Social Psychology

Hina Mirza
Clinical psychologist ,Educationist
Minhaj University Lahore
Learning
Topic 8- Learning
Objectives:

Definition – Nature
Characteristics of learning
Types of Learning:
1. Classical conditioning
2. Operant conditioning
Methods of Learning :
3. Trial and Error
4. Learning by insight
5. Observational learning
 Definition Of Learning

• Relative permanent change in behavior

brought about through experience or
interactions with the environment
– Not all changes result from learning
– Change in behavior not always immediate
Characteristics of Learning
• Purposeful Process:
Most people have definite ideas what they
wants to achieve they have goals or clear
objects.
• Internal Experience:
The instructor cannot learn for the trainees.
The trainees can learn only from his or her
experience.
 Cont……
• Active Process:
Learning comes only thoughts,
experience, the individual actively
involved in learning process.
• Multidimensional:
Learning is multidimensional which
is continue
all around.
• Individual Process:
All individual don't learn the same rate.
Every individual has different intellectual
level so every individual is learn through his
or her intellectual level.
• Continuous Process:
Learning is a continuous process which started
from the birth and continue throughout the
life.
 Cont……
• Transferable:
Learning is a process which is
transferable from one place to another from
one person to another.
Methods of Learning
 Methods of Learning
1. Learning by trial and error

2. Learning by imitation (OBSERVATIONAL LRARNING)

3. Learning by insight (Cognition)

1) Learning by Trial and Error
 In trial and error learning, an person learns to
perform a behavior more and more skillfully by
repeating behaviors that result in rewards and
avoiding behaviors that result in punishment.

 Thorndike induce trail and error learning,

although he preferred to it trail and accidental
success. The learning is based on the repetition of
response tendencies that lead to success.
 Thorndike conducted Experiment
• Thorndike devised an elaboratecage called a puzzle
box. A hungry cat was placed in the puzzle box
and had to learn Response. i.e. stepping on
a small lever in order to unlock the door and get out.

• When the cat succeeded it was awarded with food and then
placed back inside the box. After several trail learned to open
the door. After that when put in the cage the cat walked
calmly to the lever pushed it down with its paw, strolled
through the door and ate the food.
Laws of Learning Edward.L.Thorndike
• Law of Exercise:
Stresses the idea that repetition is basic
to the development of adequateresponses.
• Law of Effect:
Involves the emotional reaction of learner.
Learning is much more effected when feelings of
satisfaction and reward.
2) Learning by Imitation(Observation)
• Observational learning is learning that occurs
through observing the behavior of others.
• OR: When we observe and imitate
other behavior thatis called learning by
observation.
• Social model is very important in
observational learning
• Family, parents, friends, teachers and
society.
 Cont….
• Modeling:
The process of observing and imitating by
observation is often called modeling.
• Social Learning:
The process of learning by watching others is
called observational learning also known as
social learning.

Observational learning can be positive

and negative as well.
Bendura Requirements for Observational Learning:

1. Attentional Process
2. Retentional Process
3. Motor Reproduction Process
4. Motivation
 Cont……
1. Attentional Process:
Close attention is necessary to what is
happening around. People cannot learn unless
they are able to observe model behavior.
2. Retentional process:
The learner organize and retain what has been
observe, reliving experiences , mentally
rehearsing future experience.
 Cont……
3) Motor Reproduction Process:
It is related to the reproduction of behavior
which is observed. Learning converts the
cognitive representation into action.
4) Motivation:
The actual or imagined reward of imitated
determine whether the behavior will extinguish
or not.
 Cont……
• Imitation:
Pure imitation is blind copying of other
behavior. Usually students do this, while they
copy the mannerisms of their favorite teachers.
3) Learning by Cognition (Insight)
• Through understanding the relationships of
the different parts of a problem rather than
through test and error.
• When you need to get a picture up high on
the wall, you pull a chair over to where you
want it, and reach for the picture to take it
down.
 Cont……
• Tolman wasone of the earlier researcher to
underline theimportance of cognitive process
in learning. Cognitive process means Use
thought process in learning.

• Learning by mental activity or thought

is called learning by cognition.
 Kohler Conduct Experiment
Kohler conducted his experiments on Chimpanzees,
to reveal the essence of
learning. He put them in cages. In a typical
situation, a smart chimpanzee named sultan
was prevented from reaching a piece of fruit near
the bar of cage.

Kohler gave sultan a stick but itwas also short.

Sultan gazed around picked up the short
stick through thebar it scratched another
longer stick which waslying out side the cage
joined the two stick and grabbed the food.
 Cont…
• Kohler explain that sultan learned to solve his
problem byputting several pieces together
into a meaningful whole.

• The solution resulted from insight a

sudden realization following a periodof mental
activity.
 Tolman
• He proposed a cognitive explanation of
learning, suggesting that repeated performance of
a task strengthens the learned relationship
between environmental cues and the
organisms expectation.
Types of Learning
 Types of Learning
Learning by association is called conditioning.

There are two types of conditioning:

1. Classical Conditioning – Pavlov
– Pavlov: classical conditioning was form of learning
through association
– Association of two stimuli
2. Operant Conditioning – Skinner
- Association between behavior and its
consequences called operant conditioning
 1-Classical conditioning
• Classical conditioning is based on the association of
paring of an originally neutral stimuli with a response
producing stimulus. This paring of stimuli eventually
produces a condition or learn response.
• Stimulus

Response
Produce Behavior or
Actions
 Cont……
• Classical conditioning could take place
only when the two events to be
associated occurred close together.

• In classical conditioning a neutral stimulus

paired one or more times with a
biological significant stimulus acquires the
power to elicit a behavior response in the
absence of thebiologically significant
stimulus.
 Pavlov’s Experiment
• Pavlov ‘s experiment was the first
demonstration of classical conditioning.

• Pavlov was Russian Physiologistand wona

Nobel prize in 1904 for his work on the
dog digestivesystem. Duringhis research,
Pavlov noticed:

 That his dog sometime salivated in the

absent of food or when they saw the
assistant whonormally brought their
food.
 Cont……
• Pavlov experiment method wasto present food
to the dog and measure the amount of
saliva.

He discovered that if a neutral stimulus, one that

didn’t automatically elicit saliva, such a
bell was paired repeatedly with the food; the
dog would gradually learn to salivate at the
soundof bell alone without any food.
 Cont……
 Learning to response to a formerly neutral
stimulus, because that stimulus is paired
with anotherstimulus which already elicit a
response, is the essential characterization of
classical conditioning.

 Before conditioning, saliva is called

unconditioned response(UR) and food is called
unconditioned stimulus(US).

 When “bell” a neutral stimulus is

presented, it may elicita general response of attention,
but not elicit the unconditioned
response( i.e. saliva)
 Cont……
• During conditioning the neutral stimulus(bell)
and the unconditioned stimulus(food) are both
presented a number of time in close proximity.
• After repeated pairing, thebell alone can
elicit salivation.

• Learning has taken place the initially neutral

stimulus is now called conditioned stimulus(CS)
and the response to the conditioned
stimulus alone is called conditioned response(CR)
 2) Operant Conditioning
• Skinner believed that the best way to understand
behavior is to look at the causes of an action and its
consequences. He called this approach operant
conditioning.
Examples
• A child learning to complete his or he homework,
because he or she knows they will get time to watch TV
after.
• Another example is a child learning not to hit because he
was punished after hitting another child before.
• Example of traffic signal.
 Operant conditioning
• Three types of desirable and undesirable
consequences that influence behavior
1. Positive reinforcement
2. Negative reinforcement
3. Punishment
 1-Positive Reinforcement
• Add stimulus for increase the desirable
behavior
• Positive consequences – behavior occurs more
frequently(i.e. praise given)

• Uses in teaching.
• Employee in workplace
2-Negative Reinforcement
• Remove the stimulus for increasing the
behavior
• Something unpleasant,, undesired is removed
by behavior or does not happen at all
• In both of these cases of reinforcement, the
behavior increases.
 3-Punishment
• Decrease the undesirable behavior
• Consequence of behavior is negative
– Behavior has been punished.
• Physical punishment used by society, parents,
and others
Thank you