Learning Is Best Defined As

6.1 What is Learning?

Learning Objectives

By the end of this department, you will exist able to:

Explain how learned behaviors are different from instincts and reflexes
Define learning
Recognize and ascertain 3 basic forms of learning—classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning

Birds build nests and drift as winter approaches. Infants suckle at their mother's breast. Dogs shake water off moisture fur. Salmon swim upstream to spawn, and spiders spin intricate webs. What do these seemingly unrelated behaviors have in common? They all are unlearned behaviors. Both instincts and reflexes are innate behaviors that organisms are born with. Reflexes are a motor or neural reaction to a specific stimulus in the environment. They tend to be simpler than instincts, involve the action of specific trunk parts and systems (e.g., the knee-jerk reflex and the wrinkle of the pupil in bright lite), and involve more primitive centers of the central nervous organisation (east.g., the spinal cord and the medulla). In dissimilarity, instincts are innate behaviors that are triggered by a broader range of events, such as aging and the modify of seasons. They are more than circuitous patterns of behavior, involve motion of the organism as a whole (east.grand., sexual activity and migration), and involve college brain centers.

Both reflexes and instincts aid an organism adapt to its environment and do non take to be learned. For example, every healthy human baby has a sucking reflex, present at nativity. Babies are born knowing how to suck on a nipple, whether artificial (from a bottle) or man. Nobody teaches the baby to suck, simply as no ane teaches a ocean turtle hatchling to move toward the ocean. Learning, like reflexes and instincts, allows an organism to adapt to its surroundings. But unlike instincts and reflexes, learned behaviors involve change and experience: learning is a relatively permanent change in beliefs or noesis that results from feel. In contrast to the innate behaviors discussed above, learning involves acquiring knowledge and skills through experience. Looking back at our surfing scenario, Julian will have to spend much more than fourth dimension grooming with his surfboard before he learns how to ride the waves like his male parent.

Learning to surf, as well as any complex learning procedure (e.g., learning nigh the discipline of psychology), involves a complex interaction of conscious and unconscious processes. Learning has traditionally been studied in terms of its simplest components—the associations our minds automatically brand between events. Our minds have a natural tendency to connect events that occur closely together or in sequence. Associative learning occurs when an organism makes connections between stimuli or events that occur together in the environment. Yous will see that associative learning is central to all three basic learning processes discussed in this chapter; classical conditioning tends to involve unconscious processes, operant conditioning tends to involve conscious processes, and observational learning adds social and cognitive layers to all the bones associative processes, both conscious and unconscious. These learning processes will be discussed in item later in the chapter, merely it is helpful to accept a brief overview of each as yous begin to explore how learning is understood from a psychological perspective.

In classical conditioning, likewise known as Pavlovian workout, organisms larn to associate events—or stimuli—that repeatedly happen together. We feel this process throughout our daily lives. For example, you might see a flash of lightning in the heaven during a storm and and then hear a loud boom of thunder. The sound of the thunder naturally makes y'all jump (loud noises have that result past reflex). Because lightning reliably predicts the impending boom of thunder, you may associate the two and jump when you see lightning. Psychological researchers study this associative process by focusing on what tin can exist seen and measured—behaviors. Researchers enquire if one stimulus triggers a reflex, can we train a different stimulus to trigger that aforementioned reflex? In operant conditioning, organisms learn, again, to associate events—a behavior and its consequence (reinforcement or punishment). A pleasant consequence encourages more of that behavior in the future, whereas a penalization deters the behavior. Imagine yous are pedagogy your dog, Hodor, to sit. You tell Hodor to sit, and give him a treat when he does. After repeated experiences, Hodor begins to associate the act of sitting with receiving a treat. He learns that the result of sitting is that he gets a doggie biscuit (figure below). Conversely, if the dog is punished when exhibiting a behavior, it becomes conditioned to avoid that behavior (eastward.chiliad., receiving a small stupor when crossing the purlieus of an invisible electric fence).

In operant conditioning, a response is associated with a issue. This dog has learned that certain behaviors result in receiving a treat. (credit: Crystal Rolfe)

Observational learning extends the constructive range of both classical and operant workout. In contrast to classical and operant conditioning, in which learning occurs merely through direct experience, observational learning is the process of watching others and and so imitating what they do. A lot of learning among humans and other animals comes from observational learning. To get an idea of the actress effective range that observational learning brings, consider Ben and his son Julian from the introduction. How might observation help Julian learn to surf, equally opposed to learning by trial and error lone? By watching his male parent, he can imitate the moves that bring success and avert the moves that pb to failure. Tin can you think of something you have learned how to do afterwards watching someone else?

All of the approaches covered in this chapter are part of a item tradition in psychology, called behaviorism, which nosotros discuss in the next section. However, these approaches do not correspond the entire study of learning. Split traditions of learning have taken shape inside different fields of psychology, such as memory and cognition, so yous will find that other chapters will round out your understanding of the topic. Over time these traditions tend to converge. For example, in this chapter yous will meet how knowledge has come to play a larger office in behaviorism, whose more extreme adherents once insisted that behaviors are triggered by the environs with no intervening thought.

SUMMARY

Instincts and reflexes are innate behaviors—they occur naturally and practice not involve learning. In dissimilarity, learning is a alter in behavior or knowledge that results from experience. There are iii main types of learning: classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning. Both classical and operant conditioning are forms of associative learning where associations are fabricated between events that occur together. Observational learning is only equally it sounds: learning by observing others.

References:

Openstax Psychology text by Kathryn Dumper, William Jenkins, Arlene Lacombe, Marilyn Lovett and Marion Perlmutter licensed under CC BY v4.0. https://openstax.org/details/books/psychology

Exercises

Review Questions:

1. Which of the post-obit is an example of a reflex that occurs at some bespeak in the evolution of a human being?

a. child riding a bike

b. teen socializing

c. infant sucking on a nipple

d. toddler walking

two. Learning is best defined as a relatively permanent change in behavior that ________.

a. is innate

b. occurs as a result of feel

c. is institute merely in humans

d. occurs by observing others

three. Two forms of associative learning are ________ and ________.

a. classical conditioning; operant conditioning

b. classical conditioning; Pavlovian conditioning

c. operant conditioning; observational learning

d. operant conditioning; learning workout

4. In ________ the stimulus or feel occurs before the behavior and then gets paired with the behavior.

a. associative learning

b. observational learning

c. operant conditioning

d. classical conditioning

iv. When a behavior results in something being taken away and as a issue of this outcome, that behavior increases, this is an example of ________

a. Classical conditioning

b. Positive Punishment

c. Negative Reinforcement

d. Negative Penalty

Critical Thinking Questions:

one. Compare and contrast classical and operant conditioning. How are they akin? How do they differ?

2. What is the difference between a reflex and a learned behavior?

Personal Awarding Questions:

1. What is your personal definition of learning? How do your ideas most learning compare with the definition of learning presented in this text?

2. What kinds of things accept y'all learned through the process of classical conditioning? Operant conditioning? Observational learning? How did you lot larn them

Glossary:

associative learning

instinct

learning

reflex

Answers to Exercises

Review Questions:

1. C

2. B

iii. A

4. D

5. C

Disquisitional Thinking Questions:

1. Compare and contrast classical and operant workout. How are they alike? How exercise they differ?

ii. What is the departure between a reflex and a learned behavior?

Glossary:

associative learning:course of learning that involves connecting sure stimuli or events that occur together in the surroundings (classical and operant conditioning)

instinct:unlearned knowledge, involving circuitous patterns of behavior; instincts are thought to exist more prevalent in lower animals than in humans

learning: modify in behavior or cognition that is the event of feel

reflex:unlearned, automated response by an organism to a stimulus in the environment