LEARNING AND ITS METHOD IN PSYCHOLOGY

The learning process is ongoing, beginning right from the moment of an individual’s birth and continuing on until death. In order to improve our adaptive skills according to the requirements of the changing climate, we are all engaged in learning efforts. Two things are necessary for learning to happen: 1. The existence in the setting of a stimulus, and 2. Innate dispositions, such as mental and instinctual arrangements. By constructing or reconstructing experiences under the influence of emotional and instinctual dispositions, a person continues to learn through all stages of life.

Learning is commonly characterized by psychologists as relatively permanent behavioral changes that take place as a consequence of experience. Three essential elements of learning are highlighted by this concept of learning:

•  A behavioral improvement, which can be positive or worse, requires learning.
•  As a product of practice and experience, this behavioral change should take place. Changes dueto maturity or progression should not be viewed as learning.
• This change in behavior must be relatively lasting and last for a very long time.

Types of Learning

Classical conditioning, organizational conditioning, and observational learning are three primary forms of learning. Types of associative learning are both classical and operating conditioning, in which connections are made between events that occur together. Observational learning is exactly as it sounds: learning through others’ observation.

•  Classical Conditioning

Classical conditioning is a mechanism by which we learn to connect events, or stimuli, that often occur together; as a result, we learn to predict events. A famous research involving dogs was carried out by Ivan Pavlov in which he taught (or conditioned) the dogs to equate the sound of a bell with the presence of a piece of meat. Conditioning is accomplished because, in anticipation of the meat, the sound of the bell on its own makes the dog salivate.

• Operant Conditioning

Operant conditioning is the learning mechanism by which habits are improved or punished and are action is thus strengthened or extinguished. The word “rule of effect” was coined by Edward Thorndike, in which behaviors followed by consequences that please the organism are more likely tobe repeated, and behaviors followed by negative consequences are less likely to be repeated. By conducting experiments with rats in what he called a “Skinner box,” F. Skinner studied operant conditioning. Over time, the rats discovered that the release of food was directly triggered by standing on the trigger, suggesting that actions can be affected by rewards or punishments. He distinguishedbetween positive and negative reinforcement, and the idea of extinction was also discussed.

•  Observational Learning

Observational learning happens by watching others’ actions and imitating certain behaviors, even though at the moment there is no reinforcement. Albert Bandura found that by imitating adults, children always learn, and he tested his theory using his famous experiment with Bobo-doll. Through this experiment, after seeing adults hitting the doll, Bandura discovered that kids would target the Bobodoll.

Methods of Learning 

There are primarily 5 different learning methods;

1. Trial and Error Method

This is the most primitive and easiest way that learning takes place. Placed in a new environment, the person makes a number of random movements, removing those that are unsuccessful and fixing those that are good. It is learning by confusion, through doing something and succeeding or failing.

2. Conditional Response

As a consequence of Ivan Pavlov and Watson’s experiments, this hypothesis has developed. It is a method of substituting a new one for the original stimulus and connecting the answer with it. An experiment on a dog was carried out by Pavlov. While giving food to the dog, he used to ring a bell. The saliva would secrete in the dog’s mouth when the food was put in front of the dog and the bell rung. But it was also seen that the saliva began to secrete when the bell was just rung, but the food was not given. The reaction was called a ‘conditioned reflex’ by Pavlov. There is no choice or independence in learning through the conditioned response. The influence of conditioning is a good part of early childhood learning.

3. Learning by Insight

The trial and error mechanism was criticized by Gestalt psychologists. They contend that learning is nota mechanism that is blind and mechanical. This provides insight into the overall situation. In learning, along with motor activity, we use our meaning. Learning through observation is learning through intuition, learning through knowing the interaction in the scene and the situation. The learner strives to make some sense out of it after looking over the whole situation and it gives him hints about how he should continue to solve the problem, the approach he should adopt, and general knowledge of the implications of performing an act.

4. Learning by Imitation One of the most significant means of learning is imitation. Human beings mimic the acts, manners, and styles of their fellow beings, consciously or unconsciously. As his parents or brothers do, a child learns to walk, speak and act. It is therefore critical that the first template should be worthy of imitation. Imitation does not crush originality: on the other hand, the richer formed individual would be the first stage in the growth of individuality and the richer scope for imitation.

5. Transfer of Training

Training transition implies that training is moved from one capacity to another. It is of great interest to  all kinds of industrial training programmes. Simply put, the transfer of training deals with whether or not learning in one situation would promote learning in subsequent similar situations (and thus performance). Three possibilities exist:

A) Positive transfer: learning in one scenario increases learning or achievement in a new scenario.

B) Negative transfer: in one situation, learning prevents learning in a new situation.

C) No impact measurable.

Learning is an adaptive process by which, in reaction to stimuli in the environment, our nervous system adjusts, thereby modifying our behavioral responses and enabling us to operate in our environment. In response to environmental stimuli, the mechanism occurs initially in our nervous system. It is possible to improve, prune, trigger or reroute neural pathways, both of which induce changes in our behavioral responses.

KOMAL GUPTA

Intern, Budding Psychologists