6 Learning principles – classical conditioning, operant conditioning, habituation and imitation

1. INTRODUCTION

Learning refers to changes in behaviour as a result of experience. Babies are born with integrated learning mechanisms and capacities that allow them to gain from experiences. Any human being at a younger age learns through basic two forms of learning called classical and operant conditioning. Later their novel stimulation facilitates them to acquire knowledge. Finally they learn by observing others. Let us learn these forms of learning in detail.

2.LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the end of this lesson you will be able to

• Describe the various approaches to learning namely classical conditioning, operant conditioning, habituation and imitation
• Assist learners to take up the responsibility of guiding children of 0-6 years to develop desirable behaviour and extinguish undesired behaviour

3. CONCEPT OF LEARNING

Before getting into the approaches to learning, the concept of learning should be understood. Learning is defined as the process that results in a relatively consistent change in behaviour or behaviour potential based on experience

3.1. Why is it called relatively consistent change? – After you have learnt swimming and confident in doing it, you will probably always be able to do. However you should realise those consistent changes may not be permanent changes. For example, if you give up swimming, the speed with which you swim might have declined from their original speed, but it is sure that it will be easier to learn a second time.

3.2. What is change in behaviour or behaviour potential? – Most of the learning is apparent from the improvement in performance. Eg. Driving a car. However in many instances performance may not show everything we have learned as the improvement in performance cannot be measured. Eg. Appreciation of modern art. In such instances you are said to have achieved a potential for behaviour change.

3.3. How is it based on experience? – It is only through experience learning takes place. Experience includes taking in information, assessment, transformation and manifestation of responses that affect the environment.

Babies come into the world with a built-in set of learning mechanisms that permit them to profit from experience immediately (Berk,2005).. Kids at very young age are capable of two basic forms of learning namely Classical conditioning and Operant conditioning. Let us look into these approaches in detail.

3.4. Self check exercises

Which of the following is true of learning?

a.     Learning is relatively permanent change

b.     Learning involves a change in behaviour

c.     Learning occurs through experience

d.     All of the above

(Ans. d)

4. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov discovered classical conditioning for which he got Noble prize in the year 1904. Learning by classical conditioning is by associating an environmental/neutral stimulus with a naturally occurring stimulus.

Classical conditioning – is defined as a form of learning that involves associating a neutral stimulus with a stimulus that leads to a reflexive response.

4.1. Pavlov’s experiment

Reflex responses constitute the crux of classical conditioning. A reflex is an automatic response to a specific stimuli such as salivation, eye blinking. The reflexes are biologically important for the survival of any organism. The accidental discovery of the innate salivation reflex of dogs even at the sight of food by Pavlov paved way for the classical conditioning process

Pavlov’s experiment was carried out by placing a dog in a restraining harness.. A stimulus – sound of a bell – was presented at regular intervals the dog was provided with some food. At first the dog had no prior meaning for the tone with respect to food or salivation. It was just an orienting response at first – the dog picked its ears, moved its head to trace the source of sound.

However with the frequent pairings of the tone and the food, the orienting response is no more manifested, whereas salivation begins. This phenomenon was found to be similar to other stimulus also. Pavlov demonstrated the generality of this effect by using a variety of other stimuli such as light etc.

4.2. The process of Classical Conditioning

On the whole, classical conditioning involves forming an association between a neutral stimulus and a natural stimulus resulting in a learned response. The three basic stages of classical conditioning are detailed below:

4.2.1 Stage 1: Before Conditioning

In the first stage of the learning process Pavlov provided a natural stimulus – the sight of food – that will automatically elicit a response – salivation. In other words, unconditioned stimulus (UCS) produces an unconditioned response (UCR). At this point a neutral stimulus that produces no effect is introduced – the sound of a bell. It is found that the neutral stimulus can evoke a response when paired with UCS several times.

• Therefore UnConditioned Stimulus (UCS) refers to naturally occurring stimuli that evokes a response.
• The UnConditioned Response (UCR) is the automatic response that is manifested when subjected to the unconditioned stimulus.

4.2.2. Stage 2: During Conditioning

For this stage Pavlov introduced a neutral stimulus – the sound of a bell, which was repeatedly paired with the UCS – the food. Hence an association between the neutral stimulus and the natural stimulus (UCS) is facilitated. If the association could trigger the salivation response, then the neutral stimulus is called as the conditioned stimulus (CS).

• The once neutral stimulus after being associated with the natural stimulus eventually triggers a conditioned response and this stimulus is called as conditioned stimulus (CS).

4.2.3. Stage 3: After Conditioning

Once the association has been made between the UCS and the CS, Pavlov found that the CS even when presented alone without UCS will trigger a response. The resulting response of salivation even without food is known as the conditioned response (CR).

·      The Conditioned Response refers to the habituated or learned response to the once neutral stimulus.

Hence UCS – UCR connections are provided by nature, but the CS-CR connections are produced by learning through classical conditioning

4.3. Components of Classical Conditioning

The major components of learning that followed Pavlov’s experiment are

• Acquisition
• Extinction
• Spontaneous recovery
• Stimulus generalization
• Stimulus discrimination

Let us see each one in detail

Have a look into the graph shown below, the first panel of the graph denotes the acquisition phase wherein, after subsequent pairings of the neutral stimulus with UCS, the likelihood of the response had become so intense and this phase is referred as acquisition phase.

Pavlov also discovered that, the CS (the sound of the bell) – when presented alone many times, without being paired with the UCS (the food), the CR (salivation) – no longer occurs. In other words, the dog gradually stopped salivating in response to the sound, when the sound of the bell was alone presented without food. This is referred to as extinction shown in the second panel.

As a continuation of his experiment he also found that the CR (salivation) will reappear after a rest period and gets strengthened with few pairings as shown in the fourth panel. The process of reappearance of CR after an incubation period is called spontaneous recovery.

ACQUISITION, EXTINCTION AND SPONTANEOUS RECOVERY

Subsequently Pavlov also found that the dogs were able to generalize the CR (salivation) to one CS (sound) that seems to be similar in frequency and the process of generalizing the response to similar stimuli is referred to as stimulus generalization. Also the stimuli that are not similar to that of the CS did not evoke the same CR and Pavlov termed it as stimulus discrimination.

4.4. Other examples of Classical Conditioning

Let us have a glance at few more examples of how Pavlov’s classical conditioning mechanism works in various settings.

4.4.1. Classical Conditioning a Fear Response

John B. Watson’s was influenced by the classical conditioning process, and he in his research tried to apply the principles of classical conditioning to the development of children. His experiment was with a little boy called Albert, in whom a fear response was conditioned. The child when saw a rat for the first time, he did not show any signs of fear, but later the appearance of rat is associated with banging, scary sound. After repeated pairings of rat and sound, Albert started crying at the sight of the rat itself. However, the fear did not stop there. He also generalized his response to other fuzzy white objects.

In reality, a single pairing of a neutral stimulus (a dog) and a terrifying experience of being chased or bitten by the dog is enough to create phobia of dogs among us.

4.4.2. Classical Conditioning being used in Taste aversion

The development of learned taste aversions is yet another example of classical conditioning. Just imagine for yourself that you eat something the previous night and that makes you ill with nausea, at least for a brief time would never like to taste the same food. The conditioning of taste aversions has got survival value too

4.5. Uses of Classical Conditioning in the real world

Few of the real-world applications for classical conditioning are as given below

• Classical conditioning mechanisms are used by many dog trainers to train their pets.
• Phobias or anxiety problems could also be treated by the principles of classical conditioning
• Teachers could apply classical conditioning in the classroom setting. For example an anxious situation of performing on the stage can be paired with a pleasant reward by which the child could learn to stay relaxed and calm on stage.

4.6. More to ponder

• Do you think you would be willing to drink a sugar water solution if the sugar was drawn from a contained that you know was incorrectly labelled poison?
• Do you think you would be willing to dring apple juice into which a sterilized cockroach had been dipped?

     If these situations make you say ‘no way’, the classically conditioned response wins out over the knowledge that the stimulus is really okay.

4.7. Criticisms

• Experiments conducted on animals under strict laboratory control cannot really be generated to all the human learning. There are many factors in a child’s life of reality which affect the way he/she behave.
• The principles are just too simple to explain all learning. Children work with sand, water, puzzles just for fun or enjoyment or challenge but not necessarily do so because they have been reinforced in anyway.

4.8. Self-check exercises

1. In classical conditioning the natural reaction to an unconditioned stimulus is called as ……………………..

2.Classical conditioning describes the association between …………. and …………………stimulus.

3.Little Albert’s demonstration of fear to other furry white objects is an example of stimulus generalization/stimulus discrimination.

4. The sudden reappearance of a response after a period of rest is known as ………………….

(Ans. 1. Unconditioned response    2. Natural and neutral          3. Stimulus generalization

4.  Spontaneous recovery)

5.  OPERANT CONDITIONING

Classical conditioning describes an organism’s response to the environment but do not provide clue on how the response influence the environment and the environment in turn influence the response. This is where another major form of learning called operant conditioning gains importance. This principle of learning places emphasis on the organism’s activity in the environment.

The following table gives you the distinction between classical conditioning and operant conditioning.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CLASSICAL CONDITIONING AND

OPERANT CONDITIONING

Classical conditioning	Operant conditioning
It explains involuntary responses	It explains voluntary behaviours
The learning is a passive process	The learning is an active process
Eg. Smell of food triggers salivation	Eg. Voluntarily studying hard to get good
	marks

An American psychologist B.F.Skinner (1938) developed the concept of operant conditioning, which is also called as instrumental conditioning.

Operant conditioning as classical conditioning is also a form of associative learning, wherein the outcome of behaviour predicts the likelihood of the occurrence of that behaviour.

The term Operant refers to the behaviour that is emitted by an organism. This behaviour operates on the environment and the environment in turn operates on the behaviour

Operant conditioning is actually an expansion of Thorndike’s law of effect. So before venturing into the process and principles of operant conditioning, let us have a look at Thorndike’s law.

5.1. Thorndike Law of Effect

An American Psychologist Edward Lee Thorndike used a puzzle box to study how cats learn. Hungry cat was placed inside the box and a piece of fish outside the box. To escape from the puzzle box and get the fish to satisfy its hunger, the latch inside the box had to be released by the cat.

Thorndike observed a number of ineffective responses by the cat. After sometime, the cat accidently placed its foot on the treadle that released the latch. Finally the cat could come out and get the fish. After returning to the box, the cat continues with the same sort of random movements until it stepped on the treadle. After succeeding trials, the cat’s random movement declined and could finally come out of the box in the first attempt itself. The behaviour had so become voluntary as it is influenced by a reinforcer – the fish.

THORNDIKE’S PUZZLE BOX

Thorndike’s law of effect states that ’Behaviours followed by positive outcomes are strengthened, whereas behaviours followed by negative outcomes are weakened depending upon the consequences of the organism’s actions.

In other words, the appropriate stimulus response connections (S-R connections) strengthen and an inappropriate connection weakens the behaviour.

5.2. Skinners approach to operant conditioning

Skinner’s approach was experimental, in which he operated the consequences of an organism’s behaviour to find out the effect that they had on successive behaviour. For his experiment skinner invented an apparatus called operant chamber that allowed him to manipulate the consequences of behaviour of rat.

This chamber was set in a way that, a press on the lever by the rat would be followed by delivery of a food pellet. As the hungry rat explored the box, it accidently touches the lever and a food pellet was dispersed. Now understanding that the consequence was positive, the rat after certain trials deliberately touches the lever.

5.3. Elements of operant conditioning

The two major elements of operant conditioning are

1.     Reinforcer

2.     Punisher

• Reinforcer: A stimulus that increases the likelihood of behaviour to be repeated is called reinforcer.
• Reinforcement: The learning of new behaviour or the strengthening of the existing one is called reinforcement.
• Punisher: Elimination of pleasant stimulus or presenting an undesirable one to decrease the chances that behaviour will be repeated is called punisher.
• Punishment: The process of weakening or extinguishing a learned behaviour is called punishment.

Now, let us see each element in detail with relevant examples.

5.3.1. Reinforcement

A child might read books because she receives praise from her parents for reading – a positive reinforcement – or else she might read because it gives her a sense of relaxation after doing a long tedious homework – negative reinforcement. But do understand that that in both cases the end result is a higher incidence of book reading.

Hence positive reinforcement is the process wherein the frequency of behaviour increases as it is followed by a rewarding stimulus.Eg. When teacher praises your performance when you turn in the assignment on time, you tend to turn in other assignments on time.

Negative reinforcement is the process wherein the frequency of behaviour increases as it is followed by the removal of an aversive stimulus.Eg. When you want your teacher to stop criticising you for late submission of assignment you try to turn it on time and tend to submit the other assignments on time.

5.3.2. Punishment

All though we all hate punishments, they are found to be influential regulator of behaviour. Suppose you have a very bad allergic reaction after taking a medicine for headache, the next time you get a headache, you will not take that medicine just to avoid the aversive consequence. However punishment should not be confused with negative reinforcement. Punishment is where an aversive stimulus is presented to influence the behaviour and the negative reinforcement is the removal of an aversive stimulus.

Again as reinforcement, punishment is both positive and negative.

Positive punishment – the process by which the occurrence of behaviour decreases when followed by an unpleasant stimulus is referred to as positive punishment.

Negative punishment – is the process by which the occurrence of behaviour decreases when a positive stimulus is removed. Let us have a better understanding of the types of punishment with the following example:

TYPES OF PUNISHMENT WITH EXAMPLE

•  Effect on behaviour
• You clean the room to avoid being scolded
• You clean up your room to be allowed to go out with friends

Further, this table helps you fine tune your understanding of the elements of operant conditioning.

ELEMENTS OF OPERANT CONDITIONING

5.4. Applications of Operant Conditioning

The major applications of operant conditioning in daily lives are:

5.4.1.Behaviour modification

As the researchers of behaviour modification consider that many emotional and behavioural problems are caused by inadequate, inappropriate responses and consequences, operant conditioning gains significance by inducing a change toward desired behaviour with adequate responses and consequences.

5.4.2. Education

Operant conditioning can be applied in classrooms to improve the level of learning among children in the following ways:

1. Premack Principle – Named after Psychologist David Premack, the Premack Principle states that a high probability activity or more preferred activity can be used to reinforce a low probability activity or less preferred activity. Eg. A teacher might say ‘If all you get your homework done by this Friday, you will be taken for a field trip on Saturday.

2. Shaping – Shaping is the process of rewarding approximations of desired behaviour. When behaviour takes time to occur, the learning process in operant conditioning can be shortened by rewarding an approximation of the desired behaviour. Eg. A teacher has got a student who has never completed more than 50% of her homework. The teacher could set the target behaviour at 100%, but reward her for successive approximations to the target – may be for 70%, then 80%, then 90% and finally 100%.

5.5. Self-check exercises

1.     The use of desirable and undesirable stimulus to change behaviour is known as …………………

2.     While beginning a class, a professor raises a question and praises any answer close to the right one. This is an example of …………………

3.     Using a high probability activity to reinforce a low probability activity is a principle stated by……………….

4.     Removal of an awarding stimulus is positive punishment/negative punishment

5.     Presentation of an aversive stimulus is called positive reinforcement. True/False

(Ans. 1. Operant conditioning  2. Shaping   3. Premack 4. Neagative punishment 5.True)

6. HABITUATION AND DISHABITUATION

Young children also learn by habituation and dishabituation. Learning by way of habituation and dishabituation proves the natural preference for novelty among children, which in turn increases the efficacy of learning. Habituation refers to the decline in the occurrence of a particular response over time, as the stimulus is presented repetitively. However introduction of a new stimulus causes the responsiveness to get back to even a higher level, which is called as dishabituation.

Eg. A child looks at a bright red block when reinforced and develops a interest in looking at it. After some day the looking decreases (Habituation). Later, when a blue block is shown along with the green block, the child’s interest develops at a higher level (Dishabituation)

7. IMITATION

Imitation is a learning mechanism that surprises all of us. Even infants have the ability to imitate the facial expressions of adults. This ability in turn promotes positive interaction between caregiver and infant. Most of our learning takes place as we imitate others.

Eg. When a mother widens or purses her lips, a new born infant observing her is likely to display a similar expression.

8. SUMMARY

Kids are being wonderfully equipped to learn by themselves immediately after birth. Through classical conditioning they learn by associating a neutral stimulus with an environmental stimulus. These associations have got survival value too. By means of operant conditioning, they learn to control the environmental events. The natural preference for novelty allows them to learn by habituation and dishabituaton. Learning by imitating the behaviour of another person is also one another form of learning. All these types of learning provide you insight in hoe to deal with children of 0-6 years.

References

• Berk,L.E.(2004). Development through the lifespan (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
• Berk, L. E. (2005). Infants, Children and adolescents (5th ed.). MA: Allyn and Bacon.
• Santrock, J. W. (2011). Child development. New York: McGraw-Hill.