SURNAME MAKAMURE

NAME(S) KUDZANAI MUTSA

REG NO// R1711682

PROGRAM PSYCHOLOGY

COURSE CODE PSY 213

LECTURER DR K.C MUCHENA

QUESTION: Learning process represents a major are of controversy among

learning theorists. The HOW of learning rather than the WHAT divides learning
theorists an learning theories. Discuss.
Learning is a relatively permanent change in potential behaviour or performances as a result of
experience.

To begin with, in as much as many learning theorists would agree with the general definition of
learning, there is less census among them with regard to how the learning process takes place. There
are theorist like Ivan Pavlov, John B. Watson, Edward L. Thorndike and B. F Skinner who argued
that all learning is as a result of connection between stimulus and responses. They are familiarised
with terms such as “habit formation” and “ associative learning” in describing the learning process.
The two major theories which these men are involved in is the Classical conditioning and Operant
conditioning. In classical conditioning Pavlov conducted a series of well-controlled studies so as to
uncover the “mechanism” underlying this “psychic secretion”. On one o his studies he did with the
dogs, he had the bell as the neutral stimulus and on its own it could not elicit a response in the dogs,
meat as the unconditioned stimulus made the dogs to salivate which is the unconditioned response.
He then paired the bell and meat powder which is now a conditioned stimulus and the dogs
salivated, which becomes the conditioned response. Pavlov found that after several pairing,
presentation of the neutral stimulus, bell alone elicited the salivation response. On the bases of such
results from his study he concluded that learning occurs when a neutral stimulus is repeatedly
paired with a stimulus that evokes a specific response , so that in the end the neutral stimulus would
produce a response on its own.

In addition to the above information, John B. Watson who is considered the father of American
behaviourism adpoted Pavlov’s cladssical conditioning model and became the primary source of
Pavlov’s popularity in United States. He is well know for his “little Albert” study in which he used
classical conditioning to establish a phobia in an 11 month old baby. Having noticed that loud
noises, unconditioned stimulus produced an innate startle responce, unconditioned response in
infants, Watson paired the representation of a neutral stimulus, a whte rat, conditioned stimulus with
presentation of a loud noise, unconditioned stimulus. After a number of pairings, Watson found out
that the presentation of a white rat alone elicited a startle response, conditioned response in Albert.
This also brings about the issue of stimulus generalization as Albert responded with fear and anxiety
not only to the white rat but to anything that resembled the rat such as cotton and white rabbit.
Watson proposed that individuals are born with a certain reflexes and that all learning is as a result
of classical conditioning involving those reflexes. To him differences in behaviour are due to
differences in experiences, he even proposed that given a “dozen of infants” he could shape them all
through conditioning into whatever was desired regardless to their talents, abilities and the likes.

More so, still looking at the behaviourism approach to learning, there is also operant conditioning
and the theorist who are associated with it are Edward L. Thorndike and B. F Skinner. Operant
conditioning is the..... . Thorndike did his studies using cats which he placed in puzzle boxes which
required them to make a certain response inorder to escape form the box and to obtain food placed
outside the box. At first the cats made a number of unproductive responses before making the
response that permitted them out. After a number of trials, the cats then exhibited the correct
response soon after being placed in the box. Thorndike was interested in the slow, trial-and -error
nature of the cats learning. Based on the above study, Thorndike concluded that learning is not as a
result of thinking about a problem but rather the result of associations that develop between stimuli
and responses. He developed a number of provisional laws of learning, one of which being the law
of effect. This law of effect states that when a response made in the presence of the stimulus is the
accompanief by a satisfactory event, the respomse perttaining to that stimulus is strengthened. In the
case that the response to the stimulus is followed by an unpleasant event, the connection between
stimulus and response is weakened. According to Thorndike learning is automatic and not a matter
of reasoning or understanding.

In line with the above arguement, B. F Skinner having been influenced by the work of Thorndike,
he also did his own experiments on the operant conditioning . His principle of reinforcement is the
modification of Thorndikes law of effect. Operant conditioning is a learning process in which the
consequences which follow a response determine whether the behavior wil be repeated. Behavior is
likely to be repeated that has been reinforced and tend not to be repeated with punishment. Taking
for example in a situation whereby a kid has passed his or her English test and the teacher rewards
that kid with sweets, reinforcement, in future that kid is likely to pass the English test again thus the
behavior of working hard and passing has been reinforced in the kid. Supposed the kid failed the
Shona test and the teacher beats the kid, punishment, the failing behavior tend not to be repeated. In
his experiment which is known as the Skinners box, whereby a rat was placed in a box and in that
box there was a lever which the rat could press and food could come out. Here, the action of
pressing the lever is an operant response/behavior, and the food released inside the chamber is the
reward. The rat continued pressing the lever as it gets food from it. This is how the learning process
takes place when it comes to Skinner and his operant conditioning.
Furthermore, there also what are known as cognitive learning theories. These theories stresses on
the internal thought process that occurs during learning and rejects the notion that reinforcement is
necessary for learning to take place. One of these theories includes the Latent learning theory by
Edward Chance Tolman. He proposed a theory of expectancies in which behavior is viewd as
purpose or aimed towards achieving specific goals. He disagree with behaviorist learning theory
categorized as 'molecular' because of its view of behavior as a chain responses connected to a
stimulus but instead analysed behavior as 'molar', broader level. For Tolman its was more than just
the connection between stimulus and responses which give rise to learning but an overal pattern of
behavior directed toward particular outcomes. As a cognitive behaviorist, Tolman strongly
advocated to theorizing at a broader level, which was demostratef by a number of studies showing
that rats learn the place where they have been rewarded rather than movements required to get
there. He argued that humans form a cognitive map, which is a mental representation of one's partial
environment. He conducted a number of experiments to disaprove the notion that the behavior must
be rewarded for learning to take place and that no pearning takes place in the absence of a reward.
In his experiment, he illustrated a purposive behavior in rats. The rat was placed in a maze and as
the rat ran to the other part of the maze where there was food, Tolman explained this as the
development of a cognitive map by the rat of the maze and where the place of the reward was
located. He argued that the experiment demostrates the presence of latent learning and proved that
reinforcement, while important for perfomance of a response is not a necessary factot for learning
of the response.

In supplimentary of the above,there is also wat is known as the Gestalt theory which includes a
mode of learninh that involves internal cognitive processes. Wolfgang Kohler did a study on the
gestalt learning theory were he gave a caged chimpanze two sticks that could be joinef togethet to
form one long stick. There was a banana which was placed outside the cage and it could only be
reached by a long stick. After a number of attempts to reach the banana with each stick, the
chimpanze stoped and suddenly fitted the sticks together and then used the long stick to get the
banana. Kohler argued that the behavior which the chimpanze displayed showed that the chimpanze
suddenly developed an insight into the problem and according to the Gestalt theory such insight is
as a result of internal cognitive reorganisation of the environment that enhances the organisms
ability to achieve its goals.

Moreover, apart from the mentioned different processes of learning, there is also what is called
social cognitive theory of learning or observation learning authored by