Learning

Learning is often defined as a relatively

lasting change in behavior that is the
result of experience.
Learning takes place when there is a
change in a student's behavior. It may not
be directly observable.
 Learning is based on observation of
behavior changes that result from a
person's interaction with their
environment.
 An individual's learning may involve changes
in any of three areas:
Manner of perceiving and thinking.
Physical behavior (motor skills).
Emotional reactions or attitudes.
Learning cannot be literally described but the
conditions under which it occurs can be
identified.

The instructor should understand these

conditions and apply them when teaching.
 Laws of Learning

Edward L. Thorndike in the early 1900's

postulated several "Laws of Learning," that
seemed generally applicable to the learning
process.
Since that time, other educational
psychologists have found that the learning
process is indeed more complex than the
"laws" identified.
However, the "laws" do provide the
instructor with insight into the learning
process that will assist in providing a
rewarding experience to the trainee.
The laws that follow are not necessarily
stated as Professor Thorndike first stated
them. Over the years, they have been
restated and supplemented, but, in
essence, they may be attributed to him.
The first three are the basic laws: the law of
readiness, the law of exercise, and the most
famous and still generally accepted, the law
of effect.

The other three laws were added later as a

result of experimental studies: the law of
primacy, the law of intensity, and the law of
recency.
Law of Readiness
The Law of Readiness means a person can
learn when physically and mentally adjusted
(ready) to receive stimuli.
Individuals learn best when they are ready to
learn, and they will not learn much if they see
no reason for learning.
Law of Exercise
The Law of Exercise stresses the idea
that repetition is basic to the
development of adequate responses;
things most often repeated are easiest
remembered.
The mind can rarely recall new concepts
or practices after a single exposure, but
every time it is practiced, learning
continues and is enforced.
Law of Effect
This law involves the emotional reaction of
the learner. Learning will always be much
more effective when a feeling of satisfaction,
pleasantness, or reward accompanies or is a
result of the learning process.
Learning is strengthened when it is
accompanied by a pleasant or satisfying
feeling and that it is weakened when it is
associated with an unpleasant experience.
Law of Primacy
This law states that the state of being first,
often creates a strong, almost unshakeable
impression. For the instructor, this means
that what they teach the first time must be
correct.

If a subject is incorrectly taught, it must be

corrected. It is more difficult to un-teach a
subject than to teach it correctly the first
time.
Law of Intensity
The principle of intensity states that if the
stimulus (experience) is real, the more likely
there is to be a change in behavior (learning).
A dramatic or exciting learning experience
teaches more than a routine or boring
experience.
Law of Recency
Things most recently learned are best
remembered, while the things learned
some time ago are remembered with more
difficulty.

It is sometimes easy, for example, to recall

a telephone number dialed a few minutes
ago, but it is usually impossible to recall a
telephone number dialed a week ago.
 THEORIES OF LEARNING

BEHAVIORAL LEARNING THEORIES

(Behaviorism)
Definition
Behaviorism is a theory of animal and
human learning that only focuses on
objectively observable behaviors and
discounts mental activities.
Behavior theorists define learning as
nothing more than the acquisition of new
behavior.
The behavioral views of learning is based on
a model of a stimulus and response (S-R)
which advocates that learning occurs on the
basis of association made between the
stimulus and the response, as well as the
presence of some form of reinforcement.
 Discussion on the Behaviorism
Experiments by behaviorists identify
conditioning as a universal learning process.
There are two different types of conditioning,
each yielding a different behavioral pattern:
Classic conditioning occurs when neutral
reflex responds to a stimulus. Ivan Pavlov,
Russian physiologists is credited with having
developed a learning theory known as classical
conditioning.
Behavioral or operant conditioning
occurs when a response to a stimulus is
reinforced. Basically, operant conditioning
is a simple feedback system: If a reward or
reinforcement follows the response to a
stimulus, then the response becomes more
probable in the future.
 Classical Conditioning
 This is learning by association. A
Russian physiologist called Ivan Pavlov,
studied salivation in dogs as part of his
research program.
 Normally, dogs will salivate when food is
presented, but Pavlov was interested why the
dogs had started to salivate when saw the
people that usually fed them (they also
responded to the sound of the dishes being
used for their meals).
 Pavlov set up an experiment to find
out if the dogs could be trained to salivate
at other stimuli such as the sound of a bell
or a light.
 At feeding times, Pavlov would ring a
bell and the amount of saliva produced by
the dog was measured. After several
'trials' Pavlov rang the bell without
presenting the food and found that the
dogs salivated in the same way as if food
was being presented.
 The Classical Conditioning
Procedure

In scientific terms, the procedure for this is

as follows.
1. Food is the unconditioned stimulus or
UCS. By this, Pavlov meant that the
stimulus that elicited the response
occurred naturally.
2. The salivation to the food is an
unconditioned response (UCR), that is a
response which occurs naturally
3. The bell is the conditioned stimulus (CS)
because it will only produce salivation on
condition that it is presented with the food.

4. Salivation to the bell alone is the

conditioned response (CR), a response to the
conditioned stimulus.
 Classical conditioning involves learning by
association, that is associating two events
which happen at the same time.
 Nearly all automatic, involuntary
responses can become a conditioned response:
For the conditioning to be effective, the
conditioned stimulus should occur before the
unconditioned stimulus, not after.
This is because, in classical conditioning, the
conditioned stimulus becomes a kind of signal
for the unconditioned stimulus.
Principles of classical conditioning

Extinction
If a conditioned stimulus is repeatedly
presented without the unconditioned
stimulus, then the conditioned response will
disappear. This is known as extinction.
If a dog learns to associate the sound of a
bell with food and then the bell is rung
repeatedly, but no food is presented, the
dog will soon stop salivating the sound of
the bell.
Stimulus Generalization
A dog who has been conditioned to salivate to
the sound of a bell of one tone, may well
salivate to a similar sounding bell or a buzzer.

Stimulus generalization is the extension of

the conditioned response from the original
stimulus to similar stimuli.
Discrimination
An animal or person can be taught to
discriminate between different stimuli. For
example, if a dog is shown a red circle every time
he is fed, then he will salivate at the sight of the
red circle alone.
But initially, the dog may generalize and salivate
at circles of any color. If the dog is only fed when
the red circle is presented and not when other
colors are shown, he will learn to discriminate
between red and the other colors.
Higher Order Conditioning
This is where more than one stimulus is
paired and presented; there can be a chain
of events that are linked to the same
stimulus.
It is thought that words may acquire their
emotional meaning through higher order
conditioning, for example by pairing the
words with something that causes emotion;
eventually the word alone will have the
emotional meaning.
 Classical Conditioning in the
Classroom

The implications of classical conditioning in

the classroom are less important than those
of operant conditioning, but there is a still
need for teachers to try to make sure that
students associate positive emotional
experiences with learning.
If a student associates negative
emotional experiences with school, then
this can obviously have bad results, such
as creating a school phobia
It could also explain why some students
show a particular dislike of certain
subjects that continue throughout their
academic career. This could happen if a
student is humiliated or punished in class
by a teacher.
 Skinner - Operant Conditioning

By the 1920s, John B. Watson had left

academic psychology and other behaviorists
were becoming influential, proposing new
forms of learning other than classical
conditioning. Perhaps the most important of
these was Burrhus Frederic Skinner. Although,
for obvious reasons he is more commonly
known as B.F. Skinner.
Skinner's views were slightly less extreme
than those of Watson.
 Skinner believed that we do have such a
thing as a mind, but that it is simply more
productive to study observable behavior
rather than internal mental events.
 The work of Skinner was rooted in a view
that classical conditioning was far too
simplistic to be a complete explanation of
complex human behavior.
 He believed that the best way to
understand behavior is to look at the causes
of an action and its consequences. He called
this approach operant conditioning.
 Operant Conditioning deals with
operants - intentional actions that have an
effect on the surrounding environment.
Skinner set out to identify the processes
which made certain operant behaviors more
or less likely to occur.
 BF Skinner: Operant Conditioning
 Skinner is regarded as the father of
Operant Conditioning, but his work was
based on Thorndike’s law of effect.
 Skinner introduced a new term into
the Law of Effect - Reinforcement. Behavior
which is reinforced tends to be repeated
(i.e. strengthened); behavior which is not
reinforced tends to die out-or be
extinguished (i.e. weakened).
Skinner (1948) studied operant conditioning by conducting
experiments using animals which he placed in a 'Skinner Box'
which was similar to Thorndike’s puzzle box.
B.F. Skinner coined the term operant
conditioning; it means roughly changing of
behavior by the use of reinforcement which
is given after the desired response. Skinner
identified three types of responses or
operant that can follow behavior.
• Neutral operants: responses from the
environment that neither increase nor
decrease the probability of a behavior being
repeated.
• Reinforcers: Responses from the
environment that increase the probability of a
behavior being repeated. Reinforcers can be
either positive or negative.
• Punishers: Responses from the
environment that decrease the likelihood of a
behavior being repeated. Punishment
weakens behavior.
Positive Reinforcement
Skinner showed how positive reinforcement
worked by placing a hungry rat in his Skinner
box. The box contained a lever on the side and
as the rat moved about the box it would
accidentally knock the lever. Immediately it did
so a food pellet (a ​small hard ​ball or tube-
shaped ​piece of any ​substance) would drop into
a container next to the lever.
The rats quickly learned to go straight to the
lever after a few times of being put in the box.
The consequence of receiving food if they
pressed the lever ensured that they would
repeat the action again and again.
Positive reinforcement strengthens a behavior
by providing a consequence an individual finds
rewarding. For example, if your teacher gives
you reward each time you complete your
homework you will be more likely to repeat
this behavior in the future, thus strengthening
the behavior of completing your homework.
Negative Reinforcement
The removal of an unpleasant reinforcer
can also strengthen behavior. This is
known as negative reinforcement
because it is the removal of an adverse
stimulus which is ‘rewarding’ to the
animal or person.
Negative reinforcement strengthens
behavior because it stops or removes an
unpleasant experience.
Skinner showed how negative reinforcement
worked by placing a rat in his Skinner box and
then subjecting it to an unpleasant electric
current which caused it some discomfort.
As the rat moved about the box it would
accidentally knock the lever. Immediately it did
so the electric current would be switched off.
The rats quickly learned to go straight to the
lever after a few times of being put in the box.
The consequence of escaping the electric current
ensured that they would repeat the action again
and again.
In fact Skinner even taught the rats to
avoid the electric current by turning on a
light just before the electric current came
on.
The rats soon learned to press the lever
when the light came on because they
knew that this would stop the electric
current being switched on.
These two learned responses are known
as Escape Learning and Avoidance
Learning
Example:
A student with a speech difficulty may not
speak in the class because his speech causes
other students to laugh. In this case, other
students’ laughter is unpleasant stimulus for
that student. If the teacher persuades the
class to stop laughing, the student may speak
in the class.
 Punishment (weakens behavior)
 Punishment is defined as the opposite of
reinforcement since it is designed to weaken or
eliminate a response rather than increase it.
 Like reinforcement, punishment can work
either by directly applying an unpleasant
stimulus like a shock after a response or by
removing a potentially rewarding stimulus, for
instance, deducting someone’s pocket money
to punish undesirable behavior.
 There are many problems with using
punishment, such as:
Punished behavior is not forgotten, it's
suppressed, behavior returns when punishment
is no longer present.
Causes increased aggression - shows that
aggression is a way to cope with problems.
Creates fear that can generalize to undesirable
behaviors, e.g., fear of school.
Does not necessarily guide toward desired
behavior - reinforcement tells you what to do,
punishment only tells you what not to do.
Schedules of Reinforcement
Imagine a rat in a “Skinner box". In
operant conditioning if no food pellet is
delivered immediately after the lever is
pressed then after several attempts the
rat stops pressing the lever (how long
would someone continue to go to work if
their employer stopped paying them?).
The behavior has been extinguished.
Behaviorists discovered that different patterns
(or schedules) of reinforcement) had different
effects on the speed of learning and on
extinction. Ferster and Skinner (1957) devised
different ways of delivering reinforcement, and
found that this had effects on
1. The Response Rate - The rate at which the
rat pressed the lever (i.e. how hard the rat
worked).
2. The Extinction Rate - The rate at which lever
pressing dies out (i.e. how soon the rat gave up).
Skinner found that the type of reinforcement
which produces the slowest rate of extinction
(i.e. people will go on repeating the behavior
for the longest time without reinforcement) is
variable-ratio reinforcement. The type of
reinforcement which has the quickest rate of
extinction is continuous reinforcement.
 (A) Continuous Reinforcement
An animal/human is positively reinforced
every time a specific behavior occurs, e.g.
every time a lever is pressed a pellet is
delivered and then food delivery is shut off.
Response rate is SLOW
Extinction rate is FAST
 (B) Fixed Ratio Reinforcement
Behavior is reinforced only after the
behavior occur a specified number of
times. e.g. one reinforcement is given
after every so many correct responses,
e.g. after every 5th response. For
example a child receives a star for every
five words spelt correctly.
Response rate is FAST
Extinction rate is MEDIUM
 (C) Fixed Interval Reinforcement
Reinforcement is given after a fixed time interval
providing at least one correct response has been
made. An example is being paid by the hour.
Another example would be every 15 minutes (half
an hour, hour, etc.) a pellet is delivered
(providing at least one lever press has been
made) then food delivery is shut off.
Response rate is MEDIUM
Extinction rate is MEDIUM
 (D) Variable Ratio Reinforcement
Behavior is reinforced after an
unpredictable number of times. For
example gambling or fishing.
Response rate is FAST
Extinction rate is SLOW (very hard to
extinguish because of unpredictability )
 (E) Variable Interval Reinforcement
Providing one correct response has been
made, reinforcement is given after an
unpredictable amount of time has passed,
e.g. on average every 5 minutes. An
example is a self-employed person being
paid at unpredictable times.
Response rate is FAST
Extinction rate is SLOW
 Behavior Shaping
 A further important contribution made by
Skinner is the notion of behavior shaping
through successive (happening one after the other)
approximation (a figure that is close to a particular
number or time).
 Skinner argues that the principles of
operant conditioning can be used to produce
extremely complex behavior if rewards and
punishments are delivered in such a way as to
encourage move an organism closer and closer
to the desired behavior each time.
 In order to do this, the conditions (or
contingencies) required to receive the reward
should shift each time the organism moves a
step closer to the desired behavior.
 According to Skinner, most animal and
human behavior (including language) can be
explained as a product of this type of
successive approximation.
 Behavior Modification
 Behavior modification is a set of
therapies / techniques based on operant
conditioning.
 The main principle comprises changing
environmental events that are related to a
person's behavior. For example, the
reinforcement of desired behaviors and
ignoring or punishing undesired ones.
 This is not as simple as it sounds, always
reinforcing desired behavior, for example, is
basically bribery.
 There are different types of positive
reinforcements. Primary reinforcement is when a
reward strengths a behavior by itself. Secondary
reinforcement is when something strengthens a
behavior because it leads to a primary reinforcer.
 Examples of behavior modification therapy
include token economy and behavior shaping
 Token Economy
Token economy is a system in which
targeted behaviors are reinforced with
tokens (secondary reinforcers) and later
exchanged for rewards (primary
reinforcers).
Tokens can be in the form of fake money,
buttons, stickers, etc. While the rewards
can range from snacks to privileges or
activities.
 Token economy has been found to
be very effective in managing psychiatric
patients. However, the patients can
become over reliant on the tokens,
making it difficult for them to adjust to
society once they leave prisons, hospital
etc.
 Teachers also use token economy at
primary school by giving young children
stickers to reward good behavior.
 Operant Conditioning in the Classroom
 In the conventional learning situation
operant conditioning applies largely to issues
of class and student management, rather than
to learning content. It is very relevant to
shaping skill performance.
 A simple way to shape behavior is to
provide feedback on learner performance, e.g.
compliments, approval, encouragement, and
affirmation.
A variable-ratio produces the highest response
rate for students learning a new task, whereby
initially reinforcement (e.g. praise) occurs at
frequent intervals, and as the performance
improves reinforcement occurs less frequently,
until eventually only exceptional outcomes are
reinforced.
For example, if a teacher wanted to encourage
students to answer questions in class they
should praise them for every attempt
 (regardless of whether their answer is correct).
Gradually the teacher will only praise the
students when their answer is correct, and over
time only exceptional answers will be praised.
Unwanted behaviors, such as tardiness (tardy: ​
slow or late in ​happening or ​arriving) and
dominating class discussion can be extinguished
through being ignored by the teacher (rather
than being reinforced by having attention drawn
to them).
Knowledge of success is also important as it
motivates future learning. However it is
important to vary the type of reinforcement
given, so that the behavior is maintained.
This is not an easy task, as the teacher may
appear insincere if he/she thinks too much
about the way to behave.