The paper identified some of the major elements of political learning and suggests some of the conceptual links among these. The basic assumption of this paper is that the several existing approaches to learning and development can account for a significant portion of political learning. A selective picture of concepts and empirical knowledge about the four processes that jointly and simultaneously account for learning in the natural situations in which human individuals grow and develop are presented: 1) classical conditioning; 2) reinforcement; 3) modeling; and 4) cognitive assimilation and accommodation. The four processes are explained separately and linked to the aspects of political learning each serves to explain, while trying to keep salient the fundamental premise of the conception that the four processes are not separate but completely intertwined. Finally, the paper offers the concept of progressive differentiation as a fruitful way of viewing the process of political development, that is, political learning across the life-span. (Author)