LATENT LEARNING

Latent learning is a form of learning that is not immediately expressed in an overt response. It occurs without obvious reinforcement to be applied later.
Latent learning is when an organism learns something in its life, but the knowledge is not immediately expressed. It remains dormant and may not be available to consciousness, until specific events or experiences might need this knowledge to be demonstrated. For instance, a child may observe a parent setting a table or tightening a screw, but does not act on this learning for a year, and then he finds he knows how to do these.

It was Tolman & Honzik (1950) who showed that rats learn about their environment in the absence of reinforcement. Tolman trained some rats to run through mazes for standard food goals. Other rats were permitted to explore the same mazes for several days without food goals or other rewards. After the unrewarded rats had been allowed to explore the mazes for 10 days, food rewards were placed in a box at the far end of the maze. The previously unrewarded explorers reached the food box as quickly as the rewarded rats after only one or two reinforced trials. Tolman concluded that rats learned about mazes in which they roamed even when they were unrewarded for doing so. He distinguished between learning and performance. Rats would acquire a cognitive map of a maze, and even though they would not be motivated to follow an efficient route to the far end, they would learn rapid routs from end to end just by roaming about within the maze. Yet this learning might remain hidden, or latent, until they were motivated to follow the rapid routes for food goals. Thus latent learning is learning that occurs but is not evident in behaviour until later, when conditions for its appearance are favourable.

GOALS OF COUNSELLING

The goals of counseling are to help individuals overcome their immediate problems and also equip them to meet future problems. Counselling is to be meaningful, has to be specific for each client, since it involves her/his unique problems and expectations. The goal of counseling may be described as immediate, long range and process goals. The immediate goal is however, to obtain relief for the client and the long range goal is to enhance the adaptability of the client.
Counseling goals may be classified in terms of counselor goals and client goals of therapy. These may be further classified as follows.
Developmental goals: are those where in the client is associated in meeting or advancing her or his anticipated human growth and development.
Preventive goals: are those in which the counselor helps the client avoid some undesired outcome.
Enhancement goals: If the client possesses special skills and abilities, enhancement means, they can be identified and/or further developed through the assistance of a counselor.
Remedial goals: involves assisting a client to overcome and/or treat an undesirable development.
Exploratory goals: represents goals appropriate to the examining of options, testing of skills, and trying new and different activities, environments, relationships and so on.
Reinforcement goals: are those used in the instances where clients need help in recognizing that what they are doing, thinking and feeling is okay.
Cognitive goals: are those which involve the acquisition of the basic foundations of learning and cognitive skills.
Physiological goals: are those which include acquiring the basic understanding and habits for good health.
Psychological goals: aids in developing good social interaction skills, learning emotional control, developing a positive self concept and so on.
All these goals will lead to the ultimate goals, which are discussed following.
1. Achievement of positive mental health: The individual will learn to adjust and respond more positively to people and situations, to prevent the emotional tension, anxieties, indecision etc. and thereby to lead to positive feelings and warmth.
2. Resolution of the problems: The individual will learn to alter maladaptive behaviour, to make good decisions and to prevent problems.
3. Improving personal effectiveness: The individual will be able to commit himself to projects, investigating time and energy and to take appropriate economic, psychological and physical risk.
4. Change: The individual will understand the mechanism of change, and be able to freely choose and act within the conditions impressed by the environment. The effectiveness of the individual responses evolved by the environment shall be enhanced.
5. Decision making: The individual will be able to make clear cut decisions that foster personal growth. 6. Modification of behaviour: The client will be able to remove undesirable behaviour or action, or to reduce an irritating function that hinders personal growth.