LEARNING

PRINCIPLES

Dr Qandeel Shahid
TMO Psychiatry
HMC
LEARNING

A relatively permanent change in

behavior
brought about by experience
Three important elements of
learning:

 Learning involves a behavioral change which

can be better or worse.
 This behavioral change should take place as a
result of practice and experience.
 This behavioral change must be relatively
permanent and last for a relatively long time.
PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING

Classical
Conditioning
Operant Conditioning
Observational learning
CLASSICAL
CONDITIONING
 This theory was explained by Ivan Pavlov.
( 1849 - 1936 )
 Russian Physiologist
 Received Nobel prize in

1904 for his discovery in

the digestive system
 In 1980 he was appointed

as the professor of
pharmacology at the
military medical academy and 5 years
later he was
appointed chair of physiology.
 Pavlov’s research into the physiology of
digestion led him logically to create a science of
conditioned reflexes.
 In his study of the reflex regulation of the
activity of the digestive glands, Pavlov paid
special attention to the phenomenon of
«psychic secretion», which is caused by food
stimuli at a distance from the animal.
 A series of these experiments caused Pavlov to
reject the subjective interpretation of «psychic»
salivary secretion and, on the basis of
Sechenov’s hypothesis that psychic activity was
of a reflex nature, to conclude that even here a
reflex – though not a permanent but a
temporary or conditioned one – was involved.
Classical conditioning involves 3 factors:

 Neutral Stimulus ( conditioned stimulus ) : a stimulus that at

first elicits no response, usually a neutral object such as
a bell, picture or smell.
( in Pavlov experiment : ringing of the bell)

 Un-conditioned Stimulus that causes a biological response:

a stimulus that is inherently capable of producing a
biological response such as food or increased room
temperature.
( in Pavlov experiment: un-conditioned stimulus- food)

 Biologicalresponse ( un-conditioned response):

such as piloerection, sweating, autonomic arousal.
( in Pavlov experiment: salvation )
 Classical conditioning is an un-conscious form of
learning when the conditioned and un-conditioned
stimuli are paired, which results in the same
biological response produced by the conditioned
stimuli as that of the un-conditioned stimuli.
 it is not permanent
 It is an involuntary, passive learning process

 Pavlov’s experiment;
- designed an apparatus that could measure the
amount
of saliva being produced in a dogs mouth in
response to
food ( un-conditioned response ).
- he noticed that every time the dogs were
presented
 - He then trained the dogs by sounding the bell
first then
shortly afterwards he presented the food. He
paired the
two stimuli for a few times. Then he tested
the effects of
training by measuring the amount of saliva
produced
when he just rang the bell and did not present
the food.
- He discovered that some saliva was produced
in response
EXTINCTION
the process by which conditioned
responses
decrease if the conditioned stimulus is
never again
paired with the unconditioned stimulus.
For example
if the bell is rung but no food is
presented, the
salivation in response to the ringing of
the bell will
eventually stop i.e become extinct
OPERANT
(instrumental)
CONDITIONING
 This learning theory implies that learning new
behaviors or changes in behavior occur on the
basis of the environmental conditions or
responses to it.
 It occurs when a behavior that is not a part of
person’s natural responses is learned or un-
learned by consequences in the form of reward
or punishment.
 It is a voluntary, active learning process
 It was established by the work of B.F Skinner
 Burrhus Frederic Skinner (March
20, 1904 – August 18, 1990)
 An American psychologist,
behaviorist, author, inventor, and
social philosopher.
 He was a professor of psychology
at Harvard University from 1958
until his retirement in 1974.
 Considering free will to be an
illusion, he saw human action as
dependent on consequences of
previous actions, a theory he
would articulate as the principle of
reinforcement: If the
consequences to an action are
bad, there is a high chance the
action will not be repeated; if the
consequences are good, the
probability of the action being
repeated becomes stronger.
 ‘Skinner box’ demonstrated operant conditioning by placing
a rat in a box in which pressing of a lever produces food
- he showed that the rat eventually learns to press the
bar regularly to obtain food (reward).
- however, if when the rat pressed the lever and received
an electric shock or nothing at all (punishment or lack
of reinforcement ) it stopped pressing the lever.
- his work showed that operant conditioning works on
the principal of reinforcement.
A behavior will occur more frequently if given positive
reinforcement and will decrease in frequency by
punishment
• Reinforcement: refers to any event that increases the
chance that a response will occur again or a behavior will
be repeated
• Three types:
- Positive reinforcement (reward)
- Negative reinforcement
- Punishment

• Positive reinforcement: one receives a reward for a

behavior which results in the behavior being reinforced
and thus repeated.
Reward may be in the form of attention, praise success,
a
material gain
eg: a child who consistently gets a praise or a hug for
picking up his toys, after playing with them will learn to
be neat and orderly
• Negative reinforcement: a negative stimulus is
stopped only when a desired behavior occurs
eg; a person in the car behind you constantly
pressing the horn
untill you move your car out of the way.
negative stimulus: horn
desired behavior: moving the car

 Punishment: when a behavior is followed by a

painful stimulus, resulting in the behavior being
stopped, and not repeated.
eg. If a child puts her finger into an electric socket
and gets
electrocuted ( punishment ), she is not likely to do
this again.
OBSERVATIONAL
(SHAPING AND MODELLING)
 Observational learning is the process of
learning by watching the behaviors of others.
The targeted behavior is watched, memorized,
and then mimicked.
 It is most common in children as they imitate
behaviors of adults.
 The target behavior may or may not be
desirable.
eg. A child may learn to swear or smoke
cigarettes by
watching adults.
TYPES OF OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING

 Shaping: involves rewarding closer and closer

approximations of the wanted behavior until the
correct behavior is achieved.
eg. A child learning to write, starts with writing on a
paper with straight lines and is rewarded with a ‘star’
for doing so. He then learns to write in straight lines on
a plain paper.

 Modeling:
It is the process of learning by copying others'
behavior
eg. When a student starts to talk , dress and behave in a
manner similar to that of an inspiring teacher
 Canadian/American psychologist, Albert
Bandura, was one of the first psychologists to
recognize the phenomenon of observational
learning. His theory, Social Learning Theory,
stresses the importance of observation and
modeling of behaviors, attitudes and
emotional reactions of others.
 He found that, as social animals, humans
naturally gravitate toward observational
learning.
 Children watch their family members and
mimic their behaviors. Even infants, at just 3-
weeks old, start imitating mouth movements
and facial expressions of adults around them.
 According to Bandura’s research, there are four
processes that influence observational learning:
-Attention: To learn, an observer must pay
attention to
something in the environment.
-Retention: An observer must also retain, or
remember
the behavior at a later time.
-Reproduction: the observer must be able to
physically
perform the behavior in the real-
world.
-Motivation: All learning requires some degree of
personal motivation. For observational
learning, the observer must be
motivated
to produce the desired behavior.