Chapter THREE

Learning
What is Learning?
 Meaning of Learning
 Learning is a relatively enduring or permanent,
change of behavior as a result of:
 Experience or
 Practice.
 There are three important elements in it:
 It involves change of behavior
 It’s a change due to practice/ experience
 The change is relatively permanent – it must
last as fairly long period of time
The foll. Changes in Behavior are not Considered
as Learning
♦ Reflex action: sneezing or eye blinking

♦ Changes due to maturation and growth

♦ Temporary behavioral changes such as:

- Changes due to fatigue,

- Disease and Drug states

♦ Permanent changes due to:

- Brain damage
 Characteristics of learning
 Learning is:
 A continuous modification of behavior throughout
life
 Pervasive/universal, it reaches into all aspects of
human life
 Involves the whole person, socially, emotionally &
intellectually
 Often a change in the organization of experiences
 Responsive to incentives
 An active process
 Purposeful; depends on maturation, motivation
and multifaceted.
 Cont…
♦ Learning is the product of environment: environment plays an
important role in learning
♦ Learning affects the conduct of the learners:
- It could be positively affecting OR
- Negatively affecting peoples behavior. Negative
change
 Principles of learning:
 Individuals learn best when they are:
- Physically,
- Mentally, and
- Emotionally ready to learn
 Cont…
 Students learn best and retain information longer when they have:
- Meaningful practice and exercise
 Learning is strengthened when accompanied by:
- A pleasant or
- Satisfying feeling, and
- Is weakened:
- When associated with an unpleasant feeling.

 Things learned best when:

- A strong impression in the mind is created

- It will be difficult to erase

 Cont…
 Things most recently learned are best remembered
 The principle of intensity implies that
- Students learn more from the real thing than from a
substitute.
 Individuals must have some abilities and skills that may
help them to learn
 Things freely learned are best learned
- The greater the freedom enjoyed, the higher the
intellectual and moral advancement
 Factors Influencing Learning
 Motivation:
- Motivation affects the effectiveness of learning.
- The stronger and clearer the motives for learning, the
greater are the effort to learn
- When the motives of learning are high, learning
becomes enthusiastic.
 Intelligence:
- The more the individual is intelligent,
the better she/he learns.
 Cont …
 Maturation:
- Neuro-muscular coordination is important for learning a given
task.
Example: The child has to be mature before she/he is able
to learn.
 Physical condition of the learner:
- The learner should be in:
- A good health status to learn
Example: Sensory defects, malnutrition,
- Toxic conditions of the body, loss of sleep and
- Fatigue hinder effective learning.
 Cont …
 Good working conditions :
- Absence of:
- Fresh air, light, comfortable surroundings,
- Moderate temperature,
- Presence of distractions like noise and learning aids
affect learning effectiveness.
 Psychological wellbeing of the learner:
- Individual’s psychological states like:
- Worries, fears, feelings of loneliness and
- Inferiority hinders learning –
- Whereas self-respect, self-reliance, and self-
confidence are necessary for effective learning.
 Cont …
 Background experiences:
- Factors such as:
- Family background
- Educational background
 Length of the working period:
- Learning periods should neither be too short
nor too long
I.e Long learning time sets:
- Fatigue and
- Reduces effectiveness in learning
 Theories of learning
 Behavioral Learning Theory
- Believes learning occurs as a result of stimulus – response
associations
- Emphasize on observable behaviors – explanations focus
on their consequences
 There are two major types:
 Classical conditioning
 Focus on involuntary emotional or physiological
responses such as:
• Fear, increased heartbeat, Automatic
• Salivation or sweating Reponses to stimuli
 Cont…
 Classical conditioning:
- Is the procedure by which a neutral stimulus
becomes a conditioned stimulus.
- Ivan Pavlov was studying salivation in dogs
as part of a research program on digestion.
 Basics of classical conditioning
Neutral Stimulus (NS)—Bell
- A stimulus that does not normally
elicit a response by itself.
I.e. before conditioning
Example: bell ringing
 Cont…
o Unconditioned stimulus /UCS/:
- A stimulus that reflexively and reliably elicit a response
Example: The meat
o Conditioned stimulus (CS):
- Any stimuli that elicit conditioned response as a
result of paired with unconditioned stimulus.
Example: Bell
o Unconditioned response (UCR):
- Inborn response as a result of unconditioned stimulus.
Example: Saliva
o Conditioned response /CR/:
- which is elicited by the conditioned stimulus
Example: Salivation
 Cont…
 Steps in classical conditioning:
Step 1: Before conditioning
Bell ringing No response
(NS)
Meat (UCS) Salivation (UCR)
Step 2: During Conditioning
Bell + Meat Salivation
(NS) + (UCS) UCR
/ Several times/
Step 3: After Conditioning
Bell Salivation
(CS) (CR)
 Cont…
 Principles of classical conditioning:
 Acquisition:

- Previously neutral stimulus (bell) gets the ability

to elicit response in the absence of US /Meat/.

 Stimulus generalization:

- When sbd, respond in similar way to all stimuli

that looks like the conditioned stimulus.

Example: phone ringing

 Cont…
 Principles:
 Stimulus discrimination:
- Occurs when the individual responds differently
to stimuli
 Extinction:
- The repeated presentation of the CS in the absence
of UCS results in absence of CR.
Spontaneous Recovery:
- After extinction a CR may suddenly reappear
even without further conditioning trials.
 Cont…
 Applications of classical conditioning:

 Aversive conditioning: is a technique which involves

unpleasant stimulation

 Aims to induce such feelings as fear and dislike i.e. in

relation to stimuli that trigger unwanted behavior.

 Flooding: a technique for eliminating conditioned fears

 The fear producing stimulus is presented by itself

over and over again

 i.e. confront the fear-eliciting stimulus – no escape

 Cont…
 Systematic desensitization: this technique
requires construction of a hierarchy of fears
from least-feared to most feared.

 Advertising: A neutral product is associated

with people, objects, or situations consumers to
elicit a positive response

 Drug use: the CS associated with drug use lead

individuals to seek out those substances
 Cont…
 Operant/ instrumental conditioning: /Thorndike/
 Learning occurs due to:
• Voluntary response depending on:
- its favourable or unfavourable
consequences
I.e. Due to reward or punishment
• It increases or decreases the chance that the
behaviour will occur again or not.
• Environmental consequences are given a focus
 Cont…
 B.F Skinner further developed Thorndike’s work in a
more complex forms of behavior

- He argued that to understand behavior:

- We should focus on the external

causes of an action and the actions

consequences.

- I.e. we should look:

- Out side the individual not inside

 Cont…
- An emphasis on env’tal consequences is the heart of
operant conditioning.
Classical conditioning Operant conditioning
• Response is reflexive • Response is complex and not
I.e natural and biological reflexive
responses • Response depends on
• An automatic response to environmental cues
sth. in the env’t I.e. punishment & reward given
 There are two general forms of consequences that make to
flourish or perish behavior:
 Cont…
 There are three types of consequences:
a. A Neutral Consequence – does not change the
response
b. Reinforcement – strengthens or makes it more likely
to occur
- There are two basic types of reinforcers:
 Primary reinforcers:
- Food, water, air…
i. e. those that satisfy our biological needs
- Have the ability to reinforce with out prior learning
 Cont…

 … types of consequences:

 Secondary reinforcers:

- Reinforce due to their prior association with

primary reinforcers

Eg. Money, good grade, praise, awards etc.

• Reinforcers may be:

- Positive OR Negative
 Cont…
 Reinforcement:

- The process of increasing the

probability of response to occur again in the future.

= Two types:

- Positive reinforcement: strengthens a

response by presenting a satisfying

event like getting freedom.

E.g. if a good grade follows your hard work, your efforts to study

are likely to continue or increase.

 Cont…
 Reinforcement …
- Negative reinforcement: involves the removal
of sth. unpleasant
E.g. If sbd. is nagging you to study, he stops
when you study-
I.e you study to avoid nagging – usually called escape learning.
- Avoidance Learning: which refers to learning to
avoid a painful, noxious stimulus prior to
exposure.
Example: Paying water and electric bills
 Cont…
 Schedules of reinforcement:
 Fixed ratio schedules: means that a reinforcement
occurs only after a fixed number of responses are
made by the subject.
Example: Employers are rewarded after a fixed
number of productivity
 Variable ratio schedules: means that a reinforcer is given
after an average number of correct responses.
- Response is more resistant to extinction than fixed
Example: Employers may be rewarded after producing 3, 4 or 5
cartoons of biscuits
 Cont…
 Fixed interval: reinforcement occurs following the first
response occurs after a fixed
interval of time
Example: When you chat, if you get a message
after a 1min. time, then you check your message
every minute.
 Variable interval: reinforcement of a response occurs only
if a variable amount of time has passed since the
previous reinforcer.
Example: When your message comes at 2,3,or 4 min.
you check at variable time intervals
 Cont…
c. Punishment: weakens or discourages the occurrence of
certain behaviors or less likely to occur.

=> Punishment has two types:

 Positive punish.: refers to adding aversive (unpleasant)

stimulus to get rid off the prevalence

of unwanted behaviors.

Example: The teacher warned students

when they disturb in the class

 Cont…
 Negative punish.: the process of removing pleasant events
to avoid the probability of certain behavior that
would likely to occur.
E.g: The teacher told students to leave the
class when they disturb.
 Principles of punishment
 It should immediately follow the behavior to be punished -
Immediacy
 It should be consistent in its intensity, i.e. has to be up to the
level of the mistake made - Consistency
 Cont…

 Being punished intermittently/irregularly becomes

resistant to extinction

 Targeted only on the unwanted behavior but not the

person

 Do not mix punishment with rewards for a given

behavior

 Inform the individual which behaviour you are

punishing
 Cont…
 Punishment fails when:
 Inappropriately administered
 The recipient responds with anxiety, fear and rage
 Punishment is temporal/ impermanent
 Most b/rs are hard to punish immediately
 It conveys little message
 It does not teach or show acceptable b/r
 May foster hostility, aggression and passivity
 Shaping: is a procedure in which successively reinforcing
behaviors that lead up to the approximate desired
behavior.
 Applications of Operant Conditioning
 Conditioning to study behavior
 For effective teaching teacher should arrange effective
incidents /contingencies/ of reinforcement
Eg. Praising, rewarding … students b/r for best results
 Conditioning and class room behavior:
 Sometimes students have unpleasant experiences
to the teacher, subject & class room
 Managing Problem Behavior: two types of b/rs in CR
 The teacher should admit positive contingencies like
praise, encouragement etc. for learning
 Applications of Operant Conditioning
 Dealing with anxieties through conditioning:
 Conditioning fear, anxiety, painful injection
 To break this professionals should use systematic
desensitization
 Conditioning group behavior:
 Conditioning group interaction for effective learning
 It breaks undesired & unsocial behaviors
 Conditioning & cognitive process:
 When correct response is obtained, reinforcement is given
 Shaping Complex Behavior: Complex behavior exists in
form of a chain of small behavior
- Control is required for such kind of behavior
- This is extended form of learning is shaping technique.
 Cont…
 The social learning theory:
- Albert Bandura is considered as the
father of this theory
- He state that learning is acquired by:- Imitation
- Observing other people in social context – the model
- But not through standard conditioning procedures
- Social cognitive theorists believe that observational
learning only cannot be fully understood without taking into
account the thought processes of the learner

- They emphasize the knowledge that results when a

person sees a model
 Cont…
= For Observational learning to occur:

- Attention: Paying attention to the models behavior

and way of response

- Retention: recall or remember what has been

happened.

- Motor production: Performing the observed behavior

- i.e. putting on to practice

- Motivation: an interest to demonstrate what we have

learned
 Implications of Social learning theory
 Students often learn a great deal simply by observing other
people

 Describing the consequences of behavior can effectively

increase the appropriate behaviors and decrease
inappropriate ones

 Modeling provides an alternative to shaping for teaching

new behaviors

• Modeling can provide a faster & efficient means of

new behavior
 Cont …
 Teachers and parents must model appropriate behaviors

 Teachers should expose students to a variety of

other models

 Students must believe they are accomplishing various tasks

 Teachers should help students set realistic expectations for

their academic accomplishments

 Self-regulation techniques provide an effective method

for improving student behavior
 Cont…
 Cognitive learning theories
o Latent/Hidden learning:

- learning that has occurred but is not immediately

displayed or expressed.

- learning that is not reinforced and not

demonstrated until there is motivation to do so

- It occurs without obvious reinforcement to be

applied later.

Example: Hidden car driving skills

 Cont…
o Insight/ Sudden learning:

- States that learning occurs through a sudden

understanding of the relationship of various

parts of a problem.

- Providing sudden solution to a problem

- Rather than through trial and error