LEARNING

•  Learning is commonly understood as the act, process, or experience of gaining knowledge or skill. For a layperson it is knowledge or skill gained through schooling or study. With reference to Psychology; it is the behavioral modification especially through experience or conditioning
 

•  The best definition of learning is that:Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior, and the frequency of its occurrence; this change is not automatic and results from practice or experience
 

•  Learning usually refers to improved performance, acquisition of skills, and a positive change in behavior; however the change may also be negative in nature
 

•  Learning is distinguished from behavioral changes arising from such processes as maturation and illness, but does apply to motor skills, such as driving a car, to intellectual skills, such as reading, and to attitudes and values, such as prejudice.
 

•  There is evidence that neurotic symptoms and patterns of mental illness are also learned behaviors. Learning occurs throughout the life span in humans and animals, and learned behavior accounts for a large proportion of all behavior in the higher animals, especially in humans.

Types/ Forms of Learning: In Terms of the Content
Considering the content of what has been learnt, there are varieties of learning:
 

I. Verbal learning
ii. Motor learning
iii. Problem solving

Verbal Learning
Basically man is a verbal learner who learns about the environment through experiences.
•  Verbal learning involves the person’s own association, experiences and relations with the phenomenon that has been learned.
 

ii. Motor Learning
•  It involves the practical application of the learned phenomena.
•  There are various tasks/ activities in which motor skills are of primary importance as compared to the ones requiring verbally learned material; e.g. learning the skills like playing football, tennis, cricket etc; or the training of technicians whose motor skills need to be highly efficient.
•  In learning motor skills two things are important; quickness of movements and the results that are achieved through it.
 

iii. Problem Solving
•  Problem solving tasks usually involves trial and error and primarily include verbal processes.
•  While doing the problem-solving task, individual learns many responses that can be helpful for him in different situations

How Do We Learn?
Three main explanations of learning are:
•  Classical conditioning
•  Operant conditioning
•  Cognitive approaches to learning.
 

Basic Terminology
Stimulus
A physical energy source that has an effect on a sense organ, thus producing a response.

i.  Response
•  The action, behavior, or reaction triggered by a stimulus.
Environment
•  External factors, variables, conditions, influences, or circumstance affecting one’s development or
behavior.
Variable
•  A behavior, factor, setting, or event that can change/ vary in amount or kind.Classical Conditioning
•  Why are children scared of darkness?
•  Why some children jump with joy at the sight of a cat and some start screaming in fright?
•  Why does one coming from office start feeling relaxed at the very sight of his home?
•  Why does one start feeling bad at the thought of going to a dentist?
•  Why does one starts feeling hungry at the sight of one’s favorite fast food joint?

Classical conditioning provides answers to all these questions
Classical conditioning forms an association between two stimuli.
Classical Conditioning is when a stimulus acquires the ability to cause a response that was previously caused by another stimulus. This learning process essentially allows us to predict what is going to happen.

Historical background
•  In 1879 Ivan Pavlov, the Russianphysiologist and pioneer of classical conditioning, began his research work on the digestive process, primarily that of dogs.
•  He won Nobel Prize for that in 1904.
•  The focal point of his investigation was the salivation reflex in dogs.
•  It was already known that the dogs would salivate if food powder were led into their mouths, as it was a ‘reflex.’
•  The dogs would salivate every time the food powder was presented.
•  Pavlov observed that after some time, the dogs at times salivated just before food was put into their mouths. They also salivated at the sight of the food, and even at the sight of the lab assistant who brought food for them.
•  This is where the concept of classical conditioning emerged.