Learning

Introduction to Psychology
Learning is often defined as a relatively lasting change in behavior that is the result of experience.

Learning is acquiring new, or modifying existing, knowledge, behaviors, skills, values,

or preferences and may involve synthesizing different types of information.

Human learning may occur as part of education, personal development, schooling, or training. It may
be goal-oriented and may be aided by motivation.

Classical conditioning 
The typical paradigm for classical conditioning involves repeatedly pairing an unconditioned stimulus
(which unfailingly evokes a reflexive response) with another previously neutral stimulus (which does
not normally evoke the response). Following conditioning, the response occurs both to the
unconditioned stimulus and to the other, unrelated stimulus (now referred to as the "conditioned
stimulus"). The response to the conditioned stimulus is termed a conditioned response. The classic
example is Pavlov and his dogs. Meat powder naturally will make a dog salivate when it is put into a
dog's mouth; salivating is a reflexive response to the meat powder. Meat powder is the unconditioned
stimulus (US) and the salivation is the unconditioned response (UR). Then Pavlov rang a bell before
presenting the meat powder. The first time Pavlov rang the bell, the neutral stimulus, the dogs did not
salivate, but once he put the meat powder in their mouths they began to salivate. After numerous
pairings of the bell and the food the dogs learned that the bell was a signal that the food was about to
come and began to salivate when the bell was rung. Once this occurred, the bell became the
conditioned stimulus (CS) and the salivation to the bell became the conditioned response (CR).
Another influential person in the world of Classical Conditioning is John B. Watson. Watson's work
was very influential and paved the way for B. F. Skinner's radical behaviorism. Watson's behaviorism
(and philosophy of science) stood in direct contrast to Freud. Watson's view was that Freud's
introspective method was too subjective, and that we should limit the study of human development to
directly observable behaviors. In 1913, Watson published the article "Psychology as the Behaviorist
Views," in which he argued that laboratory studies should serve psychology best as a science.
Watson's most famous, and controversial, experiment, "Little Albert", where he demonstrated how
psychologists can account for the learning of emotion through classical conditioning principles.

OPERANT CONDITIONING 

Operant conditioning (or instrumental conditioning) is a type of learning in which an individual's

behavior is modified by its consequences; the behaviour may change in form, frequency, or strength.
Operant conditioning is a term that was coined by B.F Skinner in 1937. The word operant can be
described as, "an item of behavior that is initially spontaneous, rather than a response to a prior
stimulus, but whose consequences may reinforce or inhibit recurrence of that behavior".
Operant conditioning is distinguished from classical conditioning (or respondent conditioning) in that
operant conditioning deals with the modification of "voluntary behaviour" or operant behaviour.
Operant behavior operates on the environment and is maintained by its consequences, while classical
conditioning deals with the conditioning of reflexive (reflex) behaviours which are elicited
by antecedent conditions. Behaviours conditioned via a classical conditioning procedure are not
maintained by consequences.
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Introduction to Psychology
Four contexts of operant conditioning 
The four procedures are:

1. Positive reinforcement (Reinforcement): occurs when a behavior (response) is followed by a

stimulus that is appetitive or rewarding, increasing the frequency of that behavior. In
the Skinner box experiment, a stimulus such as food or a sugar solution can be delivered
when the rat engages in a target behavior, such as pressing a lever.
2. Negative reinforcement (Escape): occurs when a behavior (response) is followed by the
removal of an aversive stimulus, thereby increasing that behavior's frequency. In the Skinner
box experiment, negative reinforcement can be a loud noise continuously sounding inside the
rat's cage until it engages in the target behavior, such as pressing a lever, upon which the loud
noise is removed.
3. Positive punishment (Punishment) (also called "Punishment by contingent stimulation"):
occurs when a behavior (response) is followed by a stimulus, such as introducing a shock or
loud noise, resulting in a decrease in that behavior.
4. Negative punishment (Penalty) (also called "Punishment by contingent withdrawal"): occurs
when a behavior (response) is followed by the removal of a stimulus, such as taking away a
child's toy following an undesired behavior, resulting in a decrease in that behavior.

Operant conditioning to change human behavior 

1. State goal (aims for the study)

2. Monitor behavior (log conditions)
3. Reinforce desired behavior (give reward for proper behavior)
4. Reduce incentives to perform undesirable behavior

Thorndike's law of effect 

Operant conditioning, sometimes called instrumental learning, was first extensively studied
by Edward L. Thorndike (1874–1949), who observed the behavior of cats trying to escape from
home-made puzzle boxes. When first constrained in the boxes, the cats took a long time to escape.
With experience, ineffective responses occurred less frequently and successful responses occurred
more frequently, enabling the cats to escape in less time over successive trials. In his  law of effect,
Thorndike theorized that behavior followed by satisfying consequences tends to be repeated and those
that produce unpleasant consequences are less likely to be repeated. In short, some
consequences strengthened behavior and some consequences weakened behavior.
Skinner
B.F. Skinner (1904–1990) formulated a more detailed analysis of operant conditioning based on
reinforcement, punishment, and extinction. Skinner invented the operant conditioning chamber which
allowed him to measure rate of response as a key dependent variable using a cumulative record of
lever presses or key pecks.
Although the notion of operant conditioning was not unknown during his time, Skinner's method of
operant conditioning combined "automatic training" with constant reinforcement was new. Thus, with
the help of his colleagues and students, this led to the discovery of reinforcement schedules which is
described as, "any procedure that delivers a reinforcer to an organism according to some well-defined
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Introduction to Psychology
rule". For example, pressing a lever for food. To show the effects of operant conditioning, B. F.
Skinner created the Skinner box, operant conditioning chamber. A rat or other suitably small animal is
placed in a typical Skinner box, and observed during learning trials that use operant conditioning
principles.

Factors that alter the effectiveness of consequences 

When using consequences to modify a response, the effectiveness of a consequence can be increased
or decreased by various factors. These factors can apply to either reinforcing or punishing
consequences.

1. Satiation/Deprivation: The effectiveness of a consequence will be reduced if the individual's

"appetite" for that source of stimulation has been satisfied. Inversely, the effectiveness of a
consequence will increase as the individual becomes deprived of that stimulus. If someone is
not hungry, food will not be an effective reinforcer for behavior. Satiation is generally only a
potential problem with primary reinforcers, those that do not need to be learned such as food
and water.
2. Immediacy: After a response, how immediately a consequence is then felt determines the
effectiveness of the consequence. More immediate feedback will be more effective than less
immediate feedback. If someone's license plate is caught by a traffic camera for speeding and
they receive a speeding ticket in the mail a week later, this consequence will not be very
effective against speeding. But if someone is speeding and is caught in the act by an officer
who pulls them over, then their speeding behavior is more likely to be affected.
3. Contingency: If a consequence does not contingently (reliably, or consistently) follow the
target response, its effectiveness upon the response is reduced. But if a consequence follows
the response consistently after successive instances, its ability to modify the response is
increased. The schedule of reinforcement, when consistent, leads to faster learning. When the
schedule is variable the learning is slower. Extinction is more difficult when learning occurs
during intermittent reinforcement and more easily extinguished when learning occurs during
a highly consistent schedule.
4. Size: This is a "cost-benefit" determinant of whether a consequence will be effective. If the
size, or amount, of the consequence is large enough to be worth the effort, the consequence
will be more effective upon the behavior. An unusually large lottery jackpot, for example,
might be enough to get someone to buy a one-dollar lottery ticket (or even buying multiple
tickets). But if a lottery jackpot is small, the same person might not feel it to be worth the
effort of driving out and finding a place to buy a ticket. In this example, it's also useful to
note that "effort" is a punishing consequence. How these opposing expected consequences
(reinforcing and punishing) balance out will determine whether the behavior is performed or
not.

Methods of Learning:

Trial and error is a fundamental method of solving problems. It is characterised by repeated, varied
attempts which are continued until success, or until the agent stops trying. It is an unsystematic
method which does not employ insight, theory or organized methodology.

Edward Thorndike showed how to manage a trial and error experiment in the laboratory. In his
famous experiment, a cat was placed in a series of puzzle boxes in order to study the law of effect in
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Introduction to Psychology
learning. He plotted learning curves which recorded the timing for each trial. Thorndike's key
observation was that learning was promoted by positive results, which was later refined and extended
by B.F. Skinner's operant conditioning.
Trial and error is also a heuristic method of problem solving, repair, tuning, or obtaining knowledge.
In the field of computer science, the method is called generate and test. In elementary algebra, when
solving equations, it is "guess and check".
This approach can be seen as one of the two basic approaches to problem solving, contrasted with an
approach using insight and theory. However, there are intermediate methods which for example, use
theory to guide the method, an approach known as guided empiricism.
Features 
Trial and error has a number of features:

 Solution-oriented: trial and error makes no attempt to discover why a solution works; merely
that it is a solution.
 Problem-specific: trial and error makes no attempt to generalize a solution to other problems.
 Non-optimal: trial and error is generally an attempt to find a solution, not all solutions, and
not the best solution.
 Needs little knowledge: trials and error can proceed where there is little or no knowledge of
the subject.
It is possible to use trial and error to find all solutions or the best solution, when a testable finite
number of possible solutions exist. To find all solutions, one simply makes a note and continues,
rather than ending the process, when a solution is found, until all solutions have been tried. To find
the best solution, one finds all solutions by the method just described and then comparatively
evaluates them based upon some predefined set of criteria, the existence of which is a condition for
the possibility of finding a best solution. (Also, when only one solution can exist, as in assembling a
jigsaw puzzle, then any solution found is the only solution and so is necessarily the best.)
Issues 
Trial and error is usually a last resort for a particular problem, as there are a number of problems with
it. For one, trial and error is tedious and monotonous. Also, it is very time-consuming; chemical
engineers must sift through millions of various potential chemicals before they find one that works.
There is also an element of risk, in that if a certain attempt at a solution is extremely erroneous, it can
produce disastrous results that may or may not be repairable. Fortunately,  computers are best suited
for trial and error; they do not succumb to the boredom that humans do, can test physical challenges in
a virtual environment where they will not do harm, and can potentially do thousands of trial-and-error
segments in the blink of an eye.

INSIGHT LEARNING

THE INSIGHT LEARNING THEORY

The theory of learning by insight is the contribution of Gestalt Psychologists. Gestalt is a term derived
from the German word 'gestalten', has no English equivalent. The nearest English translation of
Gestalt is ‘configuration’ or an ‘organized whole’ or the ‘totality of a situation’. Wolfgang Kohler,
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Introduction to Psychology
Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka etc. were the prominent Gestalt Psychologists. They believe that “The
whole is more important than its parts”.   

Dissatisfied with the behaviorist approach of learning, the cognitivists tried to see learning as a more
deliberate and conscious effort of the individual rather than a mere product of habit formation or a
machine-like stimulus-response connection. According to them the learner does not merely respond
to a stimulus, but definitely process what he receives or perceives. Thus learning is a purposive,
explorative and creative activity instead of trial and error.

 It is a theory regarding ‘perception’. Gestaltists consider learning as the development of insight,
which is primarily concerned with the nature of perception.  Perception is a process by which an
organism interprets and organizes sensation to produce a meaningful experience of the world.  It
is the ultimate experience of the world and typically involves further processing of sensory input. 

   While learning, the learner always perceives the situation as a whole and after seeing and evaluating
the different relationships takes the proper decision intelligently. Gestalt psychology used the term
‘insight’ to describe the perception of the whole situation by the learner and his intelligence in
responding to the proper relationships.  Insight refers the sudden flash in the mind about the
solution of the problem. 

Kohler conducted many experiments with his chimpanzee “Sulthan” to describe the term “insight”.
These experiments are the illustration of Learning by Insight.

KOHLER’S EXPERIMENTS

1. In one experiment, Kohler put the chimpanzee, “Sulthan” inside a cage and a
banana was hung from the roof of a cage. A box was placed inside the cage. The
chimpanzee tried to reach the banana by jumping but could not succeed. Suddenly
he got an idea and used the box as a jumping platform by placing it just below the
hanging banana.

2.   In another experiment Kohler made this problem complicated that two or
three boxes were required to reach the banana.

3.   In a more complicated experiment, a banana was kept far outside the cage
and two sticks – one larger than the other- were kept inside the box. When failed
to reach the banana by one stick, with a sudden bright idea the chimpanzee tried
to reach the banana by joining the two sticks.

These experiments demonstrated the role of intelligence and cognitive abilities in

higher learning and problem solving situations.
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Introduction to Psychology
STEPS IN INSIGHT LEARNING:

1. Identifying the problem: The learner recognizes the presence of an intervening obstacle on his
way to the goal.
2. Understanding the Problem:  The learner observes the problematic situation, analyze it and
perceive the relation between the goal and the obstacles.
3.  Incubation of Ideas:  After analyzing the total situation he reaches in conclusions by means of
hesitation, pause, concentrated attention etc.
4.  Trail of Mode of Response:  The learner makes initial efforts in the form of a simple trial and
error mechanism.
5.  Sustained Attention:  The learner maintains frequently recurrent attention to the goal and
motivation.
6.  Insight Development:   In a certain moment there is a sudden perception of the relationship in the
total situation and the organism directly performs the required acts.
7.  Steady Repetition of Adaptive Behaviour:  After getting an insightful solution, the individual
tries to implement it in another situation.
8.  Comprehension of Ability:  The learner reaches the ability to understand the relevant parts of the
situation and overlooking the irrelevant ones.

OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING
Observational learning is the learning that occurs through observing the behavior of other people.
Albert Bandura, who is best known for the classic Bobo doll experiment, discovered this basic form
of learning in 1986. Bandura stressed the importance of observational learning because it allowed
children especially, to acquire new responses through observing others' behavior. This form of
learning does not need reinforcement to occur; instead, a model is required. A social model can be
a parent, sibling, friend, or teacher, but particularly in childhood a model is someone of authority or
higher status. A social model is significantly important in observational learning because it allows one
to cognitively process behavior, encode what is observed, and store it in memory for later imitation.
While the model may not be intentionally trying to instill any particular behavior, many behaviors that
one observes, remembers and imitates are actions that models display. A child may learn to swear,
smack, smoke, and deem other inappropriate behavior acceptable through poor modeling. Bandura
claims that children continually learn desirable and undesirable behavior through observational
learning. Observational learning suggests that an individual's environment, cognition, and behavior all
integrate and ultimately determine how one functions. [1] Through observational learning, behaviors of
an individual can spread across a culture through a process known as diffusion chain, which basically
occurs when an individual first learns a behavior by observing another individual and that individual
serves as a model through which other individuals will learn the behavior and so on so forth. [2]
Culture and environment also play a role in whether observational learning will be the dominant
learning style in a person or community. In some cultures, children are expected to actively participate
in their communities and are therefore exposed to different trades and roles on a daily basis.  This
exposure allows children to observe and learn the different skills and practices that are valued in their
communities. In communities where children's primary mode of learning is through observation, the
children are rarely separated from adult activities. This incorporation into the adult world at an early
age allows children to use observational learning skills in multiple spheres of life. Culturally, they
learn that their participation and contributions are valued in their communities. This teaches children
that it is their duty as members of the community to observe contributions being made in order to
gradually become involved and participate further in the community.
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Introduction to Psychology

Stages of observational learning and its effects 

Bandura's social cognitive learning theory states that there are four stages involved in observational
learning:

1. Attention: Observers cannot learn unless they pay attention to what's happening around them.
This process is influenced by characteristics of the model, such as how much one likes or
identifies with the model, and by characteristics of the observer, such as the observer's
expectations or level of emotional arousal.
2. Retention: Observers must not only recognize the observed behavior but also remember it at
some later time. This process depends on the observer's ability to code or structure the
information in an easily remembered form or to mentally or physically rehearse the model's
actions.
3. Production: Observers must be physically and/intellectually capable of producing the act. In
many cases the observer possesses the necessary responses. But sometimes, reproducing the
model's actions may involve skills the observer has not yet acquired. It is one thing to
carefully watch a circus juggler, but it is quite another to go home and repeat those acts.
4. Motivation: In general, observers will perform the act only if they have some motivation or
reason to do so. The presence of reinforcement or punishment, either to the model or directly
to the observer, becomes most important in this process.

Effect on behavior
According to the theory, observational learning can affect behavior in many ways, with both positive
and negative consequences. It can teach completely new behaviors, for one. It can also increase or
decrease the frequency of behaviors that have previously been learned. Observational learning can
even encourage behaviors that were previously forbidden (for example, the violent behavior towards
the Bobo doll that children imitated in Albert Bandura's study). Observational learning can also have
an impact on behaviors that are similar to, but not identical to, the ones being modeled. For example,
seeing a model excel at playing the piano may motivate an observer to play the saxophone.
Age difference in observational learning 
Albert Bandura highly stressed that developing children learn from different social models, meaning
that no two children are exposed to exactly the same modeling influence. From
infancy to adolescence, one is exposed to various social models. It was once believed that newborn
babies were unable to imitate actions until the latter half of the first year. However a number of
studies now report that infants in less than 7 days are able to imitate simple facial expressions. By the
latter half of their first year, 9-month-old babies are able to imitate actions hours after first observing
them. As they continue to develop, toddlers around age two are observing important personal and
social skills by imitating a social model. An important developmental milestone of a two-year old is
referred to as deferred imitation. This means that children are not only constructing symbolic
representations but can also recall information from memory. Observational learning heightens
around the age of elementary school children. Unlike toddlers, elementary kids are less likely to rely
on imagination to represent an experience; instead, they are able to verbally describe the model's
behavior. Since this form of learning does not need reinforcement, it increases the likelihood of it
occurring regularly.