Edward C. Tolman’s pioneering work reframed behaviourism by arguing that learning is purposive, goal-directed, and guided by internal representations, proposing as early as 1932 that organisms form cognitive maps (flexible mental models of their environments) rather than merely chaining stimulus–response habits; in Purposive Behavior in Animals and Men (1932) and later in his landmark paper “Cognitive Maps in Rats and Men” (1948), Tolman showed that rats could take novel shortcuts and detours, revealing expectancy, meaning, and latent learning, thereby challenging the mechanistic views of contemporaries such as Clark L. Hull (1930s–1940s), aligning with Kurt Lewin’s field theory (1936), and anticipating neurobiological confirmation in John O’Keefe and Lynn Nadel’s hippocampal “cognitive map” theory (1978). From a Christian perspective, Tolman’s insights resonate deeply with the biblical view of humans as intentional, meaning-seeking beings created imago Dei (Genesis 1:27), endowed with minds capable of planning, reflection, and hope (Proverbs 16:9; Isaiah 55:8–9), and called to walk purposeful paths even when circumstances change (Psalm 119:105), for cognitive maps mirror the spiritual truth that people orient their lives through faith-informed understanding rather than blind habit (Romans 12:2; Hebrews 11:1), supporting personal wellbeing by affirming agency, resilience, and trust in God’s guidance, and strengthening societal health by encouraging education, mental health care, and community design that honour human dignity, moral purpose, and the shared pursuit of flourishing paths that lead toward justice, healing, and peace (Jeremiah 29:11; Micah 6:8).