LEARNING Prof. Shrinivas V K

Prof. SVK

DEFINITIONS

“Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs as a result of a prior experience”

“Learning has taken place if an individual behaves, reacts, responds as a result of experience in a manner different from the way he formerly behaved”

“A permanent change in behavior through education and training, practice and experience”

Prof. SVK

Theories of Learning

• Classical conditioning by Ivan Pavlov

• Operant conditioning by B. F. Skinner

• Cognitive learning by Edward Tolman

• Social learning

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Classical conditioning

• Ivan Pavlov a Russian Psychologist won the Nobel prize for his experiments.

• Classical conditioning is the association of one event with another desired event resulting in a behavior.

• A type of conditioning in which an individual responds to some stimulus that would not ordinarily produce such a response.

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• He tried to relate the dog’s salivation and the ringing of the bell.

• He conducted an experiment on dogs and tried to establish a Stimulus Response connection.

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• Unconditioned stimulus (Meat)

• Unconditioned response (Salivation)

• Conditioned/artificial stimulus ( Bell )

• Conditioned response (Salivation=bell)

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Prof. SVK

Crticisism

• It is passive.

• Mostly behaviour is emitted than elicited.

• It is voluntary not reflexive

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Operant conditioning

• A type of conditioning in which desired voluntary behaviour leads to a reward or prevents a punishment.

• Operant behaviour means voluntary or learned behaviour in contrast to reflexive or unlearned behaviour.

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Methods to shape

behaviour

• Positive reinforcement: Following a response with something pleasant.

• Negative reinforcement: Following a response by the termination or withdrawal of something unpleasant.

• Punishment: Causing an unpleasant condition to eliminate undesirable behaviour

• Extinction: Eliminating any reinforcement that is maintaining a behaviour

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Social learning

• People can learn through observation and direct experince.

• 4 step model 1) Attentional process

2) Retention process

3) Motor reproduction

4) Reinforcement process Prof. SVK

Cognitive learning

• Not all cases of learning can easily be captured by classical conditioning and operant conditioning.

• Learning would be extremely inefficient if we had to rely completely on conditioning for all our learning.

• Human beings can learn efficiently by observation, taking instruction, and imitating the behavior of others.

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• “Cognitive learning is defined as the acquisition of knowledge and skill by mental or cognitive processes”

• Cognitive processes include creating mental representations of physical objects and events, and other forms of information processing.

• In cognitive learning, the individual learns by listening, watching, touching, reading, or experiencing and then processing and remembering the information.

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• Using rats in the laboratory, he showed that they learnt to run through a complicated maze towards their goal of food.

• It was observed that rats developed expectations at every choice points in the maze.

• Learning happened when the environmental cues and expecatations were strengthened because the cues led to the expected goals.

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Prof. SVK

Principles of learning

• It is the process of changing the individual’s behavior by guiding their learning in systematic steps.

• The four methods of shaping behavior are-

• 1. Positive reinforcement• 2. Negative reinforcement• 3. Punishment• 4. Extinction

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Meaning of

Reinforcement:

Reinforce means to strengthen, and reinforcement refers to a stimulus which strengthens the probability of a particular response being repeated. Positive reinforcement. Negative reinforcement.

Reinforcement is anything that increases the intensity of a response. It can be negative or positive.

Commonly used reinforcers in organizations:- Appreciating the good work of

employees Awarding promotions or raises

•

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Positive reinforcement

• It is the process of getting something nice after showing a desired behavior. This is done to repeat the same behavior.

• Example of Positive Reinforcement -

• When a manager praises an employee for successfully completing a task on schedule, this is positive reinforcement.

• This encourages the employee and increases the possibility of completing his work on time.

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Negative

Reinforcement

• In this, a reward is taken away if an undesired behavior is displayed.

Example of Negative reinforcement-

• Taking away scholarship from a student, if he does not perform well in the examination.

• When a worker is asked to get back to work when he is noticed talking to his colleagues, this is negative reinforcement.

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Punishment

1. Punishment is the practice of forcing something unpleasant or on a person, usually in response to disobedient or morally wrong behavior or undesired behavior.

2. Should be immediate and uniform.3. Punish in private.4. Punisher must provide an acceptable reason to offender5. Punishment of the wrong behaviour

should be paired, whenever possible, with reinforcement of the right behaviour.

6. Can have side effects of hate and revenge

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Extinction

• It is removal of any reward (reinforcement) that is helping to maintain a particular behavior.

• If a person puts in extra effort but his work is not being recognized or rewarded, he will stop doing it.

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Schedules of Reinforcem

ent

• Reinforcement schedules are of two types-– Continuous reinforcement schedule– Intermittent reinforcement schedule

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Continuous Reinforcement

Schedule

• In this a desired behavior is always rewarded.

• It is the traditional reinforcement schedule.

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Intermittent Reinforcem

ent Schedule

• In this schedule, every case of desired behavior is not rewarded.

• But the frequency of reward is sufficient to encourage desired behavior.

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Categories of Intermittent

Techniques

• Fixed interval reinforcement schedule – Rewards are given at fixed time intervals. E.g. honesty pay

• Variable interval reinforcements – Rewards are given at time intervals that are not fixed.

• Fixed ratio schedule – Reward is given after a fixed number of responses. E.g. Piece rate

Generally variable schedules lead to higher performance than fixed schedules.

Continuous reinforcers are appropriate for newly desired, low frequency or unstable responses.

Intermittent reinforcers are appropriate for stable or high frequency responses.

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Specific Organizational Application

1) Using lotteries to reduce absenteeism

• In this method lotteries are used to reduce absenteeism in organizations.

• This method was used by Continental Airlines to reward its 40,000 employees for attendance.

• The company holds a draw two times a year and gives eight new sports utility vehicles.

• For this draw employees who have not taken a single leave during the last six months are eligible.

• This reduced the company’s absence rate to a great extent (Robbins 2003).

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2) Well pay vs. sick pay

• Organizations that pay for sick leaves face two times more absenteeism than organizations who do not pay for sick leaves.

• One organization in USA implemented a well pay program.

• It paid bonus to employees who did not take any leave for a four weak period.

• This program increased organization’s savings, reduced absenteeism, increased productivity and improved employee satisfaction.

• Forbes magazine also used this approach to cut its health care costs.

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3) Employee D

iscipline

• All managers have to deal with problem behaviors in the organization.

• To counter this, managers may take disciplinary action like oral warning, written warning and temporary suspension. But it is a short term solution and causes side effects.

• Disciplinary action tells the employees what not to do but does not teach them what to do.

• Practically, it is used commonly because it can give fast results in the short run.

• Most organizations have some kind of training program.

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Barriers to learning

Individual• low risk taking • Comfortable with status quo• Intolerance to handle disturbance

Teams and groups• Group resistance• Narrow approach

Organizations• Organisation culture• Cultural defensiveness

Prof. SVK

Thank you……

Prof. SVK