LEARNING AND BEHAVIOUR MODIFICATION

DEFINITION

There seems to be a general consensus among social scientists that learning can be defined as “relatively permanent change in behaviour that occurs as a result of experience or reinforced practice”. This definition contains the following points.

·         Leaning involves a change; through not necessarily improvement in behavour. It may be good or bad from organization points of view. For example, bad habits, prejudice, stereotype and work restrictions also can be learned.

·         Change must be relatively permanent.

·         Some form of experience is necessary for learning to occur

·         The practice of learning must be reinforced in order that learning occurs.

Hence, Learning is acquiring new knowledge, behaviours, skills, values, preferences or understanding, and may involve synthesizing different types of information.