Learning is the process through which experience, practice, observation, or interaction leads to a relatively lasting change in behavior, knowledge, skills, or behavioral potential. In psychology, learning is broader than simply memorizing information. It can involve developing a new skill, forming an association, changing a response, acquiring knowledge, or developing a new way of understanding information.
The American Psychological Association describes learning as the acquisition of new information, behaviors, or abilities through practice, observation, or other experiences.
What Is Learning in Psychology?
Learning in psychology is a process in which experience produces a relatively enduring change in behavior, knowledge, skills, or behavioral potential. The change must be related to experience or practice rather than simply resulting from biological maturation, temporary conditions, or other factors.
Learning has several important characteristics:
- Learning is a process: It develops through experience, practice, observation, or interaction.
- Learning involves change: The change may involve behavior, knowledge, skills, responses, or behavioral potential.
- Learning is relatively enduring: A temporary change caused by fatigue, illness, or another short-term condition is not normally considered learning.
- Learning is related to experience: What a person experiences or practices can influence future behavior and knowledge.
- Learning does not always appear immediately: A person may acquire knowledge or a skill without demonstrating it immediately.
What Is the Meaning of Learning?
In everyday language, the meaning usually refers to gaining knowledge, understanding, or a skill through study, instruction, practice, or experience. In psychology, however, learning has a broader meaning.
A person can learn without sitting in a classroom or intentionally studying a subject. People learn by observing others, experiencing consequences, practicing a skill, forming associations, and interacting with their surroundings. Learning can therefore occur consciously or without deliberate intention.
For example, a child may learn how to ride a bicycle through repeated practice. A student may learn a study technique by observing another student. Someone may also develop a fear after repeatedly associating a particular situation with an unpleasant experience.
Therefore, the meaning of learning in psychology centers on experience and relatively lasting changes rather than formal education alone.
Definitions of Learning by Psychologists
Psychologists have described learning in different ways, although many definitions emphasize experience and relatively lasting change.
1. Hilgard’s Definition of Learning
Ernest Hilgard described learning as a process by which an activity originates or changes through experience or training, provided that innate responses, maturation, or temporary conditions such as fatigue or drug effects cannot explain the change.
This definition is important because it separates learning from changes that may occur naturally as a person develops or temporarily changes state.
2. Kimble’s Definition of Learning
Gregory A. Kimble’s influential behavioral definition describes learning as a relatively permanent change in behavioral potential resulting from reinforced practice.
The idea of behavioral potential is important. A person may learn something without immediately showing it. Learning can create the ability or potential to respond differently even when that response is demonstrated later.
3. Behavioral View of Learning
The behavioral approach emphasizes changes in observable behavior that result from experience and environmental consequences. Classical and operant conditioning are major examples of this perspective.
4. Cognitive View of Learning
The cognitive perspective focuses more broadly on changes in knowledge, mental representations, understanding, memory, and information processing. This approach recognizes that learning is not limited to directly observable behavior.
5. Modern View of Learning
Modern psychology combines behavioral and cognitive perspectives to study how experience changes behavior, knowledge, skills, and information processing. As a result, there is no need to reduce learning to one narrow form of behavioral change.
Characteristics of Learning
Understanding the characteristics of learning helps distinguish it from other forms of change.
- Learning Involves Change. Learning produces a change in what a person knows, can do, believes, associates, or is capable of doing.
- Learning Is Based on Experience. Practice, observation, interaction, and other experiences can produce learning. The experience may be direct or indirect.
- Learning Is Relatively Enduring. Learning normally produces a change that lasts beyond a temporary condition. A person performing poorly because of tiredness, for example, has not necessarily experienced a loss of learning.
- Learning Is Different From Maturation. Biological growth and maturation can change behavior, but these changes are not automatically considered learning. Learning generally involves experience or environmental interaction.
- Learning Can Be Positive or Negative. Learning does not always produce desirable behavior. People can learn useful skills and habits, but they can also develop undesirable responses or behaviors.
- Learning May Not Immediately Appear in Behavior. What someone has learned may not be demonstrated immediately. A person can acquire knowledge or a behavioral potential and use it only when the situation requires it.
What Are the Types of Learning in Psychology?
Psychology examines several forms of learning. Three important types commonly introduced in psychology are classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning.
1. Classical Conditioning
Classical conditioning is learning through an association between stimuli. Ivan Pavlov’s experiments demonstrated how a previously neutral stimulus could become associated with a stimulus that naturally produces a response.
For example, if a particular sound is repeatedly associated with an unpleasant event, a person may eventually experience anxiety when hearing that sound alone. The learned response develops through association.
2. Operant Conditioning
Operant conditioning is learning through the consequences of behavior. B. F. Skinner developed important experimental work in this area, building on Edward Thorndike’s law of effect.
Reinforcement increases the likelihood of a behavior, while punishment is intended to decrease it. For example, a student who receives praise for completing assignments on time may become more likely to repeat that behavior.
3. Observational Learning
Observational learning occurs when a person learns by watching another person’s behavior and then imitating or modeling it. Albert Bandura’s work helped establish the importance of observation and modeling in learning.
For example, a child may learn how to use a particular tool by watching a parent or teacher demonstrate it. OpenStax identifies observational learning as distinct from learning that depends entirely on direct experience.
Psychology also examines other forms of learning, including cognitive and latent learning, but these three types provide a useful foundation for understanding how learning occurs.
Examples of Learning in Everyday Life
Learning happens throughout everyday life, not only in schools or training programs. Examples include:
- Learning to ride a bicycle: Repeated practice changes the person’s ability to balance and control the bicycle.
- Learning a language: Repeated exposure, practice, and interaction help a person acquire vocabulary and language skills.
- Learning through observation: A student may learn a new technique by watching a teacher demonstrate it.
- Developing an association: A person may develop fear or anxiety after repeatedly associating a situation with an unpleasant experience.
- Learning from consequences: A person may change a habit after experiencing a positive or negative consequence.
Each example involves experience followed by some relatively lasting change in knowledge, skill, behavior, or behavioral potential.
Learning vs. Instinct, Reflex, and Maturation
Learning is different from behaviors that occur naturally or automatically.
| Concept | Basic Meaning |
| Learning | A relatively lasting change associated with experience |
| Instinct | An inborn behavioral pattern |
| Reflex | An automatic response to a particular stimulus |
| Maturation | Development resulting primarily from biological growth |
For example, a newborn does not need to be taught every reflexive response. Similarly, some animals display instinctive behaviors without prior training. In contrast, many human skills, such as reading, writing, swimming, and playing an instrument, develop through experience and practice.
OpenStax uses the distinction between instinctive behavior and learned behavior to introduce the psychological study of learning.
Why Is Learning Important in Psychology?
The study of learning helps psychologists understand how behavior and knowledge develop over time. It explains how people acquire skills, develop habits, form associations, respond to consequences, and adapt to their environments.
Learning is also important in areas such as education, behavior therapy, child development, and behavioral modification. Psychological approaches based on learning principles can be used to understand and change certain behaviors. For example, behavior therapy may use principles of classical and operant conditioning to help people modify undesirable behaviors.
Understanding learning therefore provides a foundation for explaining how experience can influence future behavior, knowledge, and abilities.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, learning can occur without a person deliberately trying to acquire information or a skill. People may develop associations, habits, preferences, or responses through repeated exposure and experience. This is sometimes described as implicit learning.
Motivation can influence how much attention, effort, and persistence a person gives to a learning task. Higher motivation can encourage practice and engagement, while low motivation may reduce participation and performance. However, motivation is only one factor that can influence learning.
Learning can be influenced by attention, prior knowledge, motivation, practice, feedback, reinforcement, and the learning environment. Individual differences, including cognitive abilities and previous experiences, can also affect how information is acquired and retained. These factors can interact rather than affecting learning independently.
Memory allows information and experiences to be encoded, stored, and later retrieved. Learning can create new knowledge or skills, while memory helps preserve and access what has been learned. Because of this relationship, learning and memory are closely connected but represent different psychological processes.
Yes, learning can be associated with changes in the brain as neural connections and patterns of activity adapt to experience. These changes support the acquisition and retention of information, skills, and behaviors. The extent and nature of these changes vary depending on the type of learning and the experience involved.