Unit- 3

TRAINING DEVELOPMENT

LEARNING THEORIES

ARTHI AUGASSTINA A
 Objectives
Learning
Theories of learning
Training
Application to training
 What is learning?
• Learning- it is the key process in human
behavior, it pervades everything we do &
think.
• It plays a central role in language, customs,
attitudes, beliefs, goals , personality traits &
our perception.
• Learning can be defined as any relatively
permanent change in behavior that occurs as
a result of practice or experience.
 Definition
• Gales- learning is the behavioral modification
which occurs as a result of experience as well
as training.
• Crow and crow- learning is the process of
acquisition of knowledge, habits & attitudes.
• E. A Peel- learning can be described as a
change the individual which takes place as a
result of the environmental change.
 What is training
• Training is the process of increasing the
knowledge & skills of an employee for doing a
particular job.
• It can be viewed as a process comprised of
five related stages or activities: assessment,
motivation, design, delivery and evaluation.
 Theories of learning
• Classical conditioning
• Instrumental/ operant conditioning
• Cognitive learning
• Observational learning
 Classical conditioning
• Ivan P. Pavlov (1849-1936)
• Also called as respondent conditioning/
Pavlovian conditioning
• Acquisition or learning of conditioned
responses.
• He designed an apparatus that could measure
how much a dog’s mouth waters in response
to food or other things in its environment.
King at al., 1961- student volunteers were
subjects in this experiment.
• Each student sat in a booth in which a brief jet
of air could be puffed at his/ her right eye. the
response was a sharp blink.
• One-half second before each puff a dim spot
of light came on.
 Before conditioning Before conditioning

Puff of
Blink Light No Blink
air

During conditioning After conditioning

Light

Light Blink
Blink

Puff of
air
Acquisition of conditioned response is usually
gradual; as more & more trials (CS-US Pairings)
are given, conditioned responses grow stronger
and stronger or are more & more likely to occur.
 Theories about classical conditioning

• Stimulus substitution- this theory was

originated with Pavlov & was influential for
many years- CS simply as a result of pairing
with the US, acquires a capacity to substitute
for the US in evoking a response.
• He thought that 2 areas of the brain one for
CS and one for US became activated during
conditioning and resulted in reflex or
automatic response.
• A major difficulty with the theory is that it says the CR should be the same
as or at least very similar to UR.
• According to this theory- CS has the ability to evoke the response after
conditioning. The response has not changed; the change is in the stimulus
that elicits it. However it is clear that CR may not be at all like the UR.
• Eg: using a mild foot shock as the US and a tone as the CS, the UR of rats
to the shock is an increase in running and activity but the CR to the tone is
a decrease in activity- a response known as freezing.
• Information and expectation- when the CS is
presented the US is expected and the learner
responds in accordance with this expectation.
• US induces the learner to look back through
recent memory. The CS is the event
consistently found in memory on each trial
before the US.
• The form of CR often indicates that the learner
expects the US.
 IMPORTANT CONCEPTS IN CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
• EXTINCTION- It occurs when the CS is presented alone without the US for
a number of trials.
• When this is done the strength or magnitude of the CR gradually
decreases.
• The process of extinction is not forgetting. A response is said to be
forgotten over time when there is no explicit procedure involved.
• This process involves the presentation of CS by itself.
• During acquisition the excitatory tendency has the upper hand but
during the extinction, inhibition builds up to suppress conditioned
responding.
• SPONTANEOUS RECOVERY- the decrease in CS magnitude resulting
from extinction need not be permanent. The day after extinction of
a salivary CR, a dog is brought back into the lab and the tone CS is
presented.
• The magnitude of the dog’s CR will probably be much greater than
it was at the end of extinction the day before.
• Such an increase in the magnitude of a CR after a period of time
with no explicit training is known as spontaneous recovery.
• Extinction doesn’t completely erase conditioning and
reconditioning is more rapid than the original conditioning.
• STIMULUS GENRALIZATION- The CR’s occur to stimuli that have
never been paired with a specific US.
• The greater the similarity the greater the generalization among
CS. Eg: phobias in children.
• STIMULUS DISCRIMINATION- the process of
learning to make one response to one
stimulus and a different response or no
response to another stimulus.
 Significance of classical conditioning
• What are important in human life are the emotional
responses that become conditioned to certain stimuli.
• Some emotional responses to stimuli are learned and can be
unlearned.
• Less disturbing responses can be associated with stimuli that
produce unpleasant emotional responses.
• The extinction & alteration of disturbing emotional responses
by CC is one form of behavior therapy also called behavior
modification.
 Application of training with classical
conditioning
1. Employee training-
• CC can be used to facilitate learning and skill
development in employees.
• Pairing specific training (neutral stimulus) with
successful task completion or rewards
(positive experiences).
• It enhance motivation, engagement &
performance in training & work settings.
2) Performance evaluation- if employees consistently receive
positive reinforcement for certain behaviors or achievements,
they may associate those behaviors with positive outcomes.
3) Organizational culture- CC can shape an organization’s culture
by associating certain behaviors with positive or negative
consequences. Eg: if an organization rewards teamwork then
employees are more likely to engage in cooperative behaviors.
4) Customer relations- CC can be used in
customer relations to shape customer
perceptions & behaviors. Eg: exceptional service
& high quality, companies can create positive
brand associations & customer loyalty.

5) Change management- by carefully pairing

new initiatives or changes with positive
experiences, organizations can help employees
associate the changes with positive outcomes &
reduce resistance to change.
 OPERANT CONDITIONING
• B.F. Skinner (1904-1990)
• Also called as instrumental conditioning
• It is called instrumental because the key feature of
this form of learning is that some action (some
behavior) of the learner is instrumental in bringing
about a change in the environment that makes the
action more or less likely to occur again in future.
• The response may have consequences that can
affect the likelihood that the response will occur
again.
 REINFORCEMENT
• Reinforcer/ reinforcement- it is an environmental
event that makes that response more likely to
occur again.
• Positive reinforcer- stimulus or event when it
follows a response increases the likelihood that the
response will be made again.
• Negative reinforcer- stimulus or event when its
cessation or termination is contingent on a
response increases the likelihood that the response
will occur again.
• Positive reinforcement- process that
strengthens the likelihood of a particular
response by adding a stimulus after the
behavior is performed. Eg: giving chocolate for
a child after cleaning her room.
• Negative reinforcement- strengthens the
likelihood of a particular response but by
removing an undesirable consequence. Eg: if u
get good grade in class quiz then no
homework is given.
 PUNISHMENT

• A punisher is a stimulus or event which when its onset is

contingent on a response, decreases the likelihood that the
response will occur again.
• Positive punishment- decreases the target behavior by adding
something aversive. Eg: giving a “black star” for using mobile
phones in class.
• Negative punishment- increases the target
behavior by taking away something aversive.
Eg: cancel the Onam function because the
students had low grades.
• Responses followed by punishers tend not to
be repeated, while those followed by negative
reinforcers tend to be more likely.
 Skinner’s experiment
• Skinner is regarded as the father of OC, but his
work was based on Thorndike’s (1898) law of
effect.
• Used animals in “Skinner box/ Operant
chamber”.
• The rat was initially inactive inside the box, but
gradually started to adapt and started to explore.
• Rat discovered a lever upon pressing which food
was released inside the box.
• After it filled its hunger, it started exploring the
box again & after a while it pressed the lever for
the second time as it grew hungry again.
• This phenomenon continued 3rd,4th,5th & after a
while, the hungry rat immediately pressed the
lever once it was placed in the box.
• He placed the rat in the box in a similar
manner, but instead keeping it hungry, he
subjected the chamber to an unpleasant
electric current.
• The rat having discomfort desperately move
around the box and accidently knocked the
lever- seized unpleasant current.
• The rat had smartened enough to go directly
to the lever in order to prevent from
discomfort.
 IMPORTANT CONCEPTS IN OPERANT
CONDITIONING
SHAPING
• It is shaping the behaviour with positive reinforcement.
• The process of shaping, it is possible to speed up
operant conditioning and to condition quite complex
responses.
• Eg: reinforcement would be given only when the
animal moved close to the lever. Then hovering near
the lever, Finally, when the rat began to touch the lever
only then reward was given. When the response of
touching the lever was firmly established, the
experimenter would then only give food pellets.
• Shaping is a teaching chain of simple
responses leading to the final response.
• The final response is learned because the
steps leading to it are reinforced.
• Since these steps are approximations of the
final response, the method of shaping is
sometimes called the method of successive
approximations.
AUTOSHAPING:
• It is a classical conditioning method of shaping animals in an
operant chamber is called auto-shaping.
• It is conceptually an example of a complex behavioural reaction
controlled by the steps of classical conditioning: pairing of a CS & US
regardless of the actions of the subject.
• Eg: if a lighted key always turns on before a food reward is
delivered, the pigeon will begin to respond to the lit key as it
naturally does to the food reward, by pecking it.
EXTINCTION:
• The procedure of not reinforcing a particular
response is called extinction.
 Types of reinforcers
Primary reinforcers:
• Some positive reinforcers work the first time
they are made contingent on a response.
• No previous special training is necessary; they
work naturally to increase the likelihood of a
response when they are made contingent on
it.
• Eg: food, water, sleep and shelter.
Secondary reinforcers:
• These reinforcers don’t work naturally, for
these reinforcers to be effective the learner
must have the experience with them. Such
learned reinforcers are known as conditioned
or secondary reinforcers.
• Eg: money. It helps to acquire primary
reinforcer.
SCHEDULES OF POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT

• Schedules of reinforcement are the rules that determine

how often an organism is reinforced for a particular behavior.
• The particular pattern of reinforcement has an impact on the
pattern of responding by the animal.
• It is either continuous or partial.
• 4 partial schedules are:
• Fixed ratio
• Variable ratio
• Fixed interval
• Variable interval
CONTINUOUS REINFORCEMENT SCHEDULE:
• It involves the occurrence of a reinforcer every
single time that a desired behavior is emitted.
• Behaviors are learned quickly in this method.
• Eg: candy machines- every time we put money
in (behavior), we receive candy in return
(positive reinforcement).
PARTIAL/ INTERMITTENT REINFORCEMENT
SCHEDULE:
• Only some of the instances of behavior are
reinforced, not every instance.
• Behaviors are learned slowly but it is more
resistant to extinction. It has many types
(followed in next slide)
• Eg: slot machines at casinos- provide money
(positive reinforcement) after an
unpredictable number of plays (behavior).
a) Fixed ratio (FR) schedule:
Ratio schedules involve reinforcement after a
fixed number of responses have been emitted.
It always involves a constant number of
responses.
Eg: getting one free meal after the purchase of
ten, losing your license after 5 violations.
b) Variable ratio (VR) schedule:
Ratio schedules involve reinforcement after an
average number of responses have been
occurred.
It maintains high & steady rates of the desired
behavior & the behavior is very resistant to
extinction.
Eg: playing lottery, the number of shots to
score a goal in soccer game.
c) Fixed interval (FI) schedule:
Interval schedules involve reinforcement of a
desired behavior after an fixed interval of time
has passed.
The interval of time is always the same.
Eg: studying for weekly quiz, salary in a
month.
d) Variable interval (VI) schedule:
Interval schedules involve reinforcement of a
target behavior after an interval of time has
passed.
The interval time is not the same but centers
around some average.
Eg: checking e-mail, winning a video game.
 Significance of operant conditioning
• It is applied in some forms of behavior therapy
or behavior modification.
• Used to treat psychological disorders by
contingently reinforcing socially adaptive
behaviors and by extinguishing maladaptive
behaviors.
• Eliminate bad habits such as smoking or eating
too much.
 Application of training with operant
conditioning
• Accountability- by providing immediate
responses to employee behaviors, OC creates
a system of accountability. Employees
understand that the punishments & rewards
they receive relate directly to their
contributions to the company.
• Clarity-the knowledge about positive &
negative consequences makes it easier for an
employee to make adjustments & raise their
performance levels which benefits both the
employee & the company.
• Equity- by offering the same rewards and
consequences to all employees, companies
can avoid favoritism.
• Morale- uncertainty about performance can
lead to stress so by providing clarity,
companies can decrease staff anxiety.
 COGNITIVE LEARNING
• Menzel,1973-
• Experiment with 4 chimpanzees- Belle, Bandit,
Bido & Gigi.
• The internal representations of the
environment are known as cognitive maps.
• Cognition- refers to the processing of information about
the environment that is received through the senses.
• Cognitive processes involve:
1. Selection of information
2. Making the alteration in the selected information
3. The association of items of information with each
other
4. Elaboration of information in thought
5. The storage of information in memory
6. Retrieval of stored information.
 IMPORTANT CONCEPTS IN COGNITIVE
LEARNING
• Latent learning: latent- hidden and thus latent learning is
learning that occurs but is not evident in behavior until later
when conditions for its appearance are favorable.
• It occurs without reinforcement of particular responses &
seems to involve changes in the ways information is
processed.
• Eg: rats in a maze
• Insight learning: in a typical insight situation, a
problem is posed, a period follows during
which no apparent progress is made, & then
the solution suddenly comes.
• “aha experience”
• Eg: Kohler experiment with chimps.
• Imitation: occurs when we imitate another
individual or model our behavior on that of
someone else.
 Application of training with cognitive
learning
• Socio cognitive theory- companies applying
collaborative learning involve all employees in
learning and development, which enables the
team members to promote learning to one
another. Collaborative learning cultures
provide positive reinforcements that can
encourage employees to get more knowledge.
• Cognitive behavioural theory- collaborative
learning training programs aim to give content
that’s engaging & relevant to help motivate
employees to learn. They use student
feedback to provide experiences & courses
that an employee may want to take.
• Implicit & explicit learning-collaborative
learning changes much of learning &
development’s focus to implicit learning’s
teaching & also using explicit learning’s
intentional curriculum.
 OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING
• Bandura’s research- Bobo doll experiment
• It is the process Learning through observation
or watching the behaviors of others.
• Also known as shaping, modeling.
• Children imitate the behaviors of adults.
What is model?
It is the person performing the task being
imitated, child uses the parent as model.
What makes a good model?
• Are similar to us
• Are in high- status positions
• Are experts or knowledgeable
• Are rewarded for their behaviors
• Provide us with nurturing (parents or
guardian- figures)
According to Bandura; there are 4 processes that
influence observational learning:
1) Attention
2) Retention
3) Reproduction
4) motivation
• Attention- to learn, an observer must pay
attention to something in the environment.
• Eg: when you want to become a teacher you
must observe the current teacher.
• Retention-simple attention is not enough to
learn a new behavior. An observer must also
retain, or remember the behavior at a later
time.
• Eg: when a teacher has a good presentation
skills such as calm, confident, engaging, using
eye contact, you remember them for the next
time you give a presentation.
• Reproduction- it is the process where the
observer must be able to physically perform
the behavior in the real- world.
• Eg: reproducing the skills such as confident,
eye contact etc. for presentation in class.
• Motivation- all learning requires some degree
of personal motivation. The observer must be
motivated to produce the desired behavior.
• Eg: motivation is intrinsic, you understand that
the path to becoming a teacher at your college
requires a certain skill set.
 Application of training with observational
learning
1) Allow job applicants to shadow current
employees for a day to learn more about job
opportunities.
2) Pair new hires with existing employees for
on- the- job training. Learning job tasks by
watching experienced employees gives new
hires an opportunity to ask questions &
request that their trainers show them certain
tasks multiple times.
3) Invite high- performing employees in line for
leadership positions to assist managers with
certain tasks to learn about managerial
responsibilities firsthand.
4) Allow middle and lower level managers to
attend board meetings, stockholders meetings
from time to time to gain insight into how
strategic company decisions are made.
5) Require executives to work in frontline
positions for several days each year to learn the
ins & outs of their organizations firsthand. This
observational experience can add cohesiveness
to the workplace in addition to facilitating more
informed decisions at the top.