There are many different kinds of ways that people and animals learn. People can adjust the way they learn to the different situations in which they are learning and what they have to learn. One form of learning is known as conditioning. Conditioning emphasizes the relationship between stimuli and responses.
The two types of conditioning found are Classical conditioning and Operant conditioning. Learning may occur in different ways. Psychologists have distinguished between different types of learning, these being Observational Learning and Insight Learning. Classical conditioning refers to a simple form of learning, which occurs through the repeated association of two or more different stimuli.
Learning is only said to have occurred once a particular stimulus always produces a response, which it did not previously produce. Classical conditioning involves an un and an unconditioned response, as well as a conditioned stimulus and a conditioned response. The unconditioned stimulus is any stimulus, which consistently produces a naturally occurring, automatic response. The unconditioned response is a reflexive and involuntary response, which occurs because of the unconditioned stimulus. The conditioned stimulus is the stimulus that is neutral at the beginning of the conditioning process and does not produce the unconditioned response. However, through repeated association with the conditioned stimulus, triggers the same response as the unconditioned stimulus.
The conditioned response is the learned response that is brought forth by the conditioned stimulus. The conditioned response occurs after the conditioned stimulus has been associated with the unconditioned stimulus. An example of classical conditioning is a person who walks past a certain house each day and every time is attacked by a large dog. They then associate that house with the dog and avoid walking past there again. In this example, the unconditioned stimulus is the dog, the unconditioned response is fear, the conditioned stimulus is the house, and the conditioned response is avoidance of the house.
Insight learning is a kind of learning involving a period of mental manipulation of the information associated with a problem prior to the realization of a solution to the problem. The learning is said to have occurred when the relationships relevant to the solution are grasped. The learning appears to occur in a flash and what has been leaned is usually performed smoothly and without error. Insight learning involves four stages: preparation, incubation, insightful experience and verification. Preparation is a getting ready period in which the person gathers as much information as possible about what needs to be done. Incubation is a period of mental time out in which the information gained is put aside.
However, the information continues to be reflected upon on a sub-conscious level. Insightful experience is often referred to as the ah ha experience because of its suddenness. This experience seems to occur because of some mental event that unexpectedly bridges the gap between the problem and its solution. Verification represents the final stage of insight learning, when the visual image that flashed into the mind during the insightful experience is acted upon and is tested. If the solution proves to be ineffective the learner with then return back to the stage of incubation. Operant conditioning is the learning process in which the likelihood of a particular behavior occurring is determined by the consequences of that behavior.
It is based on the assumption that a person or animal will tend to repeat behavior that brings forth a positive consequence such a praise, and tend not to repeat behavior that brings forth negative consequences such as punishment. In operant conditioning also referred to as instrumental conditioning an organism learns to engage in certain behavior because of the effects of that behavior. Operant conditioning is a type of conditioning those results from ones actions and the consequences they cause. Most learning is done through operant conditioning because it is learning done by experiences..