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ITP Assignment
Learning:
“ Psychologists in general define Learning as relatively permanent
behavioural modifications which take place as a result of experience.”
This definition of learning stresses on three important elements of
learning:

 Learning involves a behavioural change which can be better or

worse.
 This behavioural change should take place as a result of practice
and experience. Changes resulting from maturity or growth cannot
be considered as learning
 This behavioural change must be relatively permanent and last for
a relatively long time enough.

Types of Learning in Psychology:

Motor Learning: Our day to day activities like walking, running, driving,
etc, must be learnt for ensuring a good life. These activities to a great
extent involve muscular coordination.
Verbal Learning: It is related with the language which we use to
communicate and various other forms of verbal communication such as
symbols, words, languages, sounds, figures and signs.
Concept Learning: This form of learning is associated with higher order
cognitive processes like intelligence, thinking, reasoning, etc, which we
learn right from our childhood. Concept learning involves the processes
of abstraction and generalization, which is very useful for identifying or
recognizing things.
Discrimination Learning: Learning which distinguishes between
various stimuli with its appropriate and different responses is regarded
as discrimination stimuli.
Learning of Principles: Learning which is based on principles helps in
managing the work most effectively. Principles based learning explains
the relationship between various concepts.

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Attitude Learning: Attitude shapes our behaviour to a very great extent,

as our positive or negative behaviour is based on our attitudinal
predisposition.

Three Types of Behavioural Learning

The Behavioural School of Thought which was founded by John B
Watson which was highlighted in his seminal work, “Psychology as the
Behaviorist View It”, stressed on the fact that Psychology is an
objective science, hence mere emphasis on the mental processes
should not be considered as such processes cannot be objectively
measured or observed.
Watson tried to prove his theory with the help of his famous Little Albert
Experiment, by way of which he conditioned a small kid to be scared of
a white rat. The behavioural psychology described three types of
learning:
 Classical Conditioning, Observational Learning and Operant
Conditioning.
Classical Conditioning: In case of Classical Conditioning, the process
of learning is described as a Stimulus-Response connection or
association. Classical Conditioning theory has been explained with the
help of Pavlov’s Classic Experiment, in which the food was used as the
natural stimulus which was paired with the previously neutral stimuli
that’s a bell in this case. By establishing an association between the
natural stimulus (food) and the neutral stimuli (sound of the bell), the
desired response can be elicited. This theory will be discussed in detail
in the next few articles.
Operant Conditioning: Propounded by scholars like Edward Thorndike
firstly and later by B.F. Skinner, this theory stresses on the fact that the
consequences of actions shape the behaviour. The theory explains that
the intensity of a response is either increased or decreased as a result of
punishment or reinforcement. Skinner explained how with the help of
reinforcement one can strengthen behaviour and with punishment
reduce or curb behaviour. It was also analyzed that the behavioural
change strongly depends on the schedules of reinforcement with focus
on timing and rate of reinforcement.
Observational Learning: The Observational Learning process was
propounded by Albert Bandura in his Social Learning Theory, which
focused on learning by imitation or observing people’s behaviour. For

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observational learning to take place effectively, four important elements

will be essential: Motivation, Attention, Memory and Motor Skills.

Theories of Learning:
 Classical Conditioning
 Operant CondiLearnig
 Learning by Observation

The concept of learning is quite comprehensive as it covers a broad

range of activities. In many books, the theories of learning are also
regarded as kinds of learning. The theories of learning are an organized
set of principles that explain how individuals attain, retain or recall the
learnt knowledge. Learning theories establish the conceptual framework
for explaining how information absorption, processing and retention take
place during learning. Human learning is influenced by a gamut of
factors like Emotional, Cognitive, Past Experiences and Environmental
factors. Learning theories prescribe the right format or methodologies of
learning for making the learning effective and more impactful.
During early 20th century, many psychologists became increasingly
interested in understanding the relevance of learning from a scientific
perspective. For a scientific orientation, the study of psychology gave
importance to only those variables which were quantifiable and
measurable. Environmental influences like, reinforcements, associations,
observations and punishments influence the learning process. The key
learning theories are Classical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning and
Social Learning. Let’s have a closer look at all these three major theories
of learning.

Classical Conditioning Theory and Learning

The key premises of Classical Conditioning theory was established by
Russian Physiologist named Ivan Pavlov, who first discovered the crucial
principles of classical learning theory with the help of an experiment
done on dogs to study their digestive processes. The Nobel Prize
laureate of 1904, while studying the digestive processes in dogs came
across a very interesting observation during his experimentation. He
noticed that his subject would begin to salivate by seeing the lab
assistant with white lab coats entering into the room before being fed.
Though Pavlov’s discovery is originally an accidental discovery, but later
with the help of his experiments the classical conditioning theory came
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into existence. His Classical conditioning theory played a crucial role in

explaining the important psychological concepts like learning and equally
established the foundation for the behavioural school of thought.
Behaviourism is based on two major assumptions:

1. Learning takes place as a result of the interactions with the

environmental forces.
2. The environmental forces play a key role in shaping the behaviour.

According to Pavlov’s Classical Conditioning theory, learning takes place

because of association which is established between a previously
neutral stimulus and a natural stimulus. It should be noted, that Classical
Conditioning places a neutral stimulus before the naturally occurring
reflexes. In his experiment, he tried to pair the natural stimulus that is
food with a bell sound. The dogs would salivate with the natural
occurrence of food, but after repeated associations, the dogs salivated
just by hearing the sound of the bell alone. The focus of Classical
Conditioning theory is on automatic and naturally occurring behaviours.
Key Principles of Classical Conditioning Theory

1. Acquisition: This is the starting stage of learning during which a

response is established firstly and then gradually strengthened.
During the acquisition phase, a neutral stimulus is paired with an
unconditioned stimulus which can automatically or naturally trigger
or generate a response without any learning. Once this association
is established between the neutral stimulus and unconditioned
stimulus, the subject will exhibit a behavioural response which is
now known as conditioned stimulus. Once a behavioural response
is established, the same can be gradually strengthened or
reinforced to make sure that the behaviour is learnt.
2. Extinction: Extinction is expected to take place when the intensity
of a conditioned response decreases or disappears completely. In
classical conditioning, this occurs when a conditioned stimulus is
no longer associated or paired with the unconditioned stimulus.
3. Spontaneous Recovery: When a learnt or a conditioned
response suddenly reappears after a brief resting period or
suddenly re-emerges after a short period of extinction, the process
is considered as a spontaneous recovery.
4. Stimulus Generalization: It is the tendency of the conditioned
stimulus to evoke the similar kind of responses once the
responses have been conditioned, which occurs as a result of
stimulus generalization.

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5. Stimulus Discrimination: Discrimination is the ability of the

subject to discriminate between stimuli with other similar stimuli. It
means, not responding to those stimuli which is not similar, but
responding only to certain specific stimuli.

The theory of Classical Conditioning has several applications in the real-

world. It is helpful for various pet trainers for helping them train their
pets. Classical conditioning techniques can also be beneficial in helping
people deal with their phobias or anxiety issues. The trainers or teachers
can also put to practise the Classical Conditioning theory by building a
positive or a highly motivated classroom environment for helping the
students to overcome their phobias and deliver their best performance.
Operant Conditioning Theory and Learning

Renowned Behavioural Psychologist B.F. Skinner was the main

proponent of Operant conditioning theory. It is for this reason that the
Operant Conditioning is also known as Skinnerian Conditioning and
Instrumental Conditioning. Just like Classical Conditioning,
Instrumental/Operant Conditioning lays emphasis on forming
associations, but these associations are established between behaviour
and behavioural consequences. The theory stressed on the role of
punishment or reinforcements for increasing or decreasing the
probability of the same behaviour to be repeated in the future. But the
condition is that the consequences must immediately follow a
behavioural pattern. The focus of operant conditioning is on voluntary
behavioural patterns.
Key Components of Operant Conditioning
 Reinforcement: Reinforcements strengthen or increase the
intensity of behaviour. This can be Positive and Negative.
Positive Reinforcement: When a favourable event or an outcome is
associated with behaviour in the form of a reward or praise, it is
called as positive reinforcement. For example, a boss may
associate bonus with outstanding achievements at work.
Negative Reinforcement: This involves removal of an unfavourable
or an unpleasant event after a behavioural outcome. In this case,
the intensity of a response is strengthened by removing the
unpleasant experiences.
 Punishment: The objective of punishment is to decrease the
intensity of a behavioural outcome, which may be negative or
positive.
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Positive Punishment: This involves application of punishment by

presenting an unfavourable event or outcome in response to a
behaviour. Spanking for an unacceptable behaviour is an example
of positive punishment.
Negative Punishment: It is associated with the removal of a
favourable event or an outcome in response to a behaviour which
needs to be weakened. Holding the promotion of an employee for
not being able to perform up to the expectations of the
management can be an example of a negative punishment.

 Reinforcement Schedules: According to Skinner, the schedule of

reinforcement with focus on timing as well as the frequency of
reinforcement, determined how quickly new behaviour can be
learned and old behaviours can be altered.

Learning by Observation

According to Albert Bandura, learning cannot simply be based merely on

associations or reinforcements which he has mentioned in his writings in
his book Social Learning Theory which was published in 1977. Instead,
his focus was on learning based on observation, which he has proven
through his well known Bobo Doll experiment. He reckoned that children
keenly observe their surroundings and the behaviour of people around
them particularly their caregivers, teachers and siblings and try to imitate
those behaviours in their day to day life. He also tried proving through
his experiment that children can easily imitate the negative behaviours or
actions.
Another important principle of Bandura’s Social Learning Theory was
that learning something by way of observation, need not necessarily
mean that it would lead to a change in the behaviour. This behavioural
change is entirely influenced by the felt need or motivation of a person to
endorse and adopt a behavioural change.
Key Steps involved in Observational Learning

 Attention: Attention is very important for learning to take place

effectively by following observational techniques. A novel concept
or a unique idea is expected to attract the attention far more
strongly than those which are routine or mundane in nature.
 Retention: It is the ability to store the learnt information and recall
it later, which is equally affected by a number of factors.

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 Reproduction: It involves practising or emulating the learnt

behaviour, which will further lead to the advancement of the skill.
 Motivation: Motivation to imitate the learnt behaviour of a model
depends a lot on the reinforcement and punishment. For example,
an office-goer may be motivated to report to office on time by
seeing his colleague being rewarded for his punctuality and
timeliness.


Insight learning:
The complex form of learning that requires the manipulation of mental
concepts for developing an adaptive behaviour is called insight learning.
Explanation:
Example of Insight behaviour:

A chimpanzee is placed in a cage. Hang a piece of banana from the

ceiling. Place some boxes of different sizes in the cage. The chimpanzee
first think that can't reach the fruit. But after short period of scratching,
the chimpanzee will move the largest box and pile he other smaller
boxes on it and climb up to reach the fruit.
So, he found the solution to a problem quite novel to him, using his
insight.

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