Editing Content :: Admin Scraper

Chapter

Content type

Position

Value

Introduction At the time of birth every human baby is equipped with the capacity to make a limited number of responses. These responses occur reflexively whenever appropriate stimuli are present in the environment. As the child grows and matures, s/he becomes capable of making diverse types of responses. These include identifying the images of some persons as one’s mother, father or grandfather, using a spoon when eating food, and learning how to identify alphabets, to write, and to combine them into words. S/he also observes others doing things in specific environmental conditions, and imitates them. Learning names of objects such as book, orange, mango, cow, boy, and girl, and retaining them is another important task. One also learns to drive a scooter or a car, to communicate with others effectively, and to interact with others. It is all due to learning that a person becomes hard working or indolent, socially knowledgeable, skilled, and professionally competent. Each individual manages her or his life and solves all kinds of problems because of the capacity to learn and adapt. This chapter focuses on the various aspects of learning. First, learning is defined and characterised as a psychological process. Second, an account is presented that explains how one learns. A number of learning methods that account for simple to complex types of learning are described. In the third section, some empirical phenomena, that occur in the course of learning, are explained. In the fourth section, different factors that determine the speed and extent of learning are described including different learning disabilities. N ATURE OF LEARNING always involves some kinds of experience. We experience an event occurring in a certain As indicated above learning is a key process in sequence on a number of occasions. If an event human behaviour. It refers to a spectrum of happens then it may be followed by certain other events. For example, one learns that if changes that take place as a result of one’s the bell rings in the hostel after sunset, then experience. Learning may be defined as “any relatively permanent change in behaviour or dinner is ready to be served. Repeated behaviouralpotentialproducedbyexperience”. experience of satisfaction after doing something in a specified manner leads to the One must remember that some behavioural formation of habit. Sometimes a single changes occur due to the use of drugs, or experience can lead to learning. A child strikes fatigue. Such changes are temporary. They are not considered learning. Changes due to a matchstick on the side of a matchbox, and practice and experience, which are relatively gets her/his fingers burnt. Such an experience makes the child learn to be careful in handling permanent, are illustrative of learning. the matchbox in future. Behavioural changes that occur due to Features of Learning learning are relatively permanent. They must The process of learning has certain distinctive be distinguished from the behavioural changes characteristics.Thefirstfeatureisthatlearning that are neither permanent nor learned. For 78 Psychology Reprint 2026-27