Learned behavior is acquired through experiences rather than being innate, with a distinction made between cognitive learning, which is flexible and requires conscious effort, and habitual learning, which is inflexible and formed through conditioning. Various types of learning are influenced by consciousness, perspective, and environmental interaction, with implications for understanding phobias, mental disorders, and aggression. The document highlights the complexity of learned behaviors and their resistance to change, particularly under stress or punishment.

1. Types of Learned Behavior and Why Some Are So Hard to Change
What is a learned behavior?
Learned behavior is one that is not innate, instinctive or “canalized”
but rather is acquired through practice or a specific experience with an
external event.
Scientists and psychologists believe that the human ability to learn is an
evolutionary adaptation that allows us to adjust to changing environments
on a short-term basis.
Learned behavior vs innate behavior
In the past, animal behaviors were studied and theorized without taking into
account the knowledge of the nervous system development and structure1.
Under the traditional view, innate behavior is programmed by genes, and
learned behavior is a more recent development that is much more complex,
and costly in terms of genetic code2.
This innate vs. learned behavior distinction in human beings has been
extensively discredited in recent years (although psychology textbooks may
not mention this).
Scientists no longer separate them into two distinct categories of behavior.
Rather, behavior varies from being independent of learning to being highly
dependent on it3.
Innate behaviors, or instinctive learning, are canalized, meaning that they
do not rely as heavily on learning, whereas learned behaviors are primarily
the result of previous experience.
Since learning is a fundamental property of all central nervous
systems, learned behavior does not require more neurons, more DNA,
or is more costly genetically than strongly canalized behavior4.
Types of learned behavior based on cognition
Learning can be categorized in many different ways. Here, we will look
at the types of learning controlled by different systems inside the
human brain.
Learned behavior can be controlled by reflective or reflexive systems.
These systems result in two types of learning behaviors – cognitive
learning and habitual learning.

2. Cognitive learning
Cognitive learning involves deliberate evaluation of the environment to
reflectively acquire a skilled behavior. It uses the relationship between
multiple cues in the environment to build a cognitive map.
This type of learning is flexible, but requires more cognitive resources
because it uses complex strategies to build an internal model of the
environment that allows planning of future actions.
When a child first learns to ride a bicycle, they must pay close attention to
their bodies and coordinate their foot and arm movements to stay balanced.
The bikers must consciously adjust their body balancing strategies as the
road condition changes or as they approach a turn to prevent them from
falling.
Learning to ride a bike is a good example of cognitive learning.
Habitual learning
Habitual learning is formed through a learning process called
conditioning.
When an action is repeatedly paired with an outcome, habituation
forms. A habitual type of behavior can form in two different types of
conditioning process.
If the particular behavior is voluntary, i.e. the person can control it, the
learning is called operant conditioning or instrumental conditioning.
Operant conditioning, proposed by psychologist B.F. Skinner, creates
associated learning by pairing a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned
stimulus to cause a voluntary response.
If the action is an involuntary behavioral response, then the process is
called classical conditioning. Discovered by Russian physiologist Ivan
Pavlov, classical conditioning associates a neutral stimulus with an
unconditioned response to cause an instinctive response involuntarily.
Habitual form of learning resulting from conditioning, operant or classical,
is inflexible. It uses rigid strategies driven by past experiences5.
Through regular practice, a child can habituate the act of riding a bike and
do it reflexively without having to think much about it.
Types of learning based on consciousness
Conscious learning
Conscious learning is explicit knowledge acquisition. The learner knows that
they are receiving and incorporating new information.

3. Paying attention to a lecture and absorbing new information is an example
of conscious learning.
Unconscious learning
Unconscious learning is implicit knowledge acquisition. The learner may not
be aware that they are acquiring and retaining new knowledge in their
memories6.
Unconscious form of learning occurs when a child watches their parents
swear and does not realize that they have learned it.
Types of learning based on perspective
Individual learning (Enactive learning)
Individual learning involves direct interaction with the environment to
experience the difference between predicted outcomes and actual outcomes.
Individuals must understand through their own actions and outcomes (trial
and error)7.
Individual learning occurs when a toddler interacts with a new toy she’s
never seen before. She needs to touch different parts and push the various
buttons to find out how it responds.
Observational learning
Observational learning does not require direct interaction. People acquire
new knowledge from watching others’ observable behavior. This type of
learning involves imitation8 and social learning9.
In sports, motor skill learning occurs through observation. The instructors
teach by demonstrating and the learners copy what they observe10.
Learning and the brain
Understanding how the brain interacts with the learning process can shed
light on many facets of human’s unhealthy behavior.
Phobia and anxiety disorders
In fear conditioning, neutral environmental stimuli are linked to aversive
outcomes to form unconscious learning.
Psychologist John Watson conducted an infamous experiment to illustrate
this type of associated learning. In the experiment, each time little Albert
was shown a white rat, he was startled by a loud noise. With time, the baby
learned to fear the sound and wanted to avoid it11. The learning was
habitual and unconscious.

4. Fear conditioning is thought to be the basis for many types of phobia and
anxiety disorders in humans12.
Mental disorders
Stress can shift the cognitive type of human behavior toward the habitual
type13.
During threatening situations, this shift conserves cognitive resources and
prevents hesitations or delays in decision-making, which makes it a highly
adaptive trait. However, it sacrifices flexibility and cognitive capability14.
Since repetition can also turn a learned behavior into a habit, chronic
stress, especially during critical periods of brain development, can result in
this shift even when one is not under any immediate danger15.
Inability to switch off habitual responses triggered by stress plays an
important role in mental disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD) and relapse into addiction or obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD)16
.
Childhood aggression and adult criminality
Children can develop aggressive behavior in a variety of ways. According to
social learning theory, an early exposure to aggression is one of the most
common ways a child learns to act antagonistically.
Through such experiences, a child may unconsciously acquire aggressive
scripts through both individual and observational learning. These scripts
encourage aggression in the child and guide their social behavior later in
life.
Aggressive responses may be triggered by environmental cues and become
habitual if repeated often enough. Unless dampened, this cumulative
learning process can lead to persistent aggressive behavior in adulthood17.
Resistance to punishment
Stress can shift children’s learning strategy from cognitive to habitual and
inflexible. This may contribute to why punishment-based discipline rarely
works.
Stress caused by punishment can make children’s behavioral approaches
habitual, inflexible, and difficult to change.