Psychology of Learning and Behavior

Now in its Fifth Edition, Psychology of Learning and Behavior is one of the most highly regarded texts in its field.

Barry Schwartz, Steven Robbins, and new coauthor Edward Wasserman offer students an engaging introduction to the basic principles of Pavlovian conditioning, operant conditioning, and comparative cognition. The text’s critical approach exposes students to the unresolved problems and controversies surrounding behavior theory and encourages them to interpret the material and make connections between theories and real-life situations. With several hundred new references, a new emphasis on comparative cognition, and expanded treatment of neuroscience and the neural basis of learning, the Fifth Edition sets the standard in its coverage of contemporary theory and research.

Steven J. Robbins is Assistant Professor of Psychology at Arcadia University. Robbins has taught everything from psychology of learning, methods, and statistics to general psychology and physiological psychology. He has published numerous journal articles and chapters on animal learning and on behavioral mechanisms involved in human drug addiction.


Barry Schwartz is Dorwin Cartwright Professor of Social Theory and Social Action in the psychology department at Swarthmore College. Schwartz has published widely in scholarly journals in the field of learning and motivation. In addition, he is the author of Behaviorism, Science, and Human Nature (with Hugh Lacey), The Battle for Human Nature, and The Costs of Living.


Edward A. Wasserman is Stuit Professor of Experimental Psychology at the University Iowa. Wasserman’s research centers on learning, memory, and cognition in both humans and animals. He recently served as a Visiting Researcher at the Center for Research in Cognitive Neurosciences, Marseille, France.