Laws of Learning

Lesson in Cognitive Psychology and Biological Psychology

1. Laws of Learning Prepared by: Orlando A. Pistan, MAEd Psychology Instructor

2. Edward Thorndike American psychologist who spent nearly his entire career at Teachers College, Columbia University . Born:  31 August 1874, Williamsburg, Massachusetts, United States Died:  9 August 1949, Montrose, New York, United States Father of modern Educational P sychology

3. Edward Thorndike Law or Readiness Law of Exercise Law of Effect

4. Law of Readiness Readiness refers to the degree of craving at a given moment. The law of readiness is explained by the statement, “When an individual is ready to act and learn, he acts and learns more effectively and with grater satisfaction than when not ready.” Thus , readiness is a mental set which means that a child can learn his lessons when he is inclined to work at them.

5. Law of Readiness Arousing the interest of the learners will give them motivation to learn more. Maturation is an important component of this law. Maturation is the completion of developmental processes in the body.

6. Law of Readiness This law implies that if the learner is not ready and matured enough, the learning experience will result to frustration.

7. Law of Exercise According to Thorndike, this law has two aspects and as such two related doctrines, 1 . Law of Use and 2. Law if Disuse. Law of Use. When a connection is made between a situation and a response, that connection’s strength is increased.

8. Law of Exercise Law of Disuse. When a connection is not made between a situation and a response, over a length of time, connection’s strength is decreased. Repetitions of activities fix knowledge and skills to be learned. Practice makes perfect.

9. Law of Effect According to Thorndike, the principle of effect is the fundamental law of teaching and learning. The law states that, “When pleasant or satisfying consequences follow a response, the latter tends to be repeated. When unpleasant consequences attend a response, it tends to be eliminated.”

10. Secondary Laws: Law of Primacy Law of Intensity Law of Recency Law of Association

11. Law of Primacy This law affirms that the state of being first, often creates a strong, almost unshakeable impression . “What is taught must be right for the first time”. It is difficult to unlearn or modify a wrong learning.

12. Law of Intensity The principle states that if the stimulus (experience) is real, the more likely there is to be a change in behavior (learning ). A vivid, dramatic or exciting learning experience teaches more than a routine or boring experience.

13. Law of Recency Things most recently learned are best remembered, while the things learned some time ago are remembered with more difficulty.

14. Law of Association Learning takes place when a connection is formed through the association of the past and new situation.

15. Laws of Learning Thank you for paying attention.