PSYC 01 Introduction to Psychology
1ST Semester – 1st Year
BS Psychology
Lecture 2
LEARNING AND ITS PROCESSES
2.1 Definition of Learning
More or less a permanent modification of
behavior that results from activity, special
training, and observation (Munn).
Learning is a concept describing changes in
behavior that results from reinforced practice
(Edward).
Any relatively permanent change in behavior as
a result of practice excluding factors like
fatigue, drugs, adaptation, disease,
maturation, and physical change (Hilgard).
Learning is any relatively permanent change in
behavior brought by experience or practice.
Main Concepts
▪ practice or past experience
▪ changes in behavior
▪ concept of reinforcement
2.2 Factors Affecting Learning
Teacher
- The ones who model behavior and affect or
determine one’s motivation to learn.
- To have an effective learning process, there
should be
➢ Mastery of the teacher on the subject
being taught (no.1 requirement)
➢ Personality
Teacher factor 80%
Learner
- One’s own motivation has a direct impact on
how an individual learns.
- Learner’s Level of stability (below average,
average, above average) and level of
interest should be considered
- Varying needs of students in terms of
abilities, motivation, and interest should be
met.
Environment
- Learning and subsequent changes in
behavior take place as a result of interaction
between the individual and the environment.
Factors Affecting Learning (Kahayon & Aquino)
Intelligence
- People with higher IQs, score high in
intelligence tests, learn things more rapidly
- One implication of this is that intelligence
cannot be define solely in terms of learning
ability.
Chronological Age
- All kinds of learning depend in part on
chronological age.
- The data of this one has been used for the
construction of intelligence tests for adults.
Arousal and Motivation
- For efficient learning, the learner must
desire or intend to learn.
- The most fundamental condition for learning
to take place is that the organism be in a
reasonably high state of arousal.
Previous Learning
- The amount of transfer from previous
learning will partially determine the rate of
learning here and now.
- Both positive and negative transfer are
possible.
Anxiety
- Most of us carry a certain amount of anxiety,
which tends to influence the preparation
and taking of an examination
- there is a strong relationship between
anxiety levels and such measures of
learning.
2.3 Steps in the Learning Process
Learning is a lifetime process
- may be apparent and deliberate
- may be subtle and unnoticed (like gradual
assimilation of culture) (like solving a math
problem)
How does an organism learn?
- sense - interpret - respond to the
consequence or outcome of their prior
 response (an organism is not the same after
passing this cycle.)
1. Motivation
- The dominant force which governs an
individual’s progress and ability to learn.
- An individual’s response to any particular
stimulus will be directly proportional to the
relative strength of their motive to reduce
the tension associated with the unsatisfied
need.
2. Goal
- Behavior being purposive, and is oriented
towards a goal.
3. Readiness
- Influenced by both genetic factors and the
Combination of training and experience.
a. Physiological Factors
- Maturation of Sense organs, etc.
- Sensation and Perception are the Basics
of Cognitive Learning
b. Psychological Factors
- Motives
- Emotional factors
- Self-concept
c. Experimental Factors
- Previously learned skills
- Concepts
4. Obstacle
- Its presence is an occasion for learning new
modes of adjustments.
- Maybe the hindrances that Challenge the
learner.
5. Responses - method of substituting another stimulus for
- Varied according to one’s interpretation of an original one to elicit a response.
the situation. - Learner is passive
- May take the form of a direct attack or a - Simplest form of learning
manner of circumvention. - dogs, metronome, meat powder, and saliva
measuring device
6. Reinforcement
Elements
- Responses are reinforced if they satisfy
▪ Unconditioned stimulus
one’s needs.
- Naturally occurring stimulus that triggers a
- It is a consequence that occurs after a
Physiological response
behavior and increases the chances that it
- Unlearned
will occur again
- Food that elicits salivation
7. Generalization
▪ Neutral stimulus
- Transfer of knowledge across multiple
- Any kind of stimulus that causes sensory
situations.
responses only
- The application of acquired knowledge and
skills in a coherent manner consistent with
▪ Conditioned stimulus
one's prior learning.
- The neutral stimulus that was paired with
the unconditioned stimulus that gained the
2.4 2 Main Classification & Its Types
ability to elicit the same response as the
unconditioned stimulus
1. Associative Learning
- Learned
- Behavior is learned through habit formation
or by associating stimulus(s) and
▪ Unconditioned response
response(r).
- Physiological response that is unlearned
- Occurs when an organism makes an
and involuntary
association between stimuli or events that
- Salivation of food
occur together in the environment
▪ Neutral Response
a. Classical Conditioning (Ivan Pavlov)
- Response that is not a result of a particular
- Also called stimulus substitution
stimulus
- Process by which we learn to associate
stimuli and, consequently, to anticipate
▪ Conditioned Response
events
- learned response to the conditioned
- Learning to make an involuntary response
stimulus
to a stimulus other than the original one, that
- not identical to the unconditioned response
normally produces it
Additional
▪ Stimulus Generalization
- The same response to stimuli that are
similar
▪ Discrimination
- Response to a specific stimulus only after
discerning its difference from other stimuli
▪ Extinction
- When the conditioned response “dies out”
after not pairing it with the unconditioned
stimulus
▪ Spontaneous recovery
- reappearance of conditioned response to
conditioned stimulus after extinction
b. Operant Conditioning (BF Skinner)
- Organisms learn to associate a behavior
and its consequence.
- Learning to make voluntary responses
through the effects of positive and negative
consequences
- Method of learning where the learner
performs a behavior in order to receive
either a reward or
Punishment.
- Learning occurs based on whether the
action will be repeated after the
experienced consequence.
- Learner is active
Reinforcement
- Any stimulus, that when following a
response increases the chance that the
response will occur again.
- Anything that will make the association
between CS and CR stronger. That
increases the chances that the behavior will
occur again.
- Positive reinforcement
- Negative reinforcement
Punishment
- Any stimulus, that when following a
response decreases the change that the
response will occur again
- Consequence that follows an operant
response that decreases(or attempts to
decrease) the likelihood of that response
occurring in the future.
- Punishment by application
- Punishment by removal
c. Escape and Avoidance Learning
- Operant conditioning that uses negative
rather than positive reinforcement.
Escape Learning
- Learn to get away from or eliminate an
unpleasant situation
Avoidance Learning
- avoiding or preventing an unpleasant
situation before its occurrence.
- The shock is preceded by a warning signal.
d. Multiple-response Learning
- acquiring of patterns or sequences of
responses in mastering a task
- a kind of learning involving more than one
identifiable act, with the order of events
usually fixed by the demands of the situation
2. Cognitive Learning
- learning which involves perception and
knowledge—cognitive processes
necessary in order to learn with
understanding
- more active approach to learning
- focuses on the role of cognition or thought
processes in learning
a. Perceptual Learning
- Wolfgang Kohler (1925)
- solution to a problem suddenly appears,
resulting in a change in perception wherein
the learner come to know something about
a stimulus situation that he did not know
before.
- results in an “aha” or eureka moment
b. Sign Learning
- Involves the perception of a stimulus that
gives rise to the expectation that if a
particular kind of behavior follows the
perceived stimulus, another stimulus will
appear.
- learning "what leads to what"
c. Programmed Learning
- A method of self-instruction consisting of
frames (a series of short steps) and
responses.
- You work at your own rate.

d. Social Cognitive Learning/ Imitative Learning
- Albert Bandura
- Brings together the behaviorist and
cognitive principles by focusing on human
learning as a continuous interaction
between the individual and the social
environment in which he/she lives
- Learning through imitation
2.5 Theories on Learning
1. Connectionism / S-R Bond Theory (Edward
Thorndike)
- Thorndike's view of learning suggests that it
consists of associations (or connections)
between stimuli and responses.
- By trial and error, animals identify
connections between a stimulus and a
satisfying consequence.
- These connections are stamped in because
of the pleasure they bring S-R BOND
- The stimulus and its response are
connected in a person's mind. This is called
a stimulus-response bond, or an S- R bond.
PRINCIPLES
▪ Learning requires both practice and rewards
(laws of effect/exercise)
▪ A series of S-R connections can be chained
together if they belong to the same action
sequence (law of readiness)
▪ Transfer of learning occurs because of
previously encountered situations.
▪ Intelligence is a function of the number of
connections learned
2. Behaviorism (Watson)
- It states that behaviors are learned from the
environment and says that innate or
inherited factors have very little influence
on behavior.
3. Functionalism (William James)
- Functionalism is a psychological philosophy
that views the mind as a functional
instrument that: enables us to adapt to our
environment
4. Gestalt / Field Theory (Wertheimer)
- It focuses on "grouping and the entire
theory emphasizes on the fact that the
whole of anything is greater than the sum of
its parts
2.6 3 Major Laws of Learning
1. Law of readiness
- One learns best when physically, mentally,
psychologically and emotionally ready
- They do not learn well if they see no reason
for learning.
a. Law of mindset
- Reference to the mental set of the learner at
the time that the response is to be made
b. Law of apperception (Herbart)
- The process of taking the information from
stimuli (perceptions) and relating or
comparing it to information gathered in the
past
2. Law of exercise
- The connection between stimuli and a
response can be strengthened or
weakened.
- This connection can be strengthened by
practicing hard or it can be weakened by
discontinuing the practice
a. Law of Association (Kant)
- Learning occurs through the connection or
functional relationship between two
psychological phenomena established
through learning.
- Law of Contiguity- lightning and thunder
- Law of Similarity - coffee and tea
- Law of Contrast- hot and cold
b. Law of Use and Disuse (Gates)
- All factors being equal, an association that
is practiced or used will be strengthened;
that which is not is weakened.
c. Law of Frequency and Recency (Watson)
- States that people remember the most
recent (last) and the most frequent material
covered
d. Law of Intensity (Carr)
- The strength of any behavior or experience
has a corresponding relation to learning.
- The more intense the material taught, the
more likely it will be retained.
e. Law of Forgetting (Ebbinghaus)
- It is stated here that people tend to
continually halve their memory of newly
learned knowledge in a matter of time
unless they actively review the learned
material
3. Law of Effect
- Responses that are followed by satisfying
after-effects tend to be learned and
repeated.

a. Law of Primacy (Watson)

- Acts/impressions learned first will be better
remembered than those learned later

b. Law of Belongingness (Thorndike)

- Associations are easily formed if they
belong— meaning, relatedness,
meaningfulness and integration into a
unified frame of reference