Journalism in the Digital Age

Informal learning happens all day all around you. Informal learning can also shape behaviors and emotions. Learning is usually thought of as what one does in a structured environment however in Don Hockenberry’s book Discovering Psychology, learning is defined as,” a process that produces a relatively enduring change in behavior or knowledge as a result of an individual’s experience.”(184) There are many informal learning experiences that a person could have, with a wide range in scope, from being afraid of heights, to a dislike in zucchini. Psychologists theorize that these things can be learned responses to a few types of learning. A Person can be classically conditioned to like or dislike, operant conditioned, or observational learning can lead to patterns of behavior.
The experience that will be used is a fear of water. Although many people swim and enjoy relaxation in the rivers lakes or oceans, many others are afraid to even enter the water, while others may just be nervous about being in water deeper than what they can stand in. This learned fear of water could be learned using classical conditioning. An individual goes swimming as a child, and is constantly pulled under water or held under water, in order to make them not be afraid of the water. The parents feel that dunking the child or pulling the child into deep water is helping them overcome their fear. Classical conditioning would say that if the child is constantly in distress around the water they will become conditioned to be uncomfortable and even scared when in the water, especially with the persons(s) that would cause them distress. This is how classical conditioning could explain a fear of water for a person.
Other theorists may point to operant conditioning as to why an individual is afraid to swim. B.F. Skinner pioneered Operant Conditioning, which is defined by Hockenberry as,” Skinner’s operant conditioning explains learning as a process in which behavior is shaped and maintained by its consequences. One possible consequence of a behavior is reinforcement, both positive and negative.”(201) The same scenario holds true, when the individual exhibits fear in the water they are dunked, this causes the child to stay afraid and unable to break the cycle due to their fear. A way to shape the fear and help the individual using operant conditioning would be to give the individual a positive reinforce any time a milestone was reached. For example,” if you swim from this side to the other we will go get ice cream after we leave the pool.
Finally the fear of water can be learned through observational learning. Observational learning was pioneered by Albert Bandura. Observational learning does not use reinforcement of any type; instead it only requires a model. An individual could learn to be afraid of water by watching a sibling or a parent react fearfully to the water, causing them to react in the same manner based on the reaction they viewed from others.
In conclusion informal learning is just as powerful and effective as the traditional learning models. Although most may not agree on what learning theory is the most effective, there is no doubt that people are all different. This continues to prove that whether it is observational learning, operant conditioning, or classical conditioning behaviors in each person are distinctly different and unique.

Reference
Hockenbury, D. (2014). Discovering psychology (Revised/Expanded ed., Vol. 6E). New York: Bedford/St. Matins.