B.F. Skinner & Operant Conditioning

B.F. Skinner: Operant Conditioning

• Behavior is motivated by consequences, namely reinforcements and punishments.
• Learning results from consequences, based on Edward Thorndike's law of effect.
• Behaviors followed by satisfying consequences are likely to be repeated.
• Behaviors followed by unpleasant consequences are less likely to be repeated.

Kinds of Reinforcement

• Primary reinforcers have innate reinforcing qualities and are not learned
• They include water, food, sleep, shelter, sex, etc and pleasure
• Secondary reinforcers have reinforcing qualities when linked with a primary reinforcer
• Praise linked to affection is one example

Behavior Modification in Children

• Behavior modification uses operant conditioning principles to change behavior
• It switches undesirable behaviors for more socially acceptable ones.
• For behavior modification to be effective, reinforcement must connect with the behavior
• Reinforcement must matter to the child and the process must be consistent

Piaget: Cognitive Development Theory

• Children's intellectual skills change over time based on biological predispositions
• The skills also change based on individual interactions with the world
• Piaget was critical of teacher-directed instruction because it puts the child in a passive role.
• Children of differing ages interpret the world differently so learning is divided into four stages.
• The stages always happen in the same order
• No stage is ever skipped
• Each stage is a significant transformation from the stage before it
• Each later stage builds upon and incorporates the earlier stages
• The four stages of cognitive development are: Sensorimotor, Preoperational (egocentrism), Concrete Operational, and Formal Operational.

Bandura’s Social Learning Theory and Observational Learning

• Observational learning asserts that individuals can learn new responses via observation.
• Observational learning doesn't require reinforcement but hinges on the presence of social models.
• Social models possess a higher status or authority compared to the observer (parents, teachers, police officers).

Four Parts of Observational Learning Process

• Attention is needed to learn.
• Retention is required to retain the observed behavior into one's memory
• Initiation acknowledges that the learner must be able to execute, or initiate the learned behavior
• Motivation is needed to engage in observational learning

Bioecological Systems Theory

• Urie Bronfenbrenner adopted a holistic perspective on human development
• His Bioecological Systems Theory influenced psychologists and social scientists approach to studying human beings and their environments.
• Bronfenbrenner emphasized the importance of social environments and family
• He saw family breakdown as the leading cause of alienation, apathy, rebellion, delinquency, and violence among American youth
• His work led to new directions in research, programs, and policies affecting the well-being of children and families.

4 Systems

• Microsystem includes immediate environments like family, school, peer group, & childcare environments
• Mesosystem is a system of connections between immediate environments (ie a child's home and school)
• Exosystem is external environmental settings that indirectly affect development, like a parent's workplace
• Macrosystem involves the larger cultural context (Eastern vs Western culture, national economy, political culture, subculture)
• The Chronosystem, was added later, and involves the patterning of environmental events and transitions over the course of life.

Watson: Behaviorism

• John B. Watson was an influential American psychologist, whose famous work occurred during the early 20th century at Johns Hopkins University.
• Watson conducted research on animal behavior, child-rearing, and advertising.
• Watson is known for the controversial “Little Albert” study.
• Watson believed that children should be treated as young adults.
• Watson warned against a mother giving too much love and affection.
• Watson's slogan was 'not more babies but better brought up babies'
• Watson argued for the nurture side of the nature-nurture debate
• Watson contended that everything is built into a child through their environment.
• Parents and caregivers hold complete responsibility for their children’s actions
• Caregivers choose the environment the child is reared in

Freud and Psychodynamic Theories of Personality

• Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) founded the psychodynamic approach to understanding personality
• Freud believed that behaviors are predetermined by motivations that lie outside awareness, in the unconscious
• These forces show themselves in dreams and neurotic symptoms, like obsessions
• These forces also show in Freudian “slips of the tongue"

ID

• The basis of our most primitive impulses
• This is entirely unconscious
• This drives our most important motivations, including the sexual drive (libido) and the aggressive or destructive drive (Thanatos).
• It is driven by the pleasure principle, which is the desire for immediate gratification of our sexual and aggressive urges.

Ego

• Based on the reality principle, meaning that gratification of basic desires must be delayed until the appropriate time
• The largely conscious controller and decision-maker of personality
• The intermediary between the desires of the id and the constraints of society contained in the superego

Superego

• Represents the sense of morality and doing what is “right”.
• It tells individuals what they shouldn't do (ie duties and obligations of society)
• The superego strives for perfection and when individuals fail to live up to its demands, they feel guilty.

Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory

• Erik Erikson suggested that our relationships and society’s expectations motivate much of our behavior.
• Erikson is considered the father of developmental psychology.
• His model is a guideline for the entire life span.
• Erikson expanded on Freud’s theory by emphasizing the importance of culture in parenting practices and motivations. -Erikson divided the lifespan into eight stages. -In each stage, individuals have a major psychosocial task to accomplish or crisis to overcome and personality takes shape. -Successful completion leads to competence and a healthy personality -Failure to master tasks leads to feelings of inadequacy.

Jacques Rousseau and Childlike Innocence

• Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s views changed parenting practices.
• Rousseau believed that children were inherently innocent, weak, and easily tempted
• Humans are born pure
• Interactions with the environment cause negative effects on one's development
• Children need protection from child labor and negative influences within civilization.

Stages of development

• Childhood (0 to 12 years): children are guided by simple impulses and simply react to their surroundings.
• Pre-Adolescence (12 to 16 years): children begin to develop reason and are able to comprehend more abstract ideas.
• Puberty and Adulthood (16 years and onward): children develop into adults that can navigate society and its moral issues.
• These stages elicited guidelines for developmentally-appropriate practices in parenting and education, play, and teaching within the early years of childhood education.

Maria Montessori: The Montessori Method

• A child’s mind is quickly developing within the first six years of life (the absorbent mind)
• Children take in as much as possible from their environment
• Hallmarks of The Montessori Method include self-directed, hands-on experiential learning, collaborative play, and freedom of movement and activity
• All occur in a safe, multi-sensory environment.
• Trained teachers focus on developmentally-appropriate activities
• These promote individualized learning to optimize children’s physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development.
• Children work at their own pace and engage in free choice activities
• Activities occur within clear, firm, reasonable, and developmentally-appropriate boundaries established by trained teachers
• Montessori’s research deduced that these practices stimulate deeper learning experiences
• Also stimulates independent thinking, problem-solving, creativity, confidence, and lifelong enthusiasm for learning.

Vygotsky: Sociocultural Theory

• Lev Vygotsky believed a person has both a set of abilities and a set of potential abilities
• Potential abilities can be reached if given the proper guidance from others.
• Sociocultural Theory emphasizes the importance of culture and interaction in the development of cognitive abilities.
• Vygotsky focused on children’s immediate social and cultural environment and their interactions with adults and peers.
• Through guided participation (scaffolding) with a teacher, a child can learn cognitive skills in the zone of proximal development
• Development occurs first through children’s immediate social interactions
• Then moves to the individual level as they begin to internalize their learning.
• The zone of proximal development (ZPD) is the distance between a child’s potential to learn and actual learning
• A "quality teacher" identifies a child’s ZPD and then helps the child learn beyond their ZPD
• The teacher withdraws support until the child can perform the task without assistance.