“In the mind of the behaviourist, persons are nothing more than simple mediators between behaviour and the environment (Skinner, 1993, p 428). There are two major types of conditioning: 1.Classical conditioning is a technique used in behavioural training in which a naturally occurring
In 1941 N.E Miller and associate J. Dollard proposed that one could learn a behavior by observing that behavior in others. They called this theory social learning. The social learning theory of Miller and Dollard also stated that “by imitating these observed actions the individual observer would solidify that learned action and would be rewarded with positive reinforcement.”(Green) Loosely translated this means that if we ape the actions of those around us they will reward us for such actions. In 1954 Julian Rotter broke away from the then popular instinct based psychoanalysis and drive based behaviorism theories. Rotter believed that a psychological theory should have a psychological motivational principal, and that people were motivated to seek out positive reinforcement or stimulus and to avoid the negative of either.
MI: Assess different psychological approaches to study. The behaviourist approach This approach focuses only on behaviour that can be observed and manipulated therefore, it is very useful in experiments where behaviour can be observed and manipulated especially in relation to independent variable (IV) and the dependent variable (DV). The behaviourist approach is based on the concept of explaining behaviour through observation and the belief that the environment is the reason why people behave differently. According to B.F. Skinner (1904-1990) the operant conditioning involves two types of reinforcement which can be strength because positive reinforcement happens when the consequences following a particular behaviour is experienced as desirable and the individual is rewarded; this will be an encouragement for the person to continue or even do more because of the reward they are looking forward to. In negative reinforcement, the person realise the consequence of what had happened that caused them to be punished and because of this, the individual will be afraid of putting up the behaviour that caused the punishment.
Social learning theory suggests that aggression is learnt, by observing others acting aggressively. For the social learning theory an individual would observe a model and try to recreate the models behavior who has repeatedly been reinforced. Before the individual can reinact the aggressive behavior they must form mental representations of it in their mind and commit these to memory. The individual will learn what acts would be rewarded and what acts would be punished and commit this to memory. They must then enable how they will enact these behaviours in their mind and believe that they have a similar ability to the model to be able to have the same effect as the model.
Next is the social cognitive theory, created by Albert Bandura. The cognitive social theory is the belief that people are flexible enough to learn from behaviors, people can regulate their own lives, people can control the nature and quality of their own lives, people can control their own behavior through external and internal factors, and when people are morally misunderstood they try to blame someone else or not take responsibility for the action or behavior (Feist & Feist, p. 478). The final theory is the cognitive social learning theory by Julian Rotter and Walter Mischel. Their theory is the belief that cognitive factors influence the way people respond to environmental forces (Feist & Feist, p.
The behaviourist psychologist says that all human behaviour is learnt from experience. The first scientist that I am going to be looking at is Skinner. Skinner looks at operant conditioning. Operant conditioning focuses on whether your behaviour is voluntary or involuntary. There are two key terms to Skinner’s ‘operant conditioning’ approach these are, negative reinforcement and positive reinforcement.
This type of learning is called modeling, or observational learning. Children learn by imitating a model, whether it is a parent, sports figure, or someone else they look up to. According to the social learning theory, imitating models helps children to learn a language, learn gender-appropriate behaviors, deal with aggression, and develop a moral sense. Although this theory focuses on imitating behavior, it recognizes that children can learn through observing, rather than imitating the behavior (Papalia, Olds, & Feldman, 2008). Albert Bandura, an American psychologist who is well known for developing many of the principles of the social learning theory, believed aggression reinforced by family members was the most prominent source of behavior modeling.
Followed by two different types of learning, instrumental, and classical. Finally, we will conclude with the relationship between cognition and learning. When someone usually explains what learning is, the answer usually is described as the way to gather information, we way a person comprehends, or master’s something from experience or by his or her studies. Psychologist think that the common definition is vague and does not fully define the findings of scientist and observable behavior (Olson & Hergenhahn, 2013). Learning is used to assist in the process of adapting to his or her environment (Olson & Hergenhahn, 2013).
It can leave the participant feeling bad with seemingly no way forward. Verbalising and exploring a learners thoughts can assist them gain a positive perspective of their own work and ability and will also help identify problem areas, therefore providing both the teacher and the learner with the ability to develop e.g. asking a learner where they think they did well and where they think they could improve. Some situations in which constructive feedback is required can include; ongoing performance discussions, providing specific performance pointers, following up on teaching discussions, providing correct guidance, providing a learner with consequences of their behaviour. Clues at when constructive feedback is needed can be when a learner asks for your opinion on how they are doing, this can be a 'cry for help' from a learner.
A skill that will support work with children is behaviour management. It is necessary for working with children as it is important for lessons to happen as planned. It will easier for one to know how to manage difficulties or problems as it will provide more time to children's learning. for example, control the momentum of lessons. As pupils may lose interest in lessons, it may cause problem for forthcoming activities you may break down activities that need doing and explain things rather than children losing interest from learning.