Page 2 - LN 2_Learning

▪ It is a response due to difference.
▪ Depends on the discrimination capacity or learning of the organism.
Spontaneous Recovery

▪ Spontaneous recovery occurs after a learned response is extinguished.
▪ The amount of spontaneous recovery depends on the duration of the time

lapsed after the extinction session.
▪ The longer the duration of time lapsed, the greater is the recovery of learned
response.

OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING

▪ Some form of learning takes place by observing others.
▪ Also known as imitation or social learning.
▪ In order to understand the nature of observational learning, we refer to studies

conducted by Albert Bandura.
▪ Bandura showed a film of five minutes duration to children.
▪ The film shows that in a large room there are numerous toys including a large
sized ‘Bobo’ doll.
▪ Now a grown-up boy enters the room and looks around.
▪ The boy starts showing aggressive behaviour towards the toys in general and

the bobo doll in particular.
▪ He hits the doll, throws it on the floor, kicking it and sitting on it.
▪ This film has three versions.
▪ In one version a group of children see the boy (model) being rewarded and
praised by an adult for being aggressive to the doll.
▪ In the second version another group of children see the boy being punished for
his aggressive behaviour.
▪ In the third version the third group of children are not shown the boy being

either rewarded or punished.
▪ After viewing a specific version of the film all the three groups of children were
placed in an experimental room in which similar toys were placed around.
▪ The children were allowed to play with the toys.
▪ These groups were secretly observed and their behaviours noted.
▪ It was found that those children who saw aggressive behaviour being rewarded

were most aggressive; children who had seen the aggressive model being
punished were least aggressive.
▪ Thus, in observational learning observers acquire knowledge by observing the model’s
behaviour, but performance is influenced by model’ behaviour being rewarded or
punished.