Theories of Learning

What is Learning?
Learning is a relatively permanent change in behaviour brought about by
experience or practice.

Kid Cycling
Different theories of Learning

1. Classical Conditioning by Ivan Pavlov

2. Operant Conditioning by B. F Skinner

● Classical conditioning (or Pavlovian conditioning): a form of learning in
which animals come to respond to a previously neutral stimulus that had
been paired with another stimulus that elicits an automatic response.
● He started with an initially neutral stimulus, one that didn’t elicit any particular
response.
● He then paired the neutral stimulus again and again with an unconditioned
stimulus (UCS), a stimulus that elicits an automatic—that is, a reflexive—
response. In the case of Pavlov’s dogs, the unconditioned stimulus is the
meat powder, and the automatic, reflexive response it elicits is the
unconditioned response (UCR). For Pavlov’s dogs, the unconditioned
response was salivation.
● The key point is that the animal doesn’t need to learn to respond to the
unconditioned stimulus with the unconditioned response: Dogs naturally
drool in response to food. The animal generates the unconditioned response
without any training at all, because the response is a product of nature
(genes), not nurture (experience).
● As Pavlov repeatedly paired the neutral stimulus with the unconditioned
stimulus, he observed something remarkable. If he now presented the
metronome alone, it elicited a response, namely, salivation. This new
response is the conditioned response (CR): a response previously
associated with a non neutral stimulus that comes to be elicited by a neutral
stimulus.
● This is learning. The metronome had become a conditioned stimulus (CS) a
previously neutral stimulus that comes to elicit a conditioned response as a
result of its association with an unconditioned stimulus. The dog, which
previously did nothing when it heard the metronome except perhaps turn its
head toward it, now salivates when it hears the metronome. The conditioned
response, in contrast to the unconditioned response, is a product of nurture
(experience), not nature (genes).
● It is the learning phase during which a conditioned response is established.
Acquisition is the repeated pairing of UCS and CS, increasing the CR’s
strength.
● It is the gradual reduction and eventual elimination of the conditioned
response after the conditioned stimulus is presented repeatedly without the
unconditioned stimulus. In extinction, the CS is presented again and again
without the UCS, resulting in the gradual disappearance of the CR.
● Spontaneous recovery is the sudden reemergence of an extinct conditioned
response after a delay in exposure to the conditioned stimulus. A seemingly
extinct CR reappears (often in somewhat weaker form) if we present the CS
again, say, hours or even days later. It’s as though the CR were lurking in the
background, waiting to emerge following another presentation of the CS.
● Stimulus generalization: process by which conditioned stimuli similar, but not
identical, to the original conditioned stimulus elicit a conditioned response.
● Stimulus generalization is typically adaptive, because it allows us to transfer
what we’ve learned to new things. For example, once we’ve learned to drive
our own car, we can borrow a friend’s car without needing a full tutorial on
how to drive it.
● Stimulus discrimination: it occurs when we exhibit a less pronounced CR to
CSs that differ from the original CS.
● Stimulus discrimination helps us understand why we can enjoy scary movies.
Although we may hyperventilate a bit while watching television footage of a
ferocious tornado tearing through a small town, we’d respond much more
strongly if the tornado were headed straight for our home. We’ve learned to
discriminate between a televised stimulus and the real-world version of it, and
to modify our response as a result.
● Like stimulus generalization, stimulus discrimination is usually adaptive,
because it allows us to distinguish among stimuli that share some similarities
but that differ in important ways. Without it, we’d be scared to a new dog if we
were bitten by a similar-looking dog last week.
● Everyday applications of classical conditioning: advertising, the acquisition of
fears and phobias
● In classical conditioning, the goal is to get consumers to associate brands
with a particular feeling or response.
● Coca-Cola, for example, has successfully associated their brand with
happiness and satisfaction
● By associating the beverage with physical activities and environmental
factors like sports, the sun, and the beach—things that make you thirsty—
Coca-Cola has positioned itself in the minds of consumers across the world
as a thirst quencher.
Understanding and Treatment of Phobias
● For example, a child who has been bitten by a dog may come to fear dogs
because of her past association with pain. In this case, the dog bite is the
UCS and the fear it elicits is the UCR. Because a dog was associated with the
bite, any dog may come to serve as a conditioned stimulus, thereby eliciting
fear; the fear the child experiences around dogs, then, becomes a CR.
● Systematic desensitization is a type of behavioral therapy based on the
principle of classical conditioning.
● This therapy aims to remove the fear response of a phobia, and substitute a
relaxation response to the conditional stimulus gradually using
counterconditioning.
Operant Conditioning - B. F Skinner
● It is a type of learning in which an individual’s behaviour is modified by its
consequences, which can be either be reward or punishment.

● The probability that a given behaviour will occur changes depending on the
consequences that follow it.

● Procedures that strengthen behaviour are termed reinforcement, whereas

those that suppress behaviour are termed punishment.
Reinforcement - Strengthening of Behaviour
Attendance more than 80%
Positive Reinforcement (desirable behaviour
Presentation of a pleasant strengthened)-5 marks
stimulus after a response extra(pleasant stimuli added)

Attendance more than 80%

(desirable behaviour
Negative Reinforcement
Removal or Avoidance of strengthened)-reduction of
unpleasant stimulus after a assignment load (removal of
response aversive stimuli)
Primary and Secondary Reinforcers
Primary Reinforcers Secondary Reinforcers

Biologically reinforcing stimuli Enforcers which can be

that all people naturally desire exchanged for a primary
reinforcer in some manner

FOOD MONEY
Punishment - Suppression of Behaviour
Positive Punishment
Adding of an unpleasant
stimulus
Negative Punishment
Removing of a pleasant stimulus
Wasting food during
mealtime(undesirable behaviour
suppressed)- washing of
utensils(adding unpleasant
stimuli
Wasting food during mealtime
(undesirable behaviour
suppressed)-no dessert for
dinner (removing pleasant
stimuli)
● Skinner (1938) found that animals’ behaviors differ depending on the
schedule of reinforcement, that is, the pattern of delivering reinforcement.
● In the simplest pattern, in continuous reinforcement, we reinforce a behavior
every time it occurs.
● Partial reinforcement, sometimes called intermittent reinforcement, occurs
when we reinforce responses only some of the time.
● In a fixed ratio (FR) schedule, we provide reinforcement after a regular
number of responses.
● In a variable ratio (VR) schedule, we provide reinforcement after a specific
number of responses on average, but the precise number of responses
required during any given period varies randomly. Variable ratio (VR)
schedules usually yield the highest rates of responding of all.
● In a fixed interval (FI) schedule, we provide reinforcement for producing the
response at least once after a specified amount of time has passed. For
example, a worker in a clock factory might get paid every Friday for the work
she’s done, as long as she’s generated at least one clock during that 1-week
interval.
● In a variable interval (VI) schedule, we provide reinforcement for producing
the response after an average time interval, with the actual interval varying
randomly. For example, we could give a dog a treat for performing a trick on a
variable interval schedule with an average interval of 8 minutes. This dog may
have to perform the trick sometime during a 7-minute interval the first time,
then a 1-minute interval the second time, then a 20-minute interval, and then a
4-minute interval, with the average of these intervals being 8 minutes.
Applications
● Animal training: Shaping and Chaining
● Overcoming Procrastination
● Token Economy
Behaviour Modification by Token economy
Child has no tokens
and no access to
desirable items or
activities

Child trades their Child engages in

tokens for access to desirable behaviours
desirable items or “target behaviours”
activities

Child is given tokens

for engaging in these
target behaviours

Token Economy Cycle

Difference between Classical and Operant
● In classical conditioning, the organism’s response is elicited, that is, “pulled
out” of the organism by the UCS, and later the CS. In classical conditioning
the UCR is a reflexive and automatic response that doesn’t require training. In
operant conditioning, the organism’s response is emitted, that is, generated by
the organism in a seemingly voluntary fashion.
● In classical conditioning, the organism’s reward is independent of what it
does. Pavlov gave his dogs meat powder regardless of whether, or how much,
they salivated. In operant conditioning, the animal’s reward is contingent—that
is, dependent—on what it does. If the animal doesn’t emit a response, it
comes out empty-handed
● In classical conditioning, the organism’s responses depend primarily on the
autonomic nervous system. In operant conditioning, the organism’s
responses depend primarily on the skeletal muscles. In contrast to classical
conditioning, in which learning involves changes in heart rate, breathing,
perspiration, and other bodily systems, in operant conditioning learning
involves changes in voluntary motor behavior.
● Challenges to Behaviouristic theories of learning

 Observational Learning-Bandura
 Latent Learning-Tolman
 Insight Learning- Kohler
Social Learning Theory/Observational Learning-
Albert Bandura
● The acquisition of new forms of behaviour, information, or concepts through
exposure to others and the consequences they experience.

● Bobo doll experiment

Process of Social Learning Theory
ATTENTION
Extent to which we focus on others’
behaviour

RETENTION
Our ability to retain a representation of
others’ behaviour in memory OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING
Acquisition and later performance of
behaviours demonstrated by others
PRODUCTION PROCESSES
Our ability to actually perform the
actions we observe

MOTIVATION
Our need for the actions we
witness;their usefulness to us
Application of Social Learning Theory

Modelling
Relationship between operant conditioning and
social learning theory
Our motivation to imitate a model depends on the kind of consequences follow
their behaviour.

For e.g- If a child sees her elder sibling getting a time-out for misbehaving in front
of the guests, the child will be less motivated to imitate that behaviour.

Versus

If a child sees her elder sibling getting her favourite dessert if she finishes her
food, the child is more likely to imitate that behaviour
Comparison
Operant
Conditioning
● A behaviour comes first and
is then rewarded or
punished
● A voluntary behaviour is
paired with a consequence
● Learner is not treated as
very active as it does not
take into account the
internal mental processes,
focus is exclusively on
external reinforcement.
Social Learning
● It is based on observation
● No such pairing. The act
of observation is
voluntary.
● Learner is treated as
active as importance is
given to motivation and
other internal mental
processes
Latent Learning- Tolman
● According to Tolman, latent learning is learning that isn’t directly observable.
We learn many things without showing them.

● Tolman coined the term cognitive map, which is an internal representation (or
image) of external environmental feature or landmark. He thought that
individuals acquire large numbers of cues (i.e. signals) from the environment
and could use these to build a mental image of an environment (i.e. a
cognitive map).
● According to Tolman (1948), the rats had developed cognitive maps—spatial
representations—of the maze.
Insight Learning- Kohler
● In one case Köhler placed a tempting bunch of bananas outside of the cage,
well out of Sultan’s reach, along with two bamboo sticks inside the cage.
Neither stick was long enough to reach the bananas. After what appeared to
be some heavy-duty pondering, Sultan suddenly hit upon the solution: Stick
one bamboo stick inside the other, creating one extra-long bamboo stick.
● According to Köhler, his chimpanzees seemed to experience the “aha
reaction”. Their solutions to his problems was based on insight, the sudden
understanding of the solution to a problem.
Different styles of Learning
● The VARK model was designed by Neil Fleming in 1987.
● In this model, Fleming developed a way to help students learn more about
their preferences. VARK learning styles are visual, auditory, read/write, and
kinesthetic.
Personality according to Learning Theories
● They assumed that most of our behavior was acquired and that the task of
the psychologist was to specify the environmental conditions responsible for
producing behavior.
● Proponents of a simple stimulus-response (S-R) psychology, they sought to
understand how given stimuli became linked to given responses.
● Role of rewards and punishment
● In Bandura’s view, most of our behavior is not controlled by immediate
external reinforcement. As a result of earlier experiences, we tend to expect
that certain kinds of behavior will have effects we desire, that others will
produce unwanted outcomes, and that still others will have little significant
impact. Our behavior is therefore regulated to a large extent by anticipated
outcomes.
● For example, we do not wait until we have a car accident to buy insurance.
Instead, in deciding to purchase it, we rely on information from others about
the potentially disastrous consequences of not owning insurance
Socio-cognitive theory-Bandura
● Observational learning/Modeling

● Self efficacy
● Bandura points out that individuals who know what to do in a situation and
have the skills required to do it will not necessarily perform well if they have
serious self-doubts about their capabilities. Thus, different people with the
same skills, or the same person on different occasions, may perform poorly,
adequately, or extraordinarily.
Definition
● Self-efficacy is essentially the belief in your own ability to control your own
behavior, emotions, and motivations. It is your belief that you can solve a
problem, reach a goal, complete a task, and achieve what you set out to do.
Self efficacy theory
● In Bandura’s view, people who perform effectively have acquired high (but
realistic) efficacy expectations that guide their actions, whereas people who
are unable to perform adequately in a variety of situations typically have
acquired low and often unrealistic expectations that adversely influence their
performances. Efficacy expectations are beliefs or convictions on the part of
individuals that they can produce certain behaviors.
● For example, shy people may avoid social situations. If they must attend
social functions, they will expend little effort in trying to meet and converse
with people; they usually end up as wallflowers. Such people are wracked by
self-doubts and persistently engage in debilitating self-criticism about their
incompetence, which, in turn, leads to poor performances in a variety of social
situations. These poor performances serve to reinforce low expectations of
efficacy and to prevent the learning of new, assertive behaviors.
● According to Bandura (1977, 1986), the acquisition of high or low efficacy
expectations has four major sources: performance accomplishments,
vicarious experiences, verbal persuasion, and states of physiological
(emotional) arousal.

● There are three major areas in which self-efficacy theory has produced
research that has increased our understanding of important phenomena:
academic development and achievement, career choices and job
performance, and physical and mental health.