A Seminar On

LEARNING
&
THEORIES OF LEARNING

Presented By:
M Vinod Kumar
What is Learning?
 Learning is part of every one’s life. In our life,
all complex behavior is learned.
 Learning is defined as any relatively
permanent change in behavior that occurs as a
result of experience.
 Whenever any change occurs learning is taken
place in the individual.
 If an individual behaves, reacts, responds as a
result of experience which is different from
others, a person has encountered some new
learning experience in his life.
Theories Of Learning
There are Three types of learning theories.
These theories are
 Behavioural Conditioning Theory

> Contiguity Conditioning Theory

> Classical Conditioning Theory
> Operant Conditioning Theory
 Social Learning Theory
 Cognitive Theory Of Learning
Contiguity Conditioning Theory
 Contiguity theory is based on the work of E. R.
Guthrie.
 Contiguity theory is intended to be a general
theory of learning, although most of the research
supporting the theory was done with animals.
Guthrie did apply his framework to personality
disorders (e.g. Guthrie, 1938).
 It proposes that any stimulus and response
connected in time and/or space will tend to be
associated.
Examples
 The classic experimental paradigm for Contiguity
theory is cats learning to escape from a puzzle box
(Guthrie & Horton, 1946). Guthrie used a glass
paneled box that allowed him to photograph the
exact movements of cats. These photographs
showed that cats learned to repeat the same
sequence of movements associated with the
preceding escape from the box.
 A student making a good grade on a test after
trying a new study technique makes an
association between the stimulus of studying and
the response of getting a good grade.
Classical Conditioning Theory:
 Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov developed classical
conditioning theory.
 Def: The formation of S-R link (Stimulus-Response) or habit
between a conditioned stimulus and a conditioned response
through the repeated paring of conditioned stimulus with an
unconditioned stimulus.
 When he was doing a research on the chemical properties of
saliva of dog, he noticed accidentally that the dog started
salivating the moment hearing the sound of a door of cupboard
clinging.
 Based on his observation, he wanted to do some experiment
whether the dog can be conditioned to respond to any neutral
stimuli. He used a simple surgical procedure to operate the
salivary glands of a dog to measure accurately the amount of
saliva.
Pavlov: Classical Conditioning
Unconditioned Unconditioned
Stimulus Response

Neutral Stimulus

Conditioned Stimulus Conditioned

Response
Example
 Child is harrassed at school
 Child feels bad when harrassed at school
 Child associates being harrassed and school
 Child begins to feel bad when she thinks of
school.
harrassment = Unconditional stimulus
feeling bad = Unconditional Response
school = Neutral Stimulus(no response)
harassment + school = Unconditional Response
School = Conditional Response
Application Of Classical theory
 Whenever President or Vice-President of
Corporate Office visits factory site the employees
in the shop floor will more attentive at work and
look more prim, proper and active in their work
life.
 For Ex: If the visit of the top management
personnel is associated with cleaning process,
eventually the employees would turn on their best
output and look prim and active the moment
windows and floor are being cleaned up.
Operant Conditioning Theory
*A behaviorist theory based on the fundamental idea that
behaviors that are reinforced will tend to continue,
while behaviors that are punished will eventually end.
*Operant conditioning can be described as a process that
attempts to modify behavior through the use of positive
and negative reinforcement.
Examples:
1)Parents rewarding child’s grade with candy.
2)A form of reinforcement (food) is given to an animal
(whenever hungry) presses a lever.
B.F. Skinner
 Skinner: Operant Conditioning

Stimulus Response Reinforcement

 Principles: Reinforcement
 A Consequence That Strengthens a Behavior
 Repeat: Reinforcement Strengthens a Behavior
 If the Frequency of a Behavior Increases After
a Consequence, the Consequence is a
Reinforcer
 There Are Several Types of Reinforcers
Principles: Reinforcers
 Primary and Secondary
 Positive and Negative
 Free and Contingent (Premack Principle)
 Intrinsic and Extrinsic
 Continuous and Intermittent (Schedules)
 Principles: Punishment
 A Consequence That Weakens a Behavior
 Repeat: Punishment Weakens a Behavior
 If the Frequency of a Behavior Decreases
After a Consequence, the Consequence is a
Punisher
 There Are Several Types of Punishers
Application Of Operant theory
 If a sales person who hits the assigned target of sales
quota will be reinforced with a suitable attractive
reward, the chances of hitting further sales target in
future will be exemplified.(Positive)
 In addition, behavior that is not rewarded is less likely
to be repeated(negative)
Social Learning Theory: Bandura
 People learn through both observation and direct
experience, which is called as social learning theory.
 By observing people around us, mostly from
parents, teachers, peers, films and television
performers, bosses, we learn new behavior pattern.
 Social learning theory gives much importance to
perceptual process.
 The influence of models is key to the social learning
process
Cognitive Theory

Cognitive theory is an approach to psychology that

attempts to explain human behavior by
understanding the thought processes.
Cognitive Theory
 The assumption is that in humans, thoughts are the
primary determinants of emotions and behavior.
 Information processing is a commonly used
description of the mental process, comparing the
human mind to a computer.
 Pure cognitive theory largely rejects behaviorism on
the basis that behaviorism reducescomplex human
behavior to simple cause and effect. However, the
trend in past decades has been towards merging the
two into a comprehensive cognitive-behavioral
theory
Conclusion
 Learning and The Theories of learing are
very important in every individual life and
also for many organisations because the
successful existance of organisations totally
depends on humans who are good at
learning new things and technologies ie., its
employees, workers etc to reach the
objectives of the organisations.