Question

What is the definition of insight learning?

Answer 1

Hint: Insight learning was a study done by Wolfgang Kohler in 1925, on a chimpanzee named Sultan, which tested the ability and method of decision making of the primate.

Complete answer:
When an individual develops a behaviour or makes a decision, solely based on reasoning and cognitive thinking, not on trial-and-error or experience, the individual is said to have undergone insight learning.
In this study, Sultan the chimpanzee was locked in a cage along with a short stick. He was presented with a fruit not within his arm’s reach. Sultan learned to use the stick to get the fruit close enough to the cage, which he could then pick by hand. Later Kohler moved the fruit further away from Sultan and kept a longer stick along with the short one. At first Sultan tried to bring the fruit closer to him using the short stick, being unsuccessful everytime. Eventually he got the idea to use the longer stick to pull the fruit closer.
This study by Kohler suggested that we not only learn new behaviours gradually and by conditioning, but some are also learnt purely by cognitive processes that cannot be observed directly. Though Sultan tried to get the fruit using the shorter stick first, which does not suggest insight learning but the idea of using the sticks in all to reach for something he couldn’t otherwise give weight to the theory.

Note:
In humans, relationships and unique associations with things or actions helps with insight learning.
Insight learning can often be confused with heuristics, which is a mental shortcut that allows a person to get to the conclusion of a solution quicker.