Approaches to learning

Criticised for ignoring role of cognition and other internal processes in human behaviour.

Classical Conditioning.
A form of learning based on innate reflexes, first developed in experiments carried out on dogs by Pavlov. It involves a neutral stimulus being paired with an unconditional stimulus which then elicits an unconditional response.

Learning is described as an S-R association being formed automatically when the pairing of the NS and UCS occurs close together in time. This can also be explained in terms of expectancy i.e the bell leads to the expectancy of food thus triggering reflex salivation.

Operant Conditioning.
Pioneered by Skinner who believed that learning is the result of an association between behaviour and consequence. The Law of Effect states positive consequences of behaviour will reinforce that behaviour, e.g. rats and levering pressing for food leading to more lever pressing.

Behaviour can be shaped by reinforcing successive approximations of what is required. Skinners see's learning as evolution but on the timescale of an individuals lifespan. This apporach has been criticised for ignoring the role of cognitive processes.

Category Learning.
An example of the cognitive approach to learning, see's learning as information processing. It proposes that humans and non-human animals learn general relationships i.e. concepts. This has been demonstrated in dolphin.

However Murphy and Allopenna, using meaningful material, found that relevant background knowledge was used to link attributes thematically. Past experience is not always reliable (the induction problem) which challenges the idea of hypothesis testing. An alternative, produced by Fodor, is that knowledge of categories is not learned but innate.

Sociocultural Perspective.
This perspective proposes that learning always involves the use of cultural tools i.e.physical tools (e.g. computers) or psychological tools (e.g. language). Learning is embedded in interpersonal relationships, which are in turn embedded in social and cultural systems. It focuses on the ways in which contexts provide or constrain learning opportunities, and gives central importance to the role of culture.

Complex interrealtionships exists between tools and power and authority, in terms of access, opportunity and equity, e.g. Keoghs study of boys and girls on computers, finding boys dominated. Social interaction is seen as central to learning, whereby meaning is jointly constructed by learners as demonstrated by Mercer's analysis of classroom interaction investigating how childrens interaction is constructed through talk.

Behaviourism.
Approach initially proposed by Watson who claimed introspection was unscientific.

Basic principles were established through studying simpler organisms such as rats, which could then be extrapolated to humans, thus making it a comparitive approach.