The psychology of learning illustrates a main theme of our book. A recent advance in the field, as you’ve seen, is that researchers can identify the biological bases of learning in the brain. But to achieve this biological advance, they first needed psychological advances. Pavlov’s earlier discovery of classical conditioning, Skinner’s explorations of operant conditioning, and Bandura’s research on observational learning established principles of learning that were psychological. Only after these principles were in place could researchers move down a level of analysis, to the biology. Once they did so, their efforts produced an integrative, multilevel understanding of how organisms, including people, learn.

You’ll see the fruits of their efforts elsewhere in this book. Basic researchers and applied psychologists use learning principles to motivate people (Chapter 11). Personality psychologists use them to understand how personality develops (Chapter 13). Therapists employ those principles to foster psychological change (Chapter 15). Because most everyday activities involve learning, the implications of the psychology of learning are far-reaching.

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Chapter Review Now that you have completed this chapter, be sure to turn to Appendix B, where you will find a Chapter Summary that is useful for reviewing what you have learned about learning.