In Tolman’s theory, was reinforcement necessary for learning to occur?
Tolman did not believed that learning is an charismatic process that is based on frequency and contiguity and it also does not results from reinforcement that was considered as a pleasurable state of affairs. He suggested that learning occurs constantly by channelizing towards with or without motivation and with or without reinforcement.
Thus, Tolman came to the concept of reinforcement that was considered as confirmation process. Through the confirmation of a belief, hypothesis and expectancy, it results in the development of a cognitive map. The animal learns to adapt in the environment by sensing one stimulus (S1), a second stimulus (S2) and so on. Since, Tolman reviewed the learning of relationships among stimuli, his approach is sometimes known as an S-S theory rather than an S-R theory.
According to Tolman’s theory, an organism has the ability to learn constantly as it happens in the environment. An organism uses their special learning power skills that are solely determined by the organism’s motivational state. Thus, according to Tolman’s context, motivation influences learning rather than reinforcement that was not essential for learning to occur.