Concern with associative variables has dominated the research and thinking of most learning theorists. There has been insufficient recognition that learning is one of many adaptive devices by which the organism adjusts to the challenges of its environment. The purpose of this article is to partially restore the balance between associative and functionalist analyses by focusing on two important problems in the functional tradition: the identification of circumstances that produce learned changes in behavior, and the determination of set points that regulate the amount of such change. It is not my intention in this analysis to deny the importance of associative variables, but to emphasize the regulatory framework within which they operate.
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