Learning theory is an attempt to describe how people and animals learn therefore helping us understand the process of learning. Learning is commonly defined as a process that brings together cognitive, emotional and environmental influences and experiences for acquiring, enhancing or making changes in one’s knowledge, skills, valves and views. There are three main caterogories under wwhich learning theories fall. They are behaviorism, cognitivism and constructivism.
The first theory is behaviorism which focuses only on observable aspects of learning. Behaviorism is acquired through conditioning which occurs through interaction with the environment. There are two major types of conditioning, classical and operant. Classical conditioning is a technique used in behavior training in which a naturally occurring stimulus is paired with a response and a previous neutral stimulus is paired with natural occurring. The previous neutral evokes the response without the presence of naturally occurring stimulus. The two elements are known as conditional stimulus and conditioned response. The second type is operant conditioning which is a method of learning that occurs through rewards and punishments for behavior. This conditioning is made between a behavior and a consequence for that behavior.
The cons of behaviorism is that it’s a one dimensional approach to behavior. It does not account for other types of learning that occurs without the use of rewards and punishments. The pros of ehaviorism is that it is based on observable behaviors so its easy to collect data and information for research.
The second theory is cognitive which looks beyond behavior to explain train based learning. It is