Skinner Article BEH/225 Christina LakeMan January 31, 2013 Skinner Article Skinner's contributions to psychology are vast, Skinner‘s theories explored ways that we learn and process stimuli in the environment. Through his research, Skinner discovered operant conditioning, which indicated that behavior, could be controlled by influence such as, punishments and rewards in the environment. His entire system revolved around operant conditioning, which has been defined as the modification of behavior by making the presence or absence of rewards or punishment contingent on behavior, also known as instrumental learning. “Operant conditioning has been widely applied in clinical settings (i.e.,
A lot of resources will refer to intellect as the ability to learn or reason. Piaget was particularly interested in this area in relation to the cognitive development of the child. In the history of psychology, as it progressed throughout the 18th century, various 'schools of psychology' developed. Two examples of the schools are Behaviourism and Structuralism. Constructivism is another school of psychology, and focuses directly on how people learn; specifically how knowledge is acquired and how it is transformed into learning.
The Developmental Theories of Bandura and Bronfenbrenner ECE 353 Carla Bainer August 15, 2011 The Developmental Theories of Bandura and Bronfenbrenner The social learning theory proposed by Albert Bandura has become perhaps the most influential theory of learning and development. His theory added a social element, arguing that people can learn new information and behaviors by watching other people. Known as observational learning (or modeling), this type of learning can be used to explain a wide variety of behaviors. The social learning theory asserts that appropriate social behavior is learned mainly through observing and imitating models, or simply, by watching other people. This type of learning is called modeling, or observational learning.
Perspectives of Watson, Skinner, and Tolman Behaviorism, one of the strongest forms of psychology refers to the learning perspective of thinking and feeling are behaviors that altering these behaviors can help treat psychological disorders. During the 19th century behaviorism was an emerging thought. Behaviorists studied how behaviors were learned and reinforced. John Watson, B.F. Skinner, and Edward Tolman, are three men whose theories have remained the foundation for schools of thought in psychology today. The perspectives of John Watson, B.F. Skinner, and Edward Tolman, in relation to the field of modern-day psychology will be compared and contrast in this paper.
Harry Harlow’s “Monkey Love” Experiments Harry Harlow was an American psychologist who provided a new understanding of human behavior and development through the social behavior of monkeys. In his early life, many experiences contributed to his interest and curiosity that would later lead to his vital experiments. His research and experimentation with monkeys would be a breakthrough in psychology. The contribution of these theories to the field of psychology is still proven to be credible today. Harlow’s hard work, along with other psychologists such as John Bowlby, has helped to spark a revolution in our approach to childcare.
Describe and evaluate any two theories in developmental psychology. (moral development.) The social Learning Theory states children’s behaviours can be influenced through ‘Observational learning’. Albert Bandura (1977, cited Gross 1996) believed that children of all ages developed a moral understanding of right and wrong by observing and imitating models that had a social connection to the child for example, parent, sibling or anyone the child may admire. However Jean Piaget (1932) believed that children’s moral development was based on the cognitive processes, and therefore conducted several studies to generate a better understanding of a child’s thought process and how that effected there moral judgment.
Structuralism was developed by a man named Edward Titchener who was a student of Wilhem Wundt. Titchener was extremely interested in learning about the structure of the consciousness. He believed in the use of experimentation for the science of psychology (Kowalski & Westen, 2009). The second school of thought, functionalism, along with structuralism was the two schools of thought which were dominant in the beginning of psychology (Kowalski & Westen, 2009). Functionalism studied the psychological processes which enable individuals to be able to adapt to their environments; each psychological process has an important role which is their main point of focus.
(Kathleen Stassen Berger, 2011 p. 57). The biological development of a young child’s brain directly assists the cognitive development of the brain and vice versus. According to Lev Vygotsky’s sociocultural idea, all children have the ability to learn despite of all mental disabilities (p.49). The knowledge and capabilities that are acquired depends on what is deemed important by their culture. To further understand a how a crime can be committed by a young child, Albert Bandura’s theory that humans can learn without reinforcement called “modeling” is a good explanation.
Theories of development are important as they can influence practice and also help us to understand children’s behaviour, reactions and ways of learning. Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was a zoologist who became interested in children’s cognitive development as a result of working on intelligence tests. He noticed that children consistently gave similar wrong answers to some questions and began to consider why this was. Piaget used his own children to make detailed observations and gradually developed a theory that has been very influential. Piaget’s theory of learning is sometimes referred to as a constructivist approach because he suggested that children constructed or built their thoughts according to their experiences of the world around them.
Through Skinner’s research, it helped prove that the most relevant was nurture because through conditioning and repetition one could teach animals to behave predictably. Another reason why I think the environment (nurture) has more influence on ones personality than heredity (nature), is because of John Watson. John Watson was an American psychologist and established the psychological school of behaviorism. With Watson’s “Little Albert” experiment, he helped prove that personality was molded by life experiences. In the experiment Watson took a nine month old boy, named Albert, and exposed him to a white rat.