Basic Principles of Learning Chapter 7 Lecture 1

Basic Principles of Learning Chapter 7, Lecture 1 “Learning breeds hope. What is learnable we can potentially teach – a fact that encourages parents, educators, coaches, and animal trainers. ” - David Myers

In your notes (and without consulting your reading notes or textbook), answer the question: What is learning? Now, in pairs, take a look at Handout 7 -2… …let’s apply your definitions…

Definition Learning refers to the relatively permanent change in a person’s behavior to a given situation brought about by her (or his) repeated experiences in that situation, provided that the behavior change cannot be explained on the basis of native response tendencies, maturation, or temporary states of the person or other animal (e. g. , fatigue, drugs, etc. ).

How Do We Learn? We learn by association. Our minds naturally connect events that occur in sequence. 2000 years ago, Aristotle suggested this law of association. Then 200 years ago Locke and Hume reiterated this law.

Associative Learning to associate one stimulus with another.

Associative Learning to associate one stimulus with another.

Associative Learning to associate a response with a consequence.

Associative Learning to associate a response with a consequence.

Homework Read p. 294 -304 “We learn to expect and prepare for significant events such as food or pain (classical conditioning). We also learn to repeat acts that bring good results and to avoid acts that bring bad results (operant conditioning). By watching others we learn new behaviors (observational learning). And through language, we also learn things we have neither experienced nor observed. ” - David Myers