THEORIES OF LEARNING

Learning-Learning is a relatively permanent change in behaviour

occurring as a result of experience or practice.
Attributes of learning;
• Learning is a change in behaviour
• This change in behaviour is relatively permanent
• It does not include change due to illness, fatigue, maturation and use of
intoxicant.
• This permanent change in behaviour is not because of biological factors (like
hormonal changes) that bring permanent changes in behaviour; but because of
experience, or practice
• The learning is not directly observable but manifests in the activities of the
individual
• Characteristics of learning?

• Principles of learning?

• Factors influencing learning?

Behavioural theory of learning
• Behavioural theory of learning believes that learning occurs as a result
of stimulus-response associations.
• Behavioural theories emphasize observable behaviours, seek laws to
govern all organisms, and provide explanations which focus on
consequences.
• There are two major behavioural theories of learning:
 classical conditioning
 operant onditioning
Classical conditioning
• Classical conditioning focuses on the learning of making involuntary
emotional or physiological responses to stimuli that normally elicit no
response; for example, s fear, increased heartbeat, salivation or
sweating at the sight of a hyena.
• Through the process of classical conditioning, humans and animals
can be trained to act involuntarily to a stimulus that previously had no
effect - or a very different effect - on them. The stimulus comes to
Basics of classical conditioning
• Neutral stimulus: A stimulus that, before conditioning, does not
naturally bring about the response of interest.
• Unconditioned stimulus (UCS): A stimulus that naturally brings about
a particular response without having been learned.
• Unconditioned response (UCR): A response that is natural and needs
no training (e.g., salivation at the smell of food).
• Conditioned stimulus (CS): A once neutral stimulus that has been
paired with an unconditioned stimulus to bring about a response
formerly caused only by the unconditioned stimulus.
• Conditioned response (CR): A response that, after conditioning,
follows a previously neutral stimulus (e.g., salivation at the ringing of
a bell)
Pavlov’s experiment
• In the above experiment the food was an unconditioned stimulus
(UCS) - stimulus that automatically produces an emotional or
physiological response - because no prior training or ―conditioning ―
was needed to establish the natural connection between food and
salvation.
• The salivation was an unconditioned response (UCR) - naturally
occurring emotional or physiological response again because it
occurred automatically, no conditioning required.
• Using these three elements- the food, the salivation, and the bell
sound - Pavlov demonstrated that a dog could be conditioned to
salivate after hearing the bell sound. He did this by contiguous pairing
of the sound with food.
• At the beginning of the experiment, he sounded the bell and then
quickly fed the dog. After Pavlov repeated this several times, the dog
began to salivate after hearing the sound but before receiving the
food.
• Now the sound had become a conditioned stimulus (CS) - stimulus
that evokes an emotional or physiological response after conditioning
- that could bring forth salivation by itself.
• The response of salivating after the tone was now a conditioned
response (CR) - learned response to a previously neutral stimulus
Principles of classical
conditioning
• Stimulus generalization is a process in which, after a stimulus has
been conditioned to produce a particular response, stimuli that are
similar to the original stimulus begin to produce the same responses.
• For example, a dog conditioned to salivate to a dinner bell (CS) might
also salivate to a door bell, a telephone bell.
• Stimulus discrimination is the process of distinguishing two similar
stimuli; the ability to differentiate between stimuli.
• Example, the dog salivates only in response to the dinner bell instead
of the doorbell or the telephone bell.
Continua…
• Extinction In Pavlov‘s procedure, if a CS is repeatedly presented
without presenting the UCS (meat), the CR will diminish and
eventually stop occurring A dog that has learned to salivate to a
dinner bell (CS) will eventually stop doing so unless presentations of
the dinner bell are periodically followed by presentations of the UCS
(meat). But extinction only inhibits the CR, it does not eliminate it.
• Spontaneous recovery is the re-emergence of an extinguished
conditioned response after a period of rest and with no further
conditioning.
• For example, suppose you produce extinction of the CR of salivation
by no longer presenting the dog with meat after ringing the dinner
bell. If you rang the dinner bell a few days later, the dog would again
respond by salivating. In spontaneous recovery, however, the CR is
weaker and extinguishes faster than it did originally
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC
• Ivan Pavlov explained how dogs were conditioned into associating
the sound of a bell with food. Using your own example, explain
classical conditioning and the various stimuli and responses
(8marks)
Operant
Conditioning/instrumental
• Developed by B . F. Skinner
• It is a learning in which a voluntary response is strengthened or
weakened, depending on its favourable or unfavourable
consequences.
• In operant conditioning, the organism's response operates or
produces effects on the environment. These effects, in turn, influence,
whether the response will occur again.
• Behaviours are shaped though punishment or reinforcement
Argued that to understand behaviour we should focus on the
external causes of an action and the action‘s consequences.

To explain behaviour, he said, we should look outside the individual,

not inside.
• In Skinner‘s analysis, a response (operant) can lead to three types of
consequences: such as
a) A neutral consequence
b) A reinforcement
c) punishment.
A neutral Consequence that does not alter the response.

A reinforcement that strengthens the response or makes it more

likely to recur.
• A reinforcer is any event that increases the probability that the
behaviour that precedes it will be repeated.
• There are two basic types of reinforcers or reinforcing stimuli: primary
and secondary reinforcers.
Primary reinforcers: Food, water and a comfortable air temperature
are naturally reinforcing because they satisfy biological needs.
• Have the ability to strengthen a behaviour without prior learning.
Secondary Reinforcers: They reinforce behaviour because of their
prior association with primary reinforcing stimuli. Money, praise,
applause, good grades and awards are common secondary
reinforcers.
• They are learned and become valuable overtime
Both primary and secondary reinforcers can positive or negative
 Positive reinforcement-is the process whereby presentation of a
stimulus makes behaviour more likely to occur again.
• Adding a reward to encourage a behaviour e.g compliance to
medication
• Negative reinforcement is the process whereby termination of an
aversive stimulus makes behaviour more likely to occur.
• The basic principle of negative reinforcement is that eliminating
something aversive can itself be a reinforcer or a reward. e g pain
management
Forms of negative
reinforcement
• Escape learning- individual learn to perform a behaviour to terminate
an ongoing aversive stimulus.
• Avoidance learning- individual learns to perform a behaviour to
prevent an aversive stimulus from occurring.
Schedule of reinforcement
 Rule that determines how and when a behaviour is reinforced

 continuous reinforcement- every occurrence of a behaviour is

reinforced.
 intermittent (partial)- schedule of reinforcement, which involves
reinforcing only some responses, not all of them.
• Behaviour is reinforced only sometimes
 There are four types of intermittent schedules.

1. Fixed-ratio schedules: occurs after a fixed number of responses.

• Reinforcement occur after a set number of responses.
• Employers often use fixed ratio schedules to increase productivity.
2. Variable-Ratio Schedule: occurs after some average number of
responses, but the number varies from reinforcement to
reinforcement.
• Reinforcement occur after an unpredictable number of responses.
3. Fixed Interval Schedule: A fixed interval schedule of reinforcement
occurs only if a fixed amount of time has passed since the previous
reinforcer.
• Reinforcement occurs after a set time period.
4. Variable Interval Schedule: A variable interval schedule of
reinforcement occurs only if a variable amount of time has passed since
the previous reinforcer.
• Reinforcement occurs after a set time period.
Punishment- is a stimulus that weakens the response or makes it less
likely to recur.
• Punishers can be any aversive (unpleasant) stimuli that weaken
responses or make them unlikely to recur.
• Process that reduces the likelihood of a behaviour occurring by
introducing an aversive consequences or moving a desirable stimulus.
punishers can also be primary or secondary.
 Pain and extreme heat or cold are inherently punishing and are
therefore known as primary punishers.
 Criticism, demerits, catcalls, scolding, fines, and bad grades are
common secondary punishers.
Types of punishment
• Positive punishment- adding an unpleasant stimulus to decrease a
behaviour.
• Negative reinforcement- removing a pleasant stimulus to decrease a
behaviour
 Pros and cons of punishment?...
Shaping
• Shaping is an operant conditioning procedure in which successive
approximations of a desired response are reinforced. In shaping you
start by reinforcing a tendency in the right direction.
• Then you gradually require responses that are more and more similar
to the final desired response.
• The responses that you reinforce on the way to the final one are
called successive approximations
• In operant conditioning, you learnt of the concepts or reinforcement
and punishment. Explain the two concepts using examples (6 marks)
Social learning
theory/observational
• Proponent- Albert Bandura learning
• A major part of human learning consists of observational learning,
which is learning by watching the behaviour of another person, or
model.
• Because of its reliance on observation of others—a social
phenomenon—the perspective taken by Bandura is often referred to
as a social cognitive approach to learning (Bandura, 1999, 2004)
• Suggest that people learn by observing, imitating and modelling the
behaviour of others.
Key principles
• Observational learning- people learn by watching others and
replicating their actions.
• Modelling- individual imitate behaviour they see , especially from role
models.
• Cognitive processes- learning involves attention, memory and
motivation.
• Reinforcement and punishment- learning involves attention, memory
and motivation.
conditions that are necessary before an individual can successfully
model the behaviour of someone else:
Attention
Retention
Motor reproduction
Motivation
Forms of reinforcement
• Direct reinforcement-the observer may reproduce the behaviours of
the model.

• Vicarious reinforcement- the observer may simply see others

reinforced for a particular behaviour and then increase his or her
production of that behaviour.
• Self reinforcement-individual regulated their own behaviour based
on personal standards and rewards.
 Bandura’s Social Cognitive Model

Behavior

Person Environment
(cognitive)

Figure 2.4
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY
 Bandura’s Modeling/Imitation

Child Child imitates

observes behavior
someone that seems
admired rewarded
Cognitive learning
• Takes two forms;
 Latent learning
 Insight learning (gestalt learning or perceptual learning)
Latent
• learning that occurs but is not evident in behaviour until later, when
conditions for its appearance are favourable.
• It is said to occur without reinforcement of particular responses and
seems to involve changes in the way information is processed.
• In a classic experiment, Tolman and Honzic (1930) placed three
groups of rats in mazes and observed their behaviour each day for
more than two weeks.
Experiment
• The rats in Group 1 always found food at the end of the maze.
• Group 2 never found food.
• Group 3 found no food for ten days but then received food on the
eleventh.
• The Group 1 rats quickly learned to head straight the end of the maze
without going blind alleys.
• Group 2 rats did not learn to go to the end. But, Group 3 rats were
different.
• For ten days they appeared to follow no particular route. Then, on the
eleventh day they quickly learned to run to the end of the maze. By
the next day, they were doing, as well as group one, which had been
rewarded from the beginning.

• Group three rats had demonstrated latent learning, learning that is

not immediately expressed. A great deal of human learning also
remains latent until circumstances allow or require it to be expressed.
Insight learning
• An individual suddenly grasps a solution to a problem thorough a
moment of realization .
• Involves reorganizing existing knowledge or perceiving a relationship
in a new way
• In a typical insight situation where a problem is posed, a period
follows during which no apparent progress is made, and then the
solution comes suddenly. What has been learned in insight learning
can also be applied easily to other similar situations.
• Human beings who solve a problem insightfully usually experience a
good feeling called an 'aha' experience.
characteristics
• Suddenness
• Cognitive restructuring
• No external reinforcement needed
• Relies on cognitive processes
Piaget’s theory of cognitive
development
“It is with children that we have the best chance of studying the
development of logical knowledge, mathematical knowledge,
physical knowledge, and so forth.” Jean Piaget
• The important concept of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development is
the fixed progression from one stage to another.
• Piaget viewed cognitive growth as a progressive change. Growth
varies from person to person.
• Explains how children construct knowledge through interaction with
the environment.
• Piaget proposed that children’s intellectual skills change over time
and that children of different ages interpret the world differently.
• He believed that young children construct knowledge in the course of
thinking about physical actions and that children are continually
reorganizing their ideas about the world as they interact with people
and objects.
Piaget’s concepts
Schema-a concept or framework that organizes and interprets
information.
• Mental structures that organize knowledge and guide understanding.
• Piaget suggested that schemas could be developed through two
processes assimilation and accommodation.
• Adaptation-child’s tendency to develop and adjust schemas through
experimentation and direct interaction with the environment.
• Adaptation consists of two processes, assimilation and
accommodation.
• During childhood, children are constantly assimilating and
accommodating new information in their schemas.
Assimilation-process by which people fit new information into pre-
existing concepts or schemas.
• The cognitive process by which a person integrates new perceptual
matter or stimulus events into existing schemata or patterns of
behaviour
• It refers to the process by which new objects and events are grasped
or incorporated within the scope of existing schemes or structures
• Accommodation-process by which pre-existing concepts or schemas
are restructured to include new information. If the new information
cannot be altered, a new schema is formed.
• It is the process through which the existing schemes or structure is
modified to meet the resistance to straightforward grasping or
assimilation of a new object or event.
Stages of development
1. Sensory motor stage(birth to 2 years)
• children’s thinking involves seeing, hearing, moving, touching, testing
and so on.
• This stage marks a transitional stage for a person from a biological to
a psychological being.
• Encompasses of simple reflexes such as sucking, stepping and
grasping.
• Later the reflex disappears and the baby chooses what and when to
grasp.
• During this period the infants attain the concept of object
permanence. This refers to the understanding that objects and events
continue to exist even when they cannot directly be seen, heard or
touched.

• Till this kind of understanding is achieved, an object that is out of

sight remains out of mind and therefore, becomes non-existent.

• learning to reverse actions.

2. Pre-operational stage
• children have not yet mastered the ability to perform mental
operations.
• Children’s thinking during this stage is governed by what is seen
rather than by logical principles.
• Following are the accomplishments of Pre-Operational Stage;
a. Semantic function. During this stage the child develops the
ability to think using symbols and signs. Symbols represent
something or someone else.

b. Egocentrism. This stage is characterized by egocentrism. Children

believe that their way of thinking is the only way to think.

c. Decentering. A pre-operational child has difficulty in seeing more

than one dimension or aspects of situation. It is called decentering.
d. Animism. Children tend to refer to inanimate objects as if they
have life-like qualities and are capable of actions.

e. Seriation. They lack the ability of classification or grouping objects

into categories.

f. Conservation. It refers to the understanding that certain

properties of an object remain the same despite a change in their
appearance.
• 3. Concrete Operational Stage (7 to 11 years).
• At this stage a child is concerned with the integration of stability of his
cognitive systems.
• He learns to add, subtract, multiply and divide.
• He is in a position to classify concrete objects.
• In short, children develop the abilities of rational thinking but their
thinking is tied to concrete objects.
• Develop logical thinking about concrete , tangible objects and events.
• Reversibility of actions.
• 4. Formal Operational Stage (11 & above).
• This type is characterised by the emergence of logical thinking and
reasoning/abstract thinking.
• Other important cognitive attainments during this period are:
• the ability to think about the hypothetical possibilities.
• solve problems through logical deductions and in a systematic
manner.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC
 Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Development
Sensorimotor Stage:
The infant constructs an understanding of the world
Birth to 2 by coordinating sensory experiences with physical
years of age actions: progressing from reflexive, instinctual action
at birth to the beginning of symbolic thought toward
end of the stage.
Preoperational Stage:
2 to 7 years The child begins to represent the world with words
of age and images. These words and images reflect
increased symbolic thinking and go beyond the
connection of sensory information and physical action.
Concrete Operational Stage:
7 to 11 years
of age The child can now reason logically about concrete
events and classify objects into different sets.
11–15 years Formal Operational Stage
of age
through The adolescent reasons in more abstract idealistic
adulthood and logical ways.

Figure 2.3
Explain the theory of Jean Piaget in cognitive
development in children (20mks)