Basic Psycology
Learning & Memory
1. Learning
Learning = relatively permanent change in behaviour due to experience
1. Learning • Definition implies learning takes place when there is change in behaviour • But changes in behaviour do not always mean learning has taken place • If we look at the definition the changes has to be permanent • This means it has to be long lasting as a result of experience • Most human behaviour is learned behaviour • We will discuss 3 types of learning: a) Associative learning = learning takes place by associating one event with another b) Cognitive learning = learning that involves thinking c) Social learning = refers to the way we acquire social behaviour
1.1.1 Associative learning ❖ If someone says: “I do not mind the heat, I’ve gotten used to it” - it means their body learned to adjust to the heat (has become conditioned) ❖ Conditioning = kind of learning that happens on an automatic level ❖ We do not deliberately learn a conditioned response ❖ It occurs because of a spontaneous or automatic association of one event or stimulus to another ❖ Key is te pairing of a association of a stimulus with a response
1. Classical conditioning ← Classical conditioning = refers to learning that takes place when response elicited by one stimulus is associated with a different stimulus that would not normally lead to that response ← Read about Pavlov’s experiment p. 153 ← Humans can also learn through classical conditioning (example p. 154) ← Elements of classical conditioning can be broken up as follows:
|ELEMENT |DESCRIPTION |EXAMPLE |
|Unconditioned stimulus |This is the stimulus that causes the subject to respond in a|The food is the unconditioned
1. Learning
Learning = relatively permanent change in behaviour due to experience
1. Learning • Definition implies learning takes place when there is change in behaviour • But changes in behaviour do not always mean learning has taken place • If we look at the definition the changes has to be permanent • This means it has to be long lasting as a result of experience • Most human behaviour is learned behaviour • We will discuss 3 types of learning: a) Associative learning = learning takes place by associating one event with another b) Cognitive learning = learning that involves thinking c) Social learning = refers to the way we acquire social behaviour
1.1.1 Associative learning ❖ If someone says: “I do not mind the heat, I’ve gotten used to it” - it means their body learned to adjust to the heat (has become conditioned) ❖ Conditioning = kind of learning that happens on an automatic level ❖ We do not deliberately learn a conditioned response ❖ It occurs because of a spontaneous or automatic association of one event or stimulus to another ❖ Key is te pairing of a association of a stimulus with a response
1. Classical conditioning ← Classical conditioning = refers to learning that takes place when response elicited by one stimulus is associated with a different stimulus that would not normally lead to that response ← Read about Pavlov’s experiment p. 153 ← Humans can also learn through classical conditioning (example p. 154) ← Elements of classical conditioning can be broken up as follows:
|ELEMENT |DESCRIPTION |EXAMPLE |
|Unconditioned stimulus |This is the stimulus that causes the subject to respond in a|The food is the unconditioned