Learning Theories and Role of Memory - Essay Example

? Learning Theories and Role of Memory Introduction Learning refers to the persistent change that is brought about in the performance of humans. It is a permanent change in the behaviors and knowledge level of an individual. Learning theories are the frameworks which are developed for describing how the information is absorbed, processed and retained at the time of learning by the individual. The six principal types of learning theories include behaviorism, cognitive theory, social learning theory, social constructivism, multiple intelligence theory and brain based learning. In the paper, the main focus has been on explaining the cognitive and behavioural theories. Along with this, there is comparison and contrast made between the two selected theories. Memory plays a pivotal role in making decisions since an individual is required to make a choice from the available alternatives. Marketers have to understand that memory has a significant role in the decision making process of the consumers. Marketing ploys are the skilled tactics which are used by marketers to raise awareness among the customers and also drive in more purchases of products and services for the company. It is generally a marketing trick which is used for attracting customers. The customers make use of memory to get information and clearly understand the marketing ploys and respond in an intelligent manner by opting for the best products. For explaining the concepts in an effective manner, examples have been used in the paper. Cognitive Learning Theory The basic focus underlying theory of cognitive learning explains the importance of brain as an incredible network for processing of information and interpretation of what people learn. It is the theory of learning that helps in explaining the behavior of people by understanding their thought processes (Leonard, 2002). The underlying assumptions provide that humans are logical and rational beings that make such decisions and choices that are rational according to them. The cognitive theory is categorized as social cognitive theory and cognitive behavioural theory. Cognitive behavioural theory is focused on the negative thoughts and behavior that is connected to a specific object, and these negative thoughts are replaced by rational and positive thoughts. On the other hand, social cognitive theory relates to the ways and methods through which individuals can learn to model the behavior of other people. This theory can be applied in an advertising campaign and peer pressure. The word cognitivism implies an unobservable and unnoticeable change in the mental knowledge of the people. This theory relies on the assumption that individuals are actively involved in the process of learning. The theory’s followers also believe that learning involves the development of mental associations which are not shown in the observable changes in the behavior of the people. Another general assumption of the theory states that knowledge is an organized form which is gained through the process of learning. This process involves relation and connection of new information with the previously accumulated information. Thus, this theory emphasizes how people think, how people understand and how people know. This perspective focuses on the fact that learning is undertaken by the process of transformation of information into knowledge which is already stored in the mind. Learning is said to take place when new knowledge is gained, and there occurs a modification in the existing knowledge that is already present in the human mind. This theory portrays a positive perspective of development and focuses on conscious thinking of individuals. It emphasizes the active construction of an individual that leads to the acquisition of knowledge and learning. Hence, this theory implies that different processes that lead to learning can be explained through the analysis of mental processes. With the help of effective process of the cognitive approach, learning can be easier that leading to the acquisition and storage of new information for a long period of time. Behavioral Learning Theories According to the behavioural theories, learning takes place based on experience and not reflexes. There are various approaches that are involved in the behavioural theory of learning. Firstly, this theory aims at breaking down the skills and information that is to be learned into smaller segments. Behavioural learning aims at those skills that will be used later. It focuses on breaking down the complicated tasks into simplified processes, an example of which may be learning for the purpose of reading (Leonard, 2002). This theory helps in the reflection of human personality. According to this theory, cultural and sub-cultural conditioning has an impact on shaping of behaviors and the personality of human beings. In terms of the behavioural theory of learning, human being has a determined life for himself, and he/she is the product of his cultures that prevails in his society. This theory is thus characterized as a deterministic approach to learning. The learning processes that are involved in behavioural learning are conditions, reinforcing through rewards and punishments, desensitization, modeling, and imitation. According to the behavioural theory, conditioning of a human being can take place in two forms. One involves operant conditioning, and the other is classical conditioning. Operant conditioning is characterized as instrumental conditioning in which the person is taught with the help of rewards and punishments in order to learn a particular behavior. With the help of this technique, an individual develops an association with the performance of a particular behavior and the resultant consequence of performing that behavior. Classical conditioning is another method of conditioning which enhances learning of particular behavior of an individual. This technique is used in the training of a particular behavior with the help of natural stimulus along with a response (Loumidis, 1997). This helps in developing learning in the human being with the help of natural stimulus. This theory of learning is based on the assumption that principles of learning are equally applicable to the different behaviors. It involves a change in the behavior of the person that is the result of events occurring in the environment. The objectivity and effectiveness of the learning process is achieved when learning takes place with a focus on stimuli and the responses. Therefore, it focuses on the fact that behavior changes in accordance with the change in response. Compare and Contrast Cognitive and Behavioural Learning Theories The cognitive and behavioural theories of learning have different concepts and meaning. According to the cognitive theory, learning takes place through mental representations while behavioural theory states that learning occurs through specific actions. The concept of behavioral learning states that the process of learning involves the formation of associations between specific actions of a person and the specific events that take place in the environment (Loumidis, 1997). These stimuli may either pave the way or follow the action and may act as an antecedent or consequence. According to behavioural concept, intervening variables are used to explain the behavior. On the other hand, cognitive theory explains learning to take place in mind and not in the behavior. It undertakes the formation of mental representations of the elements. Behavior is used to make inferences about mental states in accordance with the cognitive theory of learning. According to the behavioural concept, learning takes place by observing the behavior. This theory explains that people learn by associating certain events with related consequences and further behave in such a manner that is best suited in accordance with the consequences. Therefore, when events occur together, they become linked to each other and each event has the same response (Lefrancois, 2001). On the other hand, cognitive concept of learning says that humans have the capability of processing and organizing the information in their mind. Learning, according to this theory, is related to the thought processes of the mind of the people. The key difference is that behavioral theory focuses on the obvious behavior while the cognitive theory emphasizes on cognition or individual thought processes of the people. Behavioral theory explains that learning occurs when changes in the behavior are observed as it is the result of conditioning. The basis of conditioning relates to the fact that when a reward is given for certain positive behavior, it leads to the reinforcement of the positive behavior. Therefore, reinforcement is the basis of behavioural theory of learning. For the purpose of introducing a particular behavior, it is necessary to identify continuous reinforcement in every aspect of the expected behavior. In this theory, learning is broken down into small pieces in order to be successful. Cognitive learning assumes the fact that learning is an internal process in which information is incorporated into the intellectual structure of the individuals. Therefore, learning takes place through the internal processing of information (Lefrancois, 2001). This theory explains that presentation of new information is valuable for addressing the behavior of people. Every task of learning is practiced as a separate activity, and then they are combined into an integrated task. Thus, behavioural approach deals with continuous learning while cognitive theory of learning relates to learning in steps and instances. The similarities between both the behavioural and cognitive learning theories indicate that both the theories focus on learning of human behavior. Role of Memory in Consumer Decisions and Marketing Ploys Memory has a pivotal role to play in consumer decisions and marketing ploys. In order to elucidate in detail on this topic, it is beneficial to clarify the meaning of the terms that are involved; memory, essentially, refers to human intelligence, which is used for opting for the most rational decision. Consumer decisions refer to the decisions, which are taken by the customers regarding the selection and purchase of available alternatives. Marketing ploy means a scheme or cunning attempt which is undertaken by the marketers in order to achieve their desired goals of high profits (Lindstrom, 2009). In this section, the role played by memory in the context of consumer decisions and marketing ploys will be discussed. Marketers have recognized that memory has a prominent role to play in decision making process of the customers. This is because memory makes an impact on the perception of the individual and also affects the recall level of marketing information. Consumers make use of the information that is stored in their minds both intentionally and unintentionally for making the decision regarding what brand and flavor of product to buy. The ability which the consumer has to recall marketing brands makes an impact on the purchasing decision made by him. Since the consumer memory is structural and functional in nature, much of the information that is retained in memory is never attended to or in some cases is also forgotten (Lindstrom, 2009). Memory acts as a series of storage systems, which has differing functions and properties. In the memory, the information passes from sensory organs to sensory stores and moves to the short term memory. The consumer sees an advertisement and finds it lucrative. The intonation about the products is stored in the minds of the consumer. When a consumer goes for buying the product, at the time of taking the final decision about the product from the available alternatives, he/she compares the attributes of the product which he knows and attributes of products which are new in the market. On the basis of this comparison, he/she makes the final buying decision on the basis of features of the product. If the consumer does not make use of memory, he/she can come to the decision regarding selection of the better products from the available options (Lindstrom, 2009). The memory of an individual plays a decisive role since he/she is able to recall the brand and the product at the time of final purchasing. If the consumer is able to connect with the brand, there are higher chances that the individual might be able to recall the brand at the time of making the final decision regarding the purchase of products (Loudon, 2001). Feldmand and Lynch framework also supports that memory has a vital role in affecting the final consumer decision regarding the purchase of a product. They have explained that any input in the memory is used by consumers for making memory-based decisions. The authors have argued that decisions arise form an anchoring process wherein the inputs are sequentially retrieved with the consumers updating the existing information with each new input received (Loudon, 2001). For example, if a consumer already uses a brand of toothpaste and any changes or modifications in its features in done after seeing the advertisement of the product, there are high chances that the he/she will update his/her knowledge about the product which will lead to an expansion of the current knowledge level. The consumer may make use of memory for creating recognition with brand, recognition with attributes of the products, etc. Thus, it is clear that the role of memory is indispensable and is widely used at the time of decision making regarding the purchase of the products by the consumers. Marketing ploys are generally traps which are used to gain the attention of the consumers. These market tactics even try to cheat the consumers sometimes for increasing their personal gains. For example, the advertisements like a consumer can get fairness switching fifteen minutes of usage of fairness cream or weight loss with consumption of a medicine, etc. These are all marketing ploys which try to play with the emotions of the customers to increase the level of sales. Memory plays an imperative role in this context as it gives signals to not only work emotionally but rationally in order to take the final decision regarding the purchase of such products (Loudon, 2001). An example of reinforcement is when a child says to the mother what delicious cookies she makes; this is ploy undertaken by the child in order to motivate the mother to make cookies for him. Similarly, even the marketers make use of ploys in order to attract the customers towards their products. The role of memory is highly significant at this point. Thus, it is clear that memory has a vital and decisive role in consumer decisions and also helps the consumers in making rational decisions in the context of marketing ploys. Conclusion In the this paper, the main focus is on explaining the concept of learning theories and role of memory in taking final decision in the context of consumer decision and marketing ploys. The learning theories that have been discussed in detail include the cognitive and behavioral learning theories. In the paper, the underlying assumptions and basic highlights of the theory have been discussed in detail. Along with this, the paper includes a comparison between the two learning theories. On the basis of points highlighted, it can be concluded that the two learning theories have different assumptions and are developed on varied grounds, yet each of the theory has its own importance and relevance. Further, the paper has also covered the role of memory in consumer decisions and marketing ploys. It is clear that the information that is stored in the memory has played an important role in helping consumers in taking final decisions regarding the selected option of purchase from the available alternatives. The detailed discussion has helped in deriving the final conclusion that the consumer makes the use of memory and knowledge for taking the final decision regarding the products. Also, memory helps consumers think rationally and protect themselves from the marketing tactics and ploys of the marketers. References Lefrancois, G.R. (2001). Theories of Human Learning: What the Professor Said PSY 361 Learning Series. US: Cengage Learning. Leonard, D.C. (2002). Learning Theories: A to Z. NY: Greenwood Publishing Group. Lindstrom, M. (2009). Buyology: How everything we believe about why we buy is wrong. NY: Random House. Loudon. (2001). Consumer Behavior. US: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Loumidis, K. (1997). Cognitive-Behavior Therapy for People with Learning Disabilities. 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