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. Psychology 3 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 Psychology 4 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.