Conditioning and Habit in Learning - Research Paper Example

? Conditioning and Habit: A Research Paper Linnan Zhu April 9, Learning is a change in behavior that results from the learner’s interaction with the environment. There are many intricacies involved in the learning process like linking of the new and the old knowledge base, making mental representations and thus helping to make sense of the world. This is basically known as conditioning which are of three types- Classical conditioning, Operant conditioning and observational learning. The things we learn in them and how we learn are totally different with respect to the different conditioning patterns. The responses that come up if practiced elaborately lead to habits which become subconscious responses elicited by an individual. There are many instances in our life where in we acquire so many new things. These experiences form a very important part of us and also determine to a very large extent how we analyze and assimilate the new information with the existing knowledge base that we have. Examples of such instances are a child learning a new language with a help of his grandmother, or perhaps a girl who has just started to ride on a two wheeled bicycle. Another example could be that students reacting with a particular response in presence of authority. All these instances tell us that we “learn” certain things and hence we acquire the knowledge that is coming our way to benefit us in the present or in the coming future. Michael and Modell (2003) define learning in their book Active Learning in Secondary and College Science Classrooms: A Working Model for Helping the Learner to Learn as a change in behavior that results from the learner’s interaction with the environment. There are some important things that have to be understood when we talk about learning. These form the basis for a concrete understanding about the concept at hand. All kinds of learning happen on the basis of the foundation made by already acquired skills and concepts. Whatever we come across, we take in the information as a raw data and then we incorporate the data into the concepts of the innate knowledge base that we have and learn new things. We can also illustrate another fact from the aforementioned premise that if the prior knowledge base is faulty, the acquisition and assimilation of the new concepts and schemata will be compromised. This leads to learning of information that is not accurate and taking into consideration all the aspects interplaying between the stimulus and the response (Fox, 2005). Of all the things we learn, we divide the whole information into two definitive parts. These parts can be understood in terms of “what” we learn and “how” we learn. The process of acquiring both these concepts is also different. An example to illustrate this can be a preparation of Thai cuisine recipe. In this example, we note that there is a set particular group of ingredients to be used for the recipe to taste as it really should and it also entails a set particular way to make the dish. We need to learn the ingredients as well the way to go about mixing them together, differently in order to truly do justice to the cuisine at hand. The “what” of the learning phenomena is termed as declarative learning and the “how” are termed as procedural learning. Acquiring declarative knowledge entails a sound building of mental representations or models. These models form the crux for knowing the exact constitution of the things that make up a task and hence guides us with the way to perform the task in an effective manner. The manner with which the task is to accomplished has to be learned in standard way. This standard way is exactly the way which is reliable and valid. Therefore, to acquire such a standard process, practice is very important. This practice should be coupled with timely and appropriate feedback. By feedback, we actually mean that an appropriate response should be accompanied with every action that we perform (Jarvis, 2005). If the response is painful or aversive we tend to forget the actions that yielded them and if on the other hand the responses are positive and rewarding, we tend to learn the preceding actions. We should also understand that learning can be accurate only when it’s accompanied with practice. If the new information is not rehearsed in elaboration, it will not reach the innate knowledge framework within the individual and hence will not be recovered in the near future or when the information has to be put to use. The human’s mental faculties need elaborative rehearsals of the new information so that the acquisition becomes permanent and impromptu in later stages. The storage of the information and the ability to use the knowledge are termed as meaningful learning. This is facilitated by making connections and links between the already acquired information and the new concepts that are coming our way. These old knowledge structures act a base on which the new knowledge is imbibed. The process through which new information is fitted inside the already acquired knowledge base is called accommodation and then after fitting in, the usage happens only after the both the old and the new have been integrated. Thus, effective learning takes place. This is called assimilation. Accommodation and assimilation lead to an effective recall. As we have already discussed before, meaningful learning entails not just the retention of facts but also their effective usage at a later stage in some near future. This is emancipated even more by the ability to construct multiple representations of the new knowledge. The way we perceive information has a lot to do with how we use it afterwards and how we interlink it with other important premises of human existence. The better we perceive, the better are the chances of learning. The way we acquire knowledge is also a very important part of effective learning. Some people prefer to study alone while others prefer to grope the concepts while they are in the vicinity of other people. The latter type of learning that is the collaborative or cooperative learning is better than the individual effort. Because of the consideration we have for other people and a tendency to prevent judgments, we genuinely try to learn more and hence each individual’s effort increases and which in turn increases the level of individual learning. The consideration that we have that people will judge us leads to articulation of explanations to others or one’s own self. This facilitates learning and provide with results that are even more accurate and useable in the longer run. In sum we can internalize the premise that knowledge is a construct that is built by the learner using various internal cognitive processes acting on the stimuli from the environment. This leads to a formation of a “model” of the “real world” which is known as mental representation. This representation of the perception of how we identify and internalize with the world leads to effective problem solving. As the perceptions of humans are involved, it makes the representations subjective or ill defined. Nevertheless, with life’s experiences, our mental representations are also modified and refined. By reading all the aforementioned text we come to a standpoint that the learners’ mind is tabula rasa (blank slate) to start with but with repeated associations and pairings, the blank slate is etched by the efforts of the learner and also by varied experiences. The authority and academia also have a large role to play to make a particular response innate. This is termed as Conditioning and Habit. Conditioning can be majorly of three types- Instrumental conditioning, Operant conditioning and Observational learning. Classical conditioning is a simple form of learning in which an organism comes to associate or anticipate events. A neutral stimulus comes to evoke the response usually evoked by other stimulus by being paired repeatedly with the other stimulus. Cognitive theorists view classical conditioning as the learning of relationships among events so as to allow an organism to represent the environment (Rathus, 2010). In operant conditioning, organisms learn to do things- or not to do things- because of the consequences of their behavior. Classical conditioning focuses on how organisms form anticipations about their environments (Rathus, 2010). Operant conditioning focuses on what they do about them. In Observational learning we observe other important people and imitate their behavior. These repeated imitations with time are imbibed in an individual’s behavior and hence becomes a habit. Cognitive psychologists note that people usually do not learn complex skills on the basis of summation of so many instances of conditioning. Rather, we can intend to learn, focus on models, and imitate and adapt the behavior we observe (Rathus, 2010). The major things that are learned and how they are learned in various types of conditioning are different for each of them. In classical conditioning whose main propounders were Ivan Pavlov and John B. Watson, associations of events, anticipations, signs, expectations and automatic responses to new stimuli are learned. A neutral stimulus is repeatedly paired with a stimulus that elicits a response until the neutral stimulus produces a response that anticipates and prepares for the unconditioned stimulus. At this point, the neutral stimulus has become a conditioned stimulus. In operant conditioning which was given by B.F.Skinner, we learn behaviors that operate on or affect the environment to produce consequences. A response is rewarded or reinforced so that it occurs with greater frequency in similar situations. The major proponent for observational learning was Albert Bandura. He emphasized that we learn expectations (if – then relationships), knowledge and skills by observing the behavior of another person (live, or through media) and its effects (Coon and Mitterer, 2008). All the above mentioned facts guide us to a last definitive term called Habit. It’s imbibing the responses that are a result of repeated number of pairings, expectancies or imitations which become innate with regular practice and appropriate feedback. Hence, habits are routines of behaviors that are repeated regularly and tend to occur subconsciously. References 1. Michael, J.A. Modell, H.I. (2003) Active Learning in Secondary and College Science Classrooms; A Working Model for Helping the Learner to Learn. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers. 2. Rathus, S.A. (2010) Psychology: Brief Concepts and Connections. Wordsworth, Belmont, United States of America. 3. Fox, R. (2005) Teaching and Learning: Lessons from Psychology. Blackwell Publishing, United Kingdom. 4. Jarvis, M. (2005). The Psychology of Effective Learning and Teaching. Neison Thorns limited, United Kingdom 5. Coon, D. Mitterer, J.O. (2008). Psychology: Modules for Active Learning. Wordsworth, Belmont, United States of America. Read More