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ATHLETES IN THE MAKING Palo Alto, California: It was the spring of 1999, and Ivonne Mosquera was about to graduate from Stanford University with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. Math majors typically spend a lot of time manipulating numbers on paper, graphing functions, and trying to understand spatial relationships—all activities that draw on their sense of vision. But Ivonne had no memory of seeing an equation, a number, or even a piece of paper. She had been blind since the age of 2, when doctors removed both of her eyes to arrest the spread of an aggressive cancer.

Blindness never stopped Ivonne from doing much of anything. Growing up in New York City, she used to ride her bicycle across the George Washington Bridge as her father ran alongside. She went to school with sighted kids, climbed trees in the park, and studied ballet, tap, and jazz dance (Boccella, 2012, May 6; iminmotion.net, n.d., para. 3). She tried downhill skiing, hiking, and rock climbing. Now Ivonne was graduating from college with a degree in one of the most rigorous academic disciplines, a great accomplishment indeed. Yet there were bigger things to come for Ivonne. In the next decade, she would become a world-class runner and triathlete.

Meanwhile, just a few miles from the Stanford campus, a 10-year-old boy named Jeremy Lin was finishing fifth grade and working on his basketball game. In the evenings, Jeremy and his brothers would go with their father to the nearby YMCA to run drills and shoot hoops late into the night (Dalrymple, 2012). It was during this period that Jeremy’s future high school coach, Peter Diepenbrock, first caught a glimpse of the scrappy young player. “He was very small,” Coach Diepenbrock recalls, “but [had] just an incredible, incredible amount of confidence.” Jeremy knew exactly how to play and was determined to do so, regardless of his size. Even so, no one could have predicted the “Linsanity” he would be capable of inspiring across the globe.

At first glance, Ivonne Mosquera (now Ivonne Mosquera-Schmidt) and Jeremy Lin don’t seem to have much in common. But as you read their stories, you will see how their relentless determination, work ethic, and optimism led to their athletic achievements—Ivonne as a runner and triathlete and Jeremy as a basketball player. You will also see how learning changed their lives and paved the way for their success.

Note: Quotations attributed to Ivonne Mosquera-Schmidt and Peter Diepenbrock are personal communications.

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LO 1 Define learning.

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Psychologists define learning as a relatively enduring change in behavior or thinking that results from our experiences. Studies suggest that learning can begin before we are even born—prior to birth, a baby has already begun to single out the sound of his mother’s voice (Kisilevsky et al., 2008). And learning may continue until our dying day. But even though learning leads to changes in the brain, including alterations to individual neurons as well as their networks, these modifications of behavior and thinking are not always permanent.

The ability to learn is not unique to humans. Trout can learn to press a pendulum to get food (Yue, Duncan, & Moccia, 2008); orangutans can pick up whistling (Wich et al., 2009); and even honeybees can be trained to differentiate among photos of human faces (Dyer, Neumeyer, & Chittka, 2005). One of the most basic forms of learning occurs during the process of habituation (hah-bi-chü-ā-ə), which is evident when an organism does not respond as strongly or as often to an event following multiple exposures to its occurrence. This type of learning is apparent in a wide range of living beings, from humans to sea slugs (Chapter 6). An animal might initially respond to a stimulus, which is an event that generally leads to a response, but with repeated exposures, the stimulus is increasingly ignored and habituation occurs. Essentially, an organism learns about a stimulus but begins to ignore it as it is repeated.

Researchers have studied learning using a variety of animals. The history of psychology is full of stories about scientists who began studying animal biology but then switched their focus to animal behavior as unexpected events unfolded in the laboratory. These scientists were often excited to find the connections between biology and experience that became evident as they explored the principles of learning.

Animals are often excellent models for studying and understanding human behavior. Conducting animal research sidesteps many of the ethical dilemmas that arise with human research. It’s generally considered okay to keep rats, cats, and birds in cages to ensure control over experimental variables (as long as they are otherwise treated humanely), but locking up people in laboratories would obviously be unacceptable.

This chapter focuses on three major types of learning: classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning. As you make your way through these pages, you will begin to realize that learning is very much about creating associations. Through classical conditioning, we associate two different stimuli: for example, the sound of a bell and the arrival of food. In operant conditioning, we make connections between our behaviors and their consequences: for example, through rewards and punishments. With observational learning, we learn by watching and imitating other people, establishing a closer link between our behavior and the behavior of others.

Learning can occur in predictable or unexpected ways. It allows us to grow and change, and it is a key to achieving goals. Now let’s see how learning has shaped the lives of Ivonne Mosquera-Schmidt and Jeremy Lin.

Question 1

Question 2

1. habituation

2. ethical dilemmas

3. associations

4. unexpected events