Associative, Operant, Insight, And Observation

Learning is a part of our everyday life. Every single day, we are exposed to new events that help us to learn something new. In relation to the field of psychology, learning is broken down into four different areas. These areas are: Associative, operant, insight and observational. Each of these areas have an important and distinct effect how we interpret our learning process.

Associative learning is defined as a theory that ideas reinforce each other and can be linked to one another. It is also described as a form of conditioning. It is a theory that states behavior can be modified or learned based on a response. This means that behavior can be learned or even un-learned based on the response it generates. Associative learning is a fundamental

Through operant conditioning, an individual makes an association between a particular behavior and a consequence. An example of using positive reinforcement through operant learning is giving a dog a treat for going outside each time he uses the bathroom. Another example would be giving your child money for doing their chores or even praising your child for working hard on their psychology assignments. On the other side of the coin is negative reinforcement. For example, if your dog does not go outside to use the bathroom you would not reward him and would scold him instead for his bad behavior. Or is your child does not do his chores or finish his psychology assignments then you would ground him instead of rewarding him. These are all examples of using negative reinforcement through operant conditioning. B. F. Skinner is the behaviorist that is credited for the origination of the term operant conditioning. Skinner believed that one should focus on the external and observable causes of

Insight learning is defined as the understanding of a specific cause and effect within a specific context. One behaviorist credited for his studies on insight learning was Wolfgang Kohler. Kohler used chimpanzees while doing experiments on insight learning. He used the power of insight learning by placing a banana above the reach of chimpanzees and would watch them. He would document how they would attempt to reach the food. In the same room, there would be several boxes that would not be high enough for the chimpanzees to climb on to be able to reach the banana. Kohler found that the chimpanzees would spend most of their time being unproductive rather than slowly looking for a solution to get to the banana. He noticed they would run around and jump and generally become agitated and upset because of their inability to get to the banana. Eventually they would pile the boxes one on top of each other, climb on top of them, and grab their banana. Kohler believed that the solution could not occur until the chimpanzees had a cognitive insight on how to solve the problem of reaching the