Learning

The Elephant Rope
A man was walking nearby to a group of elephants that was
halted by a small rope tied to their front leg. He was amazed by
the fact that the huge elephants are not even making an attempt
to break the rope and set themselves free.

He saw an elephant trainer standing beside them and he
expressed his puzzled state of mind. The trainer said “when they
are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie
them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them.
As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they
cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so
they never try to break free.”

Moral: It is the false belief of the elephants that denied their
freedom for life time. Likewise, many people are not trying to
work towards success in their life just because they failed once
before. So keep on trying and don’t get tied up with some false
beliefs of failure.

Let go of your stresses
A psychology professor entered the classroom with half a
glass of water in his hand. The students expected the old
common question “was it half empty or half full?” But to the
surprise, he asked them “How heavy is this glass of water?”

The answers given by the students ranged from 7 oz. To 25
oz. But the professor replied that the actual weight of the glass
with water doesn’t always matter but how long you hold the glass
is what matters.
If you hold the glass for a minute, you won’t feel much
weight. But if you hold for 10 minutes, you will feel a little more
weight and it gets heavier for you with hours.

If you hold it for the entire day, then your hands
would go numb and pain. Similar is the case when you carry
stress with you. If you think about it for a while and leave it,
then there is no problem but if you think about it for hours, it
starts becoming a problem and it becomes worse if you sleep
with it.

Moral: You should learn to let go of your stresses and
never sleep with it. If you can do something about it, just
do it. In the other case, just leave it and work towards your
goals or else it just kills your productivity.

MRS. U SREEVIDYA
MSC (N)
LEARNING

Some students will have a drive from inside to learn
new things and explore new ideas while some others
look into successful persons around them and get self-
motivated to learn hard.
However, this is not the case for all students and many
of them will need immense motivation and inspiration
from teachers and parents to work hard.

CONTENTS
 INTRODUCTION
 MEANING
 DEFINITIONS
 NATURE AND
CHARACTERISTICS
 PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING
 LEARNING PROCESS
 FACTORS INFLUENCING LEARNING
 TYPES OF LEARNING
 DOMAINS OF LEARNING
 LAWS OF LEARNING
 THEORIES OF LEARNING
 TRANSFER LEARNING

Introduction
 One of the most important characteristics of
human beings is their capacity to learn.
 An individual starts learning immediately after his
birth.
 Our personality, our habits, skills, knowledge,
attitude and interest is largely the result of
learning.

 All our adaptive as well as maladaptive, and
cognitive as well as affective behavior
formed by learning process.
 These are the vital important in helping
the individual to adapt to his
environment.

Meaning of Learning
• The process of acquiring the ability to respond adequately to a
situation which may or may not have been previously
encountered.
• It is relatively permanent change in behaviour as a result of
prior experiences.
• It is an important psychological process determining human
behaviour.
• It is a continuous process and it occurs all the time.

Definitions
 Thus, learning could be defined as the sum of behavioural
changes resulting from experience at training.
 The term learning covers every modification in behavior to
meet environmental requirements.
(OR)
 Learning is the acquisition of habits, knowledge and attitudes. It
involves new way of doing things and it operates on an
individual’s attempt to overcome the obstacles or to adjust the
new situations. It represent progressive changes in behavior.

Definitions
 E.R. Hilgard: “Learning is a relatively permanent change in
behaviour that occurs as a result of prior experience.”
 W. McGehee: Learning has taken place if an individual behaves,
reacts, responds as a result of experience in a manner different
from the way he formerly behaved.”
 Sanford: “Learning as a relatively enduring change in
behaviour brought about as a consequence of experience.”
 Martya Sloman: “Learning is the process by which a person
constructs his skills and capabilities.”

 Learning is a process.
 It involves all those experiences and training of an
individual which helps to change his behavior.
 It is the result of experience
 It is an active process
 It involves a change
 Learning is reflected in behaviour.
Nature and Characteristics of Learning

 Learning is transferable from one situation to another.
 Learning helps in attainment of teaching – learning objectives.
 Learning helps in the proper growth and development.
 Learning helps in the balanced development of the personality.
 Learning helps in proper adjustment.

• Learning prepares the individual to adjust and adopt in the
situations.
 All the learning is purposeful and goal-oriented.
 Learning is universal and continuous.
 It is a continuous and never-ending process that goes from
womb to tomb.

PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING
5. Two-way communication
6. Feedback
7. Active Learning
8. Multi-sense Learning
9. Exercise
1. Recency
2. Appropriateness
3. Motivation
4. Primacy

1.Recency
• Accoring to the priciple of recency the contents that the trainee
learns at the end of the session are best remembered.
• The principle is applicable to two ares of learning that
are-
– It applies to the content at the end of the session
– It applies to the things that are, the freshest in the trainee’s
mind

• Implication on Trainer
– The trainer has to provide brief recaps of the
content throught the session.
– Has to keep emphasising the key messages
regularly throughout the session.
– Must build review sessions into his presentaions
that the learning content is retained by the
trainees.

2.Appropriateness
• All the training content, materials, learning resources must be
relevant to the training and trainees learning needs.
• It is also related to the verbal presentation.
• Inorder to create appropriate learning content the trainer must
assess the learnig need of the trainee and design the content &
materials.
• Trainer also need to assess the learning style of trainees, so
that he can design material according to their learning style

3.Motivation
• Learning will occur only if the trainees want to learn, are
ready to learn, and have a reason to learn.
• Trainees who have a reason to learn and are ready to learn are
trainees who are motivated to learn, such trainees succeed in
learning.
• It is the duty of the trainer to motivate the learner by
creating an appropriate learning climate, by pointing out
the virtues of the particular programme and by catering
their learnig needs.

4.Primacy
• The contents which the trainees learn first, are learnt best.
• Recency points out that the last content is best remembered while
primacy says the first is learnt best.
• In other words the opening and closing of the session are the most
crucial part of a training session.
• If the end can be used for a recap, the beginning can be used for
an overview.

5. Two-way Communication
• In a training situation, communication must be two way for
learning to be effective.
• Learning must be interactive and the delivery of the trainer
must not be a monologue.
• The session must be participative and the trainer must allow
the trainees to interact during the session.
• Learning success entirely depends on the communication of
training content.

6. Feedback
• Both the trainees and trainers need to exchange information with
each other.
• The trainees should know their learning progress and the trainer
should know whether they are able to follow his presentation of
the content.
• Feedback also serve as a learning reinforcement
• It can be in the form of positive or negative
• Positive feedback assures the trainee of his learning progress
while negative feedback allows the trainees to know his
shortcomings.

• The following factors must be considered for
effective feedback :-
– Frequent test must be conducted for giving feedback
– Trainees must be provided performance feedback
immediately, only then will the feedback have any effect.
– Trainer must use random in-session question to assess the
impact of his presentation.
– Appropriate behaviour or correct responses must be
acknowledged.
– Training sessions must be planned in such a manner that
reinforcement strategies are built into it.

7. Active Learning
• For effective learning the trainees must be
actively involved in the learning process.
• They learn more by doing rather than hearing or seeing.
Eg: Resume writing.
• Active learning allows, to keep the trainees involved
throughtout the session.

8. Multi-sense Learning
• It involves the use of training techniques and aids which will
appeal to multiple sensory organs at the same time.
• The aim is to cater to different learning styles of the learner
and to increase the attention span of the learner.

9. Exercise
• It is also known as Overlearning or Meaningful Repetition states
that for the better retention of learning content, it should be
repeated.
• Research points out that trainees forgot one- third of what they
have learned in 6 hrs, one- third of what they have learned in 24
hrs, around 90% of what they have learned within six weeks.
• The only solution for this is to make the trainees exercise or
repeat the key information regularly, so that they retain it for a
long time.

Learning Process
Learning process is a mental and habit formation process.
1. Attention
2. Orientation
3. Stimuli
4. Presentation
5. Guidance
6. Practice
7. Feedback
8. Assessment
9. Retention & Transfer

According to educational psychologist Robert Gagne, the
process of learning involves nine key events-
1. Gain attention-
We need to prepare learners by giving them reasons to learn
the subject at hand.
Self-interest can be created or point out the importance of the
knowledge and skills to be acquired.

2. Orient the learner-
Learners can learn best when they see at the big picture
before going into the details.
Providing a list of learning objectives and the requirements
for successful learning helps learners orient themselves and
gauge the amount of effort required to succeed.

3. Stimulate recall of prior learning-
It helps the learners to learn something new if they can
relate it to something already know or have experienced in the
past.
It's a good idea to ask learners about their past experiences
and to use analogies to relate new content to familiar
knowledge.

4. Present content material-
Presentation is the most obvious process of instruction,
although it is often done through passive lecture, which leads to
forgetfulness.
An effective organization should organize the knowledge
into meaningful bites that working memory can process.
It is also helpful to use multimedia to engage the senses and
to engage learners in discussion and Q&A to deepen their
understanding.

5. Provide learner guidance-
Make the learning process simpler at first by providing
instructional support and models. Use case studies and examples to
illustrate the application of knowledge.
6. Elicit performance practice-
Help learners internalize new knowledge and skills through
relevant practice.

7. Provide informative feedback-
To facilitate learning, provide feedback on the practice
activities that learners engage in.
Two types of feedback are important: confirmatory
feedback that reinforces what learners did right, and corrective
feedback that points out mistakes and ways to correct them.

8. Assess performance-
To measure newly gained knowledge and skills and
evaluate the effectiveness of the instruction, assessment should be
included, based on the learning objectives.
This can be done through traditional written exams or
through performance-based assessment of the learner or a product
the learner has produced.

9. Enhance retention and transfer-
Learning does not become performance unless applied on
the job.
To encourage skill transfer, provide job aids and
reference materials that are accessible to learners on the job and
encourage supervisors and experienced employees to continue
skill building through coaching and mentoring.

LEARNING PROCESS according to
HP Smith
 Learning process is carried over through
various steps according to HP Smith.
 A motive or drive
 An attractive goal
 And a block to the attainment of the goal.

 Motive :
 Motive are the dynamic force that compel the
individual to act.
 The direction of the motive depends upon the
relative strength of motives.
 Unsatisfied motives or needs compel the
individual to satisfy them, which initiate the
learners to learn something.

 An attractive goal:
 For the satisfaction of the needs the individual sets
definite goals
for achievement.
 The setting of the goal helps in making the learning
purposeful and interesting.

 A block to the attainment of the goal:
○ If the individual faces no difficulty in attending the goal,
he will not change his present behavior, this means there
is no necessity to learn.
○ If block or barrier obstruct the individual to reach a
goal then the individual will try to change his behavior.
○ Means something to change his behavior to reach goal.

Learning process in different steps
 Perception learning:
 Sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch are considered as the
five gateway of knowledge. All the knowledge is based on
the sense of perception.
 Conceptual learning:
 The learning implies that the individual start to think in
an abstract terms.

 Association learning:
 The individual has some mental pictures of his previous
observations. He try to link up his new association with
his previous mental picture and he learns.
 Appreciation learning:
 The feeling make the individual to learn more.
 Attitudinal learning:
 These attitudes confirmed as the individual acquires
more and more knowledge.

Factors influencing learning
 Learning is a process of bringing relatively permanent
changes in behavior of the learner through the experience.
 Learning process is centered on three elements.
 Factors related to the learners.
 Factors related to the teachers
 Factors related to the environment and content.

Factors related to the learners
 Learner’s physical health
 Learners mental health
 Basic potential of the
learner
 The level of motivation
 Goal of life
 Readiness and will power
 Maturation
 Age
 Emotions

Factors related to the Teachers–
 mastery over the subject matter, Art and skill teaching
 Personality traits and behaviour of the teacher
 Level of adjustment and mental health of the teacher
 Type of discipline and interaction maintained by the teacher

1. Mastery over the subject matter: A teacher should know the
art and skill of teaching so that the students are able to realize
the stipulated teaching-learning objective in a particular
teaching-learning situation.
He may know his subject well and has specific teaching
skills, art.
The proficiency and deficiency possessed by a teacher in
this regard are quite responsible for turning the teaching-
learning process into a big success or a failure.

2. Personality traits and behaviour of the teacher: A teacher as a
leader has to lead his students in the teaching-learning process
through the magnetic influence and incredible impression left on the
minds of the students.
He is a role model for his students.
His actions, behaviour pattern and personality traits carry a
great meaning to his students for being imitated and brought into
practice.
Any teaching-learning act is very much influenced by the
types of personality traits and behaviour pattern demonstrated by
the teacher in his action and behaviour in the classroom and work
situations.

3. Level of adjustment and mental health of the teacher:
How adjusted a teacher feels in his personal and professional life
and the state and level of mental health maintained by the teacher carries
much weight in influencing his behaviour and effectiveness needed for the
effective control and management of the teaching-learning process.
4. Type of discipline and interaction maintained by the teacher: A
teacher who is a good disciplinarian (democratic and persuasive) and
believe in providing due interactive roles to his students in the teaching-
learning process brings more positive and belter teaching-learning outcomes
in comparison to the teachers who arc poor in terms of maintaining
discipline (autocratic or lethargic) and arc in the habit of providing
unidirectional flow of communication by discouraging any initiative and
interaction from his students.

Factors related to the
Environment & Content-
 Nature and Selection of the contents or learning experience
 Organisation of the contents or learning experience

Types of learning
1. Motor learning:
Most of our activities in our day-to-days life refer to
motor activities.
The individual has to learn them in order to maintain
his regular life, for example walking, running, skating,
driving, climbing, etc. All these activities involve the
muscular coordination.

2. Verbal learning:
This type of learning involves the language we
speak, the communication devices we use.
Signs, pictures, symbols, words, figures, sounds,
etc, are the tools used in such activities. We use words for
communication.

3. Concept learning:
It is the form of learning which requires higher order mental
processes like thinking, reasoning, intelligence, etc.
we learn different concepts from childhood. For example,
when we see a dog and attach the term ‘dog’, we learn that the word
dog refers to a particular animal.
Concept learning involves two processes, viz. abstraction
and generalisation. This learning is very useful in recognising,
identifying things.

4. Discriminationlearning:
Learning to differentiate between stimuli and
showing an appropriate response to these stimuli is called
discrimination learning.
Example, sound horns of different vehicles like bus,
car, ambulance, etc.

5. Learning of principles:
 Individuals learn certain principles related to science,
mathematics, grammar, etc. in order to manage their work
effectively.
 These principles always show the relationship between two
or more concepts. Example: formulae, laws, associations,
correlations, etc.

6. Problem solving:
This is a higher order learning process. This learning
requires the use of cognitive abilities-such as thinking,
reasoning, observation, imagination, generalization, etc.
This is very useful to overcome difficult problems
encountered by the people.

7. Attitude learning:
Attitude is a predisposition which determines and directs
our behaviour. We develop different attitudes from our childhood
about the people, objects and everything we know.
Our behaviour may be positive or negative depending upon
our attitudes. Example: attitudes of nurse towards her profession,
patients, etc.

Domains of Learning
 Cognitive domain of learning
 Affective domain of learning
 Psychomotor domain of learning

Edward Lee Thorndike
(1874-1949)
• Experimental psychologist
• Born in Williamsburg, Massachusetts
on Aug. 31, 1874.
• Thorndike brought methodological
innovations in animal and human
experimentation. Carefully described
behavior with proper experimental and
control conditions.

Laws of Learning
1.Readiness
2.Exercise
3.Effect
4.Primacy
5.Recency
6.intensity
7.Freedom
8.Requirement
Thorndike’s Laws of Learning:

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1. READINESS (Person ready to
learn)
• Readiness implies a degree of concentration and eagerness.
• Preparedness
Reason for Learning
• Individuals learn best when they are physically, mentally, and
emotionally ready to learn, and do not learn well if they see no reason
for learning.
• Strong purpose stimulate progress
• Clear objective

LAW OF READINESS
Individuals learn best when
they are physically, mentally
and emotionally ready to learn,
and they do not learn well if
they see no reason for learning

2. EXERCISE (practice number
of time)
• The principle of exercise states that those things most often repeated
are best remembered
• Meaningful practice and repetition allows for retention
• Positive feedback is important for motivation
• The mind can rarely retain, evaluate, and apply new concepts or
practices after a single exposure
• Students do not learn complex tasks in a single session
• Applying what they have been told and shown increases learning.

LAW OF EXERCISE
•Things most often
repeated are best
remembered
•Students do not lean
complex task in a single
session

• “When a modifiable connection between a situation and
response is made and is accompanied or followed by a
satisfying state of affairs that connection’s strength is
increased, but when made and accompanied by an annoying
state of affairs its strength is decreased”.
3. LAW OF EFFECT (Stressful situation)

LAW OF EFFECT
•Learning is strengethened when
accompanied by a pleasant or satisfying
feeling
•Learning is weakened when associated
with unpleasant feeling
•Learning takes place properly when it
results in satisfaction and the learner
derives pleasure out of it

4. LAW OF PRIMACY
(interested novels)
What is heard
first have the
greater impact.
The correct
information
should be
taught first
First experience
should be
positive
because it is a
lasting effect.

LAW OF PRIMACY
•Things learned first
creat a srong impression
•What is taught must be
right the first time

5. The Law of Recency
• Most recently learnt best remembered
• The closer the content is covered to when it will need to be
applied the more likely the learner is to execute
successfully
• Information assimilated last is more likely to be
remembered

LAW OF RECENCY
•Things most
recently learned
are best
remembered

6. Law of Intensity
•Increased stimulation of the senses → Behaviour
change
•Makes full use of the senses
• Lecture to hands on
•Students will learn more from real life/world
examples
• Perform task rather than just reading about it

LAW OF INTENSITY
• The more the intense the
material taught, the more it
is likely learned

Things freely learned are best learned.
The greater the freedom enjoyed by the
students in the class, the greater the intellectual
and moral advancement enjoyed by them
7. LAW OF FREEDOM

LAW OF FREEDOM
•Things freely learned are best
learned
•The greater the freedoing enjoyed
by the students in the class, the
greater the intellectual and moral
advancement enjoyed by them

Instrub ment
• "we must have something to obtain or do something.“
Ability
8. LAW OF REQUIREMENT
skill

Theories of Learning:
Psychologists have tried to explain how people learn and why
they learn. They have conducted many experiments on animals
and children and come to certain definite conclusions which
explain the modes of learning.
These are called as theories of learning. In many books, these
explanations are treated as kinds of learning. There are many
theories explaining modes of learning.

Behaviourism
 All things should be looked at from the
perspective of behaviour.
 And it doesn’t matter what is going on in the
mind, it just matters what the behaviour
 So there is no difference in the behaviourist mind
between external behaviour and internal
thoughts.

Behaviourists
 Ivan Pavlov
 Edward Lee
Thorndike
 John B. Watson
 B.F. Skinner

THEORIES OF LEARNING
LEARNING
TRAIL AND ERROR
LEARNING
CLASSICAL
CONDITIONING
OPERANT
CONDITIONING
SOCIAL
LEARNING

Pavlov’s theory of
classical conditioning

Ivan Pavlov
 Born Sept 14, 1849
 Died Feb 27, 1936
 born in Russia
 physiologist,
psychologist, and
physician
 awarded the Nobel Prize in
Physiology or Medicine in 1904
for research on the digestive

What is Classical Conditioning?
Classical Conditioning- A learned reflex/response that you do
when evoked by a stimulus
Pavlov performed experiments with dogs to
collect saliva
He noticed that, the dogs would salivate when powdered
meat was present.

Pavlov associated the ringing of a bell with the presence of
powdered meat.
He rang the bell every time the dogs were served food.
Pavlov started ringing the bell and the dogs would
salivate without the powdered meat being present.
Thus, a learned reflex is seen.

In the Classroom
Teachers can use classical conditioning to quiet down the
students.
Example:
First day of class, students walk into class and teacher sits at desk
Teacher goes towards board when ready to teach and asks children
to quiet down.
Second day of class, students are chatty when the teacher goes to
the board. Teacher asks to be quiet.
Third day of class, students are automatically quiet when the
teacher walks to the board.

Students will be conditioned in a positive manner
Students will learn the expectations of their
teachers
Students will learn the expectations of
their school

Educational implication of classical
conditioning theory
 Fear, love towards a particular subject is created through
conditioning.
 A teacher, method of teaching or harsh treatment of his
students, create strong dislike among them towards
subject.
 The theory of classical conditioning emphasizes that the
students should be exposed to positive stimuli in order
to develop desirable habits, interest and attitudes in

Trial and error theory of
learning

Edward Lee Thorndike
 Born August 31, 1874
 Died August 9, 1949
 Born in Williamsburg,
 Studied animal behaviour
and the learning process
 led to the theory of
connectionism
 Laying the foundation for
modern educational
psychology.

Cats in Puzzle Boxes
 Thorndike looked at how cats learned to
escape from puzzle boxes
 The puzzle box experiments were motivated
by Thorndike's dislike for statements that
animals made use of extraordinary faculties
such as insight in their problem solving.

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 Thorndike's instruments in answering this
question were learning curves revealed by
plotting the time it took for an animal to escape
the box each time it was in the box.
 If the animals were showing insight, then their time
to escape would suddenly drop to a negligible
period, which would also be shown in the learning
curve as an abrupt drop;
 while animals using a more ordinary method of
trial and error would show gradual curves.

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His finding was that cats
consistently showed gradual
learning.

Educational implication of Thorndike’s
theory
 According to him, when the child is ready to learn, he
learns more quickly and effectively. He warns that the child
should not forced to learn.
 And teacher must provide learning environment.
 The task of the teacher is to motivate the students by
arousing interest.
 Learners should be encouraged to perform his task
independently. He must try various solutions to the
problem before arriving at the correct time.

Operant Conditioning
theory
(Skinner)

“All we need to know in order to
describe and explain behavior is this:
actions followed by good outcomes
are likely to recur , and actions
followed by bad outcomes are less
likely to recur.”
(Skinner, 1953)

Experiment with Rats
MATERIALS: Skinner Box which is a small chamber in
which an animal learns how to make a particular response for which
the consequence can be controlled by the researcher, it contains a
speaker, signal lights, lever, food dispenser which dispenses pellets,
and grid floors which can deliver a mild electric shock.
There is also a cumulative recorder which records the frequency
and speed of the desired response which is made by the pressing of
a lever.

PROCEDURE: A hungry rat was placed in
the Skinner box and every time it pressed the
lever, it was rewarded with a food pellet in
the food dish which was used to reinforce its
behaviour.

RESULTS: Rats scurried around the box randomly
touching parts of the floor and wall.
Eventually the rat accidently touched the lever and
a food pellet was released.
The same sequence was repeated and with more
trials the time taken to press the lever eventually
decreased.
The random movements of the rat eventually
became deliberate, rats then ate the food as fast as they
could press the lever.

Operant conditioning can be
described as a process that attempts to modify behaviour through
the use of positive and negative reinforcement.
Through Operant
conditioning, an individual makes an association between a
particular behaviour and a consequence.
Example- parents rewarding a child’s excellent grade with candy
or some other prize.
Educational implication of Skinner’s
theory

LAW OF
EFFECT
Behavior Better state
of affairs
Behavior Worse state
of affairs
Increased
probability of
behavior occurring
again
Decreased
probability of
behavior occurring
again

OPERANT CONDITIONING
TECHNIQUES
 POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT = increasing a
behavior by administering a reward
 NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT = increasing a
behavior by removing an aversive stimulus when
a behavior occurs
 PUNISHMENT = decreasing a behavior by
administering an aversive stimulus following a
behavior OR by removing a positive stimulus
 EXTINCTION = decreasing a behavior by not
rewarding it

Operant
conditioning Description Outcome Example
Positive
reinforcement
Add or increase a
pleasant stimulus
Behavior is
strengthened
Giving a student a
prize after he gets an
A on a test
Negative
reinforcement
Reduce or remove an
unpleasant stimulus
Behavior is
strengthened
Taking painkillers
that eliminate pain
increases the
likelihood that you
will take painkillers
again
Positive
punishment
Present or add an
unpleasant stimulus
Behavior is
weakened
Giving a student
extra homework
after she misbehaves
in class
Negative
punishment
Reduce or remove a
pleasant stimulus
Behavior is
weakened
Taking away a teen’s
computer after he
misses curfew

Theory of insightful learning
(Gestalt psychology)
Cognitive Learning
theory

Theory of insightful learning
(Gestalt psychology)
 Gestalt psychology was found in Germany
in 1912 by max Wertheimer and his
colleagues.
 The word “Gestalt” means Form or shape
or a particular arrangement of elements.

• Cognitive learning theory is an approach to the
study of learning that focuses on the thought
processes that underlie learning.
• Rather than concentrating solely on external
stimuli, responses, and reinforcements, Cognitive-
Social Learning theorists focus on the unseen
mental processes that occur during learning.

 The Gestalt Theory believes individuals use insight and
their prior experiences to determine their responses to
stimuli.
 They also use the laws of Gestalt Theory to try to make
sense of, and provide order to, information in their
perception. This information leaves a trace in memory;
traces link together to form connections of information.
 The Gestalt theory is closely related to the present day
cognitive constructivist view of learning.
 Problem solving is a good choice of instructional methods

Principle of Latent Learning
• Latent learning is learning in which a new
behaviour is acquired but is not demonstrated
until some incentive is provided for displaying
it.
Latent: hidden; present but unexpressed

 Cognitive Approach
 Edward Tolman
 The theory consists of relationship between
(cognitive) cues andenvironmental
expectations.
 EXPERIMENT: -
 Subject was RAT
 He found that the rat could run through
critical path with particular intention of
getting food (goal/objective).
 This theory was later applied on human
resources where incentives were related to
higher performance.

• Cognitive-map –a mental representation of
spatial locations and directions.

• Rats: one maze
trial/day
• One group found food
every time (red line)
• Second group never
found food (blue line)
• Third group found
food on Day 11 (green
line)
– Sudden change,day
12
• Learning isn’t the
same as performance
Tolman’s Maze
Experiment
Maze: puzzle made of connecting parts.

Educational implication of gestalt theory
 The organization of the syllabus and
planning of the curriculum should give
plenty of opportunity to use the mental
abilities.

SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY
1. Albert Bandura and Richard H. Walter believe that there is a
reciprocal relationships between behaviour and the conditions
that control it. Their theory also maintains the importance of the
stimulus-response connection in social learning.
2. Modeling and imitation – Human beings learn from the models
they are exposed to. Children who often see aggressive behaviour,
display more aggressive behaviour than those who are not exposed
to such behavior. The age, sex, and status of subjects are also
crucial factors. Imitation involves copying the behaviour of the
mode one is exposed to.

Social theory of learning
 According to this theory learning through imitation.
 Learning through observing the behavior of others
 Four steps in observational learning
 Paying attention
 Remembering behavior
 Reproducing action
 Being motivated to learn and carry out the
behavior.

PROCESS IN SOCIAL LEARNING
ATTENTION
PROCESS
RETENTION
PROCESS
MOTOR
REPRODUCTIO
N PROCESS
MOTIVATION
PROCESS

Four subprocesses
(1)Attention – For any observational learning to occur, the model
stimulus must be attended to.
(2)Retention – What has been observed must be retained if the
model’s behaviour is to exert influence even after a period of time.
(3)Motoric reproduction – Imitation follows only if the individual
had motoric reproduction or actually imitated the behaviour of the
model.
(4)Motivation– is internal rather than external. The
reinforcement is a motivational factor rather than a
strengthening factor.

a. Attention
• First, the learner must pay attention to the
crucial details of the model’s behavior.
• A young girl watching her mother bake a cake
will not be able to imitate this behavior
successfully unless she pays attention to many
important details—ingredients, quantities,
oven temperature, baking time, and so on.

b. Retention
• Retention—the learner must be able to retain
all of this information in memory until it is
time to use it.
• If the person forgets important details, he or
she will not be able to successfully imitate the
behavior.
Retention: the ability to remember things

c. Reproduction
• Third, the learner must have the physical skills
and coordination needed for reproduction of
the behavior.
• The young girl must have enough strength and
dexterity to mix the ingredients, pour the
batter, and so on, in order to bake a cake on
her own.

d. Motivation
• Finally, the learner must have the motivation
to imitate the model.
• That is, learners are more likely to imitate a
behavior if they expect it to lead to some type
of reward or reinforcement.
• If learners expect that imitating the behavior
will not lead to reward or might lead to
punishment, they are less likely to imitate the
behavior.

Points to remember in social learning
 Behavioral approach.
 It deals with learning process based on
direct observation and the experience.
 Achieved while interacting with
individuals.
 people observe, alter and even
construct a particular environment to
fit in the social behavioral pattern.

 It is practiced in organizations by observing various cultural, and
social practices.
 This phenomenon is distinctly visible in defense services where
cadets opt for a particular regiment based on the performance of
their instructors (role model).
 In industrial organizations, leader must display a role model so
that subordinates copy the style of functioning.

Transfer of learning
 Definition:
 Transfer refers to the transfer of knowledge,
training and habits acquired in one situation to
the another situation.

Types of transfer
 Positive
transfer
 Negative
transfer

 Positive transfer:
 When something previously learned benefit
performance or learning in a new situation. Eg: if
one has learned to play tennis and he find it easier
to learn to play badminton.
 Negative transfer
 When someone previously learnt hinders
performance or learning in a new situation, we call it
negative transfer. Eg: Tamil or Guajarati his
pronunciation of English isaffected.
 Zero transfer:
 Previous learning makes no difference at all to the
performance or learning in a new situation. Eg:
learning history may neither help nor hinder the
learning.

TRANSFER OF LEARNING
1. Learning to learn – experiments with verbal learning show that
subjects increase their speed in learning word lists over a period
of days. This is seen when the words are not similar, and
indication that during the learning process, the subjects develop a
technique that facilitates subsequent learning.
2. Mastery of principles – when principles are mastered, it will be
easy to apply them to new situations. The principles learned in
radio repairing, if mastered, may easily facilitate the learning of
other tasks.

Learning

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