Introduction
The process of learning in animals and humans come through a series of situations that come together to motivate, and ignite the brains and enable them to repeat specific actions in the face of certain circumstances. The basic logic presented by psychologists and biologists is that there is intrinsic motivation based on the brain which controls the nerves and models of an animal or human being. This implies that an external variable triggers an extrinsic motivation that gets the organism to ignite the internal or intrinsic motivation in order to undertake certain actions and internalize it in order to make it a learned habit or a natural part of that organism.
Obviously, there are some elements of our personality as human beings or animals that induces us to take up certain actions at certain points in time. Therefore, it is natural for us to come up with some reactions to certain things. This is more or less something that we all share with other animals who have a lesser level of reasoning. We all grow up and share some of the natural things that were are programmed to do.
However, there is a question of what actually makes us different from other animals. Human beings can do more than other creatures – for instance we talk, we reason and we do things that are higher than other animals. So there is a fundamental question of what makes the human being more advanced than other mammals and higher life-forms. Does it have to do with our nature which is superior to other creatures? And does it really affect the way and manner in which human beings learn.
Ultimately, this research will examine the concept of nature versus nurture which is applicable in many branches of science including Sociology, Criminology and the like. It will provide the basis to apply scientific knowledge to a range of issues that will explain the way and manner in which human beings learn and upgrade their knowledge. This will help to draw conclusions that logically represent the structure and composition of the human thinking ability.
Research Aims and Objectives
The fundamental aim of the research is to conduct a review of the learning process in humans and animals and draw a distinction between the human abilities in the context of their ability to nurture higher thought functions than animals. In order to attain this end, the following objectives will be explored:
What are the common learning patterns shared by human beings and animals;
What explains human sensitivity to operant applications which leads to organized learning and superior results than animals.
Research Methodology
This research will be a secondary research. Therefore, it will apply some of the fundamental and popular studies that have been conducted in the past on topics related to the core issues at hand. These will include journals and other peer reviewed articles that give insights into the learning process and internalization of ideas and concepts and their utilization in animals and human beings.
The research will get a sample of six peer reviewed articles from popular databases and recognized journals. To this end, the study will gather information from basic searches including Google Scholar and SMU Library and website. This is a concerted effort to bring together aspects of the academic world that is made available online together in order to select the most relevant sources in order to use to analyze and critique the fundamental research questions and requirements.
The data is collected by an online search on the selected databases by entering keywords that are vital and fundamental to the core research questions. These are evaluated and presented with the idea and view of digging deep with a meta-analytical approach through which data mining is conducted in order to find peer-reviewed research conducted on them.
The findings are critiqued and evaluated on the basis of how they relate to the core research questions in the section under review. Therefore, the findings present important knowledge and ideas that are explained in the context of the core research proposition. This is reviewed and analyzed in a thorough and comprehensive framework.
The findings are further analyzed and important trends and patterns are identified and given close look and attention. This forms the basis for the formulation of relevant patterns and explanations that lead to the theorization of important concepts that explain the fundamental research questions.
The research ends with the discussion of the limitations of this particular research. This will include the obvious academic inhibitions on the approach used in the research. It will also cover various assessments and evaluations of the scope of work done and how new ideas could be generated and regenerated from these findings in order to present major recommendations for improvement and the conduct of new research to ensure the proper application of these topics to its relevant fields of knowledge and interactive aspects of relevant disciplines.
Common Learning Patterns Shared by Humans and Animals
One of the most fundamental aspects of all living things is that they respond to stimuli. There are certain basic survival needs that every creature and every living thing is sensitive to. Hence, in situations where they are being prevented from getting these elements essential for survival, animals and humans tend to adapt and develop new ways of surviving and integrating.
Learning is a fundamental aspect of survival and it played a leading role in the evolution process. Charles Darwin in his basic rendition of evolution identifies that all creatures that were not strong enough died out and became extinct. Those that survived had to learn as a fundamental part of adapting to the environment in order to live old enough to reproduce. Those that failed to learn could not reproduce and eventually, they died out.
Animals “rely on the modulation of gene action, physiology and behavior to continuously modify their phenotypes”. This is because there are some natural aspects of all animals including humans that operate without much dependence on the brain. This is known as gene action. However, for other processes, human beings have to take up actions which has to be learnt over time in order to master them and make them a part of their lives and processes. This procedure is known as learning and it is a fundamental feature of all living things including animals and humans.
“Learning, defined as the internal representation of novel information, allows animals to better exploit environmental features unique to certain times and places.”. This means that the process of learning allows a person or animal to get access to information and actions that are necessary and essential to their survival or comfort or luxury (as the case of human beings appear to be).
This distinctive property of learning gives it an enormous potential to promote evolution through
increased robustness,
innovation and
speciation rate
The process is arranged in such a way that learning creates a system whereby people adapt and create new ways of dealing with new threats that come their way. This include things like adjusting and doing things at times where the season is right. This include the fact that some animals develop certain genes and biological processes that enable them to deal with various antibodies and diseases. This helps them to withstand these diseases and live a healthy life without issues.
Innovation is about the exploration of new ideas in order to create a process whereby new and novel methods are added to the brain in order to prepare the body for specific events and actions. Although humans have an advanced way of innovating and doing things that are beyond the animal, all animals have this competency to innovate. This include adapting to a new diet during migration and other processes which are just responsive to the things that come their way.
Finally, mating has various aspects of creating specification. For instance, animals learn from the imprints of their parents. They copy their parents and get to adapt their methods of doing things and eventually, they learn and improve their knowledge. This is passed on to younger ones. Also, animals limit the choice of mates and interactions with prospective mates to specific types that are viewed as desirable. This is a form of learning that comes with the identification of some forms of information that the animals sense. Due to this, the choose mating partners on the basis of information they process and analyze.
Superiority of Human Learning Habits in Relation to Animals
Learning is based on a blend of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. This is based on internal desires to achieve certain goals. And this is influenced by the external environment and circumstances. Humans have a stronger power over these motivations and they can apply them and use them to learn new things and keep lessons better. Humans have stronger internal desires and drives than animals. They also have an ability to perceive and appreciate a much broader range of matters and issues than animals.
“Reinforcement learning is an adaptive process in which an animal utilizes its previous experience to improve the outcomes of future choices”. This is an area that human beings do particularly well and cover a broader scope than animals. Thus, in citing the example of reproductive areas and activities, Aunger and Curtis (2013) identify that there are more aspects of reproduction that human beings consider ahead of animals.
“These needs then serve as the foundation for a necessary and sufficient list of 15 human motives, which we label: lust, hunger, comfort, fear, disgust, attract, love, nurture, create, hoard, affiliate, status, justice, curiosity, and play”. Animals might have these motives in various ways and forms. However, they might not feel it in the same way as human beings. Thus, in areas like play, curiosity, status, affiliate and nurturing, human beings are more likely to be refined and closer to higher levels than animals in dealing with their reproductive needs and urges. This means human beings have a higher level of intelligence and can learn over a larger scope of areas than animals.
“From the dimensions of the human niche we deduce eight human needs: optimize the number and survival of gene copies; maintain bodily integrity; avoid external threats; optimize sexual, environmental, and social capital; and acquire reproductive and survival skills.”. The optimization aspect of human beings are more refined than animals. Animals might pursue reproduction in various ways and forms. Although they may have the same level of desire to reproduce and create younger ones like their kind, animals will not go as far as seeking to optimize their sexual activities and leveraging it to create a system of bonding and marriage and prevent infidelity amongst others. Most animals do not have such boundaries. Mammals often mate where there are close family connections – like the female progenitor could mate with a male descendant and so on.
Humans have higher preferences and they make choices based on a higher level of reasoning and logical analysis. This is because the human experience and perception of things and matters are higher than animals who are prone to simple and basic instincts. This is mainly due to higher levels of consensus and the creation of larger and stronger social structures. For instance, due to our advanced societies, people have an understanding of economics and better consensuses on issues and matters.
The human reinforcement functions are higher and more advanced than animals. Human beings evaluate things across several variables and this creates better algorithms and larger scopes of evaluation than animals. Animals are said to be more focused on trial and error as opposed to humans who are more prone to learn, understand new ideas and apply it to situations that they face in the future
Human Sensitivity to Operant Applications
Operant applications refer to the codes and systems relating to the conditioning of the mind of a given individual in a specie or the specie as a whole. This indicates that there are various levels of sensibilities of different creatures. For instance, dogs have a stronger sense of smell than humans. Cats have various sensitivities that humans might not have. However, in the overall sense, animals are limited in the application of various variables and commands based on their unique nature and features.
“Animal training relies heavily on an understanding of species-specific behavior as it integrates with operant conditioning principles.”. This means that in a conscious situation where animals or humans are being thought, there is the need for the creation of a framework whereby the creatures being taught can respond, understand and appreciate new information. These paradigms of learning are limited by the genetic potential and the sensing abilities of each creature. And through this, reward and punishment frameworks can be drawn in order to train and get each specie to learn and appreciate new information.
Humans have a larger and broader scope of responding to different sets of instructions in such operational processes. This is because human beings have senses and abilities that are more refined and they understand rewards and punishment in a much clearer manner. There are numerous methods through which human beings can internalize a lot of instructions and then respond to it and make more independent desires and claims through freewill and emotions which animals might exhibit but cannot apply or internalize as well as humans.
Animals are mainly influenced by arousal and external circumstances that come up their way. This causes behavioral outcomes that causes them to act in specific forms in the heat of the moment. However, their internalization of the experience is somewhat slow and they might get to a similar situation whereby they might not even notice the lessons that is learnt. This makes it easier for them to be trained in specific contexts unique to their species. However, human beings can adapt to a variety of roles and processes that can help them to yield a wide variety of responses.
Also, studies show that the responses of animals to specific situations and pointers are somewhat straightforward. This is because animals are simple and in most cases, they are viewed as lacking freewill which include an independent mind and emotions which influences the choices people make at specific pointers as opposed to animals. There have been numerous experiences whereby animals have been chained and when they were left to go, they failed to move. Humans might react on the basis of their own volition in such situations. Due to this, there is no clear mechanical approach for predicting the actions and moves of a human being. Rather, this is typically limited to the choices a person makes within a given operant application.
Furthermore, people are believed to have the ability to make intelligent choices that ensure that society thrives and achieves the best results. This is something that most animals fail to do, except the most domesticated animals who can be allowed into people’s homes and have some degree of tameness. In spite of this though, there are some human beings who have pathological behaviors and this creates a set of predictable patterns and trends at specific points of decision and choice. These individuals are often studied and new operant applications are utilized to help them overcome pathological traits and tendencies in order to become more responsive and accepted members of a given social class.
Discussion &Conclusion
The study indicates that evolution has made it imperative for all animals to innovate, adapt and develop specification rates in order to survive in their environment. However, human beings have a higher level of reinforcing knowledge and they have greater and more effective sensibilities. Due to this, they are able to make higher choices and live by them. This has caused human beings to move beyond survivability to other aspects of life like controlling the environment, building stronger social relationships and becoming better people through choices and refined selections.
Human beings have a higher level of learning, storing information and processing ideas in order to make the right choices. This helps human beings to learn more and apply it to different areas and aspects of life. Human beings have stronger and superior perceptions and due to this, they get to cover higher levels of knowledge and make better choices than animals.
Animals are easily predictable. Due to this, there are numerous operant applications that can be applied to train them. This is because their responses and actions in specific contexts are almost likely and can be easily deduced. However, humans do not have the same level of responses. Every human being has unique actions including freewill and emotions that guide the conduct of making choices. Also, there are situations where human beings make more sophisticated and more intelligent choices on issues and subjects.
This discussion seem to have practical application in psychology and criminology. This is because if human beings make choices and have the ability to do things based on what they wish or desire, then they can be held accountable for their actions. Without the recognition of this, there is no justification of punishment and rewards. Therefore, human beings are architects of their own circumstances and as such accountability must be put in place in various ways and forms.
On the other hand, there are people in society who have genuine limitations and pathological situations that forces them to take up various actions and make choices that are less refined. This research’s scope does not cover how these people relate to the psychology of animals. Neither is it possible to scientifically quantify and define the motivation of a pedophile or alcoholic who might be drawn solely to actions that are considered to be detrimental to social needs. Therefore, there is more to be desired of matters that relate to freewill and choices that are not so much in conformity with the standard norms and expectations of society. This gives room for some degree of complication in dealing with human beings and their actions and processes.
Limitation of Study
This research lays the foundation for investigations into specific aspects of learning and how the human mind evolves over the time and across generations. It might be necessary to study prehistoric societies to understand the extent to which human beings shared similarities with animals. Also, it could be more appropriate to study the causes of specific levels of pathology and deviant behavior in the modern society and how it relates to the similarity in thinking and analysis of human beings and other lower life forms.
References
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Barto, A. G. (2012). Intrinsic Motivation and Reinforcement Learning. Intrinsically Motivated Learning in Natural and Artificial Systems, 17-47.
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Dukas, R. (2013). Effects of learning on evolution: robustness, innovation and speciation. Journal of Animal Behavior 85(5), 1023-1030.
Lee, D., Seo, H., & Jung, M. W. (2013). Neural Basis of Reinforcement Learning and Decision Making. Annual Review of Neuroscience 35, 287-308.
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