title: A privileged and exemplar resource: traumatic avoidance learning and the early triumph of mathematical psychology.
abstract: The relationship between a classic 1953 study by R. L. Solomon and L.C. Wynne on traumatic avoidance learning adn the pioneering efforts by Robert Bush and Frederick Mosteller and others to develop mathematical models of learning is analyzed. The main purpose is to explore how Bush and Mosteller disembedded a carefully selected set of Solomon and Wynne's data from its original context, which allowed something as seemingly humble as a set of numbers to become a widely available and valuable resource for the newly emerging field of mathematical learning theory (MLT). The creative use that the MLT community made of these data once Bush and Mosteller had systematically reduced the empirical and conceptual uncertainties within Solomon and Wynne's study is also discussed.
authors.affiliation: University of Liverpool.
authors.forename: Sandy
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lovie
authors.forename: Pat
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lovie
mesh_terms: D001362:Avoidance Learning; D012090:Cumulative Trauma Disorders / Q000266:history*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D008433:Mathematics / Q000266:history*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000266:history*