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What is Learning?

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Learning

“To gain knowledge, comprehension, or mastery through experience or study” (American Heritage

Dictionary).

The terms knowledge, comprehension, or mastery are vague (Hergenhahn & Olson, 2004).

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Learning: Psychology

Learning simply refers to changes in observable and potential behavior. But before we get into the

details of how psychology looks at learning let us study kinds of behavior.

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Kinds of Behaviors

There are two kinds of behaviors; innate (unlearnt, inherited, genetically controlled) and learnt

(practiced, experienced, reinforced) behaviors.

Behavior

Innate Learnt

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Innate Behaviors

Innate or unlearnt behaviors are inflexible, preprogrammed, genetically determined and

controlled by our biology.

Innate Behaviors/Mechanisms

Homeostatic Mechanisms Tropic behaviors

Sensory Adaptation Reflexes

Sensory Potentiation Instincts

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Homeostatic Mechanisms

Mechanisms (not really behaviors) that keep many physiological functions like body temperature, pH

balance, blood glucose levels, stabilized.

These mechanisms optimize body’s internal environment when changes in the external

environment take place.

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Sensory Adaptation

Sensory adaptation refers to lowered responsiveness (in receptors) due to continued

and prolonged stimulation.

Band aid’s itchiness on your skin does not last long. Receptors (Meissner’s corpuscles) in the skin quickly adapt to prolonged stimulation from the band aid and make you unaware of its presence.

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Sensory Potentiation

Sensory potentiation refers to heightened responsiveness due to increased sensitivity in

receptors.

Rubbing sandpaper on his fingers a thief increases receptor sensitivity, thus heightens his responsiveness to crack open a safe.

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Tropic Behavior

Tropic (taxic) behaviors refer to organism’s orientation to a direction. Fish engage in

rheotropic behaviors to move upstream to their spawning grounds. Sunflowers trace the sun in the

sky using heliotropic behavior.

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Reflex Behaviors

An involuntary reaction (behavioral, skeletal, and glandular) to a specific stimulus. Sneezing, knee jerk, and salivary reflex are examples of reflexes.

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Instinctive Behaviors

Instincts are complex pre-programmed genetically controlled behaviors also called Fixed Action

Pattern (FAP). Migration and nest building, are but some examples.

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Characteristics of Instincts

1. Instincts are under innate genetic control. All geese roll the egg in the same way.

2. Instincts require little or no feedback. If hatchlings are lost, dominant “paternal instinct” leads cardinal to feed gapping minnows.

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Characteristics of Instincts

3. Instincts can be triggered by stimulating brain “trigger” cells.

4. Instincts require coordination of many musclesthus more complex than simple reflex actions.

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Instincts in Humans

Humans also show many instinctive behaviors, e.g., smiling, crying, frowning, kissing, cuddling

and aggressive behaviors. Included in these is the the “Eyebrow-flash” during smiling (Eibl-Eibesfeldt

& Hass, 1972; 1990).

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Learnt Behaviors

Learnt behaviors are flexible, change over development or time, are interactive with

environment and based on experience.

Learnt Behaviors

Habituation Conditioning

Sensitization Observational learning

Imprinting Insightful learning

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Habituation

When organisms become less responsive to continued stimulation with changes in the central

nervous system or nerve ganglia it is termed as habituation.

A dog may habituate to a sudden loud sound if it continually occurs.

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Sensitization

A process that makes the animal more responsive to certain stimuli. This heightened responsiveness

produces change in the nervous system.

A cat may not respond to a light, but may become sensitive to it when paired with shock.

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Differences

Adaptation-Potentiation

Habituation-Sensitization

Receptors Central Nervous System

Peripheral Process Central Process

Unlearnt Responsiveness Learnt Behavior

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Imprinting

Imprinting is a process that modifies instinctive behaviors. Includes filial (following mother or a

substitute) and sexual (courting member of another specie) imprinting.

Konrad Lorenz andfilial imprinting (1938)

Konrad Lorenz andsexual imprinting (1938)

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Classical Conditioning

Modification of reflex behaviors through an association of neutral stimuli with biologically

significant stimuli in eliciting the response. Discovered by Pavlov (1895).

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Operant Conditioning

A learning process in which animals and humans shape their actions to receive reinforcements. Pioneered by Thorndike (1913), elaborated by

Skinner (1930).

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Observational Learning

Observational learning or modeling refers to behaviors that are learnt by observing others

(Bandura, 1960s). Present in both humans and animals.

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Insightful Learning

Refers to learning that involves problem solving.

Present in humans and animals, early animal

studies were conducted by Wolfgang Köhler

(1925).

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Differences in Behaviors

Unlearnt Behaviors Learnt Behaviors

Homeostatic Mechanisms

Adaptation and Potentiation

Habituation and Sensitization

Instincts Imprinting

Reflex actions Classical Conditioning

Operant Conditioning

Observational Learning

Insightful Learning

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Learning: Psychology

The philosophers of epistemology were also interested in learning (knowledge) especially how

it was acquired.

However, for psychologists, learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior or behavior

potentiality that occurs as a result of experience and/or practice that is reinforced (Kimble, 1961).

Let us look at this definition more closely.

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Aspects of the Definition

1. Learning leads to change in behavior orbehavior potential.

2. This change is relatively permanent.

3. Requires experience or practice

4. Must be reinforced.

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Change in Behavior

Learning cannot be observed directly, because it is most likely a brain (or mental) process. So we

make observations and measurements of learning indirectly, through change in behavior.

This idea is largely Skinnerian.

Stimulus OrganismBehaviorChanged

Learning

InitialBehavior

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Behavior Potential

Most other investigators think that learning is the change in behavior potential that can be expressed

as behavior anytime.

StimulusPotential Change

Behavior

Learning

Organism

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Relatively Permanent

Learning is relatively permanent. But it seems contrary to what we generally experience as

forgetting in our everyday life.

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Relatively Permanent

How long does the behavior need to last before it can be ascribed as learning?

Clearly some behavior changes are transient, are not based on learning, and caused by fatigue, arousal and motivation. Other behavior changes not lasting long, like short-term memory, are called learning.

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Requires Practice

Learning improves with practice, generally referred to as effortful learning. This was a major theme behind

formal discipline.

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Requires Experience

Many other forms of learning simply require experience. Learning by exploration, learning

implicitly as opposed to learning by practice. Tolman (1925) showed that animals learn mazes by exploring

them.

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Requires Reinforcement

Reinforcement leads to learning e.g., rats in an operant chamber learn to press the lever if reinforced

with food. However, many organisms learn without reinforcement (vicariously) simply by watching

others. Bandura (1960s) observed that children learn to hit a bobo doll when they saw an adult hit the doll.

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Why study learning?

1. Most human and many animal behaviors are learnt. Since learnt behaviors are flexible, dynamic and ever changing, these provide better chances of survival compared inflexible innate (unlearnt) behaviors.

2. Learning is an important component of child development.

3. Learning process is integral to the educational system.

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Questions

4. Give the Kimble’s definition of learning.

Elucidate the definition and problems

associated with this definition.

5. Describe different learnt and unlearnt

behaviors.

6. Explain why is it important to study learning?

Why is learning important to survival?