The Causes and Effects of Students Having a Part-Time Job While They Study
CHAPTER 7 (LEARNING)
When psychologists talk about learning, they are referring to a relatively permanent change in knowledge or behavior that comes about as a result of experience. Experience is necessary for us to speak, read, write, add and subtract, ride a bicycle, or know how to charm a romantic partner. Regardless of your specific area of study, they all incorporate the concept of learning. Often what we learn makes us happier, healthier, and more successful; sometimes it does not. The beauty of adaptation by learning is that it is flexible. This means that each of us can learn to behave in ways that benefit rather than harm ourselves and others. The question is: how does this learning take place?
We will focus on four types of learning – habituation, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning. What is common among all these types of learning is that they work under the principle of learning by association.
The simplest form of learning is habituation – a tendency to become familiar with a stimulus merely as a result of repeated exposure. The first time it happens, a sudden loud noise or a blast of cold air has a startling effect on us and triggers an ‘orienting reflex’. Among humans, the eyes widen, the eyebrows rise, muscles tighten, the heart beats faster, and brain-wave patterns indicate a heightened level of physiological arousal. On the second and third exposures to the stimulus, the effect is weakened. Then as we become acclimated or ‘habituated’ to the stimulus, the novelty wears off, the startle reaction disappears, and boredom sets in.
Habituation is a primitive form of learning and is found among mammals, birds, fish, insects, and all other organisms. For example, sea snails reflexively withdraw their gills at the slightest touch. Then after repeated tactile stimulation, the response disappears. Animals may also habituate to objects that naturally evoke fear after repeated and harmless exposures.
When psychologists talk about learning, they are referring to a relatively permanent change in knowledge or behavior that comes about as a result of experience. Experience is necessary for us to speak, read, write, add and subtract, ride a bicycle, or know how to charm a romantic partner. Regardless of your specific area of study, they all incorporate the concept of learning. Often what we learn makes us happier, healthier, and more successful; sometimes it does not. The beauty of adaptation by learning is that it is flexible. This means that each of us can learn to behave in ways that benefit rather than harm ourselves and others. The question is: how does this learning take place?
We will focus on four types of learning – habituation, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning. What is common among all these types of learning is that they work under the principle of learning by association.
The simplest form of learning is habituation – a tendency to become familiar with a stimulus merely as a result of repeated exposure. The first time it happens, a sudden loud noise or a blast of cold air has a startling effect on us and triggers an ‘orienting reflex’. Among humans, the eyes widen, the eyebrows rise, muscles tighten, the heart beats faster, and brain-wave patterns indicate a heightened level of physiological arousal. On the second and third exposures to the stimulus, the effect is weakened. Then as we become acclimated or ‘habituated’ to the stimulus, the novelty wears off, the startle reaction disappears, and boredom sets in.
Habituation is a primitive form of learning and is found among mammals, birds, fish, insects, and all other organisms. For example, sea snails reflexively withdraw their gills at the slightest touch. Then after repeated tactile stimulation, the response disappears. Animals may also habituate to objects that naturally evoke fear after repeated and harmless exposures.