Learning Theories: Prepared By: Ms. Krista Camille de Celis, RN, LPT

LEARNING THEORIES
Prepared by: Ms. Krista Camille de Celis, RN, LPT

Topic Outline
1 Behaviorist Learning Theory
2 Cognitive Learning Theory
3 Social Learning Theory

LEARNING
process that brings together personal and
environmental experiences and influences for
acquiring, enriching or modifying one’s knowledge,
skills, values, attitudes, behaviour and world views
LEARNING
 may be immediate or accumulate from repeated
experiences
 influences changes that often last a lifetime
 starts at birth and continues until death as a

consequence of ongoing interactions between
people and their environment
LEARNING THEORIES
Nurses can apply learning theories at the individual,
group and community levels, not only to
comprehend and teach new material and tasks but
also to solve problems, change unhealthy habits,
build constructive relationships, manage emotions
and develop effective behaviour.
LEARNING THEORIES
 behaviorist learning theories
 cognitive learning theories
 social learning Theories
BEHAVIORIST LE
ARNING THEORY
BEHAVIOURIST LEARNING THEORY
 originated in the early 1900s, and became dominant in early 20th

century
 learning consists of a change in behaviour due to the acquisition,

reinforcement and application of associations between stimuli from
the environment and observable responses of the individual
 suggests that behaviors are influenced and learned from external

forces rather than internal forces
 concerned with measurable changes in behaviour

 closely observe responses to a situation and then manipulate the environment

in some way to bring about the intended change
 particularly useful in nursing practice for the delivery of health care, because
patients may not be in a physiological state to want to engage in much thought
and reflection
 directly addresses how to break or unlearn bad habits and correct faulty
learning
 transfer of learning is aided by a similarity in the stimuli and

responses in the learning situation and those encountered
in future situations where the response is to be performed
 much of behaviourist learning is based on respondent

conditioning and operant conditioning procedure
RESPONDENT CONDITIONING
 also referred to as association learning, classical

conditioning or Pavlovian conditioning
 emphasizes the importance of stimulus conditions and

the associations formed in the learning process
 occurs when we link or pair a previously neutral

stimulus with a stimulus that is unlearned or
inborn, called an unconditioned stimulus
RESPONDENT CONDITIONING
 unconditioned stimulus – stimulus that
naturally elicits a response
 unconditioned response – response which
occurs naturally when the US is present
 neutral stimulus – stimulus that causes no
response
 conditioned stimulus – the initially neutral
stimulus that has been associated with a
naturally occurring stimulus to bring
about a response
 conditioned response –response which is
elicited by a CS, though it is not the same
as the UR (this response is usually weaker
than the UR)
SYSTEMATIC DESENSITIZATION
 developed by Wolpe during the 1950s
 type of behavioral therapy based on

the principle of classical conditioning
 aims to remove the fear response of

a phobia, and substitute a relaxation
response to the conditional stimulus
gradually using counter conditioning
STIMULUS GENERALIZATION
 tendency of a new stimulus to evoke

responses or behaviors similar to those
elicited by another stimulus
 the tendency of initial learning

experiences to be easily applied to
other similar stimuli
SPONTANEOUS RECOVERY
 reappearance of the
conditioned response
after a rest period or
period of lessened
response
OPERANT CONDITIONING
 developed by Burrhus Frederic Skinner
 focuses on the behavior of organisms and the reinforcement that

occurs after the response
 method of learning that employs rewards and punishments for

behavior
 an association is made between a behavior and a consequence

(whether negative or positive) for that behavior
OPERANT CONDITIONING
COGNITIVE LEAR
NING THEORY
COGNITIVE LEARNING THEORY
 seeks to understand and describe how the human mind

works while people learn
 explains the mental processes and how they are

influenced by both internal and external factors in order
to produce learning in an individual
 focuses on the thought process behind behavior

THEORY OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
 introduced by Jean Piaget
 suggests that children move through four different stages

of mental development
 focuses not only on understanding how children acquire

knowledge, but also on understanding the nature of
intelligence
GESTALT THEORY OF LEARNING
 introduced in philosophy and psychology in 1890 by Christian von

Ehrenfels
 Max Wertheimer: father of Gestalt psychology
 attempts to describe how people tend to organize visual elements into

groups or unified wholes when certain principles are applied
 consists of problem solving by understanding the relative

position of the elements in the entire perspective or situation
 Gestalt: German word that roughly means pattern

or form
 the whole is greater than the sum of its parts
 phenomenology: study of how people organize

learning by looking at their lived experiences and
consciousness
 learning is more than just invoking mechanical

responses from learners
 learning is the organization and re-organization of

behavior which arises from the interaction of a
maturing organism and its environment
GESTALT THEORY: LAWS OF ORGANIZATION
Figure-Ground Perception
 tendency of the visual system

to simplify a scene into the
main object that we are looking
at (the figure) and everything
else that forms the background
(or ground)
Figure-Ground Perception
 tendency of the visual system

to simplify a scene into the
main object that we are looking
at (the figure) and everything
else that forms the background
(or ground)
INFORMATION-PROCESSING THEORY
 emphasizes thinking processes; thoughts , reasoning, the
way information is encountered and stored and how
memory functions
 focuses on how information is encoded into our memory
 describes how our brains filter information, from what

we’re paying attention to in the present moment, to
what gets stored in our short-term or working
memory and ultimately into our long-term memory
SOCIAL LEARNIN
G THEORY
SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY
 theory of learning process and social behavior proposed by Albert Bandura which
asserts that new behaviors can be acquired by observing and imitating others
 states that learning is a cognitive process that takes place in a social context and

can occur purely through observation or direct instruction, even in the absence of
motor reproduction or direct reinforcement
 emphasizes the importance of observing, modelling, and imitating the behaviors,

attitudes, and emotional reactions of others
 considers how both environmental and cognitive factors interact to

influence human learning and behavior
RECIPROCAL DETERMINISM
 dynamic and reciprocal

interaction of person
(individual with a set of learned
experiences),
environment (external
social context), and
behavior (responses to stimuli
to achieve goals)
OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING
 method of learning that consists of observing and modeling

another individual’s behavior, attitudes, or emotional
expressions
 learning that occurs through observing the behavior of

others
 major component of Bandura’s social learning theory

OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING
CONDITIONS FOR OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING
 attention: concentration of awareness on some phenomenon to the

exclusion of other stimuli
 retention: ability to remember the behavior that was witnessed
 reproduction: physical and mental ability of the individual to copy

the behavior he or she observed
 motivation: reason for imitating the behavior

SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY
RIGHT BRAIN - LE
FT BRAIN
THEORY
LEFT BRAIN - RIGHT BRAIN DOMINANCE THEORY
LEFT BRAIN - RIGHT BRAIN DOMINANCE THEORY
 originated in the work of Roger W. Sperry who studied brain functioning in

patients who had their corpus callosum surgically severed to treat refractory
epilepsy
 each side of the brain controls different types of thinking
 the left side of the brain tends to control many aspects of language and logic
 the right side of tends to handle spatial information and visual comprehension
 people are believed to prefer one type of thinking over the other
MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCE THEORY
 proposed by Howard Gardner
 suggests that traditional psychometric views of intelligence are too

limited
 challenged the traditional notion that there is one single type of

intelligence, sometimes known as “g” for general intelligence, that
only focuses on cognitive abilities
 all people have different kinds of intelligences

MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCE THEORY
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING THEORY
 published by David Kolb in 1984 from which he developed his learning style
inventory
 works on two levels: a four-stage cycle of learning and four separate learning
styles
 concerned with the learner’s internal cognitive processes
 learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the

transformation of experience
 learning involves the acquisition of abstract concepts that can be

applied flexibly in a range of situations
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING CYCLE
KOLB’S LEARNING STYLES
KOLB’S LEARNING STYLES
MIND STYLES MODEL
 created by Anthony Gregorc
 provides a description about how the mind works
 measures how learners perceive and order new information
 describes four cognitive styles for perceiving and

ordering information
MIND STYLES MODEL
perceptual preferences: how

an individual grasps or
perceives information
ordering preferences: how an

individual prefers to arrange
or process information
MIND STYLES MODEL
FIELD-DEPENDENT/FIELD-INDEPENDENT MODEL
 designed to measure an individual’s ability to identify

embedded parts of an organized visual field as entities
separate from that given field
 field-independent learning style: tendency to separate

details from the surrounding context
 field-dependent learning style relative inability to

distinguish detail from other information around it
THANK YOU!
END OF PRESENTATION

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LEARNING THEORIES

Prepared by: Ms. Krista Camille de Celis, RN, LPT

1 Behaviorist Learning Theory

2 Cognitive Learning Theory

3 Social Learning Theory

 influences changes that often last a lifetime

 starts at birth and continues until death as a

 originated in the early 1900s, and became dominant in early 20th

 learning consists of a change in behaviour due to the acquisition,

 suggests that behaviors are influenced and learned from external

 concerned with measurable changes in behaviour

 closely observe responses to a situation and then manipulate the environment

 transfer of learning is aided by a similarity in the stimuli and

 much of behaviourist learning is based on respondent

 also referred to as association learning, classical

 emphasizes the importance of stimulus conditions and

 occurs when we link or pair a previously neutral

 developed by Wolpe during the 1950s

 type of behavioral therapy based on

 aims to remove the fear response of

 tendency of a new stimulus to evoke

 the tendency of initial learning

 developed by Burrhus Frederic Skinner

 focuses on the behavior of organisms and the reinforcement that

 method of learning that employs rewards and punishments for

 an association is made between a behavior and a consequence

 seeks to understand and describe how the human mind

 explains the mental processes and how they are

 focuses on the thought process behind behavior

 introduced by Jean Piaget

 suggests that children move through four different stages

 focuses not only on understanding how children acquire

 introduced in philosophy and psychology in 1890 by Christian von

 Max Wertheimer: father of Gestalt psychology

 attempts to describe how people tend to organize visual elements into

 consists of problem solving by understanding the relative

 Gestalt: German word that roughly means pattern

 the whole is greater than the sum of its parts

 phenomenology: study of how people organize

 learning is more than just invoking mechanical

 learning is the organization and re-organization of

 tendency of the visual system

 tendency of the visual system

 focuses on how information is encoded into our memory

 describes how our brains filter information, from what

 states that learning is a cognitive process that takes place in a social context and

 emphasizes the importance of observing, modelling, and imitating the behaviors,

 considers how both environmental and cognitive factors interact to

 dynamic and reciprocal

 method of learning that consists of observing and modeling

 learning that occurs through observing the behavior of

 major component of Bandura’s social learning theory

 attention: concentration of awareness on some phenomenon to the

 retention: ability to remember the behavior that was witnessed

 reproduction: physical and mental ability of the individual to copy

 motivation: reason for imitating the behavior

 originated in the work of Roger W. Sperry who studied brain functioning in

 each side of the brain controls different types of thinking

 proposed by Howard Gardner

 suggests that traditional psychometric views of intelligence are too

 challenged the traditional notion that there is one single type of

 all people have different kinds of intelligences

 concerned with the learner’s internal cognitive processes