Learning

1. Learning

2. A theory is tentative organization of interrelated facts or ideas to be stated in such a way that it can be generally either confirmed or disconfirmed. • A principal or law is a fundamental truth serving as the foundation for belief or action. It is more permanent than theory.

3. LAW OF READINESS or PREPAREDNESS • Readiness or preparedness makes one learn more quickly and effectively. If a person is not ready to act, it will not possible for him to act on compulsion. When a child is ready to learn, he will learn more willingly and effectively than at any other time. The preparatory attitude is also called “mindset”. An individual should be physically, mentally and emotionally mature and ready to learn if actual learning is to take place. Interest is the motivating force for all learning.

4. Readiness is generally interpreted to mean:- • A learner’s physical maturity or fitness in terms of growth • His mental preparedness • Existence of a felt need in him • The level of his motivation

5. Learning may not proceed without a felt-need in the learner. Learning is like hunger. Children learn only when they feel-like learning or when there is an invisible thrust from the heart and mind. • It is a psycho-physical state – an intra-organismic inspiration that comes from an known source from within the body and mind. • Walking, talking, running, throwing, breaking and making things are learnt by this principal.

6. Motivation is the basic requirements for learning. It comes both from the within of the learner (intrinsic source) and extrinsically from the environment- from peers, parents, elders, the society, surroundings. • A highly motivated individual learns faster and with greater interest and attention.

7. Since law of readiness is closely related to the law of effect, it is natural that learning takes place swiftly, easily and smoothly if the learner derives both short term and long term pleasure and satisfaction from what he learns and how he learns. • A pleasant and satisfying learning atmosphere-whether in the classroom or in the gym- is a crucial factor for keeping the child always ready for learning.

8. LAW OF EFFECT or LAW OF SATISFACTION • it assumes that responses that are followed by pleasant consequences (satisfying state of affairs) are more likely to be strengthened and possibly recur in a similar situation. The same way, responses that end up in discomfort or unpleasant consequences weaken over time. In other words, behavior that produces good effects tends to become more frequent over time, and the one that produces bad effects tends to become less frequent. Further, behavior is influenced not only by the effects that accompany it but also by the situational cues that precede it (readiness of the learner and the environmental factors and forces that sustain motivation for learning).

9. Satisfaction enhances learning to a great extant. Activities which are accompanied by a feeling of pleasure or satisfaction are more readily and easily learned than activities which are unpleasant. • The speed of learning depends on satisfaction. • We try to do and repeat actions and activities which we find pleasure-giving and avoid or to discontinue those that cause dissatisfaction, discomfort, disappointment, pain or frustration. That, perhaps, may be the reason why rewards stimulate learning, and punishments discourage it.

10. Children like to engage more and more in pleasure-giving activity experiences and dislike unpleasant ones. The principle of reward and punishment was brought into play in educational processes keeping the law of effect in mind.

11. LAW OF FREQUENCY (EXERCISE) • This law emphasizes that practice makes man perfect, i.e. the more you practice an activity, the more efficient you become in performing it. Law of Use (positive aspect) and the Law of Disuse (negative aspect) are two sub-laws of it and are used by biologists to explain several evolutionary processes. • We learn and retain by use and forget by disuse. Individual learns by doing. • The Law of Use states: “Whenever a modifiable connection between a situation and a response is made and exercised, the strength of that connection is increased”.

12. Biologists assert that organs of the body which are constantly put to use, remain strong and efficient in their working mechanics, and those that are not used over time gradually get weakened and atrophy. • When a stimulus is applied over time, its relationship with its response gets established in the nervous system and strengthened perfectly to the point of automatization. Dancing, driving an automobile, cycling, typing, hitting, dribbling, swinging, kicking, driving, throwing, batting and bowling, swimming strokes etc., are perfected by constant practice. Practice makes the learned activity well-coordinated, automatic, efficient in execution, economical in energy-cost and more satisfying mentally.

13. Looking at skill-acquisition from the viewpoint of the Law of Disuse, Thordike’s statement continues:“whenever a modifiable connection between a stimulus and a response is not made, nor exercised over a period of time, the strength of that connection is decreased”. We forget things that are not brought on to our mind screen frequently. Out of sight, out of mind is a psychological truism based on this law.

14. Principle of law of exercise • Before skill-practice start, learners must be made to develop a correct idea about and perfect mechanics of the skill being introduced. • Practice must be meaningful • Only the right or correct practice makes a man perfect. In his skill, not the wrong or aimless practice.

15. SUB-LAWS OF LEARNING • LAW OF CONTIGUITY- This is explained as the sequential occurrence or proximity of stimulus and response, causing their association in the mind. Experiences which occur together, either simultaneously or in close succession tend to revive one another. Tajmehal reminds us Yamuna and agra.

16. LAW OF SIMILARITY • SIMILAR IDEAS, concepts and experiences get associated with one another, so that they are remembered better than others. A game of softball spontaneously draws our attention to a game of basball because of the similarity between the two. Ball badminton may remind us of the shuttle badminton and overhead serve in volleyball may be helpful in recalling the action-sequence in tennis service.

17. LAW OF PRIMACY • Primacy impressions get imprinted on the mind better and more permanently than those that follow. The first experience of a gym class, the love at first sight, the first showers in monsoon, the first day at school, the first impression of the sports teacher, the first day at university etc endure very long, some of them becoming unforgettable. There is some truth in saying first impression is last impression.

18. LAW OF attitude, set or disposition • The physical and mental condition of the individual when the stimulus is applied goes a long way in determining the type and amount of response it makes to the situation. Thorndike rightly remarked that a hungry cat in the cage shall make all efforts to get at the food placed outside, but the well-fed cat shall go to sleep.

19. LAW OF belongingness • This law states that if the connection between the stimulus and the response is natural , learning would be more effective. Natural tendencies of behaviour and the natural environment speed up learning of natural skills of running, jumping, climbing, throwing etc. which is due course serve as the basis for complex skills involved in different games and sports.

20. LAW OF intensity of stiumulus • Learning of an activity depends greatly on the intensity or strength of the stimulus. This situation is analogous to newton;s third law of motion which states that every action has its opposite and equal reaction. If the stimulus is strong, response to it will be equally strong and serious. • An athlete works much harder to find a place in the national athletic team than if he were to work for getting in to a house team at school for inter-house fixtures.

21. Theories of leaning Theory of association Connection or bond between a stimulus and its resultant response. Cognitive theory acquiring new behaviors and information through observation and information, rather than by direct experience Social theory Observation and imitation are complimentary to each other, we observe others doing certain things and we imitate them, and we imitate them because consciously or unconsciously we observe them.

22. Trial & Error learning - Thorndike • Describes an organism’s attempts to learn/solve a problem by trying alternative possibilities until a correct solution or desirable outcome is achieved Usually involves • A number of attempts& a number of errors - Before correct behaviour is learnt • Motivation (to achieve a goal) • Exploration – either random or purposeful • Reward – the correct response is rewarded – • which will lead to repeat performance of the correct response, strengthening the association between the behaviour & its outcome • Once learnt behaviour will usually be performed quickly and with fewer errors

23. Thorndike’s Puzzle-box experiment • Thorndike put a hungry cat in a ‘puzzle box’ & placed fish, just out of reach • At first the cat to escape from the box through trial & error (random voluntary movements) • Eventually the cat accidentally pulled the string, escaped from the box so that it could reach its reinforcement (the fish) • When the cat was put back in the box, once again it went through a series of incorrect responses before pushing the lever • The cat became progressively quicker at escaping (and had fewer incorrect behaviours)

24. Thorndike ‘Law of Effect’ • Thorndike concluded that the cat had learned the association between its behaviour (pulling the string) & the consequences(reaching the food) • Results led Thorndike to devise the ‘Law of effect’ that is a behaviour that is followed by a satisfying consequence is strengthened (more likely to happen) than a behaviour that is followed by an annoying consequence which is weakened (less likely to occur) • The food was a satisfying consequence – hence the cat would try to escape • Behaviour that kept the cat in the box (annoying consequence) was less likely to occur

25. associative theories are based on the basic premise of connection or bond between a particular stimulus and its resultant response. To every stimulus, the organism responds in a certain way and when that stimulus is repeated over time, there develops an association between that stimulus and the response that results. If the stimulus is withdrawn or its frequency of occurrence is diminished the strength and frequency of response also proportionately diminishes. In simple words, the oft-repeated stimulus elicits more frequent response and stronger stimulus evokes stronger response. This situation leads to conditioning of the both physiological and psychological processes in the organism.

26. Our of several viewpoints explaining connectionism, only Classical Conditioning (by a Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov), and Operant Learning (by John Watson, Edward Thorndike, with his often-cited Trial and Error learning, B.F. Skinner and others) have gained importance in learning psychology.

27. OPERANT CONDITIONING ORTRIAL AND ERROR THEORY • Operant conditioning is used to shape voluntary behaviour through the use of contingencies or consequences, called reinforcers (to make a behaviour happen more) and punishers (to make a behaviour decrease or disappear). Precisely, in operant conditioning, we learn to associate responses with their consequences. The basic principle of operant conditioning is simple: acts that are reinforced tend to be repeated.

28. Trial and error learning • A kind of learning in which one response after another is tried (eg, trials) and rejected as ineffective (eg, errors), until eventually a successful response is made. • An organism slowly eliminates responses that do not achieve the desired outcome, and continues to respond in different ways until they determine the response that leads to the desired reward.

30. Problem to be solved Solution tried  Solution works Solution fails Practice solution the organism has been instrumental in bringing about the solution

31. Associative Learning: Classical Conditioning Stimulus 1: See lightning How it works: after repeated exposure to two stimuli occurring in sequence, we associate those stimuli with each other. Result: our natural response to one stimulus now can be triggered by the new, predictive stimulus. Stimulus 2: Hear thunder • Here, our response to thunder becomes associated with lightning. After Repetition Stimulus: See lightning Response: Cover ears to avoid sound

34. Associative Learning: Operant Conditioning • Child associates his “response” (behavior) with consequences. • Child learns to repeat behaviors (saying “please”) which were followed by desirable results (cookie). • Child learns to avoid behaviors (yelling “gimme!”) which were followed by undesirable results (scolding or loss of dessert).

35. Cognitive Learning Cognitive learning refers to acquiring new behaviors and information mentally, rather than by direct experience. Cognitive learning occurs: by observing events and the behavior of others. by using language to acquire information about events experienced by others.

36. Behaviorism • The term behaviorismwas used by John B. Watson (1878-1958), a proponent of classical conditioning, as well as by B.F. Skinner (1904-1990), a leader in research about operant conditioning. • Both scientists believed the mental life was much less important than behavior as a foundation for psychological science. • Both foresaw applications in controlling human behavior: • Skinner conceived of utopian communities. • Watson went into advertising.

37. Ivan Pavlov’s Discovery While studying salivation in dogs, Ivan Pavlov found that salivation from eating food was eventually triggered by what should have been neutral stimuli such as: • just seeing the food. • seeing the dish. • seeing the person who brought the food. • just hearing that person’s footsteps.

38. Before Conditioning Neutral stimulus: a stimulus which does not trigger a response Neutral stimulus (NS) No response

39. Before Conditioning Unconditioned stimulus and response: a stimulus which triggers a response naturally, before/without any conditioning Unconditioned response (UR): dog salivates Unconditioned stimulus (US): yummy dog food

40. During Conditioning Unconditioned response (UR): dog salivates Neutral stimulus (NS) Unconditioned stimulus (US) The bell/tone (N.S.) is repeatedly presented with the food (U.S.).

41. After Conditioning • Did you follow the changes? • The UR and the CR are the same response, triggered by different events. • The difference is whether conditioning was necessary for the response to happen. • The NS and the CS are the same stimulus. • The difference is whether the stimulus triggers the conditioned response. Conditioned response: dog salivates Conditioned (formerly neutral) stimulus The dog begins to salivate upon hearing the tone (neutral stimulus becomes conditioned stimulus).

42. Find the US, UR, NS, CS, CR in the following: Your romantic partner always uses the same shampoo. Soon, the smell of that shampoo makes you feel happy. The door to your house squeaks loudly when you open it. Soon, your dog begins wagging its tail when the door squeaks. The nurse says, “This won’t hurt a bit,” just before stabbing you with a needle. The next time you hear “This won’t hurt,” you cringe in fear. You have a meal at a fast food restaurant that causes food poisoning. The next time you see a sign for that restaurant, you feel nauseated.

43. Higher-Order Conditioning • If the dog becomes conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell, can the dog be conditioned to salivate when a light flashes…by associating it with the BELL instead of with food? • Yes! The conditioned response can be transferred from the US to a CS, then from there to another CS. • This is higher-order conditioning: turning a NS into a CS by associating it with another CS. A man who was conditioned to associate joy with coffee, could then learn to associate joy with a restaurant if he was served coffee there every time he walked in to the restaurant.

44. Acquisition refers to the initial stage of learning/conditioning. Acquisition What gets “acquired”?  The association between a neutral stimulus (NS) and an unconditioned stimulus (US). How can we tell that acquisition has occurred?  The UR now gets triggered by a CS (drooling now gets triggered by a bell). Timing For the association to be acquired, the neutral stimulus (NS) needs to repeatedly appear before the unconditioned stimulus (US)…about a half-second before, in most cases. The bell must come right before the food.

45. Acquisition and Extinction • The strength of a CR grows with conditioning. • Extinction refers to the diminishing of a conditioned response. If the US (food) stops appearing with the CS (bell), the CR decreases.

46. Spontaneous Recovery [Return of the CR] After a CR (salivation) has been conditioned and then extinguished: • following a rest period, presenting the tone alone might lead to a spontaneous recovery (a return of the conditioned response despite a lack of further conditioning). • if the CS (tone) is again presented repeatedly without the US, the CR becomes extinct again.

47. Generalization and Discrimination Please notice the narrow, psychological definition . Ivan Pavlov conditioned dogs to drool when rubbed; they then also drooled when scratched. Ivan Pavlov conditioned dogs to drool at bells of a certain pitch; slightly different pitches did not trigger drooling. Discrimination refers to the learned ability to only respond to a specific stimuli, preventing generalization. Generalization refers to the tendency to have conditioned responses triggered by related stimuli. MORE stuff makes you drool. LESS stuff makes you drool.

48. Ivan Pavlov’s Legacy

49. John B. Watson and Classical Conditioning: Playing with Fear • In 1920, 9-month-old Little Albert was not afraid of rats. • John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner then clanged a steel bar every time a rat was presented to Albert. • Albert acquired a fear of rats, and generalized this fear to other soft and furry things. • Watson prided himself in his ability to shape people’s emotions. He later went into advertising.

50. Little Albert Experiment Before Conditioning No fear NS: rat UCS: steel bar hit with hammer Natural reflex: fear