Learning

Introduction  

Meaning of Learning

            The knowledge we acquire, the language we speak, the habits, attitudes and skills developed in us are all due to learning.

Psychologists define learning as “a relatively permanent change in behaviour, which occurs as a result of activity, training, practice or experience” This definition of learning has three important elements

• Learning results in change in behaviour
• It is a change that takes place through practice or experience.
• Before it can be called learning, the change must be relatively permanent

Learning is often defined as a relatively lasting change in behavior that is the result of experience. Learning became a major focus of study in psychology during the early part of the twentieth century as behaviorism rose to become a major school of thought. Today, learning remains an important concept in numerous areas of psychology, including cognitive, educational, social and developmental psychology.

How Does Learning Occur?

Learning can happen in a wide variety of ways. To explain how and when learning occurs, a number of different psychological theories have been proposed.

Learning Through Classical Conditioning

Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov discovered one method of learning during his experiments on the digestive systems of dogs. He noted that the dogs would naturally salivate at the sight of food, but that eventually the dogs also began to salivate whenever they spotted the experimenter’s white lab coat. Later experiments involve pairing the sight of food with the sound of a bell tone.

Characteristics of Learning

The following are the important characteristics of learning:

Learning is universal.  All living beings learn.

Learning is continuous; it is a perpetual activity that takes place from ‘womb to tomb’

Learning results in improved performance.