UNIT 2 WHAT IS LEARNING ?

Structure
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Objectives
2.3 Nature of Learning
2.3 What is Not Learning?
I
i 2.5 Theories of Learning
t
i 2.5.1 Behaviouristic View
iI 2.5,2 Cognitive View
2.5.3 Observation Learning
2.6 Forms of Learning
2.7 Let Us Sum Up
2.8 Unit-end Exercises

2.1 INTRODUCTION
Learning is one of the most important and pervasive activities of human life. Since
birth we are always learning something or the other. This includes language learn-
ing at a younger age, learning habits, skills, postures and gestures, likes and dis-
likes, preferences, knowledge, meanings, value systems and finally learning to adapt
to diverse situations of life. In this Unit, attempts have been, made to examine the
nature of learning, how do people learn to perform simple, motor activities to com-
plex mental and motor activities, how do they learn to express different types of
emotions on different occasions, and the role of learning theories in explaining
human behaviour.

2.2 OBJECTIVES
After going through this Unit, you should be able to:
understand the concept of learning;
differentiate learning from non-learning;
explain different theories of learning; and
synthesize various types of learning.
r

I 2.3 NATURE OF LEARNING

Let us consider the following day-to-day examples of learning:
1. Sunita was a &dent of grade four. She experienced considerable difficulty with
a series of homework assignments in mathematics, particularly in subtraction.
She was not able to solve two and three-digit subtraction problems correctly. One
day, after her typical half an hour tantrum about "these stupid problems", her
father explained that subtraction is nothing more than reversed addition. Something
must have clicked in Sunita's head, because her father has not been subjected to
any more tantrums about substraction.
2. A three-year-old boy is overly affectionate with a neighbourhood dog, and the
dog responds by bitting the boy's hand. After that, the boy cries and runs to his
mother whenever he sees the dog. 21
Acclnisition anti l'roccss 3. The mother of a nine-year-old boy, Sohan, insists that her son should bring
of Learning
milk daily from the milk booth. In turn, mother gives him some money. The
money, when saved for two or three weeks, enables the boy to purchase things
of his own choice. As a result, he develops an appreciation for the value of
money.
On the basis of above example, can you describe the nature of learning? One
thing is clear that learning refers to the change in behaviour. There was an
observable change in Sunita's behaviour as she did not disturb her parents for
solving subtraction problems afterwards. It is also clear from the above examples
that the change in behaviour due to learning is relatively permanent. That is, the
change in behaviour is neither for the time-being (shorter duration) nor it is
necessary that it will be forever. The change will last for some period of time. It
is also possible that the change in behaviour may not be reflected immediately
after learning.
In the third example, the mother wanted to inculcate some household
responsibilities in the child. For this, she rewarded each time the milk bringing
behaviour of the child. It means that change in behaviour is due to practice.
Furthermore, in order to bring the desired change in behaviour i t is essential
that reinforcement is given each time the child exhibits the desired change in
behaviour.
In behavioural terms, learning can be described as establishing association between
stimulus and response. For example, the teacher shows the picture of an apple to
the child and asks what is this? The child does not know the answer.
The teacher says.. . . . . This is an apple. After the repeated presentation of the picture
(the stimulus) and word 'apple' (response), the child learns to associate picture with the
word. Each time the child is able to associate picture with the words, the teacher gives
him reinforcement, such as, praise, toffee, etc.

2.4 WHAT IS NOT LEARNING?

All humanlanimal behaviours are not learned, nor does their expression require any
effort on the part of the individual. Very simple behaviours are known as reflex
actions, for example, sneezing when something enters in the nose. sudden withdrawal
of hand when it accidentally touches a hot plate, increase in heart beat while climbing,
etc. These are innate behaviours.
Few complex behaviours, known as instincts, are also innate. The examples of
instinctive behaviour are nest building by birds, migration of birds from one place
to another in a particular season, hibernation and mating behaviour. Instinctive
behaviours are species specific.
There are certain changes in the behaviour that can be associated with the ilormal
growth of individuals and are related to maturation. A child saying hislher first word
at the age of 18 months is generally due to maturation. Hislher ability to walk is
maturational, hislher skill at high jump is learnt; ability to sense is maturational,
knowing where to push so the door opens is learning. But the language that helshe
learns to speak is the result of a specific environment. It is, however, very difficult
to discriminate between the two in practical situations. The complexity of changes
are the result of the interaction between maturation and learning. Forcing a child to
learn speech patterns before a certain maturation level can disrupt hislher normal
development. On the other hand, failure to provide appropriate teaching in speech
may become an educational error on the part of the teacher. Therefore, learning is not
behaviour emerging as instincts or as a result of maturation.
 What is Learning?

r 2.5 THEORIES OF LEARNING

I Before discussing the different explanations or theoretical viewpoints of learning, let

us first examine the following definitions of learning:
Learning is a relatively permanent change in behaviour due to experience.
Learning is a relatively change in mental association due to experience.
Can yolu describe as to what is common in both the definitions? You can see that in
both definitions learning has been characterized as a relatively permanent change; in
other words, the change will last for some period of time, although not forever. Also,
both definitions attribute that change to experience; that is, learning takes place as a
result of some event in the learner's life.
Despite these similarities, you will, however, notice that the first definition emphasizes
on charrge in behaviour, an external change that c w 'Je, observed. The definition
reflects the perspective of a group of theories collectively known as behaviourism.
These theories focus on the learn' g of tangible, observable behaviour, or responses,
Y'
such as solving a subtraction problem, running to the mother after seeing a dog,
expressing different types of emotions on different occasions, or complaining about
a stomachache to avoid going to school.
The second definition focuses on a change in mental associations - an internal change
that cannot be observed. 'This definition reflects the perspective of a group of theories
collectively known as Cognitive theories. These theories focus on the thought
processes (or mental events) involved in human learning rather than on behavioural
outcomes, e.g., the way a child interrelates addition and subtraction facts; the memory
gimmick kt child uses to remember difficult words and the idiosyncratic meaning a
child attaches to hidher understanding of basic physics principle. We will discuss the
essential characteristics of each viewpoint in detail

2.5.1 Behaviouristic View

The first psychological perspective to have a significant impact on our understanding
of how human beings l e a n was behaviourism. In the preceding para, we have seen that
behaviourist, organisms enter the world as "blank slates" (the assumption of tabula
rasa). That is, environment plays an iniporta~itrole in shaping the personality.
chaacreristics of individuals. Therefore, rather than using the term learning, behaviourists
often taik about conditioning; an organism is conditioned by environmental events.
What is leained, being largely the result of one's past and present experience, is often
beyond an organism's control. It can be further mentioned that conditioning is a
specific term used to describe the process of behavioural change. It is of two types:
( 1 j classical co~iditioning,and (2) instrumental or operantconditioning. Here, we shall
try to understand the basic differences between classical and operant conditioning.
Accli~isitionand Process Classical conditioning
of Learning
I. Amit is a student of Class V. He received several painful bee-stings when he was
young. Now whenever a bee flies near Amit, he screams, waives his arms
frantically, and becomes mad. Though he knows that he would be perfectly better
off if be remained still, but somehow he just can't control himself.
2. Neha was admitted to Class 111 about a month ago. After joining the class, she
found that her maths teacher is very tough, scolds the children and beats them
very often. Once Neha was also subjected to this treatment. Thereafter, it has so
happened that whenever her maths teacher enters into the class, Neha become
nervous even if she is not scolded or beaten by the teacher.
If you carefully analyse both the examples, you will find that past experience plays
an important role in determining what the individual will learn. And once the
organism has experienced that situation, on the next occasion the sight of the
situation produces that response in the organism. A child after returning home from
school becomes very happy to know that his father has returned home from work
early. Because on earlier occasions whenever his father came home early, he brought
some good sweets to eat. As a result, the child has associatd early return of his
father with sweets.

An experiment on classical conditioning was for the first time conducted by Pavlov on
dogs. Pavlov's experiment can be understood with the help of the following diagram:

Step 1: (a) : Neutral (Bell) stimulus, ------------b No response

(b) : Unconditioned (food) stimulus --------b Unconditioned Response
(Salivate)
Step 2: Association of (a) and (b)

Step 3: Conditioned stimulus conditioned response

(Bell) (Salivate)

If you present the sound of a bell (Neutral stimulus) to the animals, such as dog, it
will not care for it. Second time, you present the sound of the bell and food
(Unconditioned Stimulus: UCS) together to a hungry dog. What do you see? You will
find that the dog salivates because food is present before him. You may repeat this
procedure for a number of times, and each time you will get the same response.
Thereafter, if you only present the sound of the bell, you will see that the dog
salivates. You may ask a question, why? The answer is very simple. Because of the
association of the sound of the bell with food, the dog has learnt to respond to the
sound of the bell. But remember, the dog treats the sound of the bell as an indicator
for food. If on several occasions, when the food is not presented with the sound of
the bell, after some time dog will not respond to the bell sound. This is known as
extinctioh of the learned behaviour, i.e., withholding of unconditioned stimulus reduces
the probability of conditioned response.
There are few other characteristics of classical conditioning, namely, spontaneous
recovery, stimulus generalization and stimulus discrimination. Spontaneous recovery
is the recurrence of a conditioned response when a period of extinction is following
by a rest period. In our earlier example, if Amit gets an opportunity to be near lots
of bees for a period of time, he would eventually settle down and regain his composure.
However, his first response on later encounter with a bee would be to fly off the hand
once again.
You may probably have experienced that after being conditioned to fear of a white
rat, the parson becomes afraid of a rabbit, a dog, a fur coat and cotton wool. When
individuqls respond to other stimuli in the same way and they respond to
conditioned stimuli, stimulus generalization is occurring. The more similar a
 stimulus or object is to the conditioned stimulus, the greater the probability that What is Learning?

stimulus generalizations will occur. But in certain cases we also make discrimination
between the objectststimuli. A child who is abused by histher father, simultaneously
has positive interactions with other adult men, hetshe is not as likely to generalize the
fear of histher father of those other individuals.
Operant Conditioning
In operant conditioning increase or decrease in the likelihood that behaviour will
occur is affected by delivery of a rewarding or punishing event after the behaviour
occurs. It is usually voluntary, not reflex like as in classical conditioning. In the case
of classical conditioning, we have seen that when food is presented, the organism
responds to it (i.e., salivate). It means that the reward makes an individual active. It
may also mean that individuals are passive enough to wait for the situation in which
reward will automatically come to them they themselves will not do any thing to get
the reward. We, however, know that the later proposition is not true for higher order
organisms including human beings. We actively operate upon the situation so as it
becomes rewarding. In case of classical conditioning, the behaviour is elicited by
stimulus while in operant conditioning the behaviour is emitted by the organism. In
the first case, reinforcement is a condition for behaviour while response is followed
by reinforcement in the latter.
B.F. Skinner, a noted behaviourist, gave the model of operant conditioning. Skinner
conducted his experiments on rats. Rats when placed in a box, could press the lever
and thus open the door of the box, come out of box and eat food. On the first attempt,
the rat does not know what to do. As a result, it jumps in the box several times and
by chance when it falls on the lever the door is opened. Slowly and slowly, the rats
learnt that in order to get food they need to press the lever. According to Skinner, a
response that is followed by a reinforcer is strengthened and is, therefore, more likely
to occur again. In other words, responses that are reinforced tend to increase in
frequency. Because a response increase is a change in behaviour, a behaviourist
would assume that reinforcement brings about learning. Skinner found that rats will
learn to press metal bars and pigeons will peck at round plastic discs to get pellets
of food. Likewise, Tina will increase her house-keeping behaviour if it allows her to
see a friend and Sohan will do just about anything if the price is right. The infant will
smile and respond more if it gains the attention and approval of adults around her.
Since the theory of operant conditioning is totally based upon reinforcement, it
would be appropriate if we discuss the salient characteristics of reinforcement. So far,
I
we have been using the terms reward and reinforcement interchangeably. Now we
I w ~ l lavoid using the term reward for the reason that the word reward implies thatathe,
1 con5equence following a behaviour is somehow both pleasant and des~rable.
.-".3<.d
Pleasantness and desirability are subjective judgments, which a behaviot~fh'ttr6~to'

i avo~d.
We can say that reinforcer is a stimulus that increases or dedi.&as"eS'~~
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'fmd&-y&
a 1 c q ,s; 1: 7

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a''
response it follows. Reinforcers are of two types: primad'ana s ~ e 0 n & @ ! T r # i n a r ~ ~
reinforcers, such as, food, water, sleep and temperHtitt3,cktb.;Sf6 f ~ & s e l b ~ d ~ b u f i d ~ h t
enough to elicit a response. Secondary r e i n f o ~ l s ; M h e f i ~ i & ' ~ i rprifiia@$&irl~di.'~8~~
h '
take on the re~nforcingproperties of 'tMr Bikn:'si&:a@, btake:- 'smi1Candfbthct.I31&Al3'
of approval. We had seen in classgar c=&hhg'Hdw' a nenttal $tirri~lus~dLii'tak& lolli
re~nforclngproperties 4% z p f I h i i ~eirifb'i-kei.! .I -: , : ', .' .' * > , , + , * , - i : , , < !!I
3GF &.,, -;[ ,I, 2 9 t 1 - 1 , > ,>+ ,$ t{ !,3? 27 ; , r f > ,* , , 1: < (I,', * 1 - ',.-!I
D e p e n d l p - + y ~ p ~ $ .a$qq/~jra$w
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b,~e~ ~ @ y&el pbsitive,~~@?r~eme?t,~
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st!E

~ q e n t ~ ~ ~Aa npositr~c,,reipforcemen!
r.,I:~ \ nI f o r ~ e ~ ~ n t , , , ~ ~ ; p j ~ h&iin{tion. d !i >omelhlllg
py
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wh~chwh& added tq,the,s~tuat/o? L

. ,, - a c e r y k i$sponse, ip$-easer,thep;db;b1jltyJ of l f,'I
occurrence of that response. A child's independeht ilhy cs'iald io be reinforced when
it increases as a result of histher parents giving praise and attention when hetshe
.4cclui*ition and I'COCC\\
plays. A negative reinforcer, on the other hand, is something not conducive to the
of I , t a r n i ~ ~ g
organism in the process of learning, such as, an aversive high pitched tone, an electric
shock, extrenie cold or heat, social loneliness, etc. Negative reinforcement is,
therefore, removal of an already operating aversive stimulus. Punishment refers to
the removal of something posit~vefrom the situation or adding something negative to
the situation. In a laymen's terminology, it can be said that punishment is either
taking away something the child wants or giving it something hefshe does not want.
Extinction refers to the removal of a reinforcer that is helpful in increasing or
sustaining a behaviour. This is generally used to remove undesirable behaviour from
the behavioural repertoire of a child. It is based on the principle 'pay no attention'
to undesirable behaviours.
Don't label as good or bad regarding the undesirable behaviour of the children
immediately but at the same time give appropriate reinforcement for the desirable
behaviour instantly.
Another important consideration in the administration of reinforcement is whether all
the responses of the child should be reinforced. Generally, in the beginning of a
learning situation, all the responses of the child are reinforced, continuous
reinforcement, this however may be difficult and can also result in the desired behaviour
disappearing once the reinforcement is stopped. The other pattern of reinforcement
that can be used is partial reinforcement which is more effective in maintaining
desired bahaviour. To reinforce continuously or partially is an individual choice and
not necessarily a part of the same process. Also, partial reinforcement is more effective
than continuous reinforcement. Partial schedule of reinforcement is more effective
than continuous reinforcement. Partial schedule of reinforcement can be of two types:
ratio and interval. The basic difference between ratio and interval schedules is that
of frequency and timing. In case of ratio schedules, the emphasis is on the number
of activities a child does, e.g., solving five addition problems, learning a poem, etc.
Interval schedule is based upon the duration, e.g., you give the reinforcement after
the child has studied for ten minute, daes a particular work for a certain period of
time irrespective of the amount of work done by the child during the period. Researches
have indicated that ratio schedules are mom &&dive than interval schedules of
mkb~ement.
There are three important conditions for operant conditioning to take place and
effectiveness of operant conditioning depends on:
1. Magnitude --,greater the reward greater effect.
2. Contiguity, i.e., reinforcer must follow response.
3. Schedules of consequence, i.e., intervalfratio.
Related to it is an important concept of shaping. Parents and teachers, as suggested
by Skinner, can shape, inculcate any behaviour among children with the appropriate
use of reinforcement. This method is also known as method of successive
approximations. To shape a particular behaviour, you begin by reinforcing the first
response that in any way approximates the desired behaviour and continue or
reinforcing that response until the organism emits it fairly frequently. At the point
you reinforce, only those responses that more closely resemble the desired behaviour,
then those that resemble it more closely still, until eventually only the desired behaviour
itself is being reinforced. For example, you want to inculcate hand-raising behaviour
among the child in response to the question asked by the teacher. First of all, when
the teacher asks a question, any movement of the body is reinforced. When it is
established, any movement of the hand is reinforced, then movement of the right
hand, thereafter lifting of the hand and finally raising the hand.
 What is Learning?

I 2.5.2 Cognitixe View 4 Learuing,

I- 1 ,?,1 F =. ,.
We have discussed earlier the major differences between behaviouristic and cognitive
views of learning. While behaviourists give more emphasis on environmental conditions
and over behaviours in learning, cognitive psychologists look more at how individuals
process the stimuli they encounter - that is, how individuals perceive, interpret and
mentally store the information they receive from the environment. Thus, the focus of
cognitive theorists is the individual's active effort and input that is a more important
factor in learning as compared to the environment stimuli, which, however are also
important.
One major thinker in cognitive psychology*has been Jean Piaget who proposed learning
to be the result of exploration and insight of the individual. Another theorist, Vygotsky,
however, viewed learning as a product of interaction between the child and the other,
in the process of problem solving. ,."
Accluisition and Proccss A more recent development has been the informatioil processing perspective which
of Learning
views the human mind and its learning process to be operating like a computer. This
can be better understood with the help of following diagram:

Response output Response Long-Term

Generator Memory stores
information
permanently

RECEPTORS
e;.g., eyes, ears,
SENSORY REGISTER
Represents sights and
sound directly and stores
I SHORT-TERM MEMORY
Holds limited amount and
information which
them brietly operate into facilitating

MENTAL STRATEGIES
Executes attention, memory
I and problem solving strategies (

From the environment, the learner receives stimulation which activates hisher receptors
and is transformed to neural information. When the teacher writes on the blackboard
(stimuli in the environment), it is received by the sensory receptors (eye) and the
message is sent to the brain through nerve cells. Initially, this information enters a
structure (or structures) called the sensory register, where it persists for a very brief
interval. It has been found that attention of human beings is very selective, that is,
we do not attend (register) all the informations impinging upon our sensory receptors,
rather we attend to those information which are satisfying our needs. It is estimated
that only 1/70thinformation enters into short-term memory. Other information die out.
The information in the short-term memory persist for a limited period, generally
thought to be up to twenty seconds. The capacity of short-term memory is also
limited. You can retain only few items at a time in this storage. An interesting
property of short-term memory is its ability to carry out silent, mental repetition of
the information, a process called rehersal. Rehersal extends the capacity of the short-
term memory to store items for longer intervals.
From the standpoint of learning, the most critical transformation occurs when it
leaves short-term memory and enters the long-term memory. This process is called
encoding. At this juncture, the individual tries to relate the new information to his/
her already existing knowledge reservoir. A clerk after receiving a letter tries to put
it in the relevant file. Whenever the teacher explains few addition problems in the
class, the child attempts to relate it to his/ her already existing knowledge about
number.
Note: Decpy and intelligence account for major losses of information from short
term menaory (STM). In long term memory (LTM), the items and importance
and rehearsal affect the retention and recall.
The encoded information is stored in the memory for a considerable time period.
What is stored in memory may become inaccessible due to various reasons, for
example, the information may decay due to time, interference between newer and
older memiories, etc. For example, a child learns mathematics and then learns English.
The new information would interfere on the previous information, if the memory
traces of the earlier information have not been consolidated properly. Further, the
item's importance and rehearsal also affect the retention and recall. In order to be
 verified as learned, entities must be retrieved from long-term memory:This involves What is Learning'?
recall of what has been learned (decoding).
The next transformation along the route of information rlow is accomplished response
generator, which determines the basic form of human responding, such as, verbal,
muscular, or whatever. The last stage is the performance of the child through effectors,
in order to show whatever helshe has learned.
This is how information processing theorists view learning to 'take place. You can
also see that all these operations take d a c e in mind. That is why, they e*hasize on
mental processes.
Learning thus is a process which begins with the environment inputs which is
worked upon by the brain and then used as deemed fit.

1.5.3 Observation Learning

Almost everyday, we see instances of people watching others and learning from
them. Little boys often emulate hero figures like Superman and Chacha Chaudhary.
Through watching and copying one-another, pre-adolescent girls often begin to behave
in similar ways, such as dressing alike and wearing their hair in faddish style. Children
imitate their parents by developing similar hobbies and interests, by expressing similar
political and reljgious beliefs, and by eventually raising their own children using the
same disciplinary techniques used on them. Many skills acquired at school, including
reading and writing, are learned at least partly through watching and imitating what
one's teachers and peers do.

The learning by observation and modelling is the focus of Social Learning Theory.
i The principles of social learning theory are as follows:

iI 1. People can learn by observing the behaviours of others (modes) and the outcomes
of those behaviours.
2. Learning and performance are distinct from each other. In other words, the child
may know how to solve the addition problem, but may not be able to do so for
several reasons; sucl~as, fear, the environment may not be conducive. etc.
3. Reinforcement plays an important role in learning.
4. Cognitive processes play a role in learning. More importantly, social !earning
theorists incorporate such cognitive processes as attention and retention (memory)
into their explanations of how learning occurs. Four components are considered
necessary for the modelling of behaviours that one observes. These are: attention,
retention, motor reproduction and motivation.
Acquisitihn and Process Attention: For a behaviour to be modelled, an individual must first pay
of Learning
attention to the model, and especially to significant aspects of the modelled
behaviour. For example, if a child wants to learn how to play cricket, he
should watch how a successful batsman holds the bat, distance between the
legs, and so on. Paying attention to the irrelevant parts of the model will, of
course, not be helpful.
Retention: The second step in learning from a model is to remember the behaviour
that has been observed. People store both verbal representations (such as step-by-step
instructions) and visual images of the behhviours they have seen.
Motor Reproduction: The thi~dcomponent in modelling is to replicate the behaviour
the model has demonstrated. When an individual lacks the ability to ~eproducean
observed behaviour, perhaps because of physical immaturity, lack of strength, or
disability, this third step obviously cannot occur. Reproduction of an observed
behaviour at the time it is observed is often helpful because it provides an opportunity
for learners to receive feedback about how to improve their reproduction of that
behaviour.
Motivation: The final component of modelling .is to be motivated to exhibit the
modelled behaviour. An individual must want to demonstrate what has been learnt.
Although parents and teachers are often models for children, children do not model
all the behaviour they observe their parents and teachers perform. Children model
behaviours only when they are motivated to do so.

, CJrcek l o u r Progrkv-
 What Ls Learaln~?
2.6 FORMS OF LEARNING
By now, you must be familiar with the different viewpoints about learning. In this
section, we will try to incorporate the most important aspects of different viewpoints.
Gagne has emphasized that, in order to learn a complex skill, one need to learn
simple skills, and moreover, these skills should be interdependent. A Summary of the
interdependence of intellectual skills has been given below:

Higher-Order Rules

Require as prerequisites
I
Rules which require as prerequisites
I
Concepts which require as prerequisites
I
Discriminations
which require as prerequisites
I
I Basic Forms of Learning: I
1 Association and Chains 1
Based upon this interdependence, Gagne has identified eight forms of learning in a
hierarchical order, as given below:
I . Signal learning
2. Stimulus-response learning
3. Chain learning
4. Verbal associate learning
5. Multiple discriminations
6. Concept learning
7. Learning of rules
8. Problem-solving
Here, we will try to understand salient characteristics of each form of learning.
Signal learning: This is similar to Pavlov's classical conditioning discussed earlier.
A child visits the doctor and experiences fear reaction upon hearing that helshe needs
to take an injection or undergo surgery. On earlier occasion, helshe has seen that
taking injection is a painful process.
Stimulus-response learning: This is like the operant conditioning in which a
particular stimulus becomes associated with a particular voluntary response. After
seeing the teacher (stimulus) the child says 'Good Morning' (response) to the
teacher. The teacher in turn smiles and says 'Good Morning' to the child
(reinforcement).
Chain learning: Chaining is the connection of a set of individual S-R's in sequence,
e.g., learning to put the alphabets in an order to make an appropriate word. Speaking
is also a kind of chaining the words. Some sequences, such as, turning on a radio or
cleantng the blackboard, are made up of motor responses. Other sequences are entirely
verbal, for example, the greeting "How are you"?
Acquisition and Process Verbal associate learning: This is similar to chaining. The verbal associate learning
of Learning
occurs when two or more established verbal S-R links are put together. Human
beings ate capable of tremendous variety of performances with the use of their legs,
hands, and arms but their vocationalisations shows an enormous versatility in social
situations. A child is shown an object as a doll, the next time he/she sees the particular
object, he/she will be able to say that it is a doll.
The act of naming a specific object like a doll seems likely to be a chain of at least
two links. First, an observing response, S-R that connects the appearance of object
with some responses, and at the same time serve to distinguish it from other objects
of roughly the same type. The second links is the S-R connection that enables the
individual to stimulate himself/herself to say doll.

Object Observing doll 'doll'

The small 's' in the diagram stands for the internal representation of the object
resulting from its observation.
Multiple discriminations: This means that an individual can make different and
appropriate responses to different members of a particular collection of stimuli. For
exampler, in a class when a child does not behave properly, you express your anger
towards that child and not to all children. Given different types of furniture, you are
able to differentiate a chair, a table, an almirah, etc. Similarly, a child recognises her
mother in a group of women to is another example.
Concept learning: One way the individual can learn to respond to collections of
things i$ by distinguishing among them (discrimination learning). Another way, even
more important as a human capability, is by putting things into a class or group and
responding to any instance of the class as a member of that class. This latter leaming
in a Sense, seems just opposite of the first kind. But it is more than that, because it
incorporates the first kind as one of its preconditions. This latter learning, which
enable the individual to respond to things or eveni of a class in similar ways, results
in the kind of learning outcome called a concept.
This cao be understood with the help of an example. We are familiar with different
varieties of fruits: bananas, oranges, grapes, mango, apple, etc. Depending upon some
similarity among them -for examples, they are naturally produced, seasonal, can be
eaten raw, need not be cooked, and so on, we have put them into a class "fruit". At
the same time, we also make discrimination among different types of fruits as well
as fruitrs from vegetables, furnitures, etc. Another example could be of "school
children". All children going to the school may be put into a class/category and you
discriminate them from children not visiting the schools.
Learning of rules: According to Gagne, a rule is an inferred capability that enables
the indi'vidual to respond to a class of stimulus situations with a class of performances,
such performances being predictable related to the stimuli by a specific class of
relations. For example, an individual responds to a class of situations (4+5, 8+9,5+3)
that are predictably related to the stimuli by a relation that may be expressed as
"independence of order". The rule that governs this behaviour may be represented by
the statement "adding the class of numbers 'a; to the class of numbers 'b' is independent
of the order in which 'a' and 'b' are combined."
Problems-solving: one of the most complex activities of human beings is problem
solving. Rule learning is a precondition for problem-solving. In problem-solving
the most important part of the process takes place within the learner. Problem-
Acqulsltlon and Pnocese Problem
of Learolna

You can move 3 matchsticks to make 4 squares.

Problem 2:

You csn move 2 sticks to make 5 squares.

Now, since you have solved these problems, and noted down your reactions, it is
important to point out the controversy between Behaviouristic and Cognitive views.
The controversy is: whether you learn by Trial-and Error method or it is insightficl.
Behaviourists like Thorndike would emphasise that a cat, put in a box would need
to work out how to get out of the confining situation and eat food kept outside the
box. According to him, the cat will explore the box, by manipulating various parts
of the box, and would eventually trigger the mechanism that opens the door. Once
again, when the cat is put back in the box, it would try different behav~oursuntil it
triggers the release mechanism. In each succeeding trial, escape from the box would
take less time as compared to the previous trials. The cat's approac-h to the problem
situation appears to be one of trial and error, with the correct solutio~ibeing followed
by a positive consequence (escape from the box). A trial-and-error approach is often
observed in the problem-solving behaviour of children.
Cognitive psychologists would rather not agree to Thorndike's proposit~on.According
to them, in a problem situation, the organism carefully examines the components of
a problem situation, the organism carefully examines the components of a problem
situatign, and mentally combines and recombines those components until he eventually
finds a winning tombination. At this point of insi* he would immediately move
into action, performing the required responses in a deliberate manner until the problem
is solved.