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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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Practice Trial
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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?