William Kaye Estes (1919-Present), Essay Example

William Kay Estes’ account of stimulus sampling theory (hereafter: SST) intends to use statistics in order to explain various phenomena related to the learning process. In short, Estes’ approach stresses that learning is consistent with behavioral adaptation, whereby the subject links together various stimuli and thus becomes conscious of a certain predictable cause-effect relationship. With his largely quantitative approach, Estes would thus be able to predict patterns of learning behavior, insofar as the cause and effect model is transposed onto a probabilistic statistical model, which means that it is possible to discern the probability that someone will learn when considering the framework of the subject and their relation to the given stimuli.

With this account, Estes can be said to advance a somewhat mechanistic model for learning, since his entire theory is based on the notion that human beings learn from a framework in which cause and effects are posited as a constant. Learning itself is therefore a cause of understanding the relationship between cause and effect. This view is mechanistic because Estes does not approach learning according to possible anomalies, but rather according to the consistency of his scheme. He therefore essentially separates learning from a concept of creativity, rather focusing on behavioral and ruled based accounts.

When considering how individuals, for example, learn language, Estes’ theory can be considered legitimate. Those learning a language understand the correct grammatical rules that already exist, and thus their ability to learn a language is essentially a case of how they follow such rules. However, in this regard, it can be said that Estes’ theory does not look at the diverse ways of learning and ways one can learn. Whereas the case of the basics of language is a good example of the soundness of his model, how do creative aspects of learning, such as learning how to write poetry, which often breaks traditional linguistic forms, fit with this model? Accordingly, Estes’ SST theory would seem to be applicable to only some forms of learning, but not all the forms of learning that human beings experience.