Learning and Conditioning
Learning has been defined in different ways:
· Learning means acquiring skill or efficiency in meeting situations which are relatively new to the individual.
· It is the process of getting new information and storing it in the brain.
· It may be defined as a relatively permanent change in behavior or knowledge that occurs as a result of experience or practice.
· Learning is a mental activity by means of which knowledge, skills, attitudes and ideas are acquired resulting in desirable changes in behavior.
Factors or elements of learning
Learning is a process which starts from birth and continues till death. It brings about a change and modification in the individual’s behavior. It is helpful for the individual not only in attaining knowledge but also in formation of different habits through physical and mental activities.
The fundamental factors or elements of learning are:
· Arousal
· Motivation
· Reinforcement and
· Association
1. Arousal:
Arousal of an act or stimulation in learning is based on the curiosity instinct. Human being from the very beginning starts questioning what is it? How is it? Why is it working? These questions provoke the arousal for learning.
In our example (video shown in the class), girl gives the idea to a guy. Thus giving a curiosity instinct “HOW TO RIDE A BIKE”. The boy gets the idea and learns to work on it.
2. Motivation:
Some "Why" questions: Why do you go to class each day? Why do students study for hours (sometimes even days) to pass examinations (and don't say, "To pass examinations")? Why do professors teach students, and why do they test students? Why did you pick out those shoes or those pants to wear today? Each of these questions has an answer...there is some motive for engaging in those behaviors. We may define a motive (or motivation) as a need, want, interest, or desire that propels someone (or an organism) in a certain direction. This motivating mechanism can be called many things--a habit, a belief, a desire, an instinct, a need, an interest, a compulsion, or a drive--but no matter what its label, it is this motivation that prompts us to take action. Indeed, the motivation comes from the verb "to move."
Some Introductory Psychology books define the field of motivation as the study of goal-directed behavior.
Examples of motivation: The basic instincts of hunger and thirst evoke the purpose of satiating the need and drive of hunger by looking for food and drive of thirst by looking for water. So the act of searching or knowing the place of food and water becomes the motivation for learning.
Learning modifies the human behavior of satisfying their hunger and thirst as compared with animals. The animals eat and drink in the same manner with no change; but human beings have learned to eat the cooked food in the form of many delicious dishes with spoons and forks on the dining table according to their need keeping in view the medical advice.
Example in the video:
Motivation is a goal directed activity in which the goal is provided by the girl in a sense of “REACHING EARLY”. “When the boy will learn to ride the bike, he will reach there in time.”
3. Reinforcement:
Reinforcement exceeds the rate of learning. Positive reinforcement in the form of prizes strengthens the successful behavior or correct response in the leaning. Negative reinforcement in the form of punishments weakens the incorrect responses in learning and helps in avoiding failure.
Examples of positive reinforcement:
· A girl studies hard, pays attention in class and does her homework. As a result, she gets excellent grades.
· At work, you exceed this month's sales quota so your boss gives you a bonus.
· For your psychology class, you watch a video about the human brain and write a paper about what you learned. Your instructor gives you 20 extra credit points for your work.
Examples of negative reinforcement:
· You decide to clean up your mess in the room in order to avoid getting in a fight with your roommate
· On Monday morning, you leave the house early in order to avoid getting stuck in traffic and being late for class.
· Your cell phone rings in the middle of a class lecture, and you are scolded by your teacher for not turning your phone off prior to class. So you switched off your mobile before entering into the class.
· Because you're late to work one morning, you drive over the speed limit through a school zone. As a result, you get pulled over by a police officer and receive a ticket. So you follow the traffic rules and drive slowly in any case to avoid such situation.
Example in the video:
The bait is given in the sense of time. “AS SOON AS THE BOY LEARNS TO RIDE THE BIK, HE WILL SUCCEED IN GETTING THE GIRL”
Thus providing the positive reinforcement.
4. Association:
Association also affects learning. It helps in associating temporal and spatial events. Learning is thought to be the formation of association between stimulus and response.
Examples of association:
If a person wants to learn riding a motor cycle. He will say it is easy because I had ridden it previously. He can recall it. He will think that it’s quite a same thing as both include two tires and balancing. He tries to associate it with the previous one.
Example in the video:
The friend helps the boy in how to ride a bike in associating with his previous experiences of riding a bicycle in his childhood. He tells him to lose fear and creates confidence in him.
An individual has to learn the beliefs and creeds, traditions, and moral-social values of certain society. He has to learn to earn to make his living and fulfill his psycho-bio-social needs.
In this process of learning he undergoes the following changes:
Every person in society has to observe and follow some basic and foremost rules of society to live in it. These may be related to social interaction which includes norms, values and traditions and may be of earning related issues to meet his psycho- bio- social needs. In the process of earning following changes occur.
PHYSICAL CHANGES:
During any exercise which involves physical participation a person’s body undergo many changes. For example when a person start using computer for the first time he finds many difficulties in handling keyboard, mouse and watching screen. He gets confuse in keyboard alphabets, in handling mouse and coordination with all three parts of the computer. But as practice go on he get control over it.
Here we will discuss another example which is also shown in our video. A man in process of learning bike riding experiences physical changes. His body adapts many new techniques of doing this job.
Example in the video:
For example in gripping clutch handling the balance of motorcycle by weight and passing the brake paddle. In beginning he finds difficulties in coordinating all these activities. But with the passage of time and experience he become confident and skilled motorbike rider.
NEURAL CHANGES:
While practicing all this neural changes occur which first cause some problem in coordination of all this activity as stimulus and response does not occur accurately at the first time as the practice go on man overcomes his mental hindrances and their produces a continuity and harmony in stimulus.
Example in the video:
During learning nervous system first hinders or obstruct but as time passes continuity and harmony occur in stimulus response process of nervous system. As shown in our video.
MENTAL CHANGES:
To learn a new thing active attention is required. This brings mental changes in an individual. After learning this need of active attention changes into passive attention that it gains no more full attention. For example in case of computer typing the passage of time practice makes one perfect and he can use keyboard easily without paying whole attention on it as his mind and body start coordinating with each other easily.
Example in the video:
Mental changes are related to attention as biker first pay his full attention on learning but after getting experience his active attention changes into passive attention just because of body-mind coordination.
PSYCHOLOGICAL CHANGES:
Individual’s behavior also affected by psychological changes which occur during learning. Because at first he hesitate in learning and performing because of low practice and no confidence while after learning confidence helps him to move forward in life and achieve his goal
Example in the video:
The first hesitant and reluctant biker at the end rides bike with full confidence and without fear.
Definitions by famous psychologists
In the book “psychology a study of mental life” Robert S. Woolworths and Donald G. Marquis defines Learning as every aspect of life moves around learning. Each and every part of life belongs to learning for instance from vary first day of life a child starts learning till his last breath…..
· Robert eoodworth took learning as an exercise and reinforcement.
· According to Floyd L Runch learning is a process in which a person according to his surroundings.
· Henry E Garret relates learning with mental and physical changes according to the environment. For example adaptation of language according to the demand.
· Hilgard produced a definition which is similar to others that an activity teaches us a new lesson.
· Herbert J Kalausmeier research of learning based on changes of an individual through experience. For instance a man makes a mistake while driving and have an accident, but for the next time he ll be careful during driving.
· Crow L D explains learning as a continuous change according to the niceties of life e.g DO IN ROME AS THE ROMANS DO
· Robert S. Feldman in his book “understanding psychology” defines learning as a permanent after an experience. For example being conscious after an accident.
· James O Lugo gave a perfect definition of learning as a flexible behavior based on concepts, intelligence and past experience e.g. Good & Bad memories
· B.F Skinner defines learning as observable behavior for example a child observes his mother or father and try to copy it.
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