Psychologists define learning as:
AA relatively permanent change in behaviour that results from experience
BAn innate response pattern triggered by one specific type of stimulus
CAny change in behaviour that appears as the body grows and matures
DA temporary shift in behaviour brought on by fatigue or by illness
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: A. A relatively permanent change in behaviour that results from experience
1. The chapter separates behaviours we are born with from behaviours we pick up.
2. Instincts and reflexes are innate and need no experience, so neither counts as learning.
3. Learning is defined as a relatively permanent change in behaviour or knowledge that results from experience.
4. Maturation and fatigue also change behaviour, but neither arises from experience, so they fall outside the definition.
_Source: OpenStax Psychology (1st ed., CC BY 4.0), Ch 6 "Learning", §6.1 What Is Learning?_
Related questions
How does habituation differ from extinction?What does the chapter say about attempts at third-order conditioning?In Bandura's Bobo doll experiment, the children's imitation of the adult's aggression depeA time-out is most likely to backfire as a form of discipline when:Which statement correctly captures the timing difference between classical and operant conIn shaping, once the learner reliably performs a closer approximation to the target behaviWhich reinforcement schedule is the most productive and the most resistant to extinction?Comparing fixed-ratio and fixed-interval schedules, the chapter concludes that: