Learning — Class 11 Psychology

Learning is any relatively permanent change in behaviour or behavioural potential produced by experience or practice; it must be distinguished from temporary changes due to fatigue, drugs or maturation. The chapter describes several paradigms of learning. In classical conditioning, discovered by Pavlov, a neutral stimulus paired repeatedly with an unconditioned stimulus comes to elicit a conditioned response; its determinants include the time relations, type, intensity and number of pairings. In operant or instrumental conditioning, studied by Skinner and based on Thorndike's law of effect, behaviour is shaped by its consequences through reinforcement (positive and negative) and punishment; determinants include the schedules and delay of reinforcement. Key learning processes include reinforcement, extinction, generalisation and discrimination. Other forms of learning are observational learning (imitating a model, as in Bandura's work), cognitive learning (insight learning shown by Kohler and cognitive maps shown by Tolman), verbal learning (associating words and concepts through paired-associate and serial learning), and skill learning, which moves through cognitive, associative and autonomous phases. Factors that facilitate learning include motivation, readiness, knowledge of results and transfer of learning. Learning disabilities such as dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia reflect difficulty in acquiring specific academic skills despite adequate intelligence.