The 13 types of learning: what are they?

A classification with the types of learning and the characteristics of each one.

Some people think that there is only one way to learn.

Surely, many of us, when we think of learning, imagine someone studying or doing rote learning. However, there are different types of learning with very different characteristics, there are different types of learning with very different characteristics from each other.. In today's article, we will review and explain them.

Psychology and learning

Learning refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values and attitudes, and human beings would not be able to adapt to change if it were not for this.and human beings would not be able to adapt to change if it were not for this process.

Psychology has been interested in this phenomenon for several decades and many authors have contributed valuable knowledge about what learning is and how it is constructed. Ivan Pavlov, John Watson or Albert Bandura are clear examples of this marked interest.

If you are interested in knowing more about the contribution of psychology to learning, we recommend reading the following articles:

• Educational psychology: definition, concepts and theories.
• Jean Piaget's Theory of Learning
• The Sociocultural Theory of Lev Vygotsky
• Piaget vs Vygotsky: similarities and differences between their theories

The different types of learning

Over the years, the studies of many of these researchers have made it possible to decipher how our memory works and how observation or experience influences the way we construct knowledge and change our way of acting.

But what are the ways of learning? But what are the ways of learning? What kinds of learning are there? Here we explain it to you.

• Recommended article: "Types of memory: how does the human brain store memories".

1. Implicit learning

Implicit learning refers to a type of learning that is generally non-intentional and where the learner is not aware of what is being learned. and where the learner is not aware of what is being learned.

The result of this learning is the automatic execution of a motor behavior. The truth is that many of the things we learn occur without us realizing it, for example, speaking or walking. Implicit learning was the first to exist and was key to our survival. We are always learning without realizing it.

2. Explicit learning

Explicit learning is characterized by the fact that the learner intends to learn and is aware of what he/she is learning..

For example, this type of learning allows us to acquire information about people, places and objects. That is why this way of learning requires sustained and selective attention of the most evolved area of our brain, i.e., it requires the activation of the prefrontal lobes.

3. Associative learning

This is a process by which an individual learns the association between two stimuli or a stimulus and a behavior.. One of the great theorists of this type of learning was Ivan Pavlov, who dedicated part of his life to the study of classical conditioning, a type of associative learning.

• You can learn more about this type of learning in our article: "Classical conditioning and its most important experiments".

4. Non-associative learning (habituation and sensitization)

Non-associative learning is a type of learning that is based on a change in our response to a stimulus that is presented continuously and repeatedly.. For example. When someone lives near a discotheque, they may initially be annoyed by the noise. After a while, after prolonged exposure to this stimulus, they will not notice the noise pollution, as they will have become accustomed to the noise.

Within non-associative learning, there are two phenomena: habituation and habituation. habituation and sensitization.

• To learn more, visit our post: "Habituation: a key process in pre-associative learning".

5. Significant learning

This type of learning is characterized by the fact that the individual gathers information, selects it, organizes it and establishes relationships with the knowledge he/she already had beforehand.. In other words, it is when a person relates new information with the one he/she already has.

• You can learn more about meaningful learning by clicking here.

6. Cooperative learning

Cooperative learning is a type of learning that allows each student to learn, not alone, but together with his or her peers..

Therefore, it is usually carried out in the classrooms of many educational centers, and the groups of students do not usually exceed five members. The teacher is the one who forms the groups and who guides them, directing the performance and distributing roles and functions.

7. Collaborative learning

Collaborative learning is similar to cooperative learning. However, the former differs from the latter in the degree of freedom with which the groups are formed and function.

In this type of learning, teachers or educators propose a topic or problem and students decide how to approach it.

8. Emotional learning

Emotional learning means learning to know and manage emotions more efficiently.. This learning brings many benefits at a mental and psychological level, as it positively influences our well-being, improves interpersonal relationships, favors personal development and empowers us.

• Recommended article: "The 10 benefits of emotional intelligence".

9. Observational learning

This type of learning is also known as vicarious learning, learning by imitation or modeling****oand is based on a social situation in which at least two individuals participate: the model (the person from whom we learn) and the subject who observes the behavior and learns it.

10. Experiential learning

Experiential learning is learning that occurs as a result of experience, as its name suggests.as its name suggests.

This is a very powerful way of learning. In fact, when we talk about learning from mistakes, we are referring to learning from experience. However, experience can have different consequences for each individual, because not everyone will perceive the facts in the same way. What takes us from simple experience to learning is self-reflection.

• Recommended article: "Personal Development: 5 reasons for self-reflection".

11. Learning by discovery

This learning refers to active learningin which the person, instead of learning the contents in a passive way, discovers, relates and reorders the concepts to adapt them to his cognitive scheme. One of the great theorists of this type of learning is Jerome Bruner.

12. Memoristic learning

Memoristic learning means to learn and fix in memory different concepts without understanding what they mean, so it does not perform a process of memorization.Therefore, it does not carry out a process of signification. It is a type of learning that is carried out as a mechanical and repetitive action.

13. Receptive learning

With this type of learning, called receptive learning, the person receives the content to be internalized..

It is an imposed, passive type of learning. In the classroom it occurs when the student, especially through the teacher's explanation, printed material or audiovisual information, only needs to understand the content in order to be able to reproduce it.

Bibliographical references:

• Arias Gómez, D. H. (2005) Teaching and Learning of Social Sciences: A didactic proposal. Bogotá. Cooperativa Editorial Magisterio.
• Farnham-Diggory, S (2004) Dificultades de Aprendizaje. Madrid. Ediciones Morata.
• Hoppenstead, F. C.; Izhikevich, E. M. (1997) Weakly Connected Neural Networks. New York. Springer-Verlag.