Clark Hull has proposed a new way of understanding behaviorism. Hull wanted to establish the basic principles of behavioral science to explain the behaviour of animals of different species and individual and social behavior, which is called deductive behavior.
The theory proposed by Clark L.
- Habits have been described as reward-based stimulus-response connections.
- According to Hull.
- Responses.
- Not perceptions or expectations.
- Contribute to the formation of habits; the process is gradual and reward is an essential condition.
Deductive conductism attempts to establish the basic principles of animal behavior of different species, in addition to individual and social behavior.
Hull is considered a neobehavioral thinker. Thus, Clark Hull proposed a new way of understanding behaviorism from the logical positivism that dominated in its time.
Like other eminent authors representing conductism, Hull believed that human behavior could be explained by conditioning and reinforcement. Pulse reduction acts as a reinforcement of this behavior.
This reinforcement increases the likelihood of the same behavior occurring when the same need arises in the future; therefore, to survive in its environment, an organism must behave in a way that meets these survival needs. When stimulus and response are followed by a reduction in need, does this increase the likelihood that the same stimulus will produce the same response in the future?
Hull wanted to establish the basic principles of behavioral science to explain the behaviour of animals of different species, as well as individual and social behavior. His theory of deductive behaviorism proposes habit as a central concept. The strength of the habit will depend on whether the A stimulus-response sequence follows a strengthening and its magnitude, which will depend on the reduction of the momentum associated with a biological need.
Hull’s learning theories were first presented in Mathematical-Deductive Theory of Memoristic Learning (1940), a collaboration with several colleagues, in which he expressed his findings through assumptions expressed in both mathematical and verbal forms.
Hull developed these ideas in Principles of Behavior (1943), where he suggested that the stimulus-response connection depends on both the type and the amount of reinforcement.
Hull was one of the first theorists to try to create a great theory designed to explain all behaviors. This theory of learning developed by Hull in 1943 is known as the theory of impulse reduction. Hull based its theory on the concept of homeostasis, the idea that the body is actively working to maintain a certain state of balance.
Based on this idea, Hull suggested that any motivation stems from these biological needs. Therefore, in his theory, Hull used the term “pulse” to refer to the state of tension or arousal caused by biological or physiological needs.
An impulse, such as thirst, hunger or cold, generates an unpleasant state, a tension. To reduce this state of tension, humans and animals are looking for ways to meet these biological needs (drinking, eating, seeking refuge). Hull has suggested that humans and animals repeat any behavior that reduces these impulses.
Hull’s theory is based on the idea that secondary units (unlike primary/innate units, which are biological needs, such as desire for socialization, thirst and hunger) are learned through conditioning and indirectly satisfy units such as the desire for money because it helps pay for housing or maintenance.
These multiple secondary units occur when a person faces more than one need, the goal is to correct balance disturbance (homeostasis), which is uncomfortable, meaning that behavior is learned and conditioned if and only if it satisfies a primary impulse.
Hull has also developed a way of mathematically expressing this theory of learning, which is as follows:
sEr – V x D x K x J x sHr?Or is it?Slr
In this formula:
According to Clark Hull, the main contribution of impulse reduction theory is, in large part, the elimination and reduction of impulses, which at some point hinder people’s activity, which also implies an increase in human potential. work environment because, by meeting all needs, you can improve performance and thus be more successful in life.
Critics considered deductive behavior too complex and felt that it did not explain human motivation due to a lack of generalization.
One of the biggest problems with Hull’s pulse reduction theory is that it doesn’t take into account how secondary reinforcements reduce the pulse. Unlike primary impulses, such as hunger and thirst, secondary reinforcements do nothing to directly reduce physiological and biological needs. this theory is that it doesn’t explain why people adopt behaviors that don’t reduce impulses.
In any case, this approach has influenced theories and other explanations within psychology. Many of the motivational theories that emerged in the 1950s and 1960s were based on Hull’s original theory or focused on providing alternatives to impulse reduction theory. An excellent example is the famous hierarchy of needs of Abraham Maslow, who emerged as an alternative to Hull’s approach.