Where is behavior learned?

Behaviors can be both learned and innate or inborn. Some behaviors like crying when in distress as an infant, are innate. They are encoded and present regardless of our environment. Other behaviors are learned through experiences in our environments. Every experience, interaction, object, reaction, and consequence in our environments, we learn.

Learning takes place everywhere, which can have both positive and negative impacts on behavior. Growing up in a home with someone who has depression may teach you behaviors that contribute to the development of depression. Experiences in childhood can positively influence the ability to form successful relationships later in life or not.

Behavior that develops as a result of experience can come about and be influenced in different ways. Habituation is a type of behavioral learning that describes the decrease or cessation of a natural response (innate behavior). For example, a new sound in your home, like noise from an air conditioner coming on, may initially cause you to pay attention or be distracted. Over time, you grow accustomed to it, and don’t respond to it.

Associative learning is another form of learning that occurs in our environments. If you place your hand on a stove and are burned, you will learn to associate pain with a hot stove and will likely not place your hand on one again, or without checking to see if it’s on. Classical conditioning occurs when two things are repeatedly paired. The most famous example of classical conditioning took place when researcher Ivan Pavlov paired a ringing bell with the presentation of his dog’s food each morning. The dogs learned to salivate, as if for their food, at the ringing of a bell. Operant conditioning involves the use of rewards and punishments for behavior. A child that cleans his room and is given a reward is more likely to repeat the behavior.

Social or observational learning involves observing and then modeling another person’s behavior. Social learning can result in observing and learning the attitude, behavior, or even emotional presentations of others. Over time, people learn how to reflect on prior lessons that may be unrelated to a present situation and extrapolate information that is helpful in solving a present issue.

Learning theories are a large part of psychology and can’t be covered entirely in the space here. These examples of how learning happens in our environments may help shed light on what experiences and settings provide different types of learning, and how the lessons we learn may influence behavior throughout life.