Major contents of the unit

3.1. Definition, Characteristics and Principles of Learning

3.2. Factors Influencing Learning
3.3. theories of learning
• 3.2.1. Behavioral Learning Theory
• 3.2.2. Social learning Theory
• 3.2.3. Cognitive learning theories
 Definitions of Learning
• learning is any relatively permanent change in behavior as a result of
practice or experience,
• This definition has three important elements:
– Learning involves change in behavior
– It is change that takes place through practice or experience;
– relatively permanent; it must last as fairly long time.
▪ Behavior Considered as Not Learning
– Reflex action; as sneezing or eye blinking,
– Changes due to maturation and growth,
– Temporary behavioral changes such as:
»Changes due to fatigue,
»Disease and Drug states,
 Characteristics of Learning
• According to Yoakman and Simpson Learning:
– is continuous modification of behavior throughout life,
– is pervasive, it reaches into all aspects of human life,
– involves the whole person, socially, emotionally &
intellectually,
– is often a change in the organization of experiences.
– is responsive to incentives,
– is an active process,
– is purposeful,
– depends on maturation and motivation,
– is multifaceted.
 3.1.3. Principles of learning
• Individuals learn best when they are physically, mentally, and
emotionally ready to learn,
• Students learn best and retain information longer when they have
meaningful practice and exercise,
• Learning is strengthened when accompanied by a pleasant and
weakened when associated with an unpleasant feeling,
• Things learned first create a strong impression in the mind that is
difficult to erase,
• Things most recently learned are best remembered,
• student will 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.
 3.2. Factors Influencing Learning
• Some of the factors that affect learning of individuals
are the following:
– Motivation,
– Intelligence,
– Maturation,
– Physical condition of the learner.
– Good working conditions,
– Psychological wellbeing of the learner,
– Background experiences,
– Length of the working period.
 3.3. Theories of learning

– Behavioral Learning Theory

– Classical Conditioning
– Operant Conditioning
– Social Learning Theory
– Forms of Reinforcement
– Necessary Conditions for learning via observation
– Cognitive Learning Theories
– Latent/hidden Learning
– Insight/sudden Learning
 4.2.1. Behavioral Learning Theory
– Is coined by John B. Watson in the late nineteenth and
early twentieth century,
– Behaviorism is a theory of learning focusing on observable
behaviors and discounting any mental activity,
– Learning is defined simply as the acquisition of new
behavior,
– Behaviorists call this method of learning ‘conditioning’,
– Two different types of conditioning- classical and operant,
– In both cases learning is considered as a stimulus-response
association and thus is called associative learning
theories.
 Basic Assumptions of Behavioral approach
The Behaviorist Approach to Learning carries the following
assumptions
1st. they assumes that the environment has an
extremely powerful effect on behavior,

2nd. assumes that external events, such as rewards or

punishments provided by the environment, are
very important,
Internal events, such as feelings, are of little or no
importance to behaviorists,

3rd. assumes that learning is reflected in performance,

though it need not be wholly reflected in
performance.
 Classical Conditioning
– is the work of a Russian physiologist, Ivan Pavlov ; (1849-1936),
– Pairing of unconditional and neutral stimulus,
– 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,
– uses involuntary emotional or physiological responses such as fear,
increased heartbeat, salivation or sweating to understand responses
of the object of an experiment.
 Cont….
• Ivan Pavlov noticed that dogs salivated when they ate, or
even saw, food,
• In his initial experiments, he sounded a bell at the time when
food was presented to the dogs,
• The sound of the bell became, for the dogs, an indication
that food was about to be presented and eventually the dogs
would salivate at the sound of the bell irrespective of the
presence of food,
• The dogs had been conditioned to respond to the sound of
the bell by producing saliva.
Stages of Classical Conditioning, Pavlov’s Dog Experiment
Steps in Classical conditioning
 Basics of Classical Condition
• Neutral stimulus: A stimulus that, before conditioning, does not
naturally bring about the response of interest,
• Unconditioned stimulus (UCS): A stimulus that naturally brings
about a particular response without having been learned,
• Unconditioned response (UCR): A response that is natural and
needs no training (e.g., salivation at the smell of food),
• Conditioned stimulus (CS): A once neutral stimulus that has
been paired with an unconditioned stimulus to bring about a
response formerly caused only by the unconditioned stimulus,
• Conditioned response (CR): A response that, after conditioning,
follows a previously neutral stimulus (e.g., salivation at the ringing
of a bell).
 Principles of Classical Condition
• Stimulus generalization is 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 responses,
• Stimulus discrimination is the process that occurs if two stimuli are
sufficiently distinct from one another that one evokes a conditioned
response but the other does not; the ability to differentiate between
stimuli,
• Extinction: diminish and eventually stop occurring,
• Spontaneous recovery is the reemergence of an extinguished
conditioned response after a period of rest and with no further
conditioning.
 Operant/Instrumental Conditioning
• The term "Operant" refers to how an organism operates on the
environment,
• Thorndike (1874- 1949) was the pioneer( initiator) in studying this kind
of learning
• Is Learning from the consequences of behavior
• E.L. Thorndike
– Worked with cat in puzzle box
– Cats learned to associate behavior (pull switch) with behavior’s
consequence (getting out of box)
Fig.Puzzle Box : E.L. Thorndike
 Laws and Principles of Learning by Thorndike
• Based on Trial and Error Learning Theory, Thorndike gave certain laws of
Learning. These laws are:
1.Law of Readiness
• This law refers to the fact that learning takes place only when the learner is
prepared to learn;
• No amount of efforts can make the child learn if the s/he is not ready to learn
• The Law of Readiness means mental preparation for action;
• It is not to force the child to learn if he is not ready;
• Therefore, Learning failures are the result of forcing the learner to learn when he
is not ready to learn something;
2.Law of Exercise
• This law explains the role of practice in learning;
• According to this law, learning becomes efficient through practice or exercise
• The dictum ‘Practice makes a man perfect’ goes very well with this law
3. Law of Effect
• It states that when a connection between stimulus and response is accompanied
by satisfying state, its strength is increased;
• On the other hand, when a connection is accompanied by an annoying state of
affairs, its strength is reduced or weakened;
 Skinner’s Theory of Operant Conditioning
B. F. Skinner (1904–1990) expanded Thorndike’s ideas of
operant conditioning,
• Skinner created specially designed environments known as
operant chambers (usually called Skinner boxes) to
systemically study learning,

• A Skinner box is a structure that is big enough to fit a bird

and that contains a bar or key that the organism can press or
peck to release food or water,

• It also contains a device to record the animal’s responses

• The most basic of Skinner’s experiments was quite similar to
Thorndike’s research with cats,
 Cont…
• A rat placed in the chamber reacted as one might
expect → scurrying about the box and sniffing and
clawing at the floor and walls
Eventually the rat chanced upon a lever, which it
pressed to release pellets of food
• The next time around, the rat took a little less time to
press the lever, and on successive trials, the time it
took to press the lever became shorter and shorter

• As predicted by the law of effect, the rat had learned

to repeat the action that brought about the food and
cease the actions that did not
Cont…
Types of Consequences (Reinforcement and punishment)
Reinforcement- the process of increasing the probability of
the response to occur again in the future,
 Forms of reinforces
Primary reinforcers Secondary reinforcers:
– a reinforcer whose value is
– have the ability to
acquired through
reinforce without prior
association with other
learning to satisfy
primary or secondary
biological need.
reinforcers.
– is rewarding in itself, such
– are often called
as food, water, and sex.
conditioned reinforcers.
– Money, praise,, good
grades, awards etc
 Schedule of Reinforcement
• Reinforcement can be delivered for every response (Continuous)or for
some of the responses make
• For practical reasons it is difficult to reinforce every response → it
weakens performance
• Reinforcing some of the responses is called partial reinforcement
schedule or intermittent schedule.
• Partial reinforcement schedule could be (a) interval schedules and (b)
ratio schedules,
Ratio applying the reinforcement after a specific number of responses
while Interval is after specified period of time.
• There are 4 types of schedule of reinforcement, they are fixed-ratio,
variable-ratio fixed-interval, and variable-interval schedules
Fixed-ratio schedule:
• Behaviour is reinforced after a set number of responses have occurred.
• For example: A student may be given a bar of Kit Kat chocolate for every
ten mathematical problems solved.
 Cont…
B. Variable-Ratio:
• Here, the number of responses needed to gain the reinforcement is not
constant,
• For example: Rewards could be given after 3, 5, 9, and 15 mathematical
problems solved.
C. Fixed-interval schedule:
• Behaviour will be reinforced after a definite period of time. No matter
how often it occurs, the behaviour will not be reinforced until the time is up.
• For example: giving salary after every 30 days,
D. Variable-interval schedule:
• Reinforcing a response after an indefinite amount of time passed,
• For example: Incentives may be given after 1 month, 3 months, 2 months
or any other month for workers.
 Punishment
– Punishment is a stimulus that weakens the response or
makes it less likely to recur.
– Pain and extreme heat or cold are inherently punishing and
are therefore known as primary punishers.
– Criticism, demerits, catcalls, scolding, fines, and bad grades
are common secondary punishers.
– The positive-negative distinction can also be applied to
punishment.
 Type of Punishment
• Positive punishment
– refers to adding aversive (unpleasant) stimulus to get ride off
the prevalence unwanted behaviors.
– Example . The teacher warned students when they disturb
in the class.
• Negative punishment
– the process of removing pleasant events to avoid the
probability of certain behavior that would likely to occur.
– Example. The teacher told students to leave the class when
they disturb.
 The Pros and Cons of Punishment

• Immediacy, consistency and intensity matter are important

for effectiveness of punishment.
– Immediacy –punishment should follows immediately
after the behavior to be punished.
– Consistency- punishment should be consistent the
behavior being punished is intermittently reinforced and
therefore becomes to avoid resistant behavior.
– Intensity – punishment should influence the behavior of
individual.
 Principles of punishment
– Punishment should immediately follow the behavior which can be
punish,
– Punishment should be consistent in its intensity has to be up to the
level of the mistake made,
– Avoid now and then type of punishment b/c individuals may
becomes resistant to extinction,
– Targeted only on the unwanted behavior but not the person,
– Do not mixed punishment with rewards for a given behavior,
– Make it clear to the individual which behavior you are punishing.
– remove all threat of punishment immediately as soon as the
undesired behavior stops.
 Punishment fails when

– People often administer punishment inappropriately.

– The recipient responds with anxiety, fear, or rage.
– The punishment is often temporal
– Most misbehaviors are hard to punish immediately
– Punishment conveys little information.
– Does not teach or promote alternative, acceptable behavior
– An action intended to punish may instead be reinforcing.
such as hostility, passivity, fear, aggression
 Shaping
 Shaping is the process of teaching a complex behavior by rewarding
closer and closer approximations of the desired behavior.
 In shaping, you start by reinforcing any behavior that is at all similar to
the behavior you want the person to learn.
 Later, you reinforce only responses that are closer to the behavior you
ultimately want to teach.
 Finally, you reinforce only the desired response.
 Shaping allows even lower animals to learn complex responses,
 Shaping also underlies the learning of many complex human skills,
 For instance, the organization of most textbooks is based on the principles
of shaping,
 Typically, information is presented so that new material builds on
previously learned concepts or skills,
 Thus, the concept of shaping could not be presented until we had
discussed the more basic principles of operant learning,
 Application of the Theory of Operant Conditioning
1. Conditioning study behavior:-
✓ Teaching is the arrangement of contingencies of reinforcement, which expedite learning,
✓ For effective teaching teacher should arranged effective contingencies of reinforcement,
✓ Example: for self-learning of a student teacher should reinforce student behavior through
variety of incentives such as prize, medal, smile, praise, affectionate patting on the back or
by giving higher marks.
2. Conditioning and classroom behavior: -
✓ During learning process child acquire unpleasant experiences also.
✓ This unpleasantness becomes conditioned to the teacher, subject and the classroom and
learner dislikes the subject and a teacher.
3. Managing Problem Behavior:-
✓ Two types of behavior is seen in the classroom with undesired behavior and problematic
behavior.
✓ Operant conditioning is a behavior therapy technique that shape students behavior.
✓ For this teacher should admit positive contingencies like praise, encouragement etc. for
learning. One should not admit negative contingencies.
✓ Example punishment (student will run away from the dull and dreary classes – escape
stimulation.
 Cont…
4. Dealing with anxieties through conditioning:
✓ Through conditioning fear, anxieties, prejudices, attitudes, perceptual meaning develops,
✓ Anxiety is a generalized fear response,
✓ To break the habits of fear, a teacher should use desensitization techniques,
✓ Initially teacher should provide very weak form of conditioned stimulus.
✓ Gradually the strength of stimulus should be increased.
5. Conditioning group behavior:
✓ Conditioning makes entire group learn and complete change in behavior is seen due to
reinforcement,
✓ It breaks undesired and unsocial behavior too.
6. Conditioning and Cognitive Processes:
✓ Reinforcement is given in different form, for the progress of knowledge and in the feedback
form.
✓ Each step is built upon the preceding step,
✓ Progress is seen in the process of learning,
✓ Immediate reinforcement is given at each step.
7. Shaping Complex Behavior:
3.2.2 Social Learning Theory (Observational Learning) Theory

– In this approach, learning is the result of

imitation of others behavior,
– The process is also called modeling,
– Most human learning, is acquired by
observing other people in social context,
rather than through standard conditioning
procedures,
– Learning by watching the behavior others or
a model.
Forms of Reinforcement
– Receiving direct reinforcement

– Vicarious reinforcement

– Self - reinforcement
 Forms of modeling
Direct modeling-
– in this case, modeling occurs when the model and the
learner are at the same physical settings..
Symbolic modeling-
– in this case, modeling occurs when the model and the
learner are they meet through media like books,
magazines, video, TV, Radio etc.

Synthesized modeling-
– this form of modeling explains best why humans have so
complex in our personality
– Modeling occurs through symbolic and direct manner
throughout life from whom we experienced.
Necessary Ingredients for BL
– 1. Attention: the person must first pay attention to the
model.
– 2. Retention: the observer must be able to remember the
behavior that has been observed; using the technique of
rehearsal.
– 3. Motor reproduction: the ability to replicate the
behavior that the model has just demonstrated or
replicate the action
– 4. Motivation: learners must want to demonstrate what
they have learned.
 Educational Implications of the Theory
– Learning simply by observing other people.
– Describing the consequences of behavior
– To promote effective modeling make sure that the four essential
conditions exist
– Being role model to influence others
– expose to a variety of other models; to break down traditional
stereotypes.
– Students must believe that they are capable of accomplishing
school tasks is very important to develop a sense of self-efficacy
– Set realistic expectations for better academic accomplishments.
– Self-regulation techniques provide an effective method
for improving student behavior.
 3.2.3 Cognitive Learning Theories
• Cognitive learning : learning that depends on mental
processes that are not directly observable.
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• Cognitive learning may take two forms:

– Latent learning
– Insight learning (gestalt learning or perceptual learning)
 ASSUMPTIONS OF COGNITIVE THEORIES OF LEARNING
• Cognitive psychologists assume that behavior is the result of
information processing
• By describing thinking as information processing, cognitive
psychologists are making a comparison between minds and
computers
• This is useful because minds and computers have some
attractive similarities:
• Both have inputs, outputs, memory stores and a limited
capacity for how much information they can process at a
time,
 Type of Cognitive Learning
4.2.3.1 Latent/hidden Learning
– Is a form of learning that is not immediately expressed in an
overt response,
– It occurs without obvious reinforcement to be applied later.
4.2.3.2 Insight/sudden learning
– Is a type of learning or problem solving that happens all-of-a-
sudden through understanding the relationship of various,
parts of a problem rather than through trial and error or ‘aha’
experiences,
– Waking up from sleep with a solution to problem of a day.