PERSPECTIVES ON LEARNING
The Importance of Learning
The ability to acquire a large body of knowledge
and a wide variety of behaviors allows the human race a
greater degree of flexibility and adaptability than is true for
any other species on the planet.
● so little of our behavior is instinctive and so much
of it is learned
● we’re able to benefit from our experiences
● discover which actions are likely to lead to
successful outcomes and which are not, and we
modify our behaviors accordingly.
● Unlike animals, people seem to be guided by
internal somethings -- perhaps a mental image of
things, and probably some general strategies for
representing physical entities on paper
Define Learning
Learning is the means through which we acquire not only
skills and knowledge, but also values, attitudes, and
emotional reactions.
Learning is a long-term change in mental representations
or associations as a result of experience.
● Long term change: not just a brief, transitory use of
information (e.g. remembering a phone number);
doesn’t necessarily last forever
● Mental representations or associations: has it
basis in the brain
● A result of experience: not a result of mere
physiological maturation, or others
● Can be passive i.e. it happens to the learner but
more often than not learning is active - it requires
the learner to do something (ideally) physical and
mental
Determining When Learning Has Occured
Some would prefer that the focus be on changes in
behavior rather than on changes in mental representations
or associations (more on this point shortly). In fact,
regardless of how we define learning, we know it has
occurred only when we actually see it reflected in a
person’s behavior.
● Performing a completely new behavior — perhaps
tying shoes correctly for the first time
● Changing the frequency of an existing behavior —
perhaps more regularly cooperating with (rather
than acting aggressively toward) classmates
● Changing the speed of an existing behavior —
perhaps recalling certain subtraction facts more
quickly than before
● Changing the intensity of an existing behavior —
perhaps throwing increasingly outrageous temper
tantrums as a way of obtaining desired objects
● Changing the complexity of an existing behavior —
perhaps discussing a particular topic in greater
depth and detail after receiving instruction about
the topic
● Responding differently to a particular stimulus —
perhaps crying and withdrawing at the sight of a
dog after having previously been eager to interact
with dogs
Types of Learning Research
We can best understand the nature of learning by studying
it objectively and systematically through research, the
systematic study of behavior, including human and animal
learning processes.
● Basic Research: When studying the nature of
human learning, some psychologists conduct
basic research: They investigate specific learning
processes under tightly controlled conditions, often
looking at people’s responses to contrived learning
experiences in a laboratory.
● Applied research: They investigate people’s
learning in more “real-world” tasks and settings—
for instance, by looking at how children learn
certain science concepts in middle school
classrooms.
Date collected may be:
● Quantitative: taking the form of measurements
and other numbers
● Qualitative: complex verbal or behavioral
performances that a researcher must closely
inspect and then judge for the presence or absence
of specific contents or skills
Learning Principles and Theories
Principles of learning identify certain factors that influence
learning and describe the specific effects these factors
have.
Example: A behavior that is followed by a satisfying state of
affairs—a reward—is more likely to increase in frequency
than a behavior not followed by a reward.
● A particular factor (a rewarding consequence) is
identified as having a particular effect (an increase
in the behavior’s frequency)
● The “reward” (or reinforcement) principle is an
example of such broad applicability: It applies to
both humans and nonhuman animals and holds
true for different types of learning and for a variety
of rewards.
● A law is a principle that is observed over and over
again.
Theories of learning provide explanations about the
underlying mechanisms involved in learning.
Whereas principles tell us what factors are important for
learning, theories tell us why these factors are important.
Example: People learn what they pay attention to. A reward
increases learning when it makes people pay attention to
the information to be learned.
● Possible explanation of why a reward affects
learning (principle): It increases attention, which in
turn brings about learning (theory)
Principles tend to be fairly stable while theories continue to
change as new research methods are developed, new
research conducted, and new findings come to light.
How Theories of Learning Have Evolved over Time
The dominant perspectives in psychology were
structuralism and functionalism.
● They lacked a precise, carefully defined research
methodology. The primary means of investigating
learning and other psychological phenomena,
especially for structuralists, was a method called
introspection: People were asked to “look” inside
their heads and describe what they were thinking.
○ introspective , lacks scientific rigor
● They proposed that to study learning in an
objective, scientific manner, theorists must focus
on two things that can be observed and objectively
measured: people’s behaviors (responses) and the
environmental events (stimuli) that precede and
follow those responses.
● Behaviorism: Understanding learning and behavior
primarily through an analysis of stimulus-response
relationships (1900s)
○ Limitations: 1) early behaviorists believed
that learning can occur only when learners
actually behave in some way—perhaps
when they make a response and
experience the consequences of that
response.
○ 1940s - Some psychologists proposed
that it’s possible to learn a new behavior
simply by watching and imitating what
other people do (modeling → social
learning theory, how people learn
from observing those around them)1920s
- therapeutic strategies and environments that
● 1920s
○ Swiss researcher Jean Piaget
documented numerous ways in which
children’s reasoning processes change as
they grow older
○ Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky
conducted studies about how children’s
social and cultural environments can help
them acquire more complex thinking skills
○ Gestalt psychologists described a variety
of intriguing findings related to such
mental phenomena as human perception
and problem solving.
● Cognitive psychology or cognitivism: taking into
account human thought processes or cognition in
studying learning with objective, scientific methods
for studying a wide variety of mental phenomena.
Social learning theorists, too, gradually
incorporated cognitive processes into their
explanations of learning, resulting in a perspective
now more often referred to as social cognitive
theory.
Human Advantage in Thinking and Learning
● The human cortex is more complex than is true for
other species.
● Language allows us to communicate and
collaborate with one another to a much greater
extent than other species do.
● Through culture, we pass along our accumulated
knowledge to successive generations.
● Our social and cultural environments provide many
physical and social support systems (e.g.,
technology, schools) that can boost our ability to
tackle new challenges and problems.
○ Sociocultural theory of contextual
theories: the critical roles that social
interaction and cultural legacies play in
human learning and cognitive
development.
● Cognitive neuroscience: how the brain influences
people’s behavior and learning, and, conversely,
how people’s behavior and learning experiences
can influence brain development.
Advantages of Theories
1. Allow us to summarize the results of many, many
research studies and integrate numerous
principles of learning. In that sense, theories are
often quite concise or parsimonious.
2. Provide starting points for conducting new
research; they suggest research questions worthy
of study.
3. Help us make sense of and explain research
findings.
4. Ultimately help us design instructional and
facilitate human learning and development to the
greatest possible degree.
Potential Drawbacks of Theories
1. No single theory explains everything researchers
have discovered about learning
● Behaviorist theories limit themselves
primarily to learning that involves discrete,
observable responses
● Cognitive theories tend to focus on how
individual learners interpret, integrate, and
remember information
● Sociocultural theories deal largely with
how interpersonal processes and cultural
creations enter into the picture
2. Theories affect the new information that’s
published, hereby biasing the knowledge we have
about learning.
Learning Theories
1. Structuralism
Description: Viewpoint that assumes that the structure of
the mind is composed and can be broken down into
elements. Additionally, introspection is the method of
examining and describing one’s conscious mental
activities.
Strengths: Structuralism paved the way for the systematic
study of consciousness and the use of scientific principles
in psychology.
Weaknesses: Although structuralism attempted to observe
the structure of the mind systematically, the methodology
used -- introspection -- was still quite subjective, unreliable,
and did not focus on an observable and measurable subject
matter
2. Functionalism
Description: Viewpoint that focuses on the processes by
which the mind evolves to help us adapt to and function in
the real world
Strengths: Able to highlight the adaptive nature of learning
by focusing on the evolution of the mind
Weaknesses: Like structuralism, functionalism lacked
research methods that were scientific and objective. It still
emphasized the study of conscious experience which did
not yield precise results.
3. Behaviorism
Description: An approach to learning that focused on the
relationship of observable behavior and environmental
factors or stimuli; the development of stimulus-response
relationships
Strengths: Used more objective and systematic research
methods in the study of observable and measurable
behavior; generally more parsimonious than the highly
subjective study of the conscious experience that
structuralism and functionalism endorsed; contributed
much knowledge on how the environment shapes learning
and causes behavior
Weaknesses: Focused solely on observable behavior and
did not take into account other (unobservable) internal
processes; stimulus-response relationship as the basis of
behavior and learning was not consistent with the idea of
modeling
4. Social Learning Theory
Description: People learn certain behaviors by observing
and imitating the people around them (observational
learning)
Strengths: Able to explain learning in the absence of
experience or a response-eliciting stimulus; acknowledged
the influence of internal events on behavior which was
previously dismissed by behaviorism
Weaknesses: Does not address the potentially progressive
natural of learning, as in the stages of development that
children undergo; does not explain all behavior nor
differences in behavior
5. Gestalt Psychology
Description: Believes that perception cannot be broken
down into elements but can only be understood as a
holistic event. Similarly, responses are believed to be more
coherent as a part of an overall pattern of behavior.
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
6. Cognitivism
Description: Together with observable behavior, it took into
account mental phenomena, i.e. cognition, into account in
the study of learning.; how mental processes are influenced
by factors to produce learning in an individual
Strengths: Employs objective methods for the scientific
study of mental processes involved in learning; able to to
explain the role of internal mental processes in the process
of learning
Weaknesses: Deals with processes that cannot be directly
observed and thus relies potentially unreliable inferences;
reduces behavior into the result of mental processes and
disregards other factors such as social and biological ones
7. Social Cognitive Theory
Description: It incorporates the cognitive processes
involved in learning with the social learning theory and thus
also sees learning as an internal process that could later be
observed as a behavior.
Strengths: Explains the relationship of environment,
cognition, and behavior in learning particularly by
acknowledging the role of a person’s previous experiences
and perceptions in present learning
Weaknesses: Does not address other factors, such as
biological and cultural, cannot explain why behavioral
changes do not necessarily occur even in the face of
environmental changes
8. Sociocultural Theory/Contextual Theories
Description: It explains learning and cognitive development
in the context of social and cultural processes, in which a
person learns in part through social interactions and
cultural endowments
Strengths: Dynamic, Takes into account the role of
language and communication in human learning as well as
the ability to pass acquired knowledge across generations
through culture, highlighting the internalization of learned
behaviors
Weaknesses:
9. Cognitive Neuroscience
Description: Relationship between the brain structure and
activities, behavior, and learning
Strengths: Explains the biological factors and processes
involved in learning, specifically those that take place in the
brain, able to highlight brain development as influenced by
behavior and learning experiences
Weaknesses: Focused only on brain activities and
observable behavior, does not take into account other
factors such as sociocultural