly observable, this current has served as the basis for new ways of interpreting the human psyche, emerging other schools and paradigms from both their successes and their limitations and integrating part of their techniques and beliefs basic.

Behaviorism uses association theory as a basis by considering that exposure to two contiguous stimuli produces a link between them. If a stimulus produces an effect in the body, it will generate a specific response to that stimulation. If, in addition, a second stimulus appears at or near the moment when an effect occurs, this stimulus will be linked to the first, ending up generating a similar response.

Throughout the history of behaviorism, it has evolved, developing various perspectives based mostly on association theory. Some of the best known and most prominent are classical conditioning and operant conditioning.

Classical conditioning

Also known as Pavlovian conditioning, this perspective considers that the organism is capable of associating various stimuli with each other. Certain stimuli are capable of provoking in the individual a direct response, such as pain or pleasure, generating in him a physiological response.

Coinciding with the associationist theory, classical conditioning considers that the contingent presentation of two stimuli causes them to be associated. For example, the presence of food (an unconditioned stimulus since it causes us a response directly) produces salivation (the unconditioned response).

If every time food is brought to us, a stimulus appears that by itself does not produce an effect like the ringing of a bell, we will end up considering that the bell announces the arrival of food and we will end up salivating at the simple sound of it, with which we will have conditioned our response to the second stimulus (the neutral stimulus will have become conditioned). Thanks to this conditioning we learn about stimuli and their relationship.

Operant conditioning

Classical conditioning can be used to explain associations between stimuli, but although the stimuli are captured passively, human behavior is for the most part motivated by the consequences of our actions.

In this sense, operant conditioning continues to be based on association theory to indicate that the individual learns by linking what he does with the consequences of his actions. The response to be applied to a certain stimulation is learned.

In this way, how we act depends on its consequences. If taking an action gives us a positive stimulus or eliminates or avoids a negative one, our behavior will be reinforced and will be carried out more often, while if we act accordingly. a certain way causes damage or the elimination of a reward, we will see these consequences as a punishment, with which we will tend to decrease the frequency with which we act.

Associative learning

Association theory, especially from behaviorism, has been applied with great frequency in the field of education. This is because the association Understanding as such the change in behavior, attitude or thought caused by the experience of certain experiences

By associative learning we understand the process by which a subject is capable of perceive the relationship between two concrete facts from observation. These relationships can become generalized to similar stimuli, at the same time that they are discriminative in relation to other phenomena. In other words, the relationship captured is specific between the two events, not being observed with other types of stimuli unless there are relationships that are similar to the original situation.

In this learning process, the subject is mainly passive, capturing the relationship between stimuli and their intensity due to the characteristics of the events in question. Mental processes have little relevance for the realization of associations, being more relevant the process of perception of reality.

While associative learning is very useful in the achievement of learning mechanical behaviors, this type of learning has the disadvantage that the knowledge or skill obtained does not have in account of previous experience or the different cognitive processes that may mediate the learning. The subject receives a totally decontextualized knowledge, in which the individual is not able to relate what he has learned now with the previous thing.

It is learned through repetition, without allowing the subject to elaborate what he learns and give it a meaning both to the content to be learned and to the learning process itself. For the associationist theory, the subject is a passive being that is limited to receiving and retaining external stimulation, with which intrapsychic aspects are not taken into account such as motivation or expectationsAs well as not working from the perspective that different people may have different perspectives or abilities of the same situation.