The Learning Process

Definition and Perspective of

Learning

Prepared By: Marjorie V. Libo-on

 PROCESS

• a continuous action, operation, or series of changes taking place in a

definite manner
 What is Learning Process?
• 1.A process that people pass through to acquire new knowledge and skills
and ultimately influence their attitudes, decisions and actions.
• 2.Activities carried out to achieve educational objectives. They are carried
out individually, although this takes place in a cultural and social context,
in which people combine their new knowledge with their previous
cognitive structures.
• 3.The completion of the learning cycle that includes active testing,
concrete experiences, reflective observation, and abstract hypothesis.
 What is Learning Process?
• 4.It is the process of in which an individual or group uses, adapts and
reproduces structures or appropriates the structures.
• 5.A process that consists of several mental processes. It results in
changed behavior.
 LEARNING

• Defined as a change in an individual’s behavior caused by experience or

self activity.
• Can be intentional or unintentional.
• Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavioral tendency and is
the result of reinforced practice.
 LEARNING
• A definition for starters:
Learning is a process that is often not under our control and is wrapped up
with the environments we inhabit and the relationships we make. It involves
encountering signals from the senses; attending to them; looking for
connections and meanings; and framing them so that we may act.
 What do people think learning is?
• Säljö (1979) 
• Learning as a quantitative increase in knowledge. Learning is acquiring information or
‘knowing a lot’.
• Learning as memorizing. Learning is storing information that can be reproduced.
• Learning as acquiring facts, skills, and methods that can be retained and used as necessary.
• Learning as making sense or abstracting meaning. Learning involves relating parts of the
subject matter to each other and to the real world.
• Learning as interpreting and understanding reality in a different way. Learning involves
comprehending the world by reinterpreting knowledge. 
 Characteristics of learning

•  Learning is a continuous process.

•  Learning is a key process in human behavior.
•  Without learning, life becomes meaningless and colorless.
•  Learning shapes our thoughts, language, motivations, emotions,
personalities and attitudes.
•  It ranges from simple to complex.
•  It is influenced by the learning, stimulus, and environmental factors.
 Behavioral perspective
• A. Classical conditioning:
•  Russian physiologist and scientist Ivan P. Pavlov developed the
conditioning technique known as ‘Pavlovian’ conditioning’.
•  He conducted much of his research on dogs, and example of classical
conditioning can be found in many human behaviors.
•  Classical conditioning is a type of learning in which a neutral stimulus
comes to bring about a response after it is paired with a stimulus that
naturally brings about that response.
 BASIC ELEMENTS OF CLASSICAL
CONDITIONING
• 1. Neutral stimulus: A stimulus that before conditioning, does not naturally bring about
the response of interest.
• 2. Unconditioned stimulus: A stimulus that naturally brings about a particular response
without having been learned.
• 3. Unconditioned response: A response that is natural and needs no training.
• 4. Conditioned stimulus: A neutral stimulus that have been paired with an unconditioned
stimulus to bring about a response formally caused only by the unconditioned stimulus.
• 5. Conditioned response: A response that, after conditioning, follows a previously neutral
stimulus.
Experiment based on classical conditioning
 BASIC PRINCIPLES OF CLASSICAL
CONDITIONING
•  Extinction: A basic phenomenon of learning that occurs when a previously conditioned
response decreases in frequently and eventually disappears.
•  Spontaneous recovery: The reemergence of an extinguished conditioned response after a
period of rest and with no further conditioning.
•  Stimulus generalization: A process in which, after a stimulus has been conditioned to
produce a particular response, stimuli that are similar to the original stimulus produce the same
response.
•  Stimulus discrimination: The process that occurs if two stimuli are sufficiently distinct
from one another that one envokes a conditioned response but the other does not; the ability to
differentiate between stimuli.
OPERANT CONDITIONING
• Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1904-1990) pioneer of the
operant conditioning. Skinner developed a
“behavioral technology “that enabled him to teach
pigeon, animals, and human a desired behavior. “All
we need to know in order to describe and explain
behavior is this: actions followed by good outcomes
are likely to recur , and actions followed by bad
outcomes are less likely to recur.” (Skinner, 1953)
 Operant conditioning
• It is derived from the word ‘operate’.
• Skinner used the term operant to refer to any "active behavior that
operates upon the environment to generate consequences" (1953).
• Operant conditioning is a method of learning that occurs through rewards
and punishments for behavior through operant conditioning, an
association is made between a behavior and a consequence for that
behavior.
 Operant Conditioning
• Reinforcement
Strengthens a response and makes it more likely to recur.
• Punishment
Weakens a response and makes it less likely to recur.
Consequences are Key!
 Cognitive perspective
• A. Observational learning
• 1. Shaping Behavior
Shaping is an experimental process used in operant conditioning by which
successive approximations of a target behavior are reinforced. This method
relies on the :
 Use of behavioral reinforcement
 Use of behavioral punishment
Shaping Behavior
 Reinforcement
• Procedure that:
•  increases the likelihood that the response will occur &
•  strengthen behavior
It is the application or removal of a stimulus to increase the strength of a
specific behavior. There are two types of reinforcement:
•  Positive reinforcement
•  Negative reinforcement
 Positive reinforcement
•  It strengthens responses that precede occurrence of stimulus.
•  It involves the impact of positive reinforces.
•  Positive reinforces - event or stimuli that increases the probability that
the responses will occur again in the future.
 Negative Reinforcement
•  It strengthens responses that permit the escape or avoidance of
stimulus.
•  It involves the impact of negative reinforcers.
•  Negative reinforcers- event or stimuli that strengthens responses that
lead to their termination or avoidance.
 Types of Negative reinforcement

Escape conditioning:
Behavior is reinforced by the elimination of expected event from happening.

Avoidance conditioning:
Behavior is reinforced by preventing an expected event from happening.
 Punishment
 A punishment has the opposite affect, decreasing the likelihood, or rate of
responding to a target response.
 Punishment, when appropriately used, can be a valuable tool for
discouraging inappropriate behavior.
 Punishment is also positive and negative.
 Factors influencing Punishment
 The punishment should be applied immediately after the undesired
responses that is to be eliminated.
 The punishment should be strong enough to make a real difference.
 Punishment should be applied uniformly.
 Provide alternative desired reinforcer for the person.
 Extinction
 Extinction refers to the systematic withholding of the reinforcers which
had previously maintained a behavior.
 Ignoring a behavior is an example of extinction if that behavior has been
maintained by the attention of the person doing the ignoring.
 Schedule of reinforcement
• Reinforcement is anything that increases the likelihood that a response
will occur. A schedule of reinforcement is basically a rule stating which
instance of a behaviour will be reinforced. In operant
conditioning ,schedules of reinforcement are an important component of
the learning process when and how often we reinforce a behaviour can
have a dramatic impact on the strength and rate of the response.
 Behavior modification
 A formalized technique for promoting the frequency of desirable behaviors & decreasing
the incidence of unwanted ones
 It is a great way to address a variety of behavior problem,
 The techniques are often applied in every life
 tries to stimulate & maintain desired & extinguish undesired behavior
 targets specific behaviors that require change
 Also know as Applied behavior analysis (ABA) It consists of four components is
 Positive reinforcement  Negative reinforcement  Positive punishment  Negative
punishment