The association capacity is basic when it comes to learning. We can know and react to certain stimuli because we are able to link events.

We smell a certain fragrance and salivate at the thought of what our favourite dish is waiting for 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 associative theory of learning , the basis of behaviorism and from this basis of numerous techniques and psychological schools, defends that the fact that we respond in this way is given because we are capable of linking phenomena and situations, learning and acquiring this association.

What is Associationist Theory?

Based on the Aristotelian contributions and of numerous philosophers like Locke and Hume, this theory would be developed by David Hartley and John Stuart Mill , who postulated that all conscience is a consequence of the combination of stimuli and elements captured through the senses. Thus, the mental processes are produced in a continuous way 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 the one that proposes that knowledge is acquired by experience, linking the sensations produced by the presence and interaction with the stimuli in a mechanical way and provided that a series of basic requirements known as laws of association are met. As new associations are added, thought and behaviour become increasingly complex, and human actions can be explained based on learning the links between phenomena.

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

The laws of association

The associationist theory considers that when linking or relating the different stimuli or phenomena, we follow a series of universal rules that are imposed on us in an innate way . The main laws of association are the following, although they would later be revised and reworked 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 changed to refer to the need for the mental representation of these stimuli to appear jointly or closely in our mind, without specifying physical proximity as such.

2. Law of Similarity

For the associationist theory, when two stimuli activate similar mental representations or have common characteristics it is much more likely that they are linked to each other from this similarity.

3. Law of contrast

Two stimuli will also be associated if they are completely opposite , due to the perceived existence of a contrast in the same stimulating quality.

4. Law of Frequency

The links between the most repeated events 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 less temporal distance there is between both stimuli , the stronger the link between them will be.

6. Law of the effect

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

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

Behaviorism and the association between stimuli

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

Behaviorism uses as a basis the associationist theory by considering that the exposure to two contiguous stimuli produces a link between them . If a stimulus produces an effect in the organism, a concrete response will be generated towards that stimulation. If, in addition, a second stimulus appears at or near the moment when an effect is produced, this stimulus will be linked to the first, ending up generating a similar response.

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

Classic conditioning

Also known as Pavlovian conditioning , this perspective considers that the organism is capable of associating diverse 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 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 provokes a direct response) produces salivation (the unconditioned response).

If every time food is brought to us a stimulus appears that does not in itself 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 mere sound of it, which will have conditioned our response to the second stimulus (the neutral stimulus will have been conditioned). Thanks to this conditioning we learn about the stimuli and their relationship.

Operating Conditioning

Classical conditioning can serve to explain associations between stimuli, but although the stimuli are captured passively, human behavior is mostly motivated by the consequences of our actions .

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

Thus, how we act depends on its consequences . If performing an action gives us a positive stimulus or eliminates or avoids a negative one, our behaviour will be reinforced and performed more often, whereas if acting in a certain way causes a damage or the elimination of a gratification we will see these consequences as a punishment, so we will tend to decrease the frequency with which we act.

Associative learning

The associationist theory, especially from behaviorism, has been applied very frequently in the field of education. This is due to the fact that associationism is understood as the change in behavior, attitude or thought caused by the experience of certain people

Associative learning is understood as the process by which a subject is able to perceive the relationship between two concrete facts based on observation . These relationships may become generalised to similar stimuli, while at the same time being discriminatory 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 similar relationships with 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.

Although associative learning is very useful in achieving the learning of mechanical behaviours , this type of learning has the disadvantage that the knowledge or skill obtained does not take into account previous experience or the different cognitive processes that can mediate learning. The subject receives a totally decontextualized knowledge, in which the individual is not able to put what he has learned now into relation with what was previously learned.

It is learned by repetition, without allowing the subject to elaborate what he or she learns and to give meaning both to the content to be learned and to the learning process itself. For the associationist theory, the subject is a passive being who is limited to receiving and retaining external stimulation, which does not take into account intrapsychic aspects such as motivation or expectations , nor does it work from the perspective that different people may have different perspectives or abilities of the same situation.