Lecture Four: Learning
Instructor: Ms. Summer SIU
Course: PSYC 1001AEF - Foundation of Social Sciences: Psychology
Topics Covered:
1. Introduction to Learning
2. Classical Conditioning
3. Operant Conditioning
4. Observational Learning
Introduction
Learning Defined:
• A relatively enduring change in behavior or knowledge resulting from experience.
• Enables better adaptation to the environment.
Question of Learning:
• Examples provided to differentiate between innate behaviors and learned responses.
Focus:
• Behaviorism perspective, as introduced in Lecture 1.
Behaviorism
Key Points:
• Critique of Freudian ideas as unscientific and complex.
• Emphasis on observable and measurable behavior enabling empirical research.
• View of infants as "tabula rasa" (blank slate), acquiring knowledge through sensory
experiences.
• Behavior as a response to environmental stimuli.
Founder:
• J.B. Watson: Advocated the idea that given the environment, any child could be trained to
become any type of specialist.
