The Psychological Perspective of Learning

An example of insight learning is that of an experiment performed by psychologist Wolfgang Kohler. Kohler presented a Chimpanzee with a problem by placing a banana just outside of its cage close enough for the Chimp to clearly see, yet too far away for it to reach. Inside of the cage were two hollow bamboo sticks, one slightly shorter and thinner than the other. Each stick was too short to enable the Chimp to reach the banana however the shorter stick could be placed inside of the larger one making it long enough to reach the banana. After many futile attempts to reach the banana with his hands, the Chimp then tried other solutions, which included using each stick independently to reach the banana. Failing once again the chimp sat down with the two sticks in his hands, appearing as though he had given up. But then, seeing that both sticks could be put together to make one long stick (insightful experience), the Chimpanzee placed the small stick a little way inside of the larger one and was able to reach the banana and pull it toward himself.…