Learning

What is Learning?

Learning is defined as a relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs

as a result of experience.

Behavior changes that are due to maturation or to temporary conditions

(such as fatigue or drug-induced states) are not included.

Two basic kinds of learning: non-associative learning and associative

learning.

Non-associative learning involves learning about a single stimulus.

It includes habituation and sensitization.
 Habituation & Sensitization
Habituation is characterized by a decreased behavioral response to an
innocuous (harmless) stimulus.

For example, the sound of a horn might startle you when you first hear it.
But if the horn toots repeatedly in a short time, the amount that you are
startled by each sound progressively decreases.

In contrast, sensitization is an increase in a behavioral response to an

intense stimulus.

For example, the acoustic startle response to a horn is greatly enhanced if

you enter a dark alley right before the loud sound.

Both habituation and sensitization are typically relatively short-lived,

lasting for minutes to hours.
Associative learning involves learning relationships among events.
It includes classical conditioning and instrumental conditioning.

Classical and instrumental conditioning both involve forming associations –

that is, learning that certain events go together.

In classical conditioning, an organism learns that one event follows

another.
For example: a person feeling hungry upon smelling their favorite food cooking
in the kitchen, due to repeated associations between the smell and the act of
eating.

In instrumental conditioning, an organism learns that a response it

makes will be followed by a particular consequence.
For example, a young child learns that striking a sibling will be followed by
disapproval from his or her parents
Theories in Learning
Cognitive Theories of Learning

Classical Instrumental/Operant
Conditioning Conditioning Theory
Theory of Learning of Learning

Social Learning Cognitive Theories

Theory. of Learning
 Classical conditioning
Ivan Pavlov

Learning takes place through:

Association: a link between two events or entities that permits one

to activate the other

Ivan Pavlov and his work on classical conditioning influenced by

Behavioral perspective in Psychology.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asmXyJaXBC8
 Classical Conditioning
Classical conditioning is a learning process in which a previously neutral
stimulus becomes associated with another stimulus through repeated
pairing with that stimulus.
In Pavlov’s basic experiment, a tube is attached to the dog’s salivary gland
so that the flow of salivation can be measured. Then the dog is placed in
front of a pan into which meat powder can be delivered automatically.

The dog is hungry and when meat powder is delivered, salivation is

registered. This salivation is an unconditioned response (UR): an
unlearned response elicited by the taste of the food.

By the same token, the food itself is termed the unconditioned

stimulus (US): a stimulus that automatically elicits a response without
prior conditioning.

The researcher can also turn on a light in a window in front of the

dog. This event is called a neutral stimulus (NS) because it does not
cause salivation
Next, the researcher will repeatedly pair the presentation of the food with the light:
first the light is turned on, then some meat powder is delivered and the
light is turned off. This is called the conditioning phase of the experiment.

After a number of such paired presentations, the dog will salivate in

response to the light even if no meat powder is delivered. This teaches us
that the dog has learned that the two events (food and light) are
associated – the light has become a conditioned stimulus (CS), causing a
conditioned response (CR).

In variations on this experiment, Pavlov used a tone (or other stimuli) instead of a
light, and found similar results in each case.
Imagine you have a favorite restaurant where you
enjoy dining out with friends. Every time you visit
this restaurant, you're greeted with a warm
welcome, the aroma of delicious food, and upbeat
music playing in the background. Over time, you
begin to associate the restaurant's atmosphere
and ambience with positive feelings of enjoyment
and satisfaction.
Unconditioned Stimulus (US): The delicious food, warm welcome, and
enjoyable atmosphere are the unconditioned stimuli. They naturally evoke
positive emotions and satisfaction.
Unconditioned Response (UR): Your natural response of feeling enjoyment and
satisfaction when experiencing the delicious food and pleasant atmosphere.
Neutral Stimulus (NS): Initially, elements like the restaurant's décor, music, or
even its logo could be considered neutral stimuli. They don't inherently elicit any
specific emotional response from you.
Conditioned Stimulus (CS): Through repeated visits to the restaurant, you
begin to associate its décor, music, and logo with the positive experiences you've
had there.
conditioned Response (CR): As a result of this association, you start to feel a
sense of excitement or anticipation whenever you see the restaurant's logo, hear
the music played there, or encounter its décor, even when you're not actually at
the restaurant. Your response is conditioned by your past experiences.
 Example

Advertisers often use classical conditioning to associate their brands with positive
emotions. For example, a soft drink company might show commercials
featuring scenes of happy people enjoying their product at parties or
family gatherings. Through repeated exposure to these ads, consumers
may start to associate feelings of happiness and social connection with
that particular brand.

Jingles and Catchphrases: Many successful advertising campaigns use

catchy jingles or memorable catchphrases. Over time, these auditory
cues become associated with specific products or brands. For example,
hearing the phrase "I'm lovin' it" may automatically bring to mind McDonald's for
many people. This association is a result of classical conditioning, where the
positive emotions evoked by the catchy jingle become linked to the brand.
In this example, classical conditioning demonstrates how marketers
and businesses can leverage positive experiences and
associations to influence consumer behavior.

By creating environments and stimuli that evoke positive emotions,

they can condition consumers to associate their brands or products
with those emotions, ultimately influencing their purchasing decisions
and brand loyalty.
• John Watson conducted an experiment with a boy named
Albert in which he paired a white rat with a loud, startling
noise. Albert now becomes startled at the sight of the
white rat.
• What is the US?
• What is the UR?
• What is the CS?
• What is the CR?
• US - Loud noise
• UR - Startle
• CS - White rat
• CR - startled at the sight of the white rat.
• NS - White Rat
 Extinction

Extinction :
Q. What will happen if tone is presented over and over again
but no food appears?
Dogs salivated less and less which is known as extinction.
If the US (food) is subsequently omitted, the CR will gradually
diminish.
after about ten trials or so there is no salivation in response to
the light, if it is not followed by food. Extinction represents
learning that the CS no longer predicts the US.
 Spontaneous recovery

When the experimenter allows the dog to rest for a certain period, and
then presents again only the light, the (extinguished) salivation
response reappears.

Q. What will happen if the tone is presented again after several

hours?
Dog would again began salivating to the tone.
 Stimulus generalization

Pavlov noticed that the dogs that had been trained to have a
conditioned response to a certain tone, would show the same
response to a tone that was slightly higher or lower in pitch.
This is called response generalization: the more similar the new
stimuli are to the original CS, the more likely they are to evoke
the same response.
 Stimulus discrimination

Q. Will the dog salivate even if presented with a completely different

stimuli?
No, dogs wont respond to tones other than the conditioned stimulus.

stimulus discrimination is a reaction to differences.

Tendency to discriminate between stimulus and therefore weaken the effect of the
stimulus on the required response
 Operant/ Instrumental Conditioning/

The theory of Reinforcement

Operant Conditioning
A process through which organisms learn to repeat behaviors that yield
positive outcomes or permit them to avoid or escape from negative
outcomes.

A type of conditioning in which desired voluntary behavior leads to a

reward or prevents a punishment.
 Operant conditioning - B.F. Skinner

Chamber with a lever protruding from

one wall and a nearby food cup into
which food pellets can be delivered by
remote control.

Pressing the lever operates an electronic

switch and automatically results in food
delivery. So there is an instrumental
contingency between the lever-press
(the response) and the food (the
effect or outcome).
 Operant Conditioning
Animals learn through trial-
and-error.
In a typical experiment, a hungry
cat was confined in a ‘puzzle box’
a piece of fish is placed just
outside the cage.
To escape from the box, the cat
had to press a latch or pull a
string. Cats proved able to solve
this problem, taking less and less
time to do so over a series of
trials
Cats solved the problem not
by a flash of insight but by a
gradual process of trial and
error.
 Reinforcement
Reinforcement is the application of a pleasant stimulus or removal of an
unpleasant stimulus to increase the strength of a specific behavior
Tends to increase the intensity of a response & also induces the person to
repeat the behavior which was followed by reinforcement.

Positive & Negative reinforcement

Positive Reinforcement
The presentation of some event causes the behavior to increase.
For example, bar pressing is followed by food.
Negative Reinforcement
The removal or avoidance of some event causes the behavior to increase.
For example: bar pressing terminates or prevents shock.
 Punishment
A procedure by which the application(of
an unpleasant stimulus) or removal of a
stimulus (pleasant stimulus) decreases
the strength of a behavior.
Punishment weakens the behaviour
in one of two ways:
Applying an aversive or unpleasant
stimulus OR
Removing an appetitive or pleasant
stimulus
Positive punishment: Where you add
an unpleasant stimulus as a
consequence of a response
Negative punishment: Where you
remove a pleasant stimulus as a
● You tend to work hard when you get good grades in the exam. This
can be a typical example for____________
● You tend to work hard when you get good grades in the exam. This
can be a typical example for____________
Positive Reinforcement
● When a supervisor complains about messy work station and stops only when
worker cleans it up, he is using _______________ conditioning technique

a) Punishment
b) Positive Reinforcement
c) Negative Reinforcement
● When a supervisor complains about messy work station and stops only when
worker cleans it up, he is using _______________ conditioning technique

a) Punishment
b) Positive Reinforcement
c) Negative Reinforcement
Which one of the following statements is an example of negative
reinforcement.
a) Dipesh leaves home half an hour early to work to avoid a heavy traffic en
route office.

b) Dipesh leaves homes half an hour early so that he reaches office before time.
He does this to make a favorable impression on his manager for a promotion.

c) Dipesh leaves homes half an hour early so that he gets time to exercise at
the office gym before work begins.

d) Dipesh leaves home half an hour early to work so that his salary doesn’t get
deducted for reaching work late.
Which one of the following statements is an example of negative
reinforcement.
a) Dipesh leaves home half an hour early to work to avoid a heavy traffic en
route office.

b) Dipesh leaves homes half an hour early so that he reaches office before time.
He does this to make a favorable impression on his manager for a promotion.

c) Dipesh leaves homes half an hour early so that he gets time to exercise at
the office gym before work begins.

d) Dipesh leaves home half an hour early to work so that his salary
doesn’t get deducted for reaching work late.
Loss of pay for absenteeism without a prior information.
a) Punishment
b) Positive Reinforcement
c) Negative Reinforcement
Loss of pay for absenteeism without a prior information.
a) Punishment
b) Positive Reinforcement
c) Negative Reinforcement
Adding extra sensitivity training to employees who offend or harass
someone at work-positive punishment

a) Positive Punishment
b) Positive Reinforcement
c) Negative Reinforcement
d) Negative punishment
Adding extra sensitivity training to employees who offend or harass
someone at work-positive punishment

a) Positive Punishment
b) Positive Reinforcement
c) Negative Reinforcement
d) Negative punishment
Ravi gets a ticket for driving under the influence of alcohol that results in
Rs 2000 fine and suspension of his driving license. Both the
consequences for Ravi’s behavior are
Positive punishments
Negative punishments
Both positive and negative punishment
Negative reinforcement
Ravi gets a ticket for driving under the influence of alcohol that results in
Rs 2000 fine and suspension of his driving license. Both the
consequences for Ravi’s behavior are
Positive punishments
Negative punishments
Both positive and negative punishment
Negative reinforcement
 Social Learning
Blend of behaviorist & cognitive concepts

Albert Bandura - “People learn by imitation/ observing others”

Vicarious Learning – Indirect learning through observation and

through the process of modeling.
You can get the learning experience through other’s indirect
experiences.
It can be through seeing or hearing them interacting and it can also
be hearing the story of imagining the situation.
Observational Learning - focuses simply on watching.
The learning experience is acquired by seeing a live situation or
 Social Learning
The main difference between vicarious and observational
learning lies in the intention of the learner.

In particular, vicarious learning implies attention to the process,

retention of knowledge, motivation, and reproduction, while
observational theory focuses simply on watching.
 Applications of observational learning
Prosocial effects: Many organizations use behavior modelling
to help new employees learn communication, sales skills and etc.

Antisocial effect: Abusive parents might have aggressive

children.
 Social Learning

Key factors in Observational learning

Attention - for learning to occur, a person must be paying
attention.
Retention - information must be retained and stored in memory
Imitation / Enacting role model - Each person has limitations
and may need practice in order to reproduce the actions they
have observed.
Motivation - a person must be motivated to perform the
observed behavior. Motivation can come from wanting a reward
or to avoid punishment.
 Social learning theory

Steps in Modeling/vicarious Learning

1. Observation

2. Mental models

3. Imitation / Enacting role model

4. Repetition if positive consequences

Models often are actual persons whose behaviors we observe,
but they can also be more abstract (for example, the written
instructions found in a book).
Social Media Trends -
First, one person does some kind of interesting trick and posts a video of
themselves doing it. After the video goes all over the internet, there will
be tons of other people, even celebrities, doing the same trick and
posting a video proving that they can do it too.

The new employee -

Whenever someone is new on the job, there are a lot of things to learn.
In addition to learning the basics of performing one’s job, there are also
unwritten rules to follow, which are learned through observation.
 Example

Scenario: In a classroom setting, a student named Emily

consistently observes her classmate Jake, who excels in
grasping complex concepts quickly. As a result, Emily
starts adopting Jake's study strategies. What aspect of
social learning is demonstrated in this scenario?

a. Classical conditioning
b. Operant conditioning
c. Observational learning
d. Cognitive dissonance
 Example

Scenario: In a classroom setting, a student named Emily

consistently observes her classmate Jake, who excels in
grasping complex concepts quickly. As a result, Emily
starts adopting Jake's study strategies. What aspect of
social learning is demonstrated in this scenario?

a. Classical conditioning
b. Operant conditioning
c. Observational learning
d. Cognitive dissonance
 Example

At a company training session, employees who actively

participate in group activities and discussions receive
praise and recognition from the supervisor. As a result,
other employees start engaging more in group activities.
What social learning principle is evident in this situation?

a. Positive reinforcement
b. Negative reinforcement
c. Punishment
d. Extinction
 Example

At a company training session, employees who actively

participate in group activities and discussions receive
praise and recognition from the supervisor. As a result,
other employees start engaging more in group activities.
What social learning principle is evident in this situation?

a. Positive reinforcement
b. Negative reinforcement
c. Punishment
d. Extinction
 Learning & Cognition

“Organisms develop cognitive maps of their environments.

They learn where different parts of the environment are situated
in relation to one another.”

Latent Learning
‘Humans engage in this type of learning everyday as we drive or
walk the same route daily and learn the locations of various
buildings and objects. Only when we need to find a building or
object does learning become obvious.
Which term refers to learning by observing others and imitating their
behavior?
a. Classical conditioning
b. Operant conditioning
c. Social learning
d. Insight learning
Which term refers to learning by observing others and imitating their
behavior?
a. Classical conditioning
b. Operant conditioning
c. Social learning
d. Insight learning
Situation: Lisa witnessed her friend Sam being scolded by the teacher for
talking in class. As a result, Lisa refrains from talking during lessons. This
behavioral change in Lisa can be attributed to which mechanism?
a. Extinction
b. Punishment
c. Modeling
d. Classical conditioning
Situation: Lisa witnessed her friend Sam being scolded by the teacher for
talking in class. As a result, Lisa refrains from talking during lessons. This
behavioral change in Lisa can be attributed to which mechanism?
a. Extinction
b. Punishment
c. Modeling
d. Classical conditioning