Psychology Department

Learning
Relatively permanent change in the immediate or potential behavior or mental process that results from past experiences or practice
Acquiring knowledge or developing the ability to perform new behaviors It relies on the acquisition of different types of knowledge supported by perceived information It leads to the development of new capacities, skills, values, understanding, and preferences

5 Processes of Learning
Habituation
Classical Conditioning Operant Conditioning

Social Learning
Cognitive Processes in learning

Five Processes of Learning

1. Habituation Simplest kind of learning Accounts for learning to ignore a stimulus that has become a familiar and has no serious consequences The tendency to become familiar with a stimulus after repeated exposure to it

Example: Children playing in the school playground

2. Classical Conditioning
An individual learns that one follows another Gives emphasis on the association of the stimulus with

the response Learning with association of two stimuli that occur in sequence Also called as Pavlonian Conditioning

Example: A professor holding the class card means that he is about to call somebody to answer his upcoming question

2 Basic Components
a. Natural Reflex (salivation of the dog when food was placed on its tongue)

Automatic response to a stimulus

b. Neutral Stimulus (sound of the buzzer)

Does not elicit the reflex being studied, although may elicit other responses Reflex is an automatic response to a stimulus, while the neutral stimulus is one that does not elicit the reflex studied, although it may elicit other responses

Phase 1: Before Conditioning

UCS (meat powder) UCR (salivation)

Neutral Stimulus (Buzzer)

Orienting Response

Phase 2: Process of Conditioning

Neutral Stimulus followed by UCS (buzzer) (meat powder) UCR (Salivation)

Phase 3: After Conditioning has occurred

CS (Buzzer) CR (Salivation)

Basic Processes
a. Acquisition

A neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) are paired

Example: A child learns to fear (CR) the Dental Clinic (CS) by associating it with the reflexive emotional reaction(UCR) to a painful tooth extraction (UCS)

b. Stimulus Generalization
Individuals ability to react to novel stimuli that are similar to

familiar ones A conditioned response (CR) is elicited not only by the conditioned stimulus (CS) but also by the stimulus similar to the conditioned stimulus(CS)

Example: A child fears (Conditioned Response) all Dental clinic (Conditioned Stimulus) and other places that smells like them (Similar CS)

c. Stimulus Discrimination
A process complimentary to generalization Discrimination is a reaction to differences

Limited in such that some stimulus similar to the CS do

not elicit the CR

Example: A child learns that his mothers Dental Clinic is not associated only with Tooth Extraction UCS

d. Extinction
The CS is presented alone with the UCS. Gradually, the

CS no longer elicits the CR Used to describe the elimination of the CR by repeatedly presenting the CS without the unconditioned stimulus

Example: A child visits the dentist several times for prophylaxis. Fear gradually decreases

3. Operant Conditioning
An organism learns a response by operating on its

environment. A response an individual makes will be followed by a particular consequence Primary aim: To analyze how behavior is changed by its consequences Example: A student who never stops making side comments and intolerable, non-sense noise will be reported to the Discipline Office

Components
a. Operant Response that operates in the environment Example: When the child says she is hungry and is then fed, the child has made an operant response that determines when food will appear b. Reinforcer Increases the probability that an operant behavior will occur again 2 Main Types Positive Reinforcers or Rewards Stimuli that strengthen a response if they are presented after the response has occurred Negative Reinforcers Unpleasant stimuli that strengthen a response if they are removed after the response has occurred Also increases the frequency of behavior but uses an aversive or unpleasant stimulus

c. Stimulus Discrimination Stimulus that signal whether reinforcement is available if a certain response is made Example: A student who works only when the teacher is looking

d. Generalization and Discrimination or Stimulus Control Play an important role in human behavior indicating that certain stimuli often gain control over behavior Example: A person who does not have an appetite to eat

Schedules of Reinforcement
a. Continuous Reinforcement Schedule

Reinforcer is delivered every time a particular response occurs

b. Partial or Intermittent Reinforcement Schedule

Reinforcement administered only some of the time

Types of Intermittent Reinforcement Fixed-ratio (FR) schedule Variable-ratio (VR) schedule Fixed-interval (FI) schedule Variable-interval (VI) schedule

Types of Intermittent Reinforcement

a. Fixed Ratio Schedule (FR)

Provides reinforcement following a fixed number of responses

Example: FR3-3 responses are required for reinforcement

b. Variable Ratio Schedule (VR)

Gives reinforcement only after making a certain number

of responses but that number varies unpredictably

Example: Lotto and/or Slot Machine

c. Fixed-Interval Schedule (FI) Gives reinforcement for the first response that occurs after some fixed time has passed since the last reward, regardless of how many responses have been made during the interval Example: Receiving a salary on fixed dates such as every 15th or 30th of each month d. Variable-Interval Schedule (VI) Provides reinforcement for the first response after some period of time, but the amount of time varies. Example: Additional points given to the students, when they kept quiet after some time the professor was out.

Use of Negative Reinforcement

a. Escape learning Increasing a particular behavior to end or escape from an aversive stimulus Example: Some students give more time for studies and improve their study habits to put an end to low grades
b. Avoidance Learning A warning stimulus signals an aversive stimulus and the organism learns to avoid it by emitting the appropriate response to the warning stimulus Example: Taking the other way when you see the person you hate approaching your way

Use of Punishment
Used to decrease the frequency of a behavior
Can be an effective means to eliminate undesirable

behavior (Scwartz, 1984)

To ensure its effectiveness:

Intense Immediate Alternative behavior must be positively reinforced

4. Social Learning Learning from the experiences of others Example: A girl always says thank you whenever she receives something because she observes this from her mother, who serves as her model Bandura came up with several processes of learning Vicarious conditioning Observational learning

Processes of Learning
a. Vicarious Conditioning Learning by seeing or hearing about the consequences of other peoples action Example: An IT student who has heard a batch mate being sent to the Office of Student Affairs for going to class drunk
b. Observational Learning Learning by watching what others are doing Model the person being watched.

 Requirements to determine whether

observational learning has occurred Attention Retention Ability to reproduce the behavior Motivation

5. Cognitive Learning Learning is not simply an automatic process Learning results from thinking and other mental processes All organisms, including animals are capable of thinking and this capacity must be considered in any explanation of learning In learning, the organism takes in information about its surroundings and attempts to use this information to adapt to its environment.

2 Phases of Complex Learning

Complex Learning (Wolfgang Kohler)

Intimately related to memory and thinking

a. Initial Phase

Problem solving to derive a solution

Solution is stored in memory and retrieved whenever a similar problem exists

b. Second Phase

 Behavioral Approach

Was first used by John B. Watson in the early 1910s. Later, B. F. Skinner expanded and popularized the behavioral approach Explains that events in the environment are understood to predict a persons behavior, not thoughts, feelings, or other events that take place inside the person

Cognitive Approach

Explains that learning involves complex mental processes, including memory, attention, language, concept formation, and problem solving

Factors that Influence Learning Ability

Age
Motivation Prior experience Intelligence Learning and Developmental Disorders

Memory
The ability to recover information about past events or knowledge. The ability to store information so that it can be used at a later time An organism's ability to store, retain, and subsequently retrieve information. Human memory can store information from any of our senses

Types of Memory
Episodic Memory

A memory of specific event that happened while you were present Contains generalized knowledge of the world that does not involve memory of a specific event Also called skill memory because it involves on how to do things Consists of a complicated sequence of movements that cannot be described adequately in words

Semantic Memory

Procedural Memory

Steps of Memory Storage

Encoding

Putting Information into memory. Storing Refers to how a system maintains or remembers information. Retrieving Getting the stored information out of memory Forgetting Inability to recall a particular piece of information accurately

 3 Causes of forgetting (Ebbinghaus, 1985)

Retrieval Failure Due to the inability to recall the information Decay Theory This suggests that if people do not use information stored in long term memory, it gradually fades until it is lost Interference theory Forgetting of information in long term memory is due to the influences of other learning

Interference can be: Retroactive Interference / Inhibition Learning new information hampers memory of older material

encounter material to be remembered encounter interfering material memory test for material to be remembered

Proactive Interference / Inhibition Already learned information hampers person's ability to remember new material

encounter interfering material encounter material to be remembered memory test for material to be remembered

Stages of Memory
Sensory Memory

First stage wherein the on information from the senses sight, sound or smell is held in the sensory register. Short-term Memory Allows one to recall something from several seconds to as long as a minute without rehearsal. Long-term Memory Can store much larger quantities of information for potentially unlimited duration (sometimes a whole life span).

Stages of Memory

Short Term Memory

6 reasons why information is stored in our short term

memory.
Primacy effect

The tendency to remember the first bit of information in a series due to increased rehearsal. The tendency to remember the last bit of information due to the shorter time available for forgetting. If something stands out from information around it, it is often remembered better. Any distinctive information is easier to remember than that which is similar, usual, or mundane.

Recency effect

Distinctiveness

Short Term Memory

Frequency effect

Rehearsal, as stated in the first example, results in better memory. Remember trying to memorize a formula for your math class. The more you went over it, the better you knew it. When we associate or attach information to other information it becomes easier to remember. Many of us use this strategy in our professions and everyday life in the form of acronyms.

Associations

Reconstruction

Tendency to fill in the gaps in our memory and often believe these represent true memories.

Improving your Memory

Metamemory

Refers to the knowledge about how ones own memory works 3 types of knowledge Metamemory includes the understanding of ones abilities and limitations Metamenory involves knowledge about different types of tasks. Metamemory involves knowledge of what types or strategies are most effective in remembering new information Rote rehearsal

Mnemonics (knee-monics)

Strategies for placing information in an organized context in order to remember it Incorporate visual and verbal forms of elaborative processing ensuring their effectiveness Devices

Rhyme, acronyms, acrostics and pegwords Loci Method Keyword Method Organization PQRST Method (Preview, Question, Read, Self-recitation, and Test Preview

Mental Processes
We form concepts when we try to understand symbols in

our environment We exercise critical thinking in order to organize the symbols into a meaningful whole When we modify and apply the concepts in problem solving or making plans, we engage in creative thinking Thinking about our thoughts and feelings, about our situations, our goals, and our capacities is mental process called metacognition It involves reflectionthinking about experiences and projectionthinking about our future Listening to intuitionthe creative side of thinking to maximize potentials

Mental Processes
Use of symbolic process by the brain

Ideation, the sequence of producing ideas concerned with the

solving of specific problems or incongruities in models of reality (Stratton and Haye, 1991) The deliberate exploration of experience for a purpose (De Bono, 1991) Purposeful manipulation of words and images. Forming concepts, solving problems, making decisions and being creative Thinking is a process by which a new mental representation is formed through transformation of information by complex interaction of the mental attributes of judging, abstracting, reasoning, imagining, and problem-solving (Solso, 1988)

Major Mental Process

1. Concept Formation
Refers to the discernment of properties common

to a class of objects or ideas a basis for other mental processes Concept Represents a category of objects, events, qualities or relations whose members share certain features Refer to objects such as books, etc..

 Kinds of Concepts

Logical Concepts This was form when we identify the specific features possessed by all the members Natural Concepts Concepts formed through everyday experiences

Principles of Concept Formation

A. Association Learning the basic concepts by observing the visual and sensory cues of objects and events Identifying the features that are common to them and form a definition of concepts from their common characteristic(s) Identifying and recognizing these concepts depending on our experiences and knowledge about them.

B. Critical Thinking Principled Thinking (Siegel, 1980) Done to assess the characteristics of the categories we just made Involves the correct assessing of statements using analysis and logic Serves as foundation for evaluation and decision-making Necessary for this skill to be developed

 C. Analysis Breakdown of the materials into its constituent parts and detection of the relationships of its parts of the way they are organized (Bloom, 1956) Tow or more items are compared and

contrasted Then relationship is established between or among the concepts

 Relationships

Semantic Relationship Involves similarities or differences Large-big; elderly-old (synonyms) Beginning-end; first-last (antonyms)

Symbolic Relationships Those that are comparable purely in terms of the symbols that make up their components, with no respect to their meanings Mom - dad; see - toe (same word configuration) ten - ago; amaze - blind (same number of letters)

Relationships Phonetic Relationship Pairs of word thats that sounds alike like homonyms, rhymes Sew - so; two to (homonyms) Grieve peeve; crime rhyme (rhymes)

Class Relationships Involves pairs that belong to the same classification Hair mammal; feather bird (one is the attribute of other) Cockatoo parrot; lovebirds budgerigar (all are of the same classification)

Relationships Functional Relationships Can be seen if one item changes into other or is used for the other foot football; hand volleyball (one acts on the other) Egg larva; baby child (one develops or changes into other)

Quantitative Relationships Are expressed as similarities or differences as to quantity, degree or number. 4 16; 8 64 (square roots and square) Meter yard; liter quart (length or quantity)
Pattern Relationship Those that possess similar figural attributes (size, shape, pattern color)

Higher Forms of Analytical Thinking

Distinguishing between relevant and irrelevant facts. Differentiating between fact and opinion. Deriving principles from examples Developing imaginary products. Writing compositions. Analyzing newspaper and magazine articles. Determining whether or not a set of statistical data is

relevant or properly used. Determining the notes to be taken and the organization or content in an outline.

 Logic or Logical Thinking Aristotle introduce a system of reasoning process

of validating arguments called syllogism has three parts: major and minor premises and a conclusion Example: Stress can cause illness. Linda suffers stress in her studies. Linda is sick. Therefore stress might be the cause of Lindas sickness

 A conclusion reached by means of syllogistic reasoning

is considered valid if the premises are true and the form is correct. Syllogistic reasoning may also differ between cultures because customs, religious practices, thinking and reasoning, level of intelligence and education affects one persons reasoning Inductive Reasoning Starts with specific information that leads to a generalization
Deductive Reasoning

Form a general statement, proceed to a situation,

and determine the application

 2. Problem solving Is the cognitive process through which information / concepts are used to reach a goal that is sometimes blocked by some kind of obstacle (Sdorow, 1980) Synonymous to synthesis which is putting

together the elements and parts so as to form a new whole (Bloom, 1956) Productive thinking (Guildford) Production of new information from a given information Consists of cognitive operations that follow a pattern

Steps in solving everyday problem Analyze the problem, its manifestations and its causes Decide what information and tools are needed Design solutions and alternatives Evaluate advantages and disadvantages of each possible solution Act on the chosen solution Monitor and evaluate every step and its effects Be creative and patient until problem is solved

Strategies in solving problems

Trial and Error
Trying one possible solution at a time until one

solution is chanced upon to solve the problem Using insight A solution based on previously learned concept and behavior Listening to ones gut feel or intuition Being sensitive and perceptive to ones feelings and thoughts about the factors and situations within the context of the problem.

 Using algorithms Algorithms are rules or formula that help solve problems Systematic patterns of reasoning that guarantee a correct solution in situations where there is multiplicity of possible actions Using heuristics Are general principles that allow a person to solve a problem by doing what is important or possible

at the moment They are mental shortcuts which depends on the availability of solutions

 Problem solving should be (Bransford and Stern, 1984) I D E A L Identify the problem Define and represent the problem Explore possible strategies Act on the chosen strategies Look back and evaluate the effect of your activities

 Creative Thinking Problem-solving challenges ones creative thinking The quality of the solution to a problem is an outcome of ones creative thinking
Saturation The problem solver defines the nature of the problem and gathers relevant information Deliberation The problem solver analyzes the information and designs possible solution considering the advantages and disadvantages Incubation The problem solver relaxes and allows the subconscious mind to work Illumination The problem solver gets a clear picture of what to do

Strategies
Use brainstorming to stimulate ideas
Use the delphi technique to make the best of the experiences of the people involved and to avoid the gut feel of one person overriding the gut feel of all the others Try lateral thinking (de Bono, 1979) Challenge anything that blocks the solution Persist and review the objectives while in the process

Strategies
Be imaginative and take risk in what is not ordinary
Ask help where you may Break the problem to make it easier to cope with Be open-minded, be flexible. Consider the devils advocate ideas Grow in knowledge by reading, listening to others, and involving yourself in different learning experiences

3. Metacognition Thinking about ones thinking. Taking time to think about ones thinking will make a difference in the expressions and outcomes of ones action. Thinking about ones thoughts that affect ones feelings and action may make the person realize the impact of his emotions on his behavior. Form of thinking in which an individual develops an awareness of his characteristics, attitudes, beliefs, and actions. It may be useful to observe your activities in everyday life.

 Executive Control
A person who has a realistic self-concept is able to make plans

for himself He is able to set short-term and long-term goals for his life He determines the strategies to achieve his goals and directs his efforts and resources to the achievement of the goals He controls his behavior to be able to solve problems affecting the realization of his goals Projective Thinking (de Bono, 1979) Form of thinking that encourages individuals to think for the future What one must develop and exercise is the kind of thinking that anticipates the future, the kind that goads us to act on what we project will be necessary for the futurefor ourselves and for others