AP PSYCH 4.1 Introduction to Learning

Components of Learning

Change in behavior
Results from experience
- Doesn’t come from growth, like being able to reach a shelf when you get taller
- Yes there was a change, but this was not an experience beyond normal biological progress
Relatively permanent

Early researcher associated with learning
Studied classical conditioning/associative learning
His dogs and salivation experiment is very well known
Also proved that biological functions (in this case, salivation) could be trained

Proved that cognition was taking place when an organism recognized association
Certain things are more readily associated with one another
- There are certain biological predispositions or senses that are better suited for learning

Latent learning
An organism may learn something but not demonstrate the behavior that learning pertains to until there is a motivation
- Rats that are allowed to wander a maze will continue to meander
- Once food is placed at the end, they can ‘suddenly’ navigate it without many errors
- They had learned it already, but had no need to display the learning yet

Large original contributor to behaviorism
- Focus of research is on observable behavior
The study of learning lends itself to this school of thought

Also proposed biological predispositions that make some sense easier to learn
Animals tend to create associations will illness and food very quickly, even if there is another reason contributing to the sickness

Insight learning
- Sudden burst of cognition that reveals solution
Emotional learning
- How our feelings contribute to associations and how readily they’re recognized
Superstitious behavior
- Recognizing association where none actually exists
- “Good luck” from a ritual or charm
Learned helplessness
- Repeated failure until the learner gives up and resigns to the punishments
Learning is very complex and involves both behavioral and cognitive components