Psychology true learning - Essay Example

Psychology Running head: PSYCHOLOGY Psychology in APA Style of College or Corporation)























Psychology 2



TO: (Reader's Name and Job Title)
FROM: (Your Nam and Job Title)
DATE: (Complete and Current Date)
SUBJECT: (What the memo is about, highlighted in some way)


In an effort to define learning and to address what exactly true learning is or is

not, we must examine the various types of learning. The types of learning that will be

discussed in this memo include classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and

observational learning and then compare them.
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
(2000) defines the word learning as "the act, process, or experience of gaining
knowledge or skill; knowledge or skill gained through schooling or study; behavioral
modification especially through experience or conditioning. True learning is to gain
something, particularly a skill or more knowledge, and to change one's behavior due to
experience or conditioning. The word conditioning, according to the Merriam-Webster
Online Dictionary (2005-2006), means to adapt, modify, or mold so as to conform to an
environing culture; to modify so that an act or response previously associated with one
stimulus becomes associated with another.
The opposite has to happen to achieve no learning. What would be considered as
NOT learning is the inability or unwillingness to gain more knowledge and skills and
not having the ability or willingness to change one's behavior due to past experience
and conditioning.
Conditional learning is learning via our reaction to the environment around us.
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Stimulants which we are used to cause us to react in a certain way and then they
become habits; therefore, conditioning us to react, think, behave, and do in a certain
way. The classic example of this is quoted in Introduction to Learning (n.d.), "In the
1890's Pavlov, a Russian physiologist, was observing the production of saliva by dogs
as they were fed when he noticed that saliva was also produced when the person who
fed them appeared (without food)But Pavlov carefully observed and measured one
small part of the process. He paired a sound, a tone, with feeding his dogs so that the
tone occurred several times right before and during the feeding. Soon the dogs salivated
to the tone, something like they did to the food (1 above). They had learned a new
connection: tone with food or tone with saliva response.
Braslau-Schneck (1998) states that operant conditioning "forms an association
between a behavior and a consequence. (It is also called response-stimulus or RS
conditioning because it forms an association between the animal's response [behavior]
and the stimulus that follows [consequence])." There are consequences to our
behaviours. With young children, like animals who do not have verbal skills, the
consequences must be immediate.
My own experience is with my nephew. I could never get him to keep his seatbelt
on no matter how hard I tried. The one day I decided to try something new. As I was
pulling out of the drive way, I gently tapped on the brake just enough to let shaken him
in his seat. He did not get hurt but was startled. Then I explained to him why it is
important to wear a seatbelt and if that were a real wreck or a sudden stop, how he
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could be severely hurt. He nodded his head and understood fully. I have never had to
ask him to keep his seatbelt on from that moment on.
Observational learning, or social learning theory, is learning by observing a model
and viewing the consequences and behavior of the model. The observer will watch a
model perform a talent or do a job and if the model receives a reward, or a good
consequence, the observer will most likely continue doing the same. If the model
receives punishment, or a bad consequence, most likely, the observer will not repeat
this course of action.
In summary, I believe that all three types of learning goes on and sometimes
simultaneously. I believe that observational learning happens automatically with
people, especially younger children. I also believe that observational learning in
combination with adult-assisted operant learning is the best route to take with
children. In reality, with every action comes a consequence, whether it is good or bad,
so we should teach them real life while they are young.




















References


Braslau-Schneck, S. (1998). An Animal Trainer's Introduction To Operant and Classical
Conditioning. Retrieved January 19, 2006, from

http://www.wagntrain.com/OC/#Operant

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
(2000). Houghton Mifflin Company. Retrieved January 19, 2006, from

http://dictionary.reference.com/searchq=learning.


Introduction to Learning (n.d.). Psychological Self Help (Chapter Four). Retrieved

January 19, 2006, from http://mentalhelp.net/psyhelp/chap4/chap4d.htm.

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary (2005-2006). Merriam-Webster, Inc. Retrieved
January 19, 2006, from http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/conditioning. Read More