Chapter Three: Learning and Theories of Learning

Learning Outcomes

After you have studied this chapter, you will be able to:
 explain the general meaning, types, and factors of learning
 identify the characteristics of learning
 describe some of the theories designed to explain the
characteristics of learning
 differentiate the viewpoints of different theories of learning.
 discuss the applications of theories of learning
 state techniques used to motivate and reinforce behavior.

1
3.1. Definition, Characteristics and Principles of
Learning
3.1.1. Definitions of learning

Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior

occurring as a result of experience or practice

This definition emphasizes the following attributes of learning:

 Learning is a change in behavior. This change in behavior is
relatively permanent

2
 Defi…Cont’d

 It does not include change due to illness, fatigue, maturation

and use of intoxicant.

 This permanent change in behavior is not because of

biological factors (like hormonal changes) that bring
permanent changes in behavior; but because of experience,
or practice .

 The learning is not directly observable but manifests in the

activities of the individual.

3
3.1.2. Characteristics of learning

Learning can be quite complex because, among other things, an

individual's background strongly influences the way that person learns.
Yoakman and Simpson (1998) have described the following major
important characteristics of learning:

 Learning is continuous modification of behavior throughout life

(learning is lifelong process).

 Learning is pervasive, it reaches into all aspects of human life.

 Learning involves the whole person, socially, emotionally &

intellectually(cognitive, affective and psychomotor).
4
 Charac…Cont’d

 Learning is often a change in the organization of experiences.

 Learning is responsive to incentives
 Learning is an active process
 Learning is purposeful
 Learning depends on maturation, motivation and practice.
 Learning is multifaceted

5
3.1.3. Principles of Learning

 Individuals learn best when they are physically, mentally, and

emotionally ready to learn.

 Students learn best and retain information longer when they

have meaningful practice and exercise.

 Learning is strengthened when accompanied by a pleasant or

satisfying feeling, and that learning is weakened when
associated with an unpleasant feeling.

6
 Princi…Cont’d

 Things learned first create a strong impression in the mind that is

difficult to erase.

 Things most recently learned are best remembered.

 The principle of intensity implies that a student will learn more from
the real thing than from a substitute.

 Individuals must have some abilities and skills that may help them to
learn.

 Things freely learned are best learned - the greater the freedom
enjoyed by individuals, the higher the intellectual and moral
advancement.
7
3.2. Factors Influencing Learning

1) Motivation: The learner‘s motivation matters the effectiveness

of learning. The stronger and clearer the motives for learning,
the greater are the effort to learn. When the motives of learning
are high, the learner becomes enthusiastic.

2) Maturation: Neuro-muscular coordination is important

for learning a given task. Example, The child has to be
mature before she/he is able to learn.

3) Health condition of the learner: The learner should be in

a good health status to learn. Example- Sensory defects,
malnutrition, toxic conditions of the body, loss of sleep
and fatigue hinder effective learning.
8
 Factors…cont’d

4) Psychological wellbeing of the learner: individual‘s psychological

states like worries, fears, feelings of loneliness and inferiority hinders
learning. Whereas self-respect, self-reliance, and self-confidence are
necessary for effective learning.

5) Good working conditions – absence or presence of fresh air, light,

comfortable surroundings, moderate temperature, absence of distractions
like noise and learning aids determine learning effectiveness.

6) Background experiences: having background experiences affect

effectiveness of learning. All related facts and understandings from a
previously learned course should be brought to new learning.

9
 Factors…cont’d
7) Length of the working period: Learning periods should
neither be too short nor too long. Long learning time sets fatigue
and reduces effectiveness in learning. Short learning time doesn‘t
allow adequate practice needed to master a learning task.

8) Massed and distributed learning: Learning that spreads across

time with reasonable time gaps brings better results compared with
crammed learning that occurs at once or within short span of time.

10
 3.3. Theories of Learning and their Applications

In this section the following theories are discussed.

 Behavioral (classical & operant conditioning),
 Social learning (observational learning) and
 Cognitive learning theories
3.3.1. Behavioral Theory of Learning
 It believes that learning occurs as a result of stimulus-response or response-
stimulus associations.
 It emphasizes observable behaviors, seek laws to govern all organisms, and
provide explanations which focus on consequences.

 Behaviorists also differ among themselves with respect to their views about the
role of reinforcement in learning.

 There are two major behavioral theories of learning.

1) Classical Conditioning 2) operant Conditioning.
11
3.3.1.1. Classical conditioning theory

How does a neutral stimulus become a

conditioned stimulus?

Classical conditioning focuses on the

learning of making involuntary
emotional or physiological responses to
stimuli that normally elicit no response;
for example, s fear, increased heartbeat,
salivation or sweating at the sight of a Ivan Pavlov “Experimental
investigation . . . should lay a solid
hyena. foundation for a future true
science of psychology” (1927).

12
 Through the process of classical conditioning, humans and
animals can be trained to act involuntarily to a stimulus that
previously had no effect - or a very different effect - on them.

 The stimulus comes to elicit, modify the behavior of the learners

in such a way as the responses originally connected with a
particular stimulus comes to be aroused by a different stimulus.

 Classical conditioning
involves what are known
as conditioned reflexes.

13
 Basics of Classical Condition
To demonstrate classical conditioning, we must first identify stimuli
and responses. In addition, you must be well familiarized with the
following basic terms of classical condition:

14
 Neutral stimulus: A stimulus that, before conditioning, does
not naturally bring about the response of interest.
Eg. the sound of the whistle

 Unconditioned stimulus (UCS): A stimulus that naturally

brings about a particular response without having been
learned. Eg. food

 Unconditioned response (UCR): A response that is natural

and needs no training (e.g., salivation at the smell of food).
15
 Conditioned stimulus (CS): A once neutral stimulus that has
been paired with an unconditioned stimulus to bring about a
response formerly caused only by the unconditioned stimulus.

 Conditioned response (CR): A response that, after

conditioning, follows a previously neutral stimulus (e.g.,
salivation at the ringing of a bell).

16
 Hence, the theory of classical conditioning represents a
process in which a neutral stimulus, by pairing with a natural
stimulus, acquires all the characteristics of natural stimulus.

 It is also sometimes called substitution learning because it

involves substituting a neutral stimulus in place of natural
stimulus.

17
 Principles of Classical Condition

A. Stimulus generalization and stimulus discrimination

 Stimulus generalization is a process in which, after a stimulus

has been conditioned to produce a particular response, stimuli
that are similar to the original stimulus begin to produce the
same responses. For example, a dog conditioned to salivate to a
dinner bell (CS) might also salivate to a door bell, a telephone
bell.

 Stimulus discrimination is the process of distinguishing two

similar stimuli; the ability to differentiate between stimuli.
Example, the dog salivates only in response to the dinner bell
instead of the doorbell or the telephone bell.
18
B. Extinction and spontaneous recovery

 Extinction -In Pavlov‘s procedure, if a CS is repeatedly

presented without presenting the UCS (meat), the CR will
diminish and eventually stop occurring.

 A dog that has learned to salivate to a dinner bell (CS) will

eventually stop doing so unless presentations of the dinner bell
are periodically followed by presentations of the UCS (meat).
But extinction only inhibits the CR, it does not eliminate it.

19
 Spontaneous recovery is the reemergence of an
extinguished conditioned response after a period of rest
and with no further conditioning.
 Eg, suppose you produce extinction of the CR of
salivation by no longer presenting the dog with meat after
ringing the dinner bell. If you rang the dinner bell a few
days later, the dog would again respond by salivating. In
spontaneous recovery, however, the CR is weaker and
extinguishes faster than it did originally.

20
This is the curve of acquisition, extinction, and spontaneous recovery. The rising curve shows the
conditioned response quickly getting stronger through the repeated pairing of the conditioned
stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus (acquisition). Then the curve decreases, which shows how
the conditioned response weakens when only the conditioned stimulus is presented (extinction). After
a break or pause from conditioning, the conditioned response reappears (spontaneous recovery).
21
Exercise

1. Suppose a one-year old child is playing with a toy near an electrical out-let. He
sticks part of the toy into the outlet. He gets shocked, becomes frightened, and
begins to cry. For several days after that experience, he shows fear when his
mother gives him the toy and he refuses to play with it. What are the UCS? UCR?
CS? CR? Show in diagram there association into three stages of processes?
a) UCS___________________________________
b) UCR___________________________________
c) CS____________________________________
d) CR___________________________________

22
 3.3.1.2. Operant/Instrumental conditioning

Operant conditioning is learning in which a voluntary

response is strengthened or weakened, depending on its
favorable or unfavorable consequences.

 When we say that a response has been strengthened or weakened, we

mean that it has been made more or less likely to recur regularly.

 An emphasis on environmental consequences is at the heart of Operant

Conditioning (also called Instrumental Conditioning).

 In operant conditioning, the organism's response operates or produces

effects on the environment. These effects, in turn, influence, whether the
response will occur again.
23
24
 Unlike classical conditioning, in which the original behaviors
are the natural, biological responses to the presence of a
stimulus such as food, water, or pain, operant conditioning
applies to voluntary responses, which an organism performs
deliberately to produce a desirable outcome.

 The term operant emphasizes this point: The organism

operates on its environment to produce a desirable result.

 Operant conditioning is at work when we learn that working

industriously can bring about praise or that studying hard
results in good grades.
 R-S association
25
 Besides, B.F Skinner, the very renowned proponent of operant
conditioning, argued that to understand behavior we should
focus on the external causes of an action and the action‘s
consequences.
 To explain behavior, he said, we should look outside the
individual, not inside.
In Skinner‘s analysis, a response (operant) can lead to three
types of consequences: such as
a) A neutral consequence
b) A reinforcement or
c) punishment.

26
A. Neutral Consequence that does not alter the response.

B. Reinforcement that strengthens the response or makes it more

likely to recur.
Reinforcer is any event that increases the probability that the
behavior that precedes it will be repeated.
There are two types of reinforces

i. Primary reinforcers- in general, have the ability to strengthen a

behavior without prior learning.
-Food, water, light and a comfortable air temperature are naturally
reinforcing because they satisfy biological needs.

27
ii.Secondary Reinforcers: Behaviors can be controlled by
secondary reinforcers. They reinforce behavior because of their
prior association with primary reinforcing stimuli.
Eg. money, praise, applause, good grades awards etc...

 Both primary and secondary reinforcers can be positive or

negative.

28
A. Positive reinforcement is the process whereby presentation of
a stimulus makes behavior more likely to occur again.

B. Negative reinforcement is the process whereby termination of

an aversive stimulus makes behavior more likely to occur.

 The basic principle of negative reinforcement is that

eliminating something aversive can itself be a reinforcer or a
reward.

29
30
Summary for reinforcement and punishment

31
c) Punishment- is a stimulus that weakens the response or
makes it less likely to recur. Punishers can be any aversive
(unpleasant) stimuli that weaken responses or make them
unlikely to recur.

 Like reinforcers, punishers can also be primary or secondary.

 Pain and extreme heat or cold are inherently punishing and are
therefore known as primary punishers.

 Criticism, demerits, catcalls, admonishment, penalties, and

bad grades are common secondary punishers.
32
 Punishment- is any consequence that decreases the
frequency of a preceding behavior

 Positive punishment-sometimes referred to as punishment by

application, involves the presentation of an unfavorable event
or outcome in order to weaken the response it follows.
Eg Spend a person ten years in prison for committing crim.

 Negative punishment-is removal of something pleasant.

Eg, Employ is informed that he has become demoted with a cut
in pay because of poor job evaluation.

33
Schedules of reinforcement

 When a response is first acquired, learning is usually most rapid

if the response is reinforced each time it occurs. This procedure
is called continuous reinforcement.

 However, once a response has become reliable, it will be more

resistant to extinction if it is rewarded on an intermittent
(partial) schedule of reinforcement, which involves reinforcing
only some responses, not all of them.

 There are four types of intermittent schedules.

34
35
1. Fixed-ratio schedules

 It occurs after a fixed number of responses. They produce

high rate of responding. Employers often use fixed ratio
schedules to increase productivity.

 Eg. Just as coffee shops reward us with a free drink after every
10 purchased, laboratory animals may be reinforced on a fixed
ratio of, say, one reinforcer for every 30 responses.

 It produce fairly high rate of response, because many response

need to made to get the reinforcer, but there is typically a pause
after each reinforce is obtained.

36
2.Variable-Ratio Schedule

It occurs after some average number of responses, but the

number varies from reinforcement to reinforcement.
Eg. Gambling

 A variable ratio schedule of produces extremely high

steady rates of responding. The responses are more
resistant to extinction than when a fixed ratio schedule is
used.

37
 3. Fixed Interval Schedule

 It occurs only if a fixed amount of time has passed since the

previous reinforcer.
Eg. If the rat presses the bar at least once during a particular stretch
of time (say 20 seconds), then it gets food.  But even if it hits that
bar a hundred times during that 20 seconds, it still only gets once! 

 One strange thing that happens is

that the rats tend to “pace” themselves: 
They slow down the rate of their
behavior right after the reinforcer, and
speed up when the time for it gets close.
 Monthly paid salary
 Response rate is moderate

38
4. Variable Interval Schedule
 It occurs only if a variable amount of time has passed since
the previous reinforcer.
 It means you keep changing the time period -- first 20 seconds,
then 5, then 35, then 10 and so on.
Eg. Checking Facebook

39
The Pros and Cons of Punishment

Important factors for important for effectiveness of punishment.

 Immediacy – When punishment follows immediately after the
behavior to be punished.

 Consistency- when punishment is inconsistent the behavior

being punished is occasionally reinforced and therefore
becomes resistant to extinction.

 Intensity- In general terms severe punishments are more

effective than mild ones. However, there are studies that
indicate that even less intense punishments are effective
provided that they are applied immediately and consistently.

40
 Both classical and operant conditionings have
traditionally been explained by the principle of
contiguity i.e. the close association of events in time and
space.

 Contiguity has been used to explain the association of a

conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus in
classical conditioning and the association of a behavior
and its consequences in operant conditioning.

41
When do you think punishment fail?

1.People often administer punishment inappropriately or mindlessly.

2.The recipient of punishment often responds with anxiety, fear or anger.
These emotional side effects may then generalize to the entire situation in
which the punishment occurs- the place, the person delivering the
punishment, and the circumstances.


These negative emotional reactions can create more problems than the
punishment solves.

Eg. a teenager who has been severely punished may strike back or run
away.

Punishment in childhood is a risk factor for depression, low self-esteem,
violent behavior and many other problems.

42
3. The effectiveness of punishment is often temporary, depending
heavily on the presence of the punishing person or circumstances.

4. Most behavior is hard to punish immediately.

5. Punishment conveys little information. An action intended to

punish may instead be reinforcing because it brings attention.

43
Shaping

 Shaping is an operant conditioning procedure in which

successive approximations of a desired response are
reinforced.

 In shaping you start by reinforcing a tendency in the right

direction.

 Then you gradually require responses that are more and more
similar to the final desired response.

 The responses that you reinforce on the way to the final one are
called successive approximations.
44
Application of operant conditioning:
1. Conditioning study behavior:
 For effective teaching, teachers should arrange effective
contingencies of reinforcement.

 Eg. Teacher should reinforce student behavior through variety

of incentives such as prize, medal, smile, praise, affectionate
patting on the back or by giving higher marks.

2. Managing Problem Behavior:

Operant conditioning is a behavior therapy technique that shape

students behavior. To do this, teachers should admit positive
contingencies like praise, encouragement etc. for learning.
45
3. Dealing with anxieties through conditioning:

 Through conditioning, fear, anxieties, prejudices, attitudes, and

perceptual meaning develops.

 Examples of anxieties that are acquired through conditioning

are signals on the road, siren blown during wartime, child
receiving painful injection from a doctor.
 To break the habits of fear, a teacher can use desensitization
techniques.
 That is, a teacher can initially provide very weak form of
conditioned stimulus. Gradually the strength of stimulus should
be increased.

46
4. Conditioning group behavior:

Conditioning can make an entire group learn and complete change

in behavior with reinforcement. It breaks undesired and unsocial
behavior too.

 Example: Putting questions or telling lie to teachers will make

teachers annoyed. In such circumstances students learn to keep
mum in the class.

 Asking questions, active participation in class discussion will

make the teacher feel happy – interaction will increase and
teaching learning process becomes more effective.

47
5. Conditioning and Cognitive Processes

 Reinforcement is given in different form, for the progress of

knowledge and in the feedback form. When response is correct,
positive reinforcement is given. Example: A student who stands
first in the class in the month of January is rewarded in the
month of December. To overcome this Program instruction is
used. In this subject matter is broken down into steps.
Organizing in logical sequence helps in learning.
 Each step is built upon the preceding step. Progress is seen in
the process of learning. Immediate reinforcement is given at
each step.

48
6. Shaping Complex Behavior:

 Complex behavior exists in the form of a chain of small

behavior. Control is required for such kind of behavior. This
extended form of learning is shaping technique.

49
 Comparison of classical and operant conditioning
Classical Conditioning Operant Conditioning

An unconditioned stimulus (such The target behavior is followed by

Conditioni as food) is paired with a neutral reinforcement or punishment to
ng stimulus (such as a bell). The either strengthen or weaken it, so
approach neutral stimulus eventually that the learner is more likely to
becomes the conditioned stimulus, exhibit the desired behavior in the
which brings about the future.
conditioned response (salivation).

Stimulus The stimulus occurs immediately The stimulus (either

timing before the response. reinforcement
or punishment) occurs soon after
the response.

50
 3.3.2. Social Learning Theory (observational
learning=modeling ) theory

 According to psychologist
Albert Bandura, a major part
of human learning consists of
observational learning, which
is learning by watching the
behavior of another person,
or model.

 Because of its reliance on observation of others—a social

phenomenon—the perspective taken by Bandura is often referred to
as a social cognitive approach to learning (Bandura, 1999, 2004).
51
Children see, children do? Children This spider monkey learned to drink water from
who often experience physical a plastic bottle by seeing the behavior modeled
punishment tend to display more by a human.
aggression. 52
Derartu Tulu and Tirunesh Dibaba
53
Bandura identifies three forms of reinforcement that can
encourage observational learning.

 First, the observer may reproduce the behaviors of the model and
receive direct reinforcement.

 The reinforcement need not be direct - it may be vicarious

reinforcement as well. As mentioned earlier, the observer may
simply see others reinforced for a particular behavior and then
increase his or her production of that behavior.

 The final form of reinforcement is self-reinforcement, or

controlling your reinforcers.
54
 Bandura mentions four conditions for successfully modeling

1. Attention: the person must first pay attention to the model.

2. Retention: the observer must be

able to remember the behavior that has
been observed.
 One way of increasing this is using the
technique of rehearsal.

3.Motor reproduction: the third condition is the ability to replicate the

behavior that the model has just demonstrated. This means that the
observer has to be able to replicate the action, which could be a problem
with a learner who is not ready developmentally to replicate the action. For
example, little children have difficulty doing complex physical motion.
55
4. Motivation: the final necessary ingredient for modeling to
occur is motivation; learners must want to demonstrate what
they have learned.

 Remember that since

these four conditions vary
among individuals, different people will reproduce the same
behavior differently.

56
Educational Implications of Social Learning Theory

1. Students often learn a great deal simply by observing other

people.

2. Describing the consequences of behavior can effectively

increase the appropriate behaviors and decrease inappropriate
ones.

3. Modeling provides an alternative to shaping for teaching new

behaviors. Instead of using shaping, which is operant
conditioning; modeling can provide a faster, more efficient
means for teaching new behavior.

57
 Educational…cont’d

4. Teachers and parents must model appropriate behaviors and

take care that they do not model inappropriate behaviors.

5. Teachers should expose students to a variety of other

models. This technique is especially important to break down
traditional stereotypes.

6. Students must believe that they are capable of accomplishing

school tasks. Thus it is very important to develop a sense of
self-efficacy for students.

58
 Educational…cont’d

7.Teachers should help students set realistic expectations for

their academic accomplishments.

8. Self-regulation techniques provide an effective method for

improving student behavior.

59
3.3.3. Cognitive Learning Theory

 Cognitive psychologists opposed that human beings, unlike

the rat and the rabbit, are full of attitudes, beliefs and
expectations that affect the way they acquire information,
make decisions, reason, and solve problems.

 These mental processes affect what individuals will do at

any given moment and also, more generally the personality
traits they develop.

60
 Latent learning

Cognitive learning
Insight learning (gestalt
may take two forms
learning or perceptual
learning)

61
A. Latent Learning

 ‘Latent’ means hidden,

 Latent learning is learning that occurs but is not evident in

behavior until later, when conditions for its appearance are
favorable.

 It is said to occur without reinforcement of particular responses

and seems to involve changes in the way information is
processed.

 Tolman and Honzic (1930) placed three groups of rats in mazes

and observed their behavior each day for more than two weeks.
62
 Latent Learning …
cont’d

Edward Tolman found that rats use cognitive maps to navigate

through a maze.
63
 latent Learning…cont’d
 The rats in Group 1 always found food at the end of the maze.
Group 2 never found food. Group 3 found no food for ten days
but then received food on the eleventh.

 The Group 1 rats quickly learned to head straight the end of the
maze without going blind alleys, whereas Group 2 rats did not
learn to go to the end. But, Group 3 rats were different. For ten
days they appeared to follow no particular route.

64
 latent Learning…cont’d

 Then, on the eleventh day they quickly learned to run to

the end of the maze. By the next day, they were doing, as
well as group one, which had been rewarded from the
beginning.

 Group three rats had demonstrated latent learning,

learning that is not immediately expressed.

 A great deal of human learning also remains latent until

circumstances allow or require it to be expressed.

65
 B. Insight Learning

 It is a cognitive process whereby we reorganize our perception of

a problem. It doesn‘t depend on conditioning of particular
behaviors for its occurrence. Sometimes, for example, people
even wake up from sleep with a solution to a problem that they
had not been able to solve during the day.

 In a typical insight situation where a problem is posed, a period

follows during which no apparent progress is made, and then the
solution comes suddenly. What has been learned in insight
learning can also be applied easily to other similar situations.

 Human beings who solve a problem insightfully usually

experience a good feeling called an ' aha' experience.
66
Figure 11.10 Insight Demonstrated by Chimpanzee.
Gestalt psychologist Wolfgang Köhler placed an ape in an enclosure with a few boxes. At the
top of the cage, just out of reach, was a bunch of bananas. After the ape unsuccessfully tried
to jump and to stretch to reach the bananas, the ape showed sudden insight: The ape realized
that the boxes could be stacked on top of one another to make a structure tall enough to reach
the bunch of bananas. 67
 Exercises

1) Compare and contrast classical and operant conditioning. How

are they alike? How do they differ?
2) Explain how the processes of stimulus generalization and
stimulus discrimination are considered opposites.
3) How does a neutral stimulus become a conditioned stimulus?
4) What is a Skinner box and what is its purpose?
5) What is the difference between negative reinforcement and
punishment?
6) What kinds of things have you learned through the process of
classical conditioning? Operant conditioning? Observational
learning? How did you learn them?

68