Class 11 Psychology, CH -5

Learning
❖ Understanding the
Concept of Learning
➢ Refers to any relatively permanent change in behaviour or in the
potential for behaviour brought about through experiences.
❖ Features of Learning
➢ Experimental Dynamics

• Learning in psychology is characterized by experiences that occur in a

sequence, often leading to habits through repetition.

• Events can trigger specific responses that also result in significant

learning, teaching important things such as caution awareness,
solutions and all round survival.
➢ Long lasting behavioural changes
• Behavioral changes that result from learning are long lasting
and immune to temporary alterations.

• However fatigue may lead to a temporary halt on

effectiveness of activities like reading or driving.

• Habituation happens when you're exposed to something for a

long time, and it makes your reflexes dull until they
disappear. Changes in behavior from sedatives, drugs, or
alcohol are just temporary and tied to how those substances
affect your body.
 Classical
❖ Conditioning
• Classical conditioning is a type of learning in which an organism learns to
associate stimulus.

• Conditioning is the simplest form of learning

• Was first explained by Ivan Pavlov, in his famous dog and bell experiment.
 Forms of Classical
❖ Conditioning
• Unconditioned stimulus- this stimulus continuously evokes a
response or is reliably followed by one or it has potential capacity to
evoke a natural response.
• Conditioned stimulus- also known as neutral stimulus that is the carrier of
desired response and stimulus response.
• Unconditioned response- the response that reliably follows the unconditioned
stimulus is known as the unconditioned response.
• Conditioned response- when presentation of the originally neutral conditioned
stimulus evokes a response.
➢ Skinner Box
❖ Operant
Conditioning
▪ Operant or instrumental conditioning is a form of learning in which
behaviour is learned, maintained or changed through its
consequences.

➢ Reinforcers

• A reinforcer is defined as any stimulus or event which increases the probability

of the occurrence of a desired response.

• The type, positive or negative, frequency, quality and schedule or reinforcer are
determinants of operant conditioning.
❖ Types of
Reinforcement
• Positive reinforcement involves stimuli that have pleasant consequences.They
strengthen and maintain the responses that have caused them to occur.

• Negative reinforcer involve unpleasant and painful stimuli. Responses that lead
organisms to get rid of painful. Negative reinforcements can lead to learning of
avoidance and escape responses.
 Frequence of
❖ Reinforcements and
related Characteristics
• Frequency of trial on which an organism has been reinforced or rewarded.

• Amount of reinforcement i.e. how much of reinforcing stimulus (food or water)

one receives on each trial.

• Quality of reinforcement i.e. to the kind reinforcer. Bread of inferior quality as

compared with pieces of cake have different reinforcing value.
❖ Schedule of
Reinforcement
• This refers to the arrangement of the delivery of reinforcement during trials.

• When a desired response is reinforced every time we call it continuous

reinforcement

• When according to schedule responses are sometimes reinforced or maybe

sometimes not it is known as partial reinforcement and has been found to
produce greater resistance to extinction.
➢ Delayed Reinforcement
• It is found that delay in the delivery of reinforcement leads to poorer level of
performance.
❖ Various other Types of
Learning
➢ Observational Learning
• Observational Learning
• Back in the day, it was called imitation.
• The idea of observational learning was looked
into by Albert Bandura and his mates.
• Observational learning is also referred to as
social learning or modelling.
• They ran a famous experiment known as the
"Bobo doll" experiment.
• Observers pick up on the model's behaviour, but
how they act is shaped by whether the model
gets rewarded or punished.
• Kids often pick up behaviours by watching and
copying adults.
➢ Cognitive Learning
• Learning can lead to changes in both what we know and how
we behave, like what we see in insight learning and latent
learning.

• Insight learning is when you suddenly get the hang of a problem

and find a solution without having to mess around with trial-and-
error.

• Kohler's experiments with chimpanzees showed that animals

are capable of insight learning.

• A quick fix to a problem is a key feature of insight learning.

• In insight learning, there’s a clear mental link between how you

tackle a problem and the solution you’re after.
➢ Insight Learning
• Kohler showed a way of learning that couldn’t be easily
explained by just conditioning.
• Ran experiments with chimpanzees that required them
to solve tricky problems.
• Food was placed out of reach in a fenced-off play area
that had tools like poles and boxes.
• The chimpanzees figured out how to use a box to stand
on or a pole to get to the food.
• They learned in sudden moments of realisation, rather
than through trial and error.
• Insight learning is all about having that sudden clarity in
problem-solving without any slow build-up.
• Once they found a solution, they could quickly do it
again in similar situations.
• This kind of learning is about understanding how
different actions relate to achieving goals.
➢ Latent Learning
• Learning a new behaviour that you don't show until you
get a reward is called latent learning.

• Tolman did an experiment with rats and made big

contributions to cognitive psychology.

• In Tolman's experiment, the rats figured out how to

create cognitive maps, which are mental images of their
surroundings.
➢ Verbal Learning
• all about picking up knowledge about things and
events through words.

• One can do this in different ways, like paired-associate

learning, serial learning, and free recall.

• How well one can learn verbally depends on a few

things such as how meaningful the material is and how
much time they put into learning it.

• Another big factor is category clustering, which is when

you organise information based on ones own
subjective categories.
➢ Methods used in Studying Verbal Learning
• Paired-Associates Learning
• Serial Learning
• Free recall
❖ Determinants of Verbal
Learning
Verbal learning is influenced by several factors, mainly the
characteristics of the verbal material.

1. Length of the material- Longer lists take more time to learn.

2. Meaningfulness of Material- Measured by the number of
associations made in a set time. Familiarity and how often it’s
used.
3. Generalizations and Total Time Principle- A set amount of time
is needed to learn a fixed amount of material, no matter how
many attempts are made.
4. Organisation in Free Recall- In free recall, participants often
rearrange words into a new order instead of the order they
were presented in. This is called category clustering, where
words from the same category are remembered together.
5. Intentional vs. Incidental Learning: Verbal learning can be
either intentional incidental. Participants might pick up on
features like rhyming, starting letters, or vowel similarities
without even trying.
➢ Skill
• A Skill is defined as the ability to perform some complex
task smoothly and efficiently for eg- driving a car.
• Skill consists a chain of perceptual motor responses or as
a sequence of S-R associations.

According to Fitts, skill learning develops through 3 stages-

1. Cognitive phase- learner gets familiar and memorises the

set of instructions
2. Associative phase- many different sensory inputs are
linked together to get appropriate response. Eventually,
taken reduces and successful attempt increase.
3. Autonomous phase- here the attentional demands of the
task decreases and the person begins to control and
expertise
❖ Factors facilitating
Learning
• Control vs. partial reinforcement- You get a reward every
time you do what’s asked, which means you’ll keep doing it a
lot. But if the rewards stop coming, you’ll soon stop doing it,
and the things you learned will fade away quickly.

• Partial Reinforcement- In this type, only some of the

responses get rewarded, which leads to an inconsistent
reinforcement pattern. This can lead to high response rates,
especially with ratio reinforcement, making it tough to tell
when reinforcement is actually happening or not.

• Partial Reinforcement Effect- Behaviours learnt with partial

reinforcement are tougher to get rid of compared to those
learnt with continuous reinforcement.
 Motivation plays an
❖ Important role too
• Motivation is a psychological and physical state that gets
people moving towards meeting their needs. Crucial for
learning because it gives individuals the drive to chase their
goals until they’ve got what they need.

• Readiness for Learning- Different species have different

sensory skills and abilities to learn. The idea of preparedness
indicates that creatures can pick up associations they’re
genetically inclined towards more easily.
❖ Learning Disabilities
• Learning disability is a broad term that covers a range
of disorders making it tough for kids to pick up skills in
reading, writing, speaking, reasoning, and maths.
These struggles are a part of the child themselves.

• The main cause of learning disabilities is linked to

problems in the central nervous system, and they can
happen alongside physical disabilities, sensory issues,
or intellectual disabilities, or even on their own.

• Learning disabilities can be treated.

 Symptoms of Learning
❖ Disability
• Symptoms of learning disability
• Writing letters, words, and phrases, reading text aloud, and
speaking can be tough for people with learning disabilities.
• Kids with learning disabilities often have attention issues.
• Common signs include poor spatial awareness and a
limited sense of time.
• Limited manual dexterity and poor motor coordination are
also quite common.
• These kids find it hard to understand and follow verbal
instructions.
• They might have trouble telling the difference between
friendly and indifferent classmates.
• They struggle to grasp nonverbal communication.
• Perceptual disorders are often seen in children with learning
disabilities.
• Dyslexia is a common condition among individuals with
learning disabilities.
❖ Learning Curve
• The learning curve is a graphic that shows how performance
improves over time as someone learns.
 Thank You
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