Reinforcement learning theories postulate that actions are chosen to maximize a long-term sum of positive outcomes based on value functions, which are subjective estimates of future rewards. In simple reinforcement learning algorithms, value functions are updated only by trial-and-error, whereas they are updated according to the decision-maker's…

Introduction: The aim of the paper is to propose new models of information behaviour that extend the concept beyond simply information seeking to consider other modes of behaviour. The models chiefly explored are those of Wilson and Dervin. Argument: A shortcoming of some models of information behaviour is that they present a sequence of stages…

AN EXTENSION OF MODELING BEHAVIOR INTO COGNITIVE AREAS OF DEVELOPMENT WAS ATTEMPTED THROUGH THE USE OF FILM-MEDIATED MODELS FOR THE ACTIVATION AND GENERALIZATION PHASES OF THE CONSERVATION PROBLEM. FOUR HYPOTHESES WERE SET UP IN AN ATTEMPT TO QUESTION SUCH PREVIOUS EXPLANATIONS OF THE CONSERVATION RESPONSE AS THOSE OF PIAGET AND BRUNER. THE…

By 1960 there was a strongly developed theory of learning in which learning was considered as change of behavior. Neobehaviorist theories and then formal stochastic models analyzed processes in which probabilities of responses are altered. In the 1960's, analysis of learning as a discrete change between states of knowledge or stages of processing…

People in interaction with others organize their perceptions of a social situation in terms of plans even when the others' plans are poorly formulated. They use their models of others' plans in formulating their own. Much of what occurs in discourse centers on a continual communication about and reformulation of one's own plans and one's own…

Results suggest that adults may not be able to discover-invent-produce the learning that is necessary to behave more effectively; that they may be unaware of this possibility; and that if they try to get help from well intentioned others, it will tend to make things worse. (Author/AM)

Modern psychological theory implies that behavior and neural function are correlated. Models of the operation of the nervous system can be used to predict and explain behavioral events. The purposes of this paper are to briefly outline a model at the biopsychological level that leads to predictions about the retention of verbal material, to show…

Reviews elements of the respondent, operant, and modeling theories and various principles of the exchange theory that can be combined to facilitate changes in client behavior. Proposes the behavioral exchange model as a framework to help social workers conceptualize clinical phenomena and thus gain power to influence them. (Author/JAC)

The project consisted of several independent sub-experiments focusing on factors that affect moral reasoning among young children. Preschool children, following brief training programs, reasoned more maturely about intentionality, punishment, sanctions following behavior, relativity, and immanent justice. Two methods of training were compared. In…

A new model of the revision process in written composition, based on the results of thinking aloud protocol studies, is presented in this report. The report begins by discussing earlier observations and theories of revision that establish four points: (1) there are large differences among writers in the amount of revising they do, (2) expert…

The author uses a developmental model (1) to describe the developmental reinforcement process as it occurs in a child's life, using a hierarchical concept, and (2) to discuss some educational consequences of a reinforcement deficit. The developmental reinforcement process is composed of a hierarchy of four levels. Development takes place in…