ASSIGNMENT

ADVANCED EDUCATIONAL

PSYCHOLOGY

presented by

Asma Saifullah

(IER) UST,Bannu

2023-2025

Presented to

Dr.Safdar

Rehman

Ghazi

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Q: Elaborate different theories of learning and which one you think was a major

contributor in teaching-learning in your class and why? Argue

Learning is defined as “any relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs as a result of

practice and experience”. This definition has three important elements.

a. Learning is a change in behavior—better or worse.

b. It is a change that takes place through practice or experience, but changes due to growth or

maturation are not learning.

c. This change in behavior must be relatively permanent, and it must last a fairly long time.

Psychologists have tried to explain how people learn and why they learn. They have

conducted many experiments on animals and children and come to certain definite

conclusions which explain the modes of learning. These are called as theories of learning.

Learning theory

There are many theories explaining modes of learning. Important among them are:

1. Trial and Error Learning Theory By El Thorndike

This theory was developed by an American psychologist EL Thorndike (1874-1949). He

argues that learning takes place through trial and error method. According to him learning is a

gradual process where the individual will make many attempts to learn. The essence of this

theory is-as the trials increase, the errors decrease.

This is possible because of association formed between sense impressions and impulses to

action. Such an association comes to be known as a ‘bond’ or a ‘connection, because it is

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these bonds or connections which become strengthened or weakened in making and breaking

of habits. According to this theory when an individual is placed in a new situation, he makes

a number of random movements. Among them, those which are unsuccessful are eliminated

and the successful ones are fixed.

These random movements are not eliminated at once. In the first attempt their number is very

large, in the second attempt the number of errors diminishes and the range of activity

becomes narrower. Gradually the individual learns to avoid unnecessary movements and

reaches the goal. Improvement takes place through repetition.

Thorndike studies the character of trial and error learning in a number of experiments on cats-

using a box which he called ‘puzzle box’. In one of the experiments a hungry cat was placed

in the box and the door was closed which could be opened by pressing a Latch. A fish was

placed outside the box in a plate. The cat could see this fish. The cat was given 100 trials-ten

in the morning and ten in each afternoon for five days. The cat was fed at the end of each

experimental period and then was given nothing more to eat until after the next session. If,

succeeded in opening the door in any trial by chance, he went to eat food (fish). A complete

record was made of the cat’s behavior during each trial. In the beginning the cat made a

number of random movements like biting, clawing, dashing, etc. gradually in subsequent

trials the cat reduced the incorrect responses (errors), as it was in a position to manipulate the

latch as soon as it was put in the box.

This experiment revealed that the random movements were decreased gradually, that is-as the

trials increased the errors decreased. As the trials increased the solution to open the door

(pressing the latch) was discovered and at the end, the cat could open the door with zero

error. The time taken in each trial was eventually reduced.

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We all learn many skills like swimming, cycling, riding, etc., through this method. Children

learn to sit, stand, walk, and run by this method only. However, this method involves

considerable waste of time and effort.

Behavioral Learning Theories

1. Classical conditioning by Ivan Pavlov

This method of conditioning got its name from the fact that, it is a kind of learning situation

that existed in the early classical experiments of Ivan P Pavlov (1849-1936), Russian

physiologist who was awarded Nobel Prize, in 1904 for his experiments.

Pavlov designed an apparatus to measure the quantity of saliva produced in response to food

(meat power). At the beginning of his experiment Pavlov noted that no saliva flowed when he

rang the bell. He then trained the dog by sounding the bell, and shortly afterwards presenting

food. After the sound of the bell had been paired with food a few times, he tested the effects

of the training by measuring the amount of saliva that flowed when he rang the bell and did

not present food. He found that some saliva was produced in response to the sound of the bell

alone. He then resumed the training-paired presentation of bell and food a few times and then

tested again with the bell alone.

As the training continued, the amount of saliva on tests with the bell alone increased. Thus,

after training the dog’s mouth watered-salivated- whenever the bell was sounded. This is

what was learned; it is the conditioned response.

This theory states that CS (bell) becomes a substitute after pairing with UCS (food) and

acquires the capacity to elicit a response. It is because the association (conditioning) is

formed between CS and UCS. This may be symbolically presented as follows:

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UCS<———————————à UCR

(Food) (Saliva)

↓ (Conditioning)

CS<————————————-à CR

(Bell) (Saliva)

All these principles are very useful in behavior therapy. Conditioning is not confined only to

the laboratory.

In our day-to- day’s life we come across many instances of such learning. For example, a

small child who does not know, touches a burning candle, it gives him a painful experience

and withdraws his hand. Later this experience will make him withdraw from burning objects

and avoid them all together.

Conditioning is used as psychotherapeutic technique very effectively in the treatment of

abnormal behaviors such as phobias, alcoholism, enuresis, etc. These are called behavior

modification techniques. Watson and others have conducted many experiments to prove the

usefulness of this method.

2. Operant conditioning by B.F. Skinner

Operant conditioning is a type of associative learning that involves strengthening or

weakening a behavior by using reinforcement or punishment.

Operant conditioning was first described by the behavioral psychologist B.F. Skinner. It is

sometimes also referred to as Skinnerian conditioning and instrumental conditioning. Skinner

believed that classical conditioning simply could not account for all types of learning and was

more interested in learning how the consequences of actions influence behaviors.

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Like classical conditioning, operant conditioning relies on forming associations. In operant

conditioning, however, associations are made between a behavior and the consequences of

that behavior.

In operant conditioning:

Learning occurs when behaviors are followed by either reinforcement or punishment The

consequences must quickly follow the behavior Reinforcement which is the most important

aspect of this experiment is divided into two types: positive reinforcement is used in reward

training. Negative reinforcement-like punishment is used to stop undesired responses or

behaviors.

Focuses on voluntary behaviors.

When a behavior leads to a desirable consequence, it becomes more likely that the behavior

will be repeated in the future. The behavior becomes less likely if the actions lead to negative

outcomes.

Cognitive Learning Theories

1. Cognitive development theory by Jean Piaget

The cognitive approach to learning focuses on how attention, memory, and information

processing contribute to the acquisition of knowledge. One of the best-known cognitive

learning theories is Piaget's theory of cognitive development. Piaget described four stages of

intellectual development that occur in childhood.1

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These four stages explain how a child learns about the world and processes information.

 Sensorimotor stage: During this period of cognitive development, children learn

about the world primarily through their senses.

 Preoperational stage: This stage is marked by the emergence of language and

learning through pretend play.

 Concrete operations stage: During this period, kids begin to utilize logic but still

think about the world very concretely.

 Formal operations stage: At this point, kids begin to use deductive reasoning and

can understand abstract, hypothetical ideas.

Constructivist Learning Theories

1. Sociocultural theory by Vygotsky

The constructivist approach to learning characterizes learners as active participants in the

process who play a role in constructing their knowledge. Constructivist theories of learning

were influenced by the work of psychologist Lev Vygotsky.

Vygotsky's sociocultural theory stressed the importance of collaboration and social

interaction in the learning process.2

Two important concepts of constructivist learning theories are the more knowledgeable other

and the zone of proximal development:

 More knowledgeable other: Vygotsky described the more knowledgeable other as

anyone with an understanding or ability level higher than the learner. This can often be a

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 teacher or adult, but it can also refer to peers with more knowledge about a specific

concept, task, or process.

 Zone of proximal development: Vygotsky described the zone of proximal development

as the range of knowledge or ability that a person can display with the help of the more

knowledgeable other, but that they are not yet capable of performing independently.

Gradually expanding this zone is how people can learn and improve their skills over

time.

1. Social Learning Theory by Albert Bandura

Psychologist Albert Bandura suggested that much of learning takes place through

observation. Children observe the actions of those around them, particularly caregivers and

siblings, and then imitate these behaviors In social learning:

 Learning occurs through observation

 Observations can take place at any time

 Focuses on the give-and-take interaction between social, cognitive, and environmental

influences

In his well-known Bobo doll experiment, Bandura revealed just how easily children could be

led to imitate even negative actions. Children who watched a video of an adult beating up a

large inflatable doll were likelier to copy those actions when given a chance.

Bandura noted that learning something does not necessarily result in a behavior change.

Children frequently learn new things through observation but might not engage in such

behaviors until they need or are motivated to utilize the information

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1. Experiential Learning Theory by David Kolb

This learning theory focuses on learning via hands-on experience. The theory was formally

introduced by psychologist David Kolb but was influenced by the work of other theorists,

including Jean Piaget and John Dewey.

According to Kolb, there are four stages in experiential learning. The first two, abstract

conceptualization and concrete experience, relate to how people grasp experiences. The final

two, active experimentation and reflective observation, refer to how people transform

experiences.

1. Humanistic learning theory byAbraham Maslow

This theory was developed by Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, and James F. T. Bugental in

the early 1900’s. Humanism was a response to the common educational theories at the time,

which were behaviorism and psychoanalysis. Abraham Maslow is considered the father of

the movement, with Carl Rogers and James F.T. Bugental adding to the psychology later

down the line..

There are several important principles involved in the humanistic learning theory that all lead

to self-actualization. Self-actualization is when all your needs are met, you’ve become the

best you’ve can, and you are fulfilled. While Maslow and the humanists don’t believe that

most people reach self-actualization, their belief is that we are always in search of it, and the

closer we are, the more we can learn.

The importance of self-evaluation. For most humanistic teachers, grades don’t really matter.

Self-evaluation is the most meaningful way to evaluate how learning is going. Grading

students encourages students to work for the grade, instead of doing things based on their

own satisfaction and excitement of learning. Routine testing and rote memorization don’t

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lead to meaningful learning in this theory, and thus aren’t encouraged by humanistic teachers.

Humanistic educators help students perform self-evaluations so they can see how students

feel about their progress.

• Feelings and knowledge are both important to the learning process and should not be

separated according to humanistic psychology. Humanistic teachers believe that knowledge

and feelings go hand-in-hand in the learning process. Cognitive and affective learning are

both important to humanistic learning. Lessons and activities should focus on the whole

student and their intellect and feelings, not one or the other.

• A safe learning environment. Because humanistic learning focuses on the entire student,

humanistic educators understand that they need to create a safe environment so students can

have as many as their needs met as possible.

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1. Connectivism Learning Theory by George Siemens and Stephen

Connectivism was first introduced in 2005 by two theorists, George Siemens and Stephen

Downs. Siemens’ article Connectivism:

The publications address the important role technology plays in the learning process and how

the digital age has increased the speed at which students have access to information. Those

main principles of connectivism are:

 Learning and knowledge rests in the diversity of opinions.

 Learning is a process of connecting.

 Learning may reside in non-human appliances.

 Learning is more critical than knowing.

 Nurturing and maintaining connections are needed for continual learning.

 The ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill.

 Accurate, up-to-date knowledge is the aim of all connectivist learning.

 Decision-making is a learning process. What we know today might change tomorrow.

Sensory learning theory by Laird

Effective learning takes place when all the senses are stimulated. Laird (1985) stated that for

learning to occur the five senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste need to be

stimulated. The theory suggests that if multi-senses are stimulated there is a greater chance of

learning to take place. Therefore, it is suggested to adapt your approaches and resources to

the use of as many senses as possible for learners to relate to the concept being discussed in a

learning environment. It means working and learning through more than one sense when

learners face difficulties in one or more areas of reading, spelling, writing, listening,
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comprehension and use of expressive language. Multisensory techniques enable students to

use their personal areas of strength to help them learn.

There are five senses

Touch - Tactile: It has receptors that lie in our skin and tells the person when it is being

touched or when it touches something

Sound - Auditory: This sense of hearing has the ability to interpret sound by detecting

vibrations and affects the nervous system.

Sight - Visual: The visual sense of sight makes it easier to see and interpret the surroundings

by processing the information visible to us

Taste - Gustatory: It is the perception of chemicals in our food or our air. The sense of taste

and smell are combined to enhance the perception of what we eat, the sensory cells in our

taste buds stimulate and send signals to cranial nerves to the brain. And from here the

impulses are sent to make us conscious about the taste.

Smell - Olfactory: It quickly stimulates the limbic system which regulates the functions of

breathing and blood pressure in our brain. Our sensory system of information affects the

ability to modulate sensory information that makes us able to adjust to circumstances.

Sensory information also relates to a person’s state of alertness and influences emotional

interaction to stimulate our learning ability and the practical system of our senses. Using

multi-sensory activities to teach reading skills can help engage students in your lessons.

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1. Multimedia learning theory by Mayer and Moreno

Mayer and Moreno’s (1999) Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning states that deeper

learning can occur when information is presented in both text and graphics than by text alone.

The theory of Multimedia Learning hinges on the presumptions that there are two channels

for learning: auditory and visual. These channels are both used to process information into

working memory.

The Multimedia Theory of Learning can be broken down into a series of seven principles as

defined by Clark and Mayer (2003):

● Multimedia Principle: Words and Graphics are Better Than Words Alone

● Contiguity Principle: Align Words to Corresponding Graphics

● Modality Principle: Present Words as Audio Narration, Rather Than On-Screen Text

● Redundancy Principle: Explain Visuals with Words in Audio or Text, Not Both

● Coherence Principle: Adding Interesting Material Can Hurt Learning

● Personalization Principle: Use Conversational Style and Virtual Coaches

● Segmenting and Pretraining Principle: Managing Complexity by Breaking a Lesson into

 Learning occurs by forming associations between naturally occurring stimuli and a

previously neutral stimulus

 The neutral stimulus must occur immediately before the naturally occurring one

 Focuses on automatic, naturally occurring behaviors Parts

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 

11 Insight learning theory by Wolf gang Kohler

Learning by perceiving the relationship in the scene and understanding the situation is

insightful learning. This theory was developed by a psychologist known as Wolf gang

Kohler, who belonged to Gestalt school of psychology.

According to Gestalt theory—perception of a situation as a ‘whole’ gives better

understanding than sum total of its parts. That is, the situation viewed as a whole will

definitely look different from that, viewed through its parts.

Kohler conducted his most famous experiments on chimpanzee- called Sultan. In the

experiment, Sultan was put in a cage and a banana was placed at some distance outside the

cage. Then the chimpanzee was given two sticks, so constructed that one stick could be fitted

into another and make the stick longer.

The hungry Sultan first attempted with its hands to get the banana. Then he took one of the

sticks and tried to pull the banana nearer, then tried with other stick, but failed to reach it. By

this effort, the chimpanzee became tired and left the attempts to reach banana and started

playing with sticks.

While playing so, one of the sticks got fitted into the other and the stick became lengthier.

Immediately Sultan became elated and pulled the banana with this long stick and ate it. This

‘sudden flash of idea’ to reach food with longer stick was called as ‘Insight’, by Kohler.

He conducted many experiments to prove that learning takes place also by insight and not

only by trial and error. He concluded that the occurrence of insight to find solution to a

problem is possible by perception of the whole situation.

Kohler conducted many experiments on this line of learning to prove that, just trial and error

method is not enough to find solution for many complex problems..

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It is here the method of insightful learning is very useful. Because it involves many higher

mental processes such as thinking, reasoning, intelligence, etc.

He exercises his discrimination ability in solving problems, and learning becomes a matter of

insight rather than of trial and error. Archimedes’ example of’ Aha’ experience (eureka)

explained in creative thinking is the appropriate example for occurrence of insight.

b) Which theory you think was a major contributor in teaching-learning in your class

and why? Argue

As we know that learning theories provide a solid structure that can help to understand how

we can use information and in which ways we can create knowledge and how that knowledge

or learning can be utilized. So learning theories are the ideas based on research about how

students learn.

Even though different theories contributed in teaching- learning process in my class like, if

we talk about multimedia learning theory by Mayer and Moreno. I used multimedia for the

very first time in my academic life. I had presentation on multimedia and I learnt more

comprehesively from words and picture together than I can just from words alone, similarly

sensory learning theory. Humanistic, and experimental learning theories had also played their

role to some extent. But the most effective learning theory that contributed in teaching

learning process in my class of psychology of sir Dr. Ghazi was The social cognitive

learning theory by Albert Bandura .

Social learning theory by Albert Bandura,is also called social cognitive theory,

observational learning theory or modelling , stresses that how observations play significant

role in learning ,modeling, and the role of cognition in behavior change. After making

experiments on children Bandura come to know how children can learn. According to him

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human beings can not only learn from their intellect but they also learn from other people

This means we cannot only learn from books but we can also learn from our classfellows ,our

parents, teachers and other people etc.we can learn just by watching people in our society

rather than by our own personal experiences. The core concepts of this theory are

 Learning occurs through observation

 Intrinsic Reinforcement

 Learning independent on behavior change

How Bandura cognitive learning theory contributed in my class and how this theory

made the teaching-learning process effective, we will discuss here in detail.

ROLE MODELLING;

According to Albert Bandura social learning theory, learning may be effective by observing

others’ social behaviors and then imitating what they say or do. He explained the key

concepts of modelling.

Firstly, we should focus on what the model is doing, this is called attention.

Secondly, we must remember, what we observed, this is called retention.

Thirdly, we must perform the behavior that we observed and saved in our memory memory,

this is called reproduction

Fourthly,the importance of motivation.

Now the question is how I learnt from the role modelling concept in my class.

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Our teacher served as a role model for me, as a student. By demonstrating desired behaviors,

such as critical thinking, problem-solving, and effective communication, he positively

influenced my learning outcomes. Additionally, one such strategy that he used is Inquiry-

based learning this Technique is characterized by indirect instruction in which, teacher

provides students with scaffolding questions and enable students to ask questions ,conduct

investigations and use logic and reasoning to arrive at a solution to the question. The very

assignment that I am going to compose is an example

Self-behavior modification

According to Bandura self-behavior modification is entirely done by the learner himself.

There are no external factors involved in this change in behavior, as the Behaviorists believe

that external factors are responsible for a change in behavior. So Bandura believes that

behavior modification is done by oneself.

According to me a successful student is one who studies himself and does not depend on

others. It means that self-study plays a significant role in the success of a man. But this is

only possible if we have a proper guideline, a proper direction that leads us to success. Our

teachers play a role of a guide for us in our classrooms. we can learn from their experiences

and they can lead us in proper direction. In my class I learnt a lot from my teacher personal

experiences as he used to share his successful story with us . According to Bandura self-

regulation is an important ability that plays a vital role in a person success. It leads us to goal

setting, self-planning, monitoring, instruction and self-motivation. I learnt how to be self-

regularize and how to set goals for my future. Ultimately it led me to self-efficacy and I

started believing on my abilities

Observational Learning:

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Bandura's theory suggests that individuals learn by observing the behaviors of others and the

consequences of those behaviors. In my class I benefitted from observational learning

through activities such as case studies, simulations, and demonstrations of my other class

fellows. These experiences provide opportunities for me to witness real-world applications of

theoretical concepts and to observe effective problem-solving strategies in action.

Vicarious learning;

Vicarious learning played a significant role in my classroom learning. According to Bandura

vicarious learning is a learning through observing the experiences of others without

performing the learned behavior directly for example we watch cooking shows on T.V,from

which we learn different recipe or we learn different hair styles from YouTube channel. In

vicarious learning ,the learner attentively watches the actions of others, retains the observed

actions and then imitates them whether positive or negative.

In our class the teacher highlighted the consequences of different actions, both positive and

negative, to influence students' behavior and decision-making. For example, sharing success

stories of former students who applied course concepts in their careers greatly contributed in

my learning.

Internal state of mind and motivation are as important factors influencing my learning in the

class. An Intrinsic Reinforcement, internal motivation is essentially an internal reward system

that we are equipped with. My interest in my subject (psychology) greatly helped me to

understand the very essence of the subject.

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