Learning: Definition, Characteristics and Types of Learning in Psychology

The process of learning is continuous which starts right from the time of birth of an individual
and continues till the death. We all are engaged in the learning endeavours in order to develop
our adaptive capabilities as per the requirements of the changing environment. For a learning to
occur, two things are important: 1. The presence of a stimulus in the environment and 2. The
innate dispositions like emotional and instinctual dispositions. A person keeps on learning across
all the stages of life, by constructing or reconstructing experiences under the influence of
emotional and instinctual dispositions.
Psychologists in general define Learning as relatively permanent behavioural modifications
which take place as a result of experience. This definition of learning stresses on three important
elements of learning:
Learning involves a behavioral change which can be better or worse.
This behavioral change should take place as a result of practice and experience. Changes
resulting from maturity or growth cannot be considered as learning
This behavioral change must be relatively permanent and last for a relatively long time enough.
John B Watson is one amongst the first thinkers who has proven that behavioral changes occur as
a result of learning. Watson is believed to be the founder of Behavioral school of thought, which
gained its prominence or acceptability around the first half of the 20th century. Gales defined
Learning as the behavioral modification which occurs as a result of experience as well as
training. Crow and Crow defined learning as the process of acquisition of knowledge, habits and
attitudes. According to E.A, Peel, Learning can be described as a change in the individual which
takes place as a result of the environmental change. H.J. Klausmeir described Learning as a
process which leads to some behavioral change as a result of some experience, training,
observation, activity, etc.

The key characteristics of the learning process are:

When described in the simplest possible manner, learning is described as an experience
acquisition process.
In the complex form, learning can be described as process of acquisition, retention and
modification of experience.
It re-establishes the relationship between a stimulus and response.
It is a method of problem solving and is concerned about making adjustments with the
environment.
It involves all those gamut of activities which may have a relatively permanent effect on the
individual.
The process of learning is concerned about experience acquisition, retention of experiences, and
experience development in a step by step manner, synthesis of both old and new experiences for
creating a new pattern.
Learning is concerned about cognitive, conative and affective aspects. Knowledge acquisition
process is cognitive, any change in the emotions is affective and conative is acquisition of new
habits or skills.

Three Types of Behavioral Learning

The Behavioral School of Thought which was founded by John B Watson which was highlighted
in his seminal work, “Psychology as the Behaviorist View It”, stressed on the fact that
Psychology is an objective science, hence mere emphasis on the mental processes should not be
considered as such processes cannot be objectively measured or observed.
Watson tried to prove his theory with the help of his famous Little Albert Experiment, by way of
which he conditioned a small kid to be scared of a white rat. The behavioral psychology
described three types of learning: Classical Conditioning, Observational Learning and
Operant Conditioning.

Classical Conditioning: In case of Classical Conditioning, the process of learning is

described as a Stimulus-Response connection or association. Classical Conditioning theory has
been explained with the help of Pavlov’s Classic Experiment, in which the food was used as the
natural stimulus which was paired with the previously neutral stimuli that’s a bell in this case. By
establishing an association between the natural stimulus (food) and the neutral stimuli (sound of
the bell), the desired response can be elicited. This theory will be discussed in detail in the next
few articles.

Classical Conditioning Theory and Learning

The key premises of Classical Conditioning theory was established by Russian Physiologist
named Ivan Pavlov, who first discovered the crucial principles of classical learning theory with
the help of an experiment done on dogs to study their digestive processes. The Nobel Prize
laureate of 1904, while studying the digestive processes in dogs came across a very interesting
observation during his experimentation. He noticed that his subject would begin to salivate by
seeing the lab assistant with white lab coats entering into the room before being fed. Though
Pavlov’s discovery is originally an accidental discovery, but later with the help of his
experiments the classical conditioning theory came into existence. His Classical conditioning
theory played a crucial role in explaining the important psychological concepts like learning and
equally established the foundation for the behavioural school of thought. Behaviourism is based
on two major assumptions:

1. Learning takes place as a result of the interactions with the environmental forces.
2. The environmental forces play a key role in shaping the behaviour.

According to Pavlov’s Classical Conditioning theory, learning takes place because of association
which is established between a previously neutral stimulus and a natural stimulus. It should be
noted, that Classical Conditioning places a neutral stimulus before the naturally occurring
reflexes. In his experiment, he tried to pair the natural stimulus that is food with a bell sound.
The dogs would salivate with the natural occurrence of food, but after repeated associations, the
dogs salivated just by hearing the sound of the bell alone. The focus of Classical Conditioning
theory is on automatic and naturally occurring behaviours.

Key Principles of Classical Conditioning Theory

1. Acquisition: This is the starting stage of learning during which a response is established
firstly and then gradually strengthened. During the acquisition phase, a neutral stimulus is
paired with an unconditioned stimulus which can automatically or naturally trigger or
generate a response without any learning. Once this association is established between
the neutral stimulus and unconditioned stimulus, the subject will exhibit a behavioural
response which is now known as conditioned stimulus. Once a behavioural response is
established, the same can be gradually strengthened or reinforced to make sure that the
behaviour is learnt.
2. Extinction: Extinction is expected to take place when the intensity of a conditioned
response decreases or disappears completely. In classical conditioning, this occurs when
a conditioned stimulus is no longer associated or paired with the unconditioned stimulus.
3. Spontaneous Recovery: When a learnt or a conditioned response suddenly reappears
after a brief resting period or suddenly re-emerges after a short period of extinction, the
process is considered as a spontaneous recovery.
4. Stimulus Generalization: It is the tendency of the conditioned stimulus to evoke the
similar kind of responses once the responses have been conditioned, which occurs as a
result of stimulus generalization.
5. Stimulus Discrimination: Discrimination is the ability of the subject to discriminate
between stimuli with other similar stimuli. It means, not responding to those stimuli
which is not similar, but responding only to certain specific stimuli.

The theory of Classical Conditioning has several applications in the real-world. It is helpful for
various pet trainers for helping them train their pets. Classical conditioning techniques can also
be beneficial in helping people deal with their phobias or anxiety issues. The trainers or teachers
can also put to practise the Classical Conditioning theory by building a positive or a highly
motivated classroom environment for helping the students to overcome their phobias and deliver
their best performance.

Operant Conditioning:
It propounded by scholars like Edward Thorndike firstly and later by B.F. Skinner, this theory
stresses on the fact that the consequences of actions shape the behaviour. The theory explains
that the intensity of a response is either increased or decreased as a result of punishment or
reinforcement. Skinner explained how with the help of reinforcement one can strengthen
behaviour and with punishment reduce or curb behaviour. It was also analyzed that the
behavioural change strongly depends on the schedules of reinforcement with focus on timing and
rate of reinforcement.
Observational Learning: The Observational Learning process was propounded by Albert
Bandura in his Social Learning Theory, which focused on learning by imitation or observing
people’s behaviour. For observational learning to take place effectively, four important elements
will be essential: Motivation, Attention, Memory and Motor Skills.
Operant Conditioning Theory and Learning

Renowned Behavioural Psychologist B.F. Skinner was the main proponent of Operant
conditioning theory. It is for this reason that the Operant Conditioning is also known as
Skinnerian Conditioning and Instrumental Conditioning. Just like Classical Conditioning,
Instrumental/Operant Conditioning lays emphasis on forming associations, but these associations
are established between behaviour and behavioural consequences. The theory stressed on the role
of punishment or reinforcements for increasing or decreasing the probability of the same
behaviour to be repeated in the future. But the condition is that the consequences must
immediately follow a behavioural pattern. The focus of operant conditioning is on voluntary
behavioural patterns.

Key Components of Operant Conditioning

 Reinforcement: Reinforcements strengthen or increase the intensity of behaviour. This
can be Positive and Negative.

Positive Reinforcement: When a favourable event or an outcome is associated with

behaviour in the form of a reward or praise, it is called as positive reinforcement. For
example, a boss may associate bonus with outstanding achievements at work.

Negative Reinforcement: This involves removal of an unfavourable or an unpleasant

event after a behavioural outcome. In this case, the intensity of a response is strengthened
by removing the unpleasant experiences.

 Punishment: The objective of punishment is to decrease the intensity of a behavioural

outcome, which may be negative or positive.

Positive Punishment: This involves application of punishment by presenting an

unfavourable event or outcome in response to a behaviour. Spanking for an unacceptable
behaviour is an example of positive punishment.

Negative Punishment: It is associated with the removal of a favourable event or an

outcome in response to a behaviour which needs to be weakened. Holding the promotion
of an employee for not being able to perform up to the expectations of the management
can be an example of a negative punishment.

 Reinforcement Schedules: According to Skinner, the schedule of reinforcement with

focus on timing as well as the frequency of reinforcement, determined how quickly new
behaviour can be learned and old behaviour can be altered.

Learning by Observation
According to Albert Bandura, learning cannot simply be based merely on associations or
reinforcements which he has mentioned in his writings in his book Social Learning
Theory which was published in 1977. Instead, his focus was on learning based on observation,
which he has proven through his well known Bobo Doll experiment. He reckoned that children
keenly observe their surroundings and the behaviour of people around them particularly their
caregivers, teachers and siblings and try to imitate those behaviours in their day to day life. He
also tried proving through his experiment that children can easily imitate the negative behaviours
or actions.

Another important principle of Bandura’s Social Learning Theory was that learning something
by way of observation, need not necessarily mean that it would lead to a change in the behaviour.
This behavioural change is entirely influenced by the felt need or motivation of a person to
endorse and adopt a behavioural change.

Key Steps involved in Observational Learning

 Attention: Attention is very important for learning to take place effectively by following
observational techniques. A novel concept or a unique idea is expected to attract the
attention far more strongly than those which are routine or mundane in nature.
 Retention: It is the ability to store the learnt information and recall it later, which is
equally affected by a number of factors.
 Reproduction: It involves practising or emulating the learnt behaviour, which will
further lead to the advancement of the skill.
 Motivation: Motivation to imitate the learnt behaviour of a model depends a lot on the
reinforcement and punishment. For example, an office-goer may be motivated to report to
office on time by seeing his colleague being rewarded for his punctuality and timeliness.