TYPES OF LEARNING

PSYCHOLOGY ASSIGNMENT

Submitted by-

PRAGYA AGRAHARI
A8111120106
BA LLB (HONS.)
SEMESTER-1
SECTION- B

Submitted to-

DR. CHHAYA GUPTA

AIBAS
AMITY UNIVERSITY
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude

and deep regards to my teacher Dr. Chaya Gupta for her
exemplary guidance, monitoring and constant
encouragement throughout the course of this project. The
blessing, help and guidance given by her, time to time, shall
carry me a long way in the journey of life on which I am
about to embark.

Lastly, I would like to thank each and every individual who

directly or indirectly contributed in helping for completion
of this wonderful project.

- Pragya Agrahari
 CONTENTS

1. Introduction to Psychology

2. Schools of Psychology

3. Learning

4. Types of Learning

5. Theories of Learning

6. Classical Conditioning

7. Operant Conditioning

8. Observational Learning

9. Insight Learning
INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY
Psychology is the scientific study of behaviour, cognition, and emotion. Psychology is an
academic and applied discipline involving the scientific study of mental processes and
behaviour. It also refers to the application of such knowledge to various spheres of human
activity, including relating to individuals' daily lives and the treatment of mental illness.
Gaining a richer and deeper understanding of psychology can help people achieve insights
into their own actions as well as a better understanding of other people.
Definitions of Psychology
• William James defined psychology as "the science of mental life, both of its
phenomena and their conditions".
• According to McDougall (1908), "psychology is the positive science of the conduct of
behaviour".
• According to C.E. Skinner (1956) - "Psychology deals with responses, to any and
every kind of situation that life presents. By responses or behaviour is meant all forms
of processes, adjustment, activities and expressions of the organism".
• According to E.G. Boring (1962) - "Psychology deals with both the behaviour of the
man as it appears in his responses and with consciousness as he finds it is his
immediate experience.”

SCHOOLS OF PSYCHOLOGY
Structuralism: Structuralism is widely regarded as the first school of thought in psychology.
This outlook focused on breaking down mental processes into the most basic components.
Major thinkers associated with structuralism include Wilhelm Wundt and Edward Titchener.
The focus of structuralism was on reducing mental processes down into their most basic
elements. The structuralists used techniques such as introspection to analyse the inner
processes of the human mind.
Functionalism: Functionalism formed as a reaction to the theories of the structuralist school
of thought and was heavily influenced by the work of William James. It functioned on the
mind's functions and adaptations. Unlike some of the other well-known schools of thought in
psychology, functionalism is not associated with a single dominant theorist. Instead, there are
some different functionalist thinkers associated with this outlook including John Dewey,
James Rowland Angell, and Harvey Carr. Instead of focusing on the mental processes
themselves, functionalist thinkers were instead interested in the role that these processes play.
Gestalt psychology: Gestalt psychology is a school of psychology based upon the idea that
we experience things as unified wholes. This approach to psychology began in Germany and
Austria during the late 19th century in response to the molecular approach of structuralism.
Instead of breaking down thoughts and behaviour to their smallest elements, the gestalt
psychologists believed that you must look at the whole of experience. According to the
Gestalt thinkers, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Behaviourism: Behaviourism became a dominant school of thought during the 1950s. It was
based upon the work of thinkers such as: John B. Watson, Ivan Pavlov and B. F. Skinner.
Behaviourism suggests that all behaviour can be explained by environmental causes rather
than by internal forces. Behaviourism is focused on observable behaviour. Theories of
learning including classical conditioning and operant conditioning were the focus of a great
deal of research. The behavioural school of psychology had a significant influence on the
course of psychology, and many of the ideas and techniques that emerged from this school of
thought are still widely used today.
Psychoanalysis: Psychoanalysis is a school of psychology founded by Sigmund Freud. This
school of thought emphasized the influence of the unconscious mind on behaviour. Freud
believed that the human mind was composed of three elements: the id, ego, and superego.
The id consists of primal urges while the ego is the component of personality charged with
dealing with reality. The superego is the part of the personality that holds all of the ideals and
values we internalize from our parents and culture. Freud believed that the interaction of
these three elements was what led to all of the complex human behaviours.
Humanistic psychology: Humanistic psychology developed as a response to psychoanalysis
and behaviourism. Humanistic psychology instead focused on individual free will, personal
growth and the concept of self-actualization. While early schools of thought were primarily
centred on abnormal human behaviour, humanistic psychology differed considerably in its
emphasis on helping people achieve and fulfil their potential. This particular branch of
psychology is centred on helping people living happier, more fulfilling lives.
Cognitive psychology: Cognitive psychology is the school of psychology that studies mental
processes including how people think, perceive, remember and learn. As part of the larger
field of cognitive science, this branch of psychology is related to other disciplines including
neuroscience, philosophy, and linguistics. It began to emerge during the 1950s, partly as a
response to behaviourism. One of the most influential theories of this school of thought was
the stages of cognitive development theory proposed by Jean Piaget.

LEARNING
Psychologists define learning as a relatively permanent change in behaviour as a result of
experience. Learning is the process that allows us to adapt to the changing conditions of the
world around us. We can alter our actions until we find the behaviour that leads us to survival
and rewards, and we can eliminate actions that have been unsuccessful in the past.
Learning is defined as “any relatively permanent change in behaviour that occurs as a result
of practice and experience”. This definition has three important elements.
a. Learning is a change in behaviour—better or worse.
b. It is a change that takes place through practice or experience, but changes due to growth or
maturation are not learning.
c. This change in behaviour must be relatively permanent, and it must last a fairly long time.
All learning involves activities. These activities involve either physical or mental activities.
They may be simple mental activities or complex, involving various muscles, bones, etc
Various definitions:
• According to Gardner Murphy- the term learning covers every modification in
behaviour to meet environmental requirements.
• Gales defined Learning as the behavioural modification which occurs as a result of
experience as well as training.
• Crow and Crow defined learning as the process of acquisition of knowledge, habits
and attitudes.
• According to E.A. Peel, Learning can be described as a change in the individual
which takes place as a result of the environmental change.
• H.J. Klausmeir described Learning as a process which leads to some behavioural
change as a result of some experience, training, observation, activity, etc.

TYPES OF LEARNING
1. Motor learning:
Most of our activities in our day-to-days life refer to motor activities. The individual has to
learn them in order to maintain his regular life, for example walking, running, skating,
driving, climbing, etc. All these activities involve the muscular coordination.

2. Verbal learning:
This type of learning involves the language we speak, the communication devices we use.
Signs, pictures, symbols, words, figures, sounds, etc, are the tools used in such activities. We
use words for communication.

3. Concept learning:
It is the form of learning which requires higher order mental processes like thinking,
reasoning, intelligence, etc. we learn different concepts from childhood. For example, when
we see a dog and attach the term ‘dog’, we learn that the word dog refers to a particular
animal. Concept learning involves two processes, viz. abstraction and generalisation. This
learning is very useful in recognising, identifying things.

4. Discrimination learning:
Learning to differentiate between stimuli and showing an appropriate response to these
stimuli is called discrimination learning. Example, sound horns of different vehicles like bus,
car, ambulance, etc.

5. Learning of principles:
Individuals learn certain principles related to science, mathematics, grammar, etc. in order to
manage their work effectively. These principles always show the relationship between two or
more concepts. Example: formulae, laws, associations, correlations, etc.
6. Problem solving:
This is a higher order learning process. This learning requires the use of cognitive abilities-
such as thinking, reasoning, observation, imagination, generalization, etc. This is very useful
to overcome difficult problems encountered by the people.

7. Attitude learning:
Attitude is a predisposition which determines and directs our behaviour. We develop different
attitudes from our childhood about the people, objects and everything we know. Our
behaviour may be positive or negative depending upon our attitudes. Example: attitudes of
nurse towards her profession, patients, etc.

THEORIES OF LEARNING
Behavioural learning
During the first half of the twentieth century, the school of thought known as behaviourism
rose to dominate psychology and sought to explain the learning process.
The Behavioural School of Thought which was founded by John B Watson which was
highlighted in his seminal work, “Psychology as the Behaviourist View”, it stressed on the
fact that Psychology is an objective science, hence mere emphasis on the mental processes
should not be considered as such processes cannot be objectively measured or observed.
Watson tried to prove his theory with the help of his famous Little Albert Experiment, by
way of which he conditioned a small kid to be scared of a white rat.
The behavioural psychology described three types of learning: Classical Conditioning,
Operant Conditioning and Observational Learning.

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
It is a learning process in which an innate response to a potent stimulus comes to be elicited
in response to a previously neutral stimulus; this is achieved by repeated pairings of the
neutral stimulus with the potent stimulus. In case of Classical Conditioning, the process of
learning is described as a Stimulus-Response connection or association.
Pavlov’s Experiment:
Studying the digestive system in his dogs, Ivan Pavlov had built a device that would
accurately measure the amount of saliva produced by the dogs when they were fed a
measured amount of food. Normally, when food is placed in the mouth of any animal, the
salivary glands automatically start releasing saliva to help with chewing and digestion. This is
a normal reflex—an unlearned, involuntary response that is not under personal control or
choice. Pavlov soon discovered that his dogs began salivating when they weren’t supposed to
be salivating. Some dogs would start salivating when they saw the lab assistant bringing their
food, others when they heard the clatter of the food bowl from the kitchen, and still others
when it was the time of day, they were usually fed.
Pavlov termed this as classical conditioning, that is, learning to elicit an involuntary, reflex-
like response to a stimulus other than the original, natural stimulus that normally produces the
response.
Elements of Classical Conditioning
1. Unconditioned stimulus: It is a naturally occurring stimulus that leads to an
involuntary and unlearned response. In the case of Pavlov’s dogs, the food is the
unconditioned stimulus.
2. Unconditioned response: It is an involuntary and unlearned response to a naturally
occurring or unconditioned stimulus. For example, in Pavlov’s experiment, the
salivation to the food is the UCR (unconditioned response).
3. Neutral stimulus: It is a stimulus that has no effect on the desired response prior to
conditioning.
4. Conditioned stimulus: It is a previously neutral stimulus that becomes able to
produce a conditioned response, after pairing with an unconditioned stimulus.
5. Conditioned response: It is a learned response to a conditioned stimulus.

Principles of Classical Conditioning

1. Acquisition: It is repeated pairing of neutral stimulus and unconditioned stimulus
because organism is in process of acquiring learning.
2. Extinction: the disappearance or weakening of a learned response following the
removal or absence of the unconditioned stimulus (in classical conditioning) or the
removal of a reinforcer (in operant conditioning).
3. Higher-order conditioning: It occurs when a strong conditioned stimulus is paired
with a neutral stimulus, causing the neutral stimulus to become a second conditioned
stimulus.
4. Stimulus generalisation: the tendency to respond to a stimulus that is only similar to
the original conditioned stimulus with the conditioned response.
5. Stimulus discrimination: the tendency to stop making a generalized response to a
stimulus that is similar to the original conditioned stimulus because the similar
stimulus is never paired with the unconditioned stimulus.
6. Spontaneous recovery: the disappearance or weakening of a learned response
following the removal or absence of the unconditioned stimulus (in classical
conditioning) or the removal of a reinforcer (in operant conditioning).

OPERANT CONDITIONING
It is a learning of voluntary behaviour through effects of pleasant and unpleasant
consequences to responses. It is a learning process in which the probability of a response
occurring is increased or decreased due to reinforcement or punishment. It is first studied by
Edward Thorndike and later by B.F. Skinner.
Thorndike’s Experiment:
Edward L. Thorndike placed a hungry cat inside a “puzzle box” from which the only escape
was to press a lever located on the floor of the box. Thorndike placed a dish of food outside
the box, so the hungry cat is highly motivated to get out. Thorndike observed that the cat
would move around the box, pushing and rubbing up against the walls in an effort to escape.
Eventually, the cat would accidentally push the lever, opening the door. Upon escaping, the
cat was fed from a dish placed just outside the box. The lever is the stimulus, the pushing of
the lever is the response, and the consequence is both escape and food. After a number of
trials (and many errors) in a box, the cat took less and less time to push the lever that would
open the door. Thorndike kept moving the lever to a different position, and the cat had to
learn the whole process over again. The cat would simply continue to rub and push in the
same general area that led to food and freedom the last time, each time getting out and fed a
little more quickly.
Based on this research, Thorndike developed the Law of Effect: If an action is followed by a
pleasurable consequence, it will tend to be repeated. If an action is followed by an unpleasant
consequence, it will tend not to be repeated. This is the basic principle behind learning
voluntary behaviour.
Skinner’s Approach:
B.F. Skinner found in the work of Thorndike a way to explain all behaviour as the product of
learning. He even gave the learning of voluntary behaviour a special name: operant
conditioning. According to him, when people perform a voluntary action, it is to get
something they want or to avoid something they don’t want. In classical conditioning,
learning an involuntary behaviour really depends on what comes before the response. But in
operant conditioning, learning depends on what happens after the response—the
consequence.
Skinner had his own research device called a “Skinner box” or “operant conditioning
chamber.” It often involved placing a rat in one of these chambers and training it to push
down on a bar to get food.
Reinforcement: The word itself means “to strengthen,” and Skinner defined reinforcement
as anything that, when following a response, causes that response to be more likely to happen
again. In Thorndike’s cat, escape and food are both reinforcement of lever-pushing response.
Every time cat got out of box, it got reinforced for doing so. In Skinner’s view, reinforcement
is the reason that cat learned anything at all.
• Positive Reinforcement: The reinforcement of a response by the addition or
experiencing of a pleasurable stimulus. For example, Allen is a server at a restaurant
and always tries to smile and be pleasant because that seems to lead to bigger tips.
• Negative Reinforcement: The reinforcement of a response by the removal, escape
from, or avoidance of an unpleasant stimulus. For example, Pedro’s father nags him to
wash his car. Pedro hates being nagged, so he washes the car so his father will stop
nagging.
Punishment: Punishment is actually the opposite of reinforcement. It is any event or
stimulus that, when following a response, causes that response to be less likely to happen
again.
• Punishment by application: The punishment of a response by the addition or
experiencing of an unpleasant stimulus.
• Punishment by removal: The punishment of a response by the
removal of a pleasurable stimulus.
OBSEVATIONAL LEARNING
Observational learning is the learning of new behaviour through watching the actions of a
model (someone else who is doing that behaviour).

Bandura and bobo doll:

Albert Bandura’s classic study in observational learning involved having a preschool child in
a room in which the experimenter and a model interacted with toys in the room in front of the
child. In one condition, the model interacted with the toys in a nonaggressive manner,
completely ignoring the presence of a “Bobo” doll (a punch-bag doll in the shape of a clown).
In another condition, the model became very aggressive with the doll, kicking it and yelling
at it, throwing it in the air and hitting it with a hammer. When each child was left alone in the
room and had the opportunity to play with the toys, a camera filming through a one-way
mirror caught the children who were exposed to the aggressive model beating up on the Bobo
doll, in exact imitation of the model. The children who saw the model ignore the doll did not
act aggressively toward the toy.
From this study, he concluded that the aggressive children had learned their aggressive
actions from merely watching the model—with no reinforcement necessary.

Elements of Observational learning

1. Attention: To learn anything through observation, the learner must first pay attention
to the model.
2. Memory: The learner must also be able to retain the memory of what was done.
3. Imitation: The learner must be capable of reproducing, or imitating, the actions of the
model.
4. Desire: Finally, the learner must have the desire or motivation to perform the action.

INSIGHT LEARNING
Learning through sudden perception of relationships among various parts of a problem,
allowing solutions to problem to come quickly.
Kohler’s Smart Chimp:
Wolfgang Kohler set up a problem for one of the chimpanzees, Sultan the chimp, to get to a
banana that was placed just out of his reach outside his cage. Sultan solved this problem
relatively easily using a stick that was lying in the cage to rake the banana into the cage. But
then the problem was made more difficult. The banana was placed just out of reach of
Sultan’s extended arm with the stick in his hand. At this point there were two sticks lying
around in the cage, which could be fitted together to make a single pole that would be long
enough to reach the banana. Sultan tried first one stick, then the other (simple trial and error).
After about an hour of trying, Sultan seemed to have a sudden flash of inspiration. He sat on
the floor of the cage and looked at them carefully. He then fitted one stick into the other and
retrieved his banana.
Kohler called Sultan’s rapid “perception of relationships” insight and his learning process as
insight learning.

REFERENCES
1. Saundra K. Ciccarelli, J. Noland White - Psychology-Pearson (2016), pg. no. 178-216
2. Psychology Discussion, Learning,
https://www.psychologydiscussion.net/learning/learning-meaning-nature-types-and-
theories-of-learning/652
3. Verywell Mind, Schools of psychology,
https://www.verywellmind.com/psychology-schools-of-thought-2795247