Psychology Reviewer Topic: Learning

1. I. Learning
 Refers to the relatively permanent change in knowledge or behavior that is the result of
experience.
 Allows us to create effective lives by being able to respond to changes.
DEFINITION OF LEARNING - the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, study, or
by being taught.
II. Process of Learning
A. Classical Conditioning
 Proposed by Ivan Pavlov.
 Learning by Association.
 Classicalconditioning basically involves forming an association between two stimuli resulting in
a learned response.
Phase 1: Before Conditioning
During this phase of the process, the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) results in an unconditioned
response (UCR).
unconditioned stimulus – unconditionally, naturally, and automatically triggers a response.
unconditioned response – unlearned response that occurs naturally in response to the
unconditioned stimulus.
ex. when a dog smells food, they will salivate
Phase 2: During Conditioning
During this phase of the process, the previously neutral stimulus is repeatedly paired with the
unconditioned stimulus.
At this point, the once neutral stimulus becomes known as the conditioned stimulus (CS).
The subject has now been conditioned to respond to this stimulus.
ex. Suppose that when the dog smelled the food, they heard the sound of a bell.
Phase 3: after Conditioning
Presenting the conditioned stimulus alone will come to evoke a response even without the
unconditioned stimulus.
The resulting response is known as the conditioned response (CR).
ex. the conditioned response would be salivating when the dog heard the sound of the bell.
B. Operant Conditioning
 Proposed by B.F. Skinner.
 Learning by Consequence.
 Operant conditioning is learning that occurs based on the consequences of behavior and can
involve the learning of new actions.
OPERANT CHAMBER (SKINNER BOX)
When a lab rat presses a blue button, he receives a food pellet as a reward, but when he presses
the red button he receives a mild electric shock.
As a result, he learns to press the blue button but avoid the red button.
Reinforcement

2.  Reinforcement is any event that strengthens or increases the behavior it follows.
 Positive reinforcers are favorable events or outcomes that are presented after the behavior.
 Negative reinforcers involve the removal of an unfavorable events or outcomes after the display
of a behavior.
Punishment
 Punishment is the presentation of an adverse event or outcome that causes a decrease in the
behavior it follows.
 Positive punishment presents an unfavorable event or outcome in order to weaken the response
it follows.
 Negative punishment occurs when a favorable event or outcome is removed after a behavior
occurs.
C. Insight Learning
 Proposed by Wolfgang Kohler.
 Learning by Discovery.
 Insight learning is a type of learning or problem solving that happens all-of-a-sudden through
understanding the relationships of various parts of a problem rather than through trial and error.
III. Types of Learning
A. Rational Learning
 Learning with understanding.
 Intellectual in nature and involves the process of abstraction.
 Outcome sought in this type is knowledge.
It should provide:
i. Mastery of principles
ii. Application of generalizations
iii. Determining of relationships – cause and effect, dealing adequately with environment and
recognizing values.
Ex: SolvingMath Problems andMasteryof Principles
B. Motor Learning
 The outcome sought is skill which described as adaption of movement to stimuli resulting in
speed and precision of performance.
 The Three Fundamentals of Motor Learning are:
i. Trial
ii. Error
iii. Success
 Involves development of patterns of neuromuscular coordination and adjustment of perceptual
situation.
Ex. Archery and Figure Skating

3. C. Associational Learning
 Involves drill, frequent repetition and review.
 The outcome sought of this type of learning is acquisition and retention of facts and information.
 Involves the development of associative patterns by which ideas and experiences are:
i. Retained
ii. Recalled and
iii. Recognized
Ex. Recalling and Spelling
D. Appreciational Learning
 The outcome sought in this type of learning is appreciation or aesthetic improvement.
 It involves process of acquiring attitudes, ideals, satisfaction, judgement and knowledge.
 It involves expression of enjoyment, the development of liking for and is determined by
constructive imagination.
Ex. PlayingCello andPainting
Laws of Learning
 Edward L. Thorndike – he has developed the first three laws of learning and three more had been
added ever since.
I. Law of Readiness
 Implies the degree of preparedness and eagerness to learn.
 Person can learn when physically and mentally adjusted (ready) to receive stimuli.
Example.
We may identify the situation of an academic examination of a school, in which the cause of
securing good marks in various subjects leads to mentally and emotionally readiness of students
to do more hard labour in acquiring knowledge.
II. Law of Exercise
 Things that are most often repeated are best remembered.
Ex. A person keep practicing the tennis serve.
 Law of Exercise has two sub-parts
I. Law of Use -When a modifiable connection is made between a situation and a response keeping
other things equal, the strength of that connect is increased.
II. Law of Disuse -when a modifiable connection is not made between a situation and a response
over a period of time keeping other things equal, the strength of that connection is decreased.
III. Law of Effect
Based on the emotional reaction and motivation of the student. Learning is strengthened with
pleasant or satisfying feeling while unpleasant feelings tend to do otherwise.
An example is often portrayed in drug addiction. When a person uses a substance for the first

4. time and receives a positiveoutcome, they are likely to repeat the behavior due to the reinforcing
consequence. Over time, the person's nervous system will also develop a tolerance to the drug.
Thus only by increasing dosage of the drug will provide the same satisfaction, making it
dangerous for the user.
IV. Law of Apperception
Apperception is that process by which an aggregate or "mass" of presentations becomes
systematized (apperceptions-system) by the accretion of new elements, either sense-given or
product of the inner workings of the mind. He thus emphasizes in apperception the connection
with the self as resulting from the sum of antecedent experience.
Ex. A rich child and a poor child walking together come across the same ten dollar bill on the
sidewalk.The rich child says it is not very much money and the poor child says it is alot of money.
The difference lies in how they apperceive the same event – the lens of past experience through
which they see and value (or devalue) the money.
V. Laws of Association
Ofrepresentations as having both a subjective and an objective ground, that latter which explains
why it is not "entirely accidental that appearances should fit into a connected whole of human
knowledge".
VI. Law of Frequency
the more frequently a stimulus and response occur in association with each other, the stronger
that S-R habit will become.
VII. Law of Recency
the response that hasmost recentlyoccurredafteraparticularstimulusisthe responsemostlikelytobe
associatedwiththatstimulus.
VIII. Law of Intensity
This law deals with the vividness of the learning experience.
The more excitement a lesson creates, the more likely it will be remembered. Creating a hands-
on experience, or one that causes the student to feel strong emotion will make the lesson more
easily remembered.
IX. Law of Primacy
Things learned first create a strong impression.
What is taught must be right the first time.
Unteaching wrong first impressions is harder than teaching them right the first time.
X. Law of Forgetting
States that if 2 memories are of the same strength but different ages, the older will decay more
slowly than the younger.

5. Factors affecting Learning
I. Maturity/Readiness
 Maturity is basically the ability to accept responsibility of one’s thoughts, feelings and
behavior as it plays a major role in gaining knowledge about life. The brain does not
mature at the same rate in each individual.
 Individual brain develops at different rates and are affected by geneticand environmental
influences.
 Two important types of Maturity:
o Cognitive Maturity is how one processes his/her knowledge.
o Social Maturity is how one relates to his/her peers
II. Intelligence
 Intelligence is the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills. (Merriam Dictionary).
 It basically points out to the ability to learn, understand or deal with new and or difficult
situations. (eg. Problem solving, Memory, Planning, Logic and etc.)
III. Opportunities for Learning
 There are a lot of opportunities to learn, as long as people are fit for it, why not, right?
 The sky’s the limit for everyone who wants to learn.
IV. EnvironmentalConditions
• Environment has a lot of meanings but in psychological manner, it refers to the
surroundings that people are in. The environment that affects a person’s behaviour over
time.
V. Health of the Learner
 Health conditions that block learning
o Colds, Fever, Flu, Epilepsy, Asthma, Diabetes and Cancer to mention a few.
o With these health conditions, there are things a person can’t do in order to learn
those certain things.
 Heallth conditions that don’t block learning
o Injuries, wounds.
o Thesehealth conditions are things that can prevent a person to do something BUT
does not prevent them from learning.
Vi. Emotional Factor
 We need allofour emotions for thinking, problem solving,and focusedattention. To learn
anything, our minds must be focused and our emotions need to "feel" in
balance. Emotional regulation is necessary so that we can remember, retrieve, transfer,
and connect all new information to what we already know.

6. Types of Thinking
What is Thinking?
• the action of using one's mind to producethoughts
I. Conceptual Thinking
The thinking in which people engage in, in which concepts are the
mediating processes
II. Verbal Thinking
Verbal thinkers think with words – a bit like talking to yourself in your head.
CONCEPTUAL THINKING Can also be VERBAL THINKING
CONCEPTUAL THINKING + VERBAL THINKING = WORDS
III. Convergent Thinking
Refers to the ability to put a number of different pieces of perspective of a topic
together organized, logical manner to find a single answer.
IV. Divergent Thinking
Refers to the ability to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions
in an effort to find one that works.
It involves bring facts and data together from various sources and then applying
logic and knowledge to solve problems or make decision.
V. Problem-Solving
Considered as the highest type of mental function.
Problem solving refers to a state of desire for reaching a definite 'goal' from a
present condition that either is not directly moving toward the goal, is far from it, or
needs more complex logic for finding a missing description of conditions or steps
toward the goal.
VI. Reasoning
This is a kind of problem-solving that requires the most thinking.
We oftentimes confused the proper us of “Reasoning” and “Thinking”.
In Reasoning we use logical rules, thus Thinking sometimes do not involve reasoning.
Vii. Creative Thinking
This is a kind of problem-solving that requires the most thinking

7. A way of looking at problems or situations from a fresh perspective that suggests unorthodox
solutions.
Classificationof Memory
What is Memory?
 the power or process of reproducing or recalling what has been learned and retained
especially through associative mechanisms
I. Sensory
 It is the ability to retain impressions of sensory information after the original stimuli
have ended.
 The first image that a person perceived is stored in the brain but if an another stimulus
was perceive in the eyes,
 The information of the first image is deleted and cannot be retain.
II.Short Term Memory
 The part of the memory system where information is stored for roughly a seconds.
 The capacity of short-term memory is also limited. Most people can only store roughly 7
chunks of information plus or minus 2.
 According to (Lugo and Hershey, 1982:68) inputs into short-term memory only last for
30 seconds.
 To improve short-term memory:
o Do not be disturb by other stimuli
o Rehearsal
o Chunking
o Mnemonics
III. Long Term Memory
 Information is stored in the brain for years and be retrieve when needed without
rehearsal.
 According to (Trotter and McConnell,1978:232-233) LTM is a huge library that has many
associates where all information is coded and indexed, and also cross-index.
 Long term memory is also associated with the emotions in the brain.

8. Types of Memory
I. Episodic
 It is the recollection of biographical experiences and specific events in time in a serial
form, from which we can reconstruct the actual events that took place at specific points
in time in our lives.
II. Semantic
 refers to a portion of long-term memory that processes ideas and concepts that are not
drawn from personal experience.
 includes things that are common knowledge, such as the names of colors, the sounds of
letters, the capitals of countries and other basic facts acquired over a lifetime
III. Procedural
Is a part of the long-term memory that is responsible for knowing how to do things, also known
as motor skills.
procedural memory does not involve conscious thought.
Different Task of Memory
I. Recall
 refers to the subsequent re-accessing of events or information from the past, which
have been previously encoded and stored in the brain. It may include verbal and motor
skill.
 Can be done even if the stimulus is absent.
II. Recognition
 Recognizing someone or something similar.
 Recognition is a largely unconscious process.
 The stimulus should be present for you to recognize someone
III. Relearning
 Learning info again that has been previously learned and stored in a person’s Long Term
Memory
 Info is learned quickly in second time
 Relearning increases a person intelligence and mastery of a certain topic.
Theories of Forgetting

9. What is Forgetting?
is the apparent loss or modification of information already encoded and stored in an
individual's long-term memory.
I. Passive Decay Through Disuse
 This theory assumes that lapse of time is responsible for forgetting.
 Deterioration of decay of the connections in the brain as the reason for forgetting.
But If something is learned and used repeatedly, it is remembered.
II. Interference Effects
 Learning that is able to recall previously learned or newly learned that leads to
forgetting
Old New Recall
Retroactive Interference A B A
Proactive Interference A B B
III. Absence of Adequate Stimulation
 We are unable to recall some events in the past because the appropriate stimuli are
absent.
IV. Obliteration of Memory Trace
 This state occurs because of certain conditions other than time.
 Emotional shock is one of the effects or other conditions that prevents consolidation.
V. Motivated Forgetting
 theorized psychological behavior in which people may forget unwanted memories,
either
 consciously or unconsciously
Learning Curve
BRAIN
TIME
FADING OF MEMORY
MEMORY DISAPPERAND
DISINTIGRATE

10. • is a graphical representation of the increase of learning (vertical axis)
with experience (horizontal axis).
• the process of learning upon which such a representation is based
Intelligence
• It is the ability to perceive information, and to retain it as a knowledge.
• As one’s capacity for logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, planning, creativity
and problem solving.
Kinds of Intelligence
I. linguistic intelligence
• It deals with individual’s ability to understand both spoken and written
• Speak and write
II. Logical-mathematical intelligence
• Are skilled at deductive reasoning, detecting patterns, and logical thinking
• Understanding complex and abstract ideas.
III. Musical intelligence
• It involves how skillful an individual is performing, composing and appreciating music
and musical patterns.
IV. Bodily kinestheticintelligence
• Are skilled at using their body to convey feelings and ideas.
• eye-hand coordination.
• Motor skill.
V. Interpersonal Intelligence
• Is how you understand other people.
• Motivate, lead, work with, cooperate with.
VI. Intrapersonal Intelligence
• Aware of their emotions motivations, beliefs, and goals.
• It is self-knowledge or self-awareness.
VII. Spatial intelligence

11. • It is the ability to comprehend three-dimensional spaces.
VIII. Naturalist intelligence
• It has to do with observing, understanding and organizing patterns in the natural
environment.
• Plants and animals.
IntelligenceQuotient(IQ)
• is a score derived from one of several standardized tests designed to assess intelligence.
• It is a number representing a person's reasoning ability.
How IQ is measured?
• The IQ test consists of a number of tasks measuring various measures of intelligence
including short-term memory, analytical thinking, mathematical ability and spatial
recognition.
• Like all IQ tests it does not attempt to measure the amount of information you have
learned but rather your capacity to learn.
IQ Scores and Ratings
*Under 70 Definite feeble-mindedness
*70 - 79 Borderline deficiency
*80 - 89 Dullness
*90 - 109 Normal or averageintelligence
*110 - 119 Superior intelligence
*120 - 140 Very superior intelligence
*Over 140 Genius or near genius
Emotional Quotient(EQ)
• Is about the capability of individuals to recognize their own, and other people’s
emotion.
EQ Scores and Ratings
• * 50 0r less – (-___-)

12. • *51 – 70 - very low
• *71 – 90 - below average
• *91 – 110 - average
• *111 – 130 - very high
• *131 – 150 - you are remarkable
• *150+- outstanding