Teacher: Prerna Singh

ISC PSYCHOLOGY

XI PSYCHOLOGY
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CHAPTER: LEARNING
UNIT 5

Q. What is learning? [1]

Answer
Learning is a relatively permanent change in the behaviour of the learner through experience
or practice. Learning prepares an individual for the necessary adjustment and adaptation. All
learning is purposeful and goal-directed.

[5]
Q. Explain Trial and Error theory of learning.

Answer
● The famous psychologist E.L. Thorndike gave the trial and error theory of learning.
● EXPERIMENT:
He put a hungry cat in a puzzle box. There was only one door and exit which could be
opened by correctly manipulating a latch. A fish was placed outside the box and the cat
had to get it by getting out of the box. Cat tried different methods to get out. In one of
the random movements, by chance, the latch opened and the cat came out and got her
reward. On subsequent trials the incorrect responses were gradually diminished and the
cat took less time on every succeeding trial. In this way, the cat gradually learned the art
of opening the door.
● Thorndike named the learning of the cat as ‘Trial and Error Learning.’
● Thorndike called it ‘learning by selecting and connecting’ as it provides an opportunity
for the selection of the proper responses and associate them with adequate stimuli.
● He has written- ‘Learning is connecting. The mind is man’s connection system.’
● Thorndike derived the laws of learning based on his theory:
1. Law of readiness-Individuals learn best when they are physically, mentally and
emotionally ready to learn, and they do not learn well if they see no reason f
2. Law of effect- Behaviors that result in rewards are strengthened, while behaviors
that did not result in rewards are weakened.
3. Law of exercise- It states that things that are most often repeated are best
remembered. It has two parts:
● Law of Use- the learning is strengthened with repeated trial or practice.
● Law of Disuse- the learning is weakened when trial or practice is
discontinued.
Teacher: Prerna Singh

Q. Explain the experiment on Classical Conditioning.

[5]

Answer
● In his experiment, Ivan Pavlov kept a dog hungry and then tied him to the experimental
table, which automatically provides food to the dog.

Before conditioning:
𝐹𝑜𝑜𝑑(𝑈𝑆) → 𝑆𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 (𝑈𝑅)
𝐵𝑒𝑙𝑙(𝐶𝑆) → 𝑁𝑜 𝑆𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

During Classical Conditioning:

𝐵𝑒𝑙𝑙(𝐶𝑆) + 𝐹𝑜𝑜𝑑 → 𝑆𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
𝐵𝑒𝑙𝑙 → 𝑆𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 (𝐶𝑅)

● Every time the food was there, the dog would start salivating.
● He also arranged for ringing a bell along with the food.
● When the food and bell were presented, the dog would start salivating.
● After several trials, the dog was only presented with a bell sound but no food, and it
would still salivate. The dog had learned to associate the bell with being fed.

CONCEPT OF US, UR, CS, CR:

● Unconditioned stimulus- produces response without prior learning. (Food)
● Unconditioned response- The response is a natural response and not due to learning.
(Salivation on seeing the food)
● Conditioned stimulus- A previously neutral stimulus, which now produces a response
after conditioning has occurred. (sound of bell)
● Conditioned response- A learned response to a conditioned stimulus. (salivation to the
sound of the bell)

[5]
Q. Explain the principles of Classical Conditioning.

Answer
1. Extinction: if the conditioned stimulus is presented alone without the food, the
magnitude of conditioned response decreases. This gradual disappearance of the
conditioned response is called extinction.
2. Spontaneous recovery: the reappearance of an apparently extinguished conditioned
response (CR) after an interval in which the pairing of CS and US has not been repeated
is called spontaneous recovery.
3. Stimulus generalization: An individual once conditioned to respond to a specific
stimulus is made to respond in the same way in response to other stimuli of similar
nature.
Teacher: Prerna Singh

4. Stimulus discrimination: to react only to a single specific stimulus and not to others
and enabling us to distinguish and discriminate among a variety of stimuli present in the
environment.

[5]
Q. Explain the principles of operant conditioning.

Answer
● Skinner defined two types of responses- the one elicited by known stimuli which he
called as respondent behaviour, and the other emitted by the unknown stimuli which he
called as operant behaviour.
● In the respondent behaviour the stimulus preceding the response is responsible for
causing the behaviour.
● In the operant behaviour, the stimulus causing such behaviour is unknown and it is not
important to know the cause of the behaviour.
● Operant- a set of acts which constituted an organism’s doing something e.g. raising
your hand.
● Reinforcer- It is a stimulus whose presentation or removal increases the probability of a
response re-occurring.
● Positive reinforcer-is any stimulus, the presentation of which increases the likelihood
of a particular behaviour. Eg. food
● Negative reinforcer- is any stimulus the removal of which increases the likelihood of a
particular behaviour.

[5]
Q. Explain the schedules of reinforcement.

Answer.
● Continuous- Reinforcer is given after every correct response during acquisition of
learning. Eg. no extra classes whenever one passes the class test
● Fixed interval- Reinforcer is given only after a set interval of time. Eg. salary given
after every 30 days
● Fixed ratio- Reinforcer is given after a fixed number of responses. Eg. no extra classes
when one passes in two class tests.
● Variable- Reinforcer is given at varying intervals of time or after a varying number of
responses. Eg. giving reward sometimes after 2 days, 5 days or even a week.

[1]
Q. What is shaping?

Answer.
Shaping is a variant of operant conditioning. Instead of waiting for a subject to exhibit a desired
behaviour, any behaviour leading to the target behavior is rewarded. However, once the target
Teacher: Prerna Singh

behavior is reached, no other behaviour is rewarded. The subject behaviour is shaped, molded,
into the desired behaviour.

[5]
Q. Explain Kohler’s study and insightful learning.

Answer.
KOHLER’S EXPERIMENT
● Kohler kept an ape hungry for some time, and then kept him in a large cage.
● He hung bananas from the ceiling, and kept a box on the floor of the cage.
● The ape could not get the idea of placing the box and reaching the banana.
● Kohler gave a demonstration of how to reach the banana.
● The ape now learned the whole situation.
● In another experiment, Kohler kept two sticks in the cage.
● The ape did not get the idea of forming the two sticks through trial and error.
● The ape first tried these sticks one after the other but failed. Suddenly, he got a bright
idea. The animal joined the two sticks and reached the banana.
● Kohler seemed insightful learning as a sudden ‘aha’ moment.
● It interprets learning as a purposive, exploratory and creative process.
● A learner always perceives the situation as a whole and takes proper decisions in an
intelligent way.

[5]
Q. Explain the social learning theory.

Answer.
● It emphasizes that most of what we learn is acquired through simply watching and
listening to other people.
● According to Bandura, “we do not blindly respond to environmental stimuli. We
pick and choose from many environmental options, basing our decisions on our
own insights and past experiences. This we do through observational learning.”
● The following processes or steps are involved in observational learning:
1. Attending to and perceiving the behaviour
2. Remembering the behaviour
3. Converting the memory into action
4. Reinforcement of the imitated behaviour
● The persons whose behaviour is observed and often is imitated are known as models and
observational learning is referred to as modeling.

[5]
Q. Explain the different learning styles.

Answer.
Neil Fleming’s VAK model tells about different learning styles.
Teacher: Prerna Singh

● Visual: Visual learners learn best by seeing. Graphic displays such as charts, diagrams,
and videos are all helpful learning tools. They relate most effectively to written
information. It can be verbal or pictorial. They even think in pictures.
● Auditory: written information has little meaning until it has been heard. They learn
from spoken information. They remember by listening, especially with music. They may
become distracted by noise.
● Kinesthetic: they learn through touch and movement in space. They remember what
was done, not seen or talked about. They prefer a more practical approach.

[1]
Q. What are learning disabilities?

Answer.
Learning disability refers to a heterogeneous group of disorders manifested in terms of difficulty
in the acquisition of learning, reading, writing, speaking, reasoning, and mathematical activities.
The sources of such disorders are inherent in the child. It is presumed that these difficulties
originate from problems with the functioning of the central nervous system. It may occur in
conjunction with physical handicaps, sensory impairment, mental retardation, or without them.

[5]
Q. Define the following learning disabilities:

Answer.
● Dyslexia: it is a learning disorder that involves difficulty reading due to problems
identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words. It affects
areas of the brain that process language.
● Dyscalculia: it is a learning disability that affects the ability to learn arithmetic and
mathematics. It may cause difficulty with counting, measuring quantity, time perception,
etc.
● Dysgraphia: it is a learning difficulty that results in impaired handwriting, impaired
spelling, or both. It is a brain based difficulty marked by difficulty forming letters,
spelling words correctly, writing legibly, etc.
● Dyspraxia: it is a developmental disorder that is characterized by difficulty in
controlling their muscles. It leads to problems with coordination of gross movements,
speech and language.