Human Learning
Chapter 1: Learning definition, principles, and theories
The importance of learning:
The ability to acquire a large body of knowledge and a wide variety of behaviours allows the human
race a greater degree of flexibility and adaptability than is true for any other species on earth. Little
of our behaviour is instinctive and much is learned which is why we are able to benefit from our
experiences. We human beings seem to inherit an ability to think and learn in ways that nonhumans
cannot.
Defining learning:
Learning is the means through which we acquire not only skill and knowledge, but also values,
attitudes and emotional reactions. Learning is defined as a long-term change in mental
representations or associations as a result of experience. It thus has 3 parts:
1. Long-term change
2. Involves mental representations/associations, and so presumably has its basis in the brain
3. Result of experience
Learning can be a passive process, but often it is active thus it requires the learner to do something
physical, mental or both.
Determining when learning has occurred:
Learning can also be described by changes in behaviour. In fact, regardless of how we define
learning, we know it has occurred only when we actually see it reflected in a person’s behaviour.
Examples of changes in behaviour when learning has occurred are:
Performing a completely new behaviour
Changing the frequency of an existing behaviour
Changing the speed of an existing behaviour
Changing the intensity of existing behaviour
Changing the complexity of an existing behaviour
Responding differently to a particular stimulus
Types of Learning Research:
The nature of learning can be understood best by studying is objectively and systematically through
research. This can be investigated by:
Basic research = investigating specific learning processes under tightly controlled conditions,
often looking at people’s responses to contrived learning experiences in a laboratory
Applied research = investigating people’s learning in more real-world tasks and setting
The kinds of data collected from study to study can vary as well:
Quantitative data = measurements and numbers
Qualitative data = complex verbal or behavioural performances that a researcher must
closely inspect and the judge for the presence or absence of specific
contents or skills
,Learning principles and theories:
Consistent patterns in research findings enable psychologists to make generalizations about learning
processes through the formulation of both principles and theories of learning. Principles tell us what
factors are important for learning, and theories tell us why these factors are important:
Principles of learning identify certain factors that influence learning and describe the specific
effects these factors have. They are most useful when they can be applied in many different
situations. When it appears over and over again for a longer period of time it can be
considered a law.
* e.g. principle: “A behaviour followed by a satisfying stage of affairs – a reward – is more
likely to increase in frequency than behaviour not followed by a reward.
Theories of learning provide explanations about the underlying mechanisms involved in
learning.
e.g. theory: “People learn what they pay attention to. A reward increases learning when it
makes people pay attention to the information to be learned”
Principles of learning tend to be stable over time because researchers observe many of the same
factors affecting learning over and over again. However, theories of learning continue to change as
new research methods are developed, new research is conducted or new findings come to light.
How theories of learning have evolved over time:
Psychologists first began to study learning in the late 1800s. The two dominant perspectives then
were: structuralism and functionalism. These perspectives shared a common weakness namely the
lack of carefully defined research methodology. Introspection was the method primarily used for
investigating learning and other psychological phenomena. Introspection is asking a person to “look”
inside their head and describe what they are thinking. In the 1900s this method was seen as
subjective and lacking scientific rigor. To make research more objective there should be focused on
two things: people’s behaviour (responses) and the environmental events (stimuli) that precede and
follow the responses. Behaviourism is a perspective where researchers attempt to describe and
understand learning and behaviour primarily through an analysis of stimulus-response relationships.
In the 1940s there was believed people could also learn from watching and imitating what other
people do. This goes against the idea of the behaviourists that states that in order to learn people
must behave in some way or do something. This idea of modelling, also known as learning from
observing others, is the start of the social learning theory. Over time it became clear that a study of
behaviour alone could not give a complete picture. This caused the cognitive psychology to arise
where objective, scientific methods are used for studying a wide variety of mental phenomena. Social
learning theorists began to gradually incorporate cognitive processes into their explanations of
learning, resulting in the perspective of the social cognitive theory. There are some reasons why
human beings excel in thinking and learning in comparison to other species:
Our physical thinking equipment (such as the cortex) is more complex
We have flexible language skills with which we can communicate and collaborate with one
another
Our social and cultural environment provide physical and social support systems to boost our
ability to tackle new challenges and problems
,Advantages of theories:
Theories have several advantages over principles:
1. Theories allow us to summarize the results of many research studies and integrate numerous
principles of learning
2. Theories provide starting points for conducting new research
3. Theories help us make sense of and explain research findings
4. Based on mechanisms that underlie human learning and performance, theories can help us
design instructional and therapeutic strategies and environments that facilitate human
learning development to the greatest possible degree
Potential drawbacks of theories:
Theories have 2 potential drawbacks:
1. No single theory explains everything researchers have discovered about learning
2. Theories affect the new information that’s published, thereby biasing the knowledge we
have about learning
Figure about evolution of learning theories over time:
, Chapter 3: Behaviourism
Basic assumptions in behaviourism:
Early research relied heavily on introspection which is as method in which people were asked to
“look” inside their heads and describe what they were thinking. In the early 1900s this method was
started to be seen as subjective. Later researchers looked primarily at behaviour, which was
something they could easily see and objectively describe and measure. Many behaviourists share
basic behaviourist assumptions:
Principles of learning should apply equally to different behaviours and to a variety of animal
species, this is equipotentiality which states that animals and humans learn in similar ways
Learning processes can eb studied objectively when the focus of the study is on stimuli and
responses
Internal processes tend to be excluded or minimized in theoretical explanations, because
according to behaviourists it can’t be directly observed and measured. Therefore it is just left
out and referred to as something happening inside the “black box”.
Learning involves a behaviour change
Organisms are born as blank slates and they learn by experience
Learning (or rather conditioning) is largely the result of environmental events
The most useful theories tend to be parsimonious which is explaining learning from the most
simple to the most complex, by as few learning principles as possible
Classical conditioning:
The phenomenon Pavlov observed with the dog experiment is known as classical conditioning.
Classical conditioning is most likely to occur when the conditioned stimulus is presente4d just before
the unconditioned stimulus, for this reason classical conditioning is sometimes also considered to be
a form of signal learning. Besides that, classical conditioning involves involuntary responses. This
means the stimulus brings out the response automatically. Classical conditioning can be described by
3 steps:
1. A neutral stimulus (NS) is identified, this is a stimulus the organism doesn’t respond to in any
noticeable way
2. The neutral stimulus (NS) is presented just before another stimulus, one that does lead to a
response. This second stimulus is called an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) and the response is
called an unconditioned response (UCR)
3. After being paired with an unconditioned stimulus, the previously neutral stimulus now
elicits a response and is thus no longer neutral. The NS has become a conditioned stimulus
(CS) to which the organism learned a conditioned response (CR)
Common phenomena in classical conditioning:
Behaviourists have described a number of phenomena related to classical conditioning that have a
particular relevance to human learning:
Associative bias = associations between certain kinds of stimuli are more likely to be made
than associations betweeg others e.g. nausea food instead of nausea sound
Importance of contingency = there must be contiguity between two stimuli which means the
UCS and the CS should be presented at approximately the same time. Besides the
contingency is important, which means the CS must occur only when the UCS is likely to
follow.
Extinction = repeated presentations of the CS without the UCS leads to weaker and weaker
responses and eventually the CR might disappear.
Chapter 1: Learning definition, principles, and theories
The importance of learning:
The ability to acquire a large body of knowledge and a wide variety of behaviours allows the human
race a greater degree of flexibility and adaptability than is true for any other species on earth. Little
of our behaviour is instinctive and much is learned which is why we are able to benefit from our
experiences. We human beings seem to inherit an ability to think and learn in ways that nonhumans
cannot.
Defining learning:
Learning is the means through which we acquire not only skill and knowledge, but also values,
attitudes and emotional reactions. Learning is defined as a long-term change in mental
representations or associations as a result of experience. It thus has 3 parts:
1. Long-term change
2. Involves mental representations/associations, and so presumably has its basis in the brain
3. Result of experience
Learning can be a passive process, but often it is active thus it requires the learner to do something
physical, mental or both.
Determining when learning has occurred:
Learning can also be described by changes in behaviour. In fact, regardless of how we define
learning, we know it has occurred only when we actually see it reflected in a person’s behaviour.
Examples of changes in behaviour when learning has occurred are:
Performing a completely new behaviour
Changing the frequency of an existing behaviour
Changing the speed of an existing behaviour
Changing the intensity of existing behaviour
Changing the complexity of an existing behaviour
Responding differently to a particular stimulus
Types of Learning Research:
The nature of learning can be understood best by studying is objectively and systematically through
research. This can be investigated by:
Basic research = investigating specific learning processes under tightly controlled conditions,
often looking at people’s responses to contrived learning experiences in a laboratory
Applied research = investigating people’s learning in more real-world tasks and setting
The kinds of data collected from study to study can vary as well:
Quantitative data = measurements and numbers
Qualitative data = complex verbal or behavioural performances that a researcher must
closely inspect and the judge for the presence or absence of specific
contents or skills
,Learning principles and theories:
Consistent patterns in research findings enable psychologists to make generalizations about learning
processes through the formulation of both principles and theories of learning. Principles tell us what
factors are important for learning, and theories tell us why these factors are important:
Principles of learning identify certain factors that influence learning and describe the specific
effects these factors have. They are most useful when they can be applied in many different
situations. When it appears over and over again for a longer period of time it can be
considered a law.
* e.g. principle: “A behaviour followed by a satisfying stage of affairs – a reward – is more
likely to increase in frequency than behaviour not followed by a reward.
Theories of learning provide explanations about the underlying mechanisms involved in
learning.
e.g. theory: “People learn what they pay attention to. A reward increases learning when it
makes people pay attention to the information to be learned”
Principles of learning tend to be stable over time because researchers observe many of the same
factors affecting learning over and over again. However, theories of learning continue to change as
new research methods are developed, new research is conducted or new findings come to light.
How theories of learning have evolved over time:
Psychologists first began to study learning in the late 1800s. The two dominant perspectives then
were: structuralism and functionalism. These perspectives shared a common weakness namely the
lack of carefully defined research methodology. Introspection was the method primarily used for
investigating learning and other psychological phenomena. Introspection is asking a person to “look”
inside their head and describe what they are thinking. In the 1900s this method was seen as
subjective and lacking scientific rigor. To make research more objective there should be focused on
two things: people’s behaviour (responses) and the environmental events (stimuli) that precede and
follow the responses. Behaviourism is a perspective where researchers attempt to describe and
understand learning and behaviour primarily through an analysis of stimulus-response relationships.
In the 1940s there was believed people could also learn from watching and imitating what other
people do. This goes against the idea of the behaviourists that states that in order to learn people
must behave in some way or do something. This idea of modelling, also known as learning from
observing others, is the start of the social learning theory. Over time it became clear that a study of
behaviour alone could not give a complete picture. This caused the cognitive psychology to arise
where objective, scientific methods are used for studying a wide variety of mental phenomena. Social
learning theorists began to gradually incorporate cognitive processes into their explanations of
learning, resulting in the perspective of the social cognitive theory. There are some reasons why
human beings excel in thinking and learning in comparison to other species:
Our physical thinking equipment (such as the cortex) is more complex
We have flexible language skills with which we can communicate and collaborate with one
another
Our social and cultural environment provide physical and social support systems to boost our
ability to tackle new challenges and problems
,Advantages of theories:
Theories have several advantages over principles:
1. Theories allow us to summarize the results of many research studies and integrate numerous
principles of learning
2. Theories provide starting points for conducting new research
3. Theories help us make sense of and explain research findings
4. Based on mechanisms that underlie human learning and performance, theories can help us
design instructional and therapeutic strategies and environments that facilitate human
learning development to the greatest possible degree
Potential drawbacks of theories:
Theories have 2 potential drawbacks:
1. No single theory explains everything researchers have discovered about learning
2. Theories affect the new information that’s published, thereby biasing the knowledge we
have about learning
Figure about evolution of learning theories over time:
, Chapter 3: Behaviourism
Basic assumptions in behaviourism:
Early research relied heavily on introspection which is as method in which people were asked to
“look” inside their heads and describe what they were thinking. In the early 1900s this method was
started to be seen as subjective. Later researchers looked primarily at behaviour, which was
something they could easily see and objectively describe and measure. Many behaviourists share
basic behaviourist assumptions:
Principles of learning should apply equally to different behaviours and to a variety of animal
species, this is equipotentiality which states that animals and humans learn in similar ways
Learning processes can eb studied objectively when the focus of the study is on stimuli and
responses
Internal processes tend to be excluded or minimized in theoretical explanations, because
according to behaviourists it can’t be directly observed and measured. Therefore it is just left
out and referred to as something happening inside the “black box”.
Learning involves a behaviour change
Organisms are born as blank slates and they learn by experience
Learning (or rather conditioning) is largely the result of environmental events
The most useful theories tend to be parsimonious which is explaining learning from the most
simple to the most complex, by as few learning principles as possible
Classical conditioning:
The phenomenon Pavlov observed with the dog experiment is known as classical conditioning.
Classical conditioning is most likely to occur when the conditioned stimulus is presente4d just before
the unconditioned stimulus, for this reason classical conditioning is sometimes also considered to be
a form of signal learning. Besides that, classical conditioning involves involuntary responses. This
means the stimulus brings out the response automatically. Classical conditioning can be described by
3 steps:
1. A neutral stimulus (NS) is identified, this is a stimulus the organism doesn’t respond to in any
noticeable way
2. The neutral stimulus (NS) is presented just before another stimulus, one that does lead to a
response. This second stimulus is called an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) and the response is
called an unconditioned response (UCR)
3. After being paired with an unconditioned stimulus, the previously neutral stimulus now
elicits a response and is thus no longer neutral. The NS has become a conditioned stimulus
(CS) to which the organism learned a conditioned response (CR)
Common phenomena in classical conditioning:
Behaviourists have described a number of phenomena related to classical conditioning that have a
particular relevance to human learning:
Associative bias = associations between certain kinds of stimuli are more likely to be made
than associations betweeg others e.g. nausea food instead of nausea sound
Importance of contingency = there must be contiguity between two stimuli which means the
UCS and the CS should be presented at approximately the same time. Besides the
contingency is important, which means the CS must occur only when the UCS is likely to
follow.
Extinction = repeated presentations of the CS without the UCS leads to weaker and weaker
responses and eventually the CR might disappear.
