How do behaviorist and cognitive perspectives differ in their view of learning?

• A. Behaviorist sees learning as permanent change from experience; cognitive emphasizes mental processes and changes in mental representations due to experience
• B. Behaviorist focuses on internal thoughts; cognitive ignores external stimuli
• C. Behaviorist and cognitive are identical in their view of learning
• D. Both ignore the role of experience

Answer: (A)

Understanding learning means recognizing two complementary views on what changes when we learn. Behaviorism treats learning as a relatively durable change in observable behavior that results from experience with the environment—stimuli, responses, and reinforcement shaping what we do. Cognitive perspectives focus on what happens inside the mind: how attention, memory, problem-solving, and the formation of mental representations or knowledge structures change because of experience. This makes learning a process that can be seen either in changes you can observe in behavior, or in the internal mental changes that guide future thinking and action. The best answer reflects both parts accurately: learning as a lasting behavioral change from experience, and as changes in mental representations driven by experience. The other options misstate the focus—behaviorism isn’t about internal thoughts, cognitive psychology doesn’t ignore external stimuli, the two perspectives aren’t identical, and both do not ignore the role of experience.