# Learning

## Introduction

The summer sun shines brightly on a deserted stretch of beach. Suddenly, a tiny grey head emerges from the sand, then another and another. Soon the beach is teeming with loggerhead sea turtle hatchlings (). Although only minutes old, the hatchlings know exactly what to do. Their flippers are not very efficient for moving across the hot sand, yet they continue onward, instinctively. Some are quickly snapped up by gulls circling overhead and others become lunch for hungry ghost crabs that dart out of their holes. Despite these dangers, the hatchlings are driven to leave the safety of their nest and find the ocean.
Not far down this same beach, Ben and his son, Julian, paddle out into the ocean on surfboards. A wave approaches. Julian crouches on his board, then jumps up and rides the wave for a few seconds before losing his balance. He emerges from the water in time to watch his father ride the face of the wave.
Unlike baby sea turtles, which know how to find the ocean and swim with no help from their parents, we are not born knowing how to swim (or surf). Yet we humans pride ourselves on our ability to learn. In fact, over thousands of years and across cultures, we have created institutions devoted entirely to learning. But have you ever asked yourself how exactly it is that we learn? What processes are at work as we come to know what we know? This chapter focuses on the primary ways in which learning occurs.

### References

Adibsereshki, N., Abkenar, S. J., Ashoori, M., & Mirzamani, M. (2015). The effectiveness of using reinforcements in the classroom on the academic achievement of students with intellectual disabilities. Journal of Intellectual Disabilities, 19(1), 83–93. https://doi.org/10.1177/1744629514559313
Anderson, C. A., & Gentile, D. A. (2008). Media violence, aggression, and public policy. In E. Borgida & S. Fiske (Eds.), Beyond common sense: Psychological science in the courtroom (p. 322). Blackwell.
Anderson, C. A., Bushman, B. J., Donnerstein, E., Hummer, T. A., & Warburton, W. (2015). SPSSI research summary on media violence. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy (ASAP), 15(1), 4–19. https://doi.org/10.1111/asap.12093
Anderson, C. A., Shibuya, A., Ihori, N., Swing, E. L., Bushman, B. J., Sakamoto, A., Rothstein, H.R., & Saleem, M. (2010). Violent video game effects on aggression, empathy, and prosocial behavior in Eastern and Western countries: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 136(2), 151–173.  HYPERLINK "https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/a0018251"https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018251
Bandura, A., Ross, D., & Ross, S. A. (1961). Transmission of aggression through imitation of aggressive models. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 63, 575–582.
Bushman, B. J., Anderson, C. A., Donnerstein, E., Hummer, T. A., & Warburton, W. A. (2016). Reply to comments on SPSSI research summary on media violence by Cupit (2016), Gentile (2016), Glackin and Gray (2016), Gollwitzer (2016), and Krahé (2016). Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy (ASAP), 16(1), 443–450. https://doi.org/10.1111/asap.12123
Cangi, K., & Daly, M. (2013). The effects of token economies on the occurrence of appropriate and inappropriate behaviors by children with autism in a social skills setting. West Chester University: Journal of Undergraduate Research. http://www.wcupa.edu/UndergraduateResearch/journal/documents/cangi_S2012.pdf
Carlson, L., Holscher, C., Shipley, T., & Conroy Dalton, R. (2010). Getting lost in buildings. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19(5), 284–289.
Chance, P. (2009). Learning and behavior (6th ed.). Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Chase, H. W., & Clark, L. (2010). Gambling severity predicts midbrain response to near-miss outcomes. The Journal of Neuroscience, 30(18), 6180–6187. https://www.jneurosci.org/content/30/18/6180.short
Cialdini, R. B. (2008). Influence: Science and practice (5th ed.). Pearson Education.
DeAngelis, T. (2010). ‘Little Albert’ regains his identity. Monitor on Psychology, 41(1), 10.
Ferguson, C. J. (2011). Video games and youth violence: A prospective analysis in adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 40(4), 377–391. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10964-010-9610-x
Fryer, R. G., Jr. (2010, April). Financial incentives and student achievement: Evidence from randomized trials. National Bureau of Economic Research [NBER] Working Paper, No. 15898. http://www.nber.org/papers/w15898
Garcia, J., & Koelling, R. A. (1966). Relation of cue to consequence in avoidance learning. Psychonomic Science, 4, 123–124.
Garcia, J., & Rusiniak, K. W. (1980). What the nose learns from the mouth. In D. Müller-Schwarze & R. M. Silverstein (Eds.), Chemical signals: Vertebrates and aquatic invertebrates (pp. 141–156). Plenum Press.
Gentile, D. A. (2016). The evolution of scientific skepticism in the media violence “debate.” Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 16, 429–434.
Gershoff, E. T. (2002). Corporal punishment by parents and associated child behaviors and experiences: A meta-analytic and theoretical review. Psychological Bulletin, 128(4), 539–579. doi:10.1037//0033-2909.128.4.539
Gershoff, E.T., Grogan-Kaylor, A., Lansford, J. E., Chang, L., Zelli, A., Deater-Deckard, K., & Dodge, K. A. (2010). Parent discipline practices in an international sample: Associations with child behaviors and moderation by perceived normativeness. Child Development, 81(2), 487–502.
Hickock, G. (2010). The role of mirror neurons in speech and language processing. Brain and Language, 112, 1–2.
Holmes, S. (1993). Food avoidance in patients undergoing cancer chemotherapy. Support Care Cancer, 1(6), 326–330.
Hunt, M. (2007). The story of psychology. Doubleday.
Huston, A. C., Donnerstein, E., Fairchild, H., Feshbach, N. D., Katz, P. A., Murray, J. P., . . . Zuckerman, D. (1992). Big world, small screen: The role of television in American society. University of Nebraska Press.
Hutton, J. L., Baracos, V. E., & Wismer, W. V. (2007). Chemosensory dysfunction is a primary factor in the evolution of declining nutritional status and quality of life with patients with advanced cancer. 
Journal of Pain Symptom Management, 33(2), 156–165.
Jacobsen, P. B., Bovbjerg, D. H., Schwartz, M. D., Andrykowski, M. A., Futterman, A. D., Gilewski, T., . . . Redd, W. H. (1993). Formation of food aversions in cancer patients receiving repeated infusions of chemotherapy. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 31(8), 739–748.
Kirsch, SJ (2010). Media and youth: A developmental perspective. Wiley Blackwell.
Laskowski, C. S., Dorchak, D. L., Ward, K. M., Christensen, D. R., & Euston, D. R. (2019). Can slot-machine reward schedules induce gambling addiction in rats? Journal of Gambling Studies, 35(3), 887–914. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31049772
Lefrançois, G. R. (2012). Theories of human learning: What the professors said (6th ed.). Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Miller, L. E., Grabell, A., Thomas, A., Bermann, E., & Graham-Bermann, S. A. (2012). The associations between community violence, television violence, intimate partner violence, parent-child aggression, and aggression in sibling relationships of a sample of preschoolers. Psychology of Violence, 2(2), 165–78. doi:10.1037/a0027254
Murch, W. S., & Clark, L. (2016). Games in the brain: Neural substrates of gambling addiction. The Neuroscientist, 22(5), 534–545. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26116634
Murrell, A., Christoff, K. & Henning, K. (2007) Characteristics of domestic violence offenders: associations with childhood exposure to violence. Journal of Family Violence, 22(7), 523-532.
Pavlov, I. P. (1927). Conditioned reflexes: An investigation of the physiological activity of the cerebral cortex (G. V. Anrep, Ed. & Trans.). Oxford University Press.
Potenza, M. N. (2013). Neurobiology of gambling behaviors. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 23(4), 660–667. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3803105/
Rescorla, R. A., & Wagner, A. R. (1972). A theory of Pavlovian conditioning: Variations in the effectiveness of reinforcement and nonreinforcement. Classical Conditioning II: Current Research and Theory, 2, 64-99.
Rizzolatti, G., Fadiga, L., Fogassi, L., & Gallese, V. (2002). From mirror neurons to imitation: Facts and speculations. In A. N. Meltzoff & W. Prinz (Eds.), The imitative mind: Development, evolution, and brain bases (pp. 247–66). Cambridge University Press.
Rizzolatti, G., Fogassi, L., & Gallese, V. (2006, November). Mirrors in the mind. Scientific American, pp. 54–61.
Skinner, B. F. (1938). The behavior of organisms: An experimental analysis. Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and human behavior. Macmillan.
Skinner, B. F. (1961). Cumulative record: A selection of papers. Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Skinner’s utopia: Panacea, or path to hell? (1971, September 20). Time. http://www.wou.edu/~girodm/611/Skinner%27s_utopia.pdf
Skolin, I., Wahlin, Y. B., Broman, D. A., Hursti, U-K. K., Larsson, M. V., & Hernell, O. (2006). Altered food intake and taste perception in children with cancer after start of chemotherapy: Perspectives of children, parents and nurses. Supportive Care in Cancer, 14, 369–78.
Thorndike, E. L. (1911). Animal intelligence: An experimental study of the associative processes in animals. Psychological Monographs, 8.
Tolman, E. C., & Honzik, C. H. (1930). Degrees of hunger, reward, and non-reward, and maze performance in rats. University of California Publications in Psychology, 4, 241–256.
Tolman, E. C., Ritchie, B. F., & Kalish, D. (1946). Studies in spatial learning: II. Place learning versus response learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 36, 221–229. doi:10.1037/h0060262
Watson, J. B. & Rayner, R. (1920). Conditioned emotional reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 3, 1–14.
Watson, J. B. (1919). Psychology from the standpoint of a behaviorist. J. B. Lippincott.
Yamamoto, S., Humle, T., & Tanaka, M. (2013). Basis for cumulative cultural evolution in chimpanzees: Social learning of a more efficient tool-use technique. PLoS ONE, 8(1): e55768. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0055768