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Types of Learning

While there are different definitions of learning, Bransford, Brown and Cocking (1999) state that a fairly consensual definition is that learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior. In the last several decades, psychology has focused on determining how people learn. According to Viney and King (2002), this research has resulted in the discovery of various types of learning and how to produce it. This paper provides a brief overview of the history of this research into learning, describes various types of learning, and discusses the nature of reinforcement and reinforcement schedules.

According to Haberman and Stevenson (1998), Ivan Pavlov, in his experiments with dogs, was one of the pioneers in the field of learning. Pavlov discovered a type of learning that has now come to be known as classical conditioning. This type of learning occurs when an organism (animal or human) comes to display a conditioned response (CR) to a neutral conditioned stimulus (CS) that has been paired with a biologically significant unconditioned stimulus (US) that evoked an unconditioned response (UR). An example of classical conditioning would be if a dog were given food every day and salivated as the food was brought in. If the food dish were then paired with a bell (the neutral stimulus), the dog would begin to salivate simply when hearing the bell regardless of whether the food was present.

Another type of learning is termed "operant conditioning." The notion of operant conditioning, which is learning that occurs in response to manipulation of the consequences of a given response was originally formulated by B. F. Skinner (see: Skinner, 1965). In their discussion of the work of B. F . Skinner, Viney and King (2002) point out that while classical conditioning is one in which an organism's behavior becomes dependent on the occurrence of a stimulus in its environment, operant conditioning (sometimes called instrumental conditioning on instr...

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Types of Learning. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 04:15, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1695537.html