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Paper Code and Title: H10EC Early Childhood Care, Education and Development Module Code and name: H10EC06 Learning principles – classical conditioning, operant conditioning, habituation and imitation Name of the Content Writer: Dr. K. Arockia Maraichelvi LEARNING PRINCIPLES – CLASSICAL CONDITIONING, OPERANT CONDITIONING, HABITUATION AND IMITATION 1. INTRODUCTION Learning refers to changes in behaviour as a result of experience. Babies are born with integrated learning mechanisms and capacities that allow them to gain from experiences. Any human being at a younger age learns through basic two forms of learning called classical and operant conditioning. Later the ir novel stimulation facilitates them to acquire knowledge. Finally they learn by observing other s. Let us learn these forms of learning in detail . 2. LEARNING OBJECTIVES At the end of this lesson you will be able to  Describe the various approaches to learning namely classical conditioning, operant conditioning, habituation and imitation  Assist learners to take up the responsibility of guiding children of 0 - 6 years to develop desirable behaviour and extinguish undesired behaviour 3. CONCEPT OF LEARNING Before getting into the approaches to learning, the concept of learning should be understood. Learning is defined a s the process that results in a relatively consistent change in behaviour or behaviour potential based on experience 3.1. Why is it called relatively consistent change? – After you have learnt swimming and are confident in doing it, you will prob ably always be able to swim . However you should realise those consistent changes may not be permanent changes. For example, if you give up swimming, the speed with which you swim might have declined from their original speed, but it is sure that it will be easier to learn a second time. 3.2. What is change in behaviour or behaviour potential? – Most of the learning is apparent from the improvement in performance. Eg. Driving a car. However i

n many instances performance may not show everything we have learne d as the improvement in performance cannot be measured. Eg. Appreciation of modern art. In such instances you are said to have achieved a potential for behaviour change. 3.3. How is it based on experience? – It is only through experience that learning tak es place. Experience includes taking in information, assessment, transformation and manifestation of responses that affect the environment. Paper Code and Title: H10EC Early Childhood Care, Education and Development Module Code and name: H10EC06 Learning principles – classical conditioning, operant conditioning, habituation and imitation Name of the Content Writer: Dr. K. Arockia Maraichelvi Babies come into the world with a built - in set of learning mechanisms that permit them to profit from experience im mediately (Berk,2005).. Kids at very young age are capable of two basic forms of learning namely Classical conditioning and Operant conditioning. Let us look into these approaches in detail. 3.4. Self check exercises Which of the following is true of lea rning? a. Learning is relatively permanent change b. Learning involves a change in behaviour c. Learning occurs through experience d. All of the above (Ans. d) 4. CLASSICAL CONDITIONING Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov discovered classical conditioning for which he got Noble prize in the year 1904. Learning by classical conditioning is by associating an environmental/neutral stimulus with a naturally occurring stimulus. Classical conditioning – is defined as a form of learning that involves associating a neutral stimulus with a stimulus that leads to a reflexive response. 4.1. Pavlov’s experiment Reflex responses constitute the crux of classical conditioning. A reflex is an automatic response to a specific stimuli such as salivation, eye blinking. The reflexes are biologically important for the survival of any organism. The accidental discovery of the innate salivation reflex of dogs even at t

he sight of food by Pavlov paved way for t he classical conditioning process PALO’S RESTRAINING HARNESS Paper Code and Title: H10EC Early Childhood Care, Education and Development Module Code and name: H10EC06 Learning principles – classical conditioning, operant conditioning, habituation and imitation Name of the Content Writer: Dr. K. Arockia Maraichelvi Pavlov's experiment was carried out by placing a dog in a restraining harness. . A stimulus – sound of a bell - was presented at regular intervals and then the dog was provided with some food. At first the dog had no prior meaning for the tone with respect to food or salivation. It was just an orienting response at first – the dog picked its ears, moved its head to trace the source of sound. However with the frequent pairings of the tone and the food, the orienting response is no more manifested, whereas salivation begins. This phenomenon was found to be similar to other stimulus also. Pavlov demonstrated the generality of this effect by using a variety of ot her stimuli such as light etc. 4.2. The process of Classical Conditioning On the whole, classical conditioning involves forming an association between a neutral stimulus and a natural stimulus resulting in a learned response. The three basic stages of classical conditioning are detailed below : 4.2.1 Stage 1: Before Conditioning In the first stage of the learning process Pavlov provided a natural stimulus – the sight of food - that will automatically elicit a response - salivation. In other words, unconditioned stimulus (UCS) produces an unconditioned response (UCR). At this point a neutral stimulus that produces no effect is introduced – the sound of a bell. It is found that the neutral stimulus can evoke a response when paired with UCS several tim es.  Therefore Un C onditioned Stimulus (UCS) refers to naturally occurring stimuli that evokes a response .  The UnConditioned Response (UCR) is the automatic response that is man

ifested when subjected to the unconditioned stimulus. BEFORE CONDITIONING Paper Code and Title: H10EC Early Childhood Care, Education and Development Module Code and name: H10EC06 Learning principles – classical conditioning, operant conditioning, habituation and imitation Name of the Content Writer: Dr. K. Arockia Maraichelvi 4.2.2. Stage 2: During Conditioning For th is stage Pavlov introduced a neutral stimulus – the sound of a bell , which was repeatedly paired with the UCS – the food. Hence an association between the neutral stimulus and the natural stimulus ( UCS ) is facilitated. If the association could trigger the salivation response, then the neutral stimulus is called as the conditioned stimulus (CS).  The once neutral stimulus after being associated with the natural stimulus eventually triggers a conditioned re sponse and this stimulus is called as conditioned stimulus (CS) . DURING CONDITIONING 4.2.3. Stage 3: After Conditioning Once the association has been made between the UCS and the CS, Pavlov found that the CS even when presented alone without UCS will trigger a response . The resulting response of salivation even without food is known as the conditioned response (CR).  The Conditioned Response refers to the habituated or learned response to the once neutral stimulus. AFTER CONDITIONING Paper Code and Title: H10EC Early Childhood Care, Education and Development Module Code and name: H10EC06 Learning principles – classical conditioning, operant conditioning, habituation and imitation Name of the Content Writer: Dr. K. Arockia Maraichelvi Hence UCS – UCR connections are provided by nature, but the CS - CR connections are produced by learning through classical conditioning 4.3. Components of Classical C onditioning The major components of learning that followed Pavlov’s experiment are  Acquisition  Extinction  Spontaneous recovery  Stimulus generalizatio

n  Stimulus discrimination Let us see each one in detail Have a look into the graph shown below, the first panel of the graph denotes the acquisition phase wherein, after subsequent pairings of the neutral stimulus with UCS, the likelihood of the response had become so intense and this phase is referred as acqui sition phase. Pavlov also discovered that, the CS (the sound of the bell) - when presented alone many times, without being paired with the UCS (the food), the CR (salivation) - no longer occur s . In other words , the dog gradually stop ped salivat ing in r esponse to the sound , when the sound of the bell was alone presented without food . This is referred to as extinction shown in the second panel. As a continuation of his experiment he also found that the CR (salivation) will reappear after a rest period and gets strengthened with few pairings as shown in the fourth panel . The process of reappearance of CR after an incubation period is called spontaneous recovery. ACQUISITION, EXTINCTION AND SPONTANEOUS RECOVERY Paper Code and Title: H10EC Early Childhood Care, Education and Development Module Code and name: H10EC06 Learning principles – classical conditioning, operant conditioning, habituation and imitation Name of the Content Writer: Dr. K. Arockia Maraichelvi Subsequently Pavlov also found that the dogs were able to generalize the CR (salivation) to one CS (sound) that seems to be similar in frequency and the process of generalizing the response to similar stimuli is referred to as stimulus generalization. Als o the stimuli that are not similar to that of the CS did not evoke the same CR and Pavlov termed it as stimulus discrimination. 4.4. Other examples of Classical Conditioning Let us have a glance at few more examples of how Pavlov’s classical conditioning mechanism works in various settings. 4.4.1. Classical Conditioning a Fear Response John B. Watson was influenced by the classical conditioning process, and he in his research

tried to apply the principles of classical conditioning t o the development of children. His experiment was with a little boy called Albert, in whom a fear response was conditioned. The child , when saw a rat for the first time, he did not show any signs of fear, but later the appearance of rat is associated with banging, scary sound. After repeated pairings of rat and sound, Albert started crying at the sight of the rat itself. However, the fear did not stop there. He also generalized his response to other fuzzy white objects. In reality, a single pairing of a ne utral stimulus (a dog) and a terrifying experience of being chased or bitten by the dog is enough to create phobia of dogs among us . 4.4.2. Classical Conditioning being used in Taste aversion T he development of learned taste aversions is yet another example of classical conditioning . Just imagine that you ate something the previous night and it makes you ill with nausea, at least for a brief time , you would never like to taste the same food. The conditioning of taste aversions has got survival value too 4.5. Uses of Classical Conditioning in the real world Few of the real - world applications for classical conditioning are as given below  Classical conditioning mechanisms are used by many dog trainers to train their pets.  Phobias or anxiety problems could also be treated by the principles of classical conditioning  Teachers could apply classical conditioning in the classroom setting. For example an a nxious situation of performing on the stage can be paired with a pleasant reward by which the child could learn to stay relaxed and calm on stage. Paper Code and Title: H10EC Early Childhood Care, Education and Development Module Code and name: H10EC06 Learning principles – classical conditioning, operant conditioning, habituation and imitation Name of the Content Writer: Dr. K. Arockia Maraichelvi 4.6. More to ponder  Do you think you would be willing to drink a sugar water solution if the

sugar was drawn from a containe r that you know was incorrectly labelled poison?  Do you think you would be willing to dring apple juice into which a sterilized cockroach had been dipped? If these situations make you say ‘no way’, the classically conditioned response wins out over the knowledge that the stimulus is really okay. 4.7. Criticisms  Experiments conducted on animals under strict laboratory control cannot really be generated to all the human learning. There are many factors in a child’s life of reality which aff ect the way he/she behave.  The principles are just too simple to explain all learning. Children work with sand, water, puzzles just for fun or enjoyment or challenge but not necessarily do so because they have been reinforced in anyway. 4.8. Self - check ex ercises 1. In classical conditioning the natural reaction to an unconditioned stimulus is call ed as .......................... 2. Classical conditioning describes the association between ............. and ..................... stimulus . 3. Little Albert’s demonstration of fear to other furry white objects is an example of stimulus generalization/stimulus discrimination . 4. The sudden reappearance of a response after a period of rest is known as ..................... . (Ans. 1. Unconditioned response 2. Nat ural and neutral 3. Stimulus generalization 4. Spontaneous recovery) 5. OPERANT CONDITIONING Classical conditioning describes an organism’s response to the environment but do not provide clue on how the response influence the environment and the environment in turn influence the response. This is where another major form of learning called operant conditioning gains importance. This principle of learning places emphasis on the organism’s activity in the environment. The following table gives you the distinction between classical conditioning and operant conditioning . Paper Code and Title: H10EC Early Childhood Care, Education and Development Module

Code and name: H10EC06 Learning principles – classical conditioning, operant conditioning, habituation and imitation Name of the Content Writer: Dr. K. Arockia Maraichelvi DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CLASSICAL CONDITIONING AND OPERANT CONDITIONING An American psychologist B.F.Skinner (1938) developed the concept of operant conditioning, which is also called as instrumental conditioning. Operant conditioning as classical conditioning is also a form of associative learning, wherein the outcome of behaviour predicts the likelihood of the occurrence of that b ehaviour. The term Operant refers to the behaviour that is emitted by an organism. This behaviour operates on the environment and the environment in turn operates on the behaviour Operant conditioning is actually an expansion of Thorndike’s law of effect. So before venturing into the process and principles of operant conditioning, let us have a look at Thorndike’s law. 5.1. Thorndike ’s Law of Effect An American Psychologist Edward Lee Thorndike used a puzzle box to study how cats learn. Hungry cat was placed inside the box and a piece of fish outside the box. To escape from the puzzle box and get the fish to satisfy its hunger , the latch inside the box had to be released by the cat . Thorndike observed a number of ineffective responses by the cat. After sometime, the cat accidently placed its foot on the treadle that released the latch. Finally the cat could come out and get the fish. After returning to the box, the cat continues with the same sort of random movements until it stepped on the treadle. After succeeding trials, the cat’s random movement declined and could finally come out of the box in the first attempt itself. The behaviour had so become voluntary as it is influenced by a reinforcer – the fish. THORNDIKE’S PUZZLE BOX Classical conditioning Operant conditioning It explains involuntary responses It explains voluntary behaviours The learning is a passive process The learning i

s an active process Eg. Sm ell of food triggers salivation Eg. Voluntarily studying hard to get good marks Paper Code and Title: H10EC Early Childhood Care, Education and Development Module Code and name: H10EC06 Learning principles – classical conditioning, operant conditioning, habituation and imitation Name of the Content Writer: Dr. K. Arockia Maraichelvi Thorndike’s law of effect states that ’Behaviours followed by positive outcomes are strengthened, whereas behaviours followed by negative outcomes are weakened depending upon the consequences of the organ ism’s actions. In other words, the appropriate stimulus response connections (S - R connections) strengthen and an inappropriate connection weakens the behaviour. 5.2. Skinners approach to operant conditioning Skinner’s approach was experimental, in which he operated the consequences of an organism ’s behaviour to find out the effect that they had on successive behaviour. For his experiment skinner invented an apparatus called operant chamber that allowed him to manipulate the consequences of behaviour of rat. This chamber was set in a way that, a press on the lever by the rat would be followed by delivery of a food pellet. As the hungry rat explored the box, it accidently touches the lever and a food pellet was dispersed. Now understanding that the con sequence was positive, the rat after certain trials deliberately touches the lever. SKINNER’S OPERANT CHAMBER 5.3 . Elements of o perant conditioning The two major elements of operant conditioning are 1. Reinforcer 2. Punisher Reinforcer : A stimulus that increases the likelihood of behaviour to be repeated is called reinforcer. Paper Code and Title: H10EC Early Childhood Care, Education and Development Module Code and name: H10EC06 Learning principles – classical conditioning, operant conditioning, habituation and imitation Name of the Content Writer: Dr. K. Arockia Maraichelvi Reinforcement : The learning of new behaviour or

the strengthening of the exi s ting one is called reinforcement. Punisher : Elimination of pleasant s timulus or prese nting an un desirable one to decrease the chances that behaviour will be repeated is called punisher. Punishment : The process of weakening or extinguishing a learned behaviour is called punishment. Now, let us see each element in detail with relevant exam ples. 5.3.1. Reinforcement A child might read books because she receives praise from her parents for reading – a positive reinforcement – or else she might read because it gives her a sense of relaxation after doing a long tedious homework – negative reinforcement. But do understan d that that in both cases the end result is a higher incidence of book reading. Hence positive reinforcement is the process wherein the frequency of behaviour increases as it is followed by a rewarding stimulus. Eg. When teacher praises your performance when you turn in the assignment on time, you tend to turn in other assignments on time. Negative reinforcement is the process wherein the frequency of behaviour increases as it is followed by the removal of an aversive stimulus. Eg. When you want your te acher to stop criticising you for late submission of assignment you try to turn it on time and tend to submit the other assignments on time. 5.3.2. Punishment All though we all hate punishments, they are found to be an influential regulator of behaviour. Suppose you have a very bad allergic reaction after taking a medicine for headache, the next time you get a headache, you will not take that medicine just to avoid the aversive consequence. However punishment should not be confused with negative reinforce ment. Punishment is where an aversive stimulus is presented to influence the behaviour and the negative reinforcement is the removal of an aversive stimulus. Again as reinforcement, punishment is both positive and negative. Positive punishment – the proc ess by which the occurrence of behaviour decreases when followed by

an unpleasant stimulus is referred to as positive punishment . Paper Code and Title: H10EC Early Childhood Care, Education and Development Module Code and name: H10EC06 Learning principles – classical conditioning, operant conditioning, habituation and imitation Name of the Content Writer: Dr. K. Arockia Maraichelvi Negative punishment – is the process by which the occurrence of behaviour decreases when a positive stimulus is removed. Let u s have a better understanding of the types of punishment with the following example : TYPES OF PUNISHMENT WITH EXAMPLE Types of punishment Behaviour Stimulus Effect on behaviour Positive Not cleaning up your room when your parents asks you to do Your parent yells at you You clean the room to avoid being scolded Negative Not cleaning up your room when your parents asks you to do You are not allowed to go play with your friends for two days You clean up your room to be allowed to go out with friends Further, this table helps you fine tune your understanding of the elements of operant conditioning. ELEMENTS OF OPERANT CONDITIONING Reinforcement Punishment Positive Presentation of a rewarding stimulus Presentation of an aversive stimulus Negative Removal of an aversive stimulus Removal of an awarding stimulus 5.4. Applications of Operant Conditioning The major applications of operant conditioning in our daily lives are : 5.4.1. Behaviour modification R esearchers of behaviour modification consider that many emotional and behavioural problems are caused by inadequate, inappropriate responses and consequences, operant conditioning gains significance by inducing a change toward desired behaviour with adequa te responses and consequences. Paper Code and Title: H10EC Early Childhood Care, Education and Development Module Code and name: H10EC06 Learning principles – classical conditioning, operant conditioning, habituation and imitation Name of the Content Writer: Dr. K. Arockia Maraichel

vi 5.4.2. Education Operant conditioning can be applied in classrooms to improve the level of learning among children in the following ways : 1. Premack Principle - Named after Psychologist David Premack, the Premack Principle st ates that a high probability activity or more preferred activity can be used to reinforce a low probability activity or less preferred activity. Eg. A teacher might say ‘If you all get your homework done by this Friday, you will be taken for a field trip on Saturday. 2. Shaping - Shaping is the process of rewarding approximations of desired behaviour. When behaviour takes time to occur, the learning process in operant conditioning can be shortened by rewarding an approximation of the desired behaviour. Eg. A teacher has got a student who has never completed more than 50% of her homework. The teacher could set the target behaviour at 100%, but reward her for successive approximations to the target – may be for 70%, then 80%, then 90% and finally 100%. 5.5. Self - check exercises 1. The use of desirable and undesirable stimulus to change behaviour is known as ..................... 2. While beginning a class, a professor raises a question and praises any answer close to the right one. This is an example of ........... .......... 3. Using a high probability activity to reinforce a low probability activity is a principle stated by................... 4. Removal of an awarding stimulus is positive punishment/negative punishment 5. Presentation of an aversive stimulus is called pos itive reinforcement. True/False (Ans. 1. Operant conditioning 2. Shaping 3. Premack 4. Neagative punishment 5. True) 6. HABITUATION AND DISHABITUATION Young children also learn by habituation and dishabituation. Learning by way of habitu ation and dishabituation proves the natural preference for novelty among children, which in turn increases the efficacy of learning. Habituation refers to the decline in the occurrence of a particular response over time,

as the stimulus is presented repeti tively. However introduction of a new stimulus causes the responsiveness to get back to even a higher level, which is called as dishabituation. Paper Code and Title: H10EC Early Childhood Care, Education and Development Module Code and name: H10EC06 Learning principles – classical conditioning, operant conditioning, habituation and imitation Name of the Content Writer: Dr. K. Arockia Maraichelvi Eg. A child looks at a bright red block when reinforced and develops a interest in looking at it. After some da y s the looking decreases (Habituation). Later, when a blue block is shown along with the red block, the child’s interest develops at a higher level (Dishabituation) 7. IMITATION Imitation is a learning mechanism that surprises all of us. Even infants have the ability to imitate the facial expressions of adults. This ability in turn promotes positive interaction between caregiver and infant. Most of our learning takes place as we imitate others. Eg. When a mother widens or purses her lips, a n in fant observing her is likely to display a similar expression. 8. SUMMARY Kids are being wonderfully equipped to learn by themselves immediately after birth. Through classical conditioning they learn by associating a neutral stimulus with an environmental stimulus. These associations have got survival value too. By means of operant conditioning, they learn to control the environmental events. The natural preference for novelty allows them to learn by habituation and dishabituaton. Learning by imitating th e behaviour of another person is also one another form of learning. All these types of learning provide you insight in ho w to teach children of 0 - 6 years. References  Berk,L.E.(2004). Development through the lifespan (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.  Berk, L. E. (2005). Infants, Children and adolescents (5 th ed.). MA: Allyn and Bacon.  Santrock, J. W. (2011). Child development . New York: McGraw - Hi