Organization Behavior
Unit-2
Meaning of learning:
Learning is the process by which individuals acquire knowledge & experience to be applied in
future reaction to situation.
A few definitions of learning are given below to understand the nature of learning-
Learning is a relatively permanent change in behaviour that occurs as a result of prior
experience.
Learning has taken place if an individual behaves, reacts, and responds as a result of experience
in a manner different from the way he formerly behaved.
Learning can be defined as relatively permanent change in behaviour potentiality that results
from reinforced practice or experience.
Nature of Learning:
Learning involves change, although the change can be favourable or unfavourable from
organisations’ point of view.
Change in behaviour must be relatively permanent temporary changes may be only reflexive
and fail to represent any learning. Changes called by fatigue or temporary adaptations are not
covered in learning.
Learning should be reflected in the individual’s behaviour. Any change in the beliefs, attitudes
or perception of an individual which is not accompanied by the appropriate behaviour is not
learning.
Change should occur as the result of some experience, practice or training. This also means
that any biological change in the human behaviour due to some disease or physical damage is
not learning.
Classical conditioning theory of learning
To understand how classical conditioning works, it's helpful to understand the following
terms.
Neutral stimulus. A stimulus is something that triggers a physical or behavioral change. A
neutral stimulus produces no response. At first, Pavlov's dogs had no response to the bell.
, Unconditioned stimulus. This is what leads to an automatic response. In Pavlov’s experiment,
it's the food.
Unconditioned response. A normal process, like salivating when you smell food, is an
unconditioned response.
Conditioned stimulus. This is when a formerly neutral stimulus, like the bell in Pavlov's
experiment, mimics an unconditioned response, as when the dogs began to associate the bell
with food and salivate.
Conditioned response. The learned behavior, such as relating the bell to food, is called a
conditioned response.
Classical conditioning is defined as association of one event with another desired event
resulting in a behaviour. The most popular experiment on the classical conditioning was
conducted by a famous Russian psychologist Ivan Pavolv. Pavolv conducted an experiment on
dogs and tried to establish a stimulus-response connection amongst them. Pavolv was honoured
with a Nobel Prize for his experiment on this subject.
Pavlov conducted an experiment on a dog to study the relation between the dog’s salivation
and ringing of a bell.
When Pavlov presented a piece of meat to the dog, he noticed a great deal of salivation. He
termed the food unconditional stimulus (food automatically caused salivation),
And salivation – an unconditioned Response when the dog saw the meat it salivated.
Then, he withheld the presentation of meat and only rang a bell in front of dog at the same time
when meat was presented to him. The dog did not exhibit any salivation or we can say that
there was no response.
In the next stage of the experiment, he started ringing the bell at the same time when meat was
presented to him.
By doing so he linked meat with ringing of the bell. Thus an association between two stimuli
viz. the bell and meat was established. He continued with this process for some time. After
some time, he found that the ringing of bell alone elicited the saliva of dog even without
presentation of meat. Hence, the bell became conditioned stimulus resulting into conditioned
or learned response.
Unit-2
Meaning of learning:
Learning is the process by which individuals acquire knowledge & experience to be applied in
future reaction to situation.
A few definitions of learning are given below to understand the nature of learning-
Learning is a relatively permanent change in behaviour that occurs as a result of prior
experience.
Learning has taken place if an individual behaves, reacts, and responds as a result of experience
in a manner different from the way he formerly behaved.
Learning can be defined as relatively permanent change in behaviour potentiality that results
from reinforced practice or experience.
Nature of Learning:
Learning involves change, although the change can be favourable or unfavourable from
organisations’ point of view.
Change in behaviour must be relatively permanent temporary changes may be only reflexive
and fail to represent any learning. Changes called by fatigue or temporary adaptations are not
covered in learning.
Learning should be reflected in the individual’s behaviour. Any change in the beliefs, attitudes
or perception of an individual which is not accompanied by the appropriate behaviour is not
learning.
Change should occur as the result of some experience, practice or training. This also means
that any biological change in the human behaviour due to some disease or physical damage is
not learning.
Classical conditioning theory of learning
To understand how classical conditioning works, it's helpful to understand the following
terms.
Neutral stimulus. A stimulus is something that triggers a physical or behavioral change. A
neutral stimulus produces no response. At first, Pavlov's dogs had no response to the bell.
, Unconditioned stimulus. This is what leads to an automatic response. In Pavlov’s experiment,
it's the food.
Unconditioned response. A normal process, like salivating when you smell food, is an
unconditioned response.
Conditioned stimulus. This is when a formerly neutral stimulus, like the bell in Pavlov's
experiment, mimics an unconditioned response, as when the dogs began to associate the bell
with food and salivate.
Conditioned response. The learned behavior, such as relating the bell to food, is called a
conditioned response.
Classical conditioning is defined as association of one event with another desired event
resulting in a behaviour. The most popular experiment on the classical conditioning was
conducted by a famous Russian psychologist Ivan Pavolv. Pavolv conducted an experiment on
dogs and tried to establish a stimulus-response connection amongst them. Pavolv was honoured
with a Nobel Prize for his experiment on this subject.
Pavlov conducted an experiment on a dog to study the relation between the dog’s salivation
and ringing of a bell.
When Pavlov presented a piece of meat to the dog, he noticed a great deal of salivation. He
termed the food unconditional stimulus (food automatically caused salivation),
And salivation – an unconditioned Response when the dog saw the meat it salivated.
Then, he withheld the presentation of meat and only rang a bell in front of dog at the same time
when meat was presented to him. The dog did not exhibit any salivation or we can say that
there was no response.
In the next stage of the experiment, he started ringing the bell at the same time when meat was
presented to him.
By doing so he linked meat with ringing of the bell. Thus an association between two stimuli
viz. the bell and meat was established. He continued with this process for some time. After
some time, he found that the ringing of bell alone elicited the saliva of dog even without
presentation of meat. Hence, the bell became conditioned stimulus resulting into conditioned
or learned response.
