Learning Theories

Nicolette ThayerStacy Reda

Psychodynamic Theory

Asserts that the individual develops a basic personality core in childhood and that responses

stem from personality organization and emotional problems as a result of environmental

experiences.

Sigmund Freud

• 1856-1939• Was a medical doctor• Became interested in

the irrational side of human behavior as he treated “hysterics”

• Personality was the most important aspect of development

Stage Age Description

Oral Birth to 2• Mouth (sucking, biting)

source of pleasure• Eating and teething

Anal 2-3

• Bowel movements source of pleasure

• Toilet learning

Phallic 3-6• Genitals source of pleasure• Sex role identification and

conscious development

Latency 6-12• Sexual forces dormant

• Energy put into schoolwork and sports

Genital 12-18

• Genitals source of pleasure• Stimulation and

satisfactions from relationships

Erik Erikson

• 1902-1994• Psychosocial development• Most influential

psychoanalyst• His interest in children

and education had been lifelong

• Emphasized the drive of identity and meaning in a social context

Stage Description Challenge

One The newborn Trust vs. Mistrust

Two Toddlers Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt

Three Childhood Initiative vs. Guilt

Four School Competence (or industry) vs. Inferiority

Five Adolescence Search for Identity vs. Role Confusion

Six Young Adulthood Intimacy (love and friendship) vs. Isolation (loneliness)

Seven Grown-upsGenerativity (caring for the

next generation) vs. Stagnation

Eight Old Age Integrity vs. Despair

Behaviorist Theory

All important aspects of behavior and people are learned and can be modified or changed by

varying external conditions.

John Watson

• 1878-1958• Taught psychology at John

Hopkins• Most famous and

controversial experiment was known as the “Little Albert” experiment, where he conditioned a small child to fear a white rat

• Believed psychology should be the science of observable behavior

Edward Thorndike

• 1874-1949• Interest in psychology

grew after reading the classic book The Principles of Psychology by William James.

• Known as the “ godfather of standardized testing”

• Came up with the stimulus-response technique

Ivan Pavlov

• 1849-1936• Russian physiologist• Identified learning as

respondent conditioning

• Cornerstone of behaviorist theory

B.F. Skinner

• 1904-1990• Skinner decided to abandon

his career as a novelist and entered the psychology

• Most famous for his research on operant conditioning and negative reinforcement

• Stated that there is no behavior that can not be modified

Albert Bandura• 1925-• Became interested in

psychology accidentally when taking psychology as filler classes—though he was a biological major

• Developed social learning theory

• Theorized that children think hard about what they see and feel; personal and cognitive factors influence behavior

Classical Conditioning Operant Conditioning Social Learning

Kind of Behavior Reflective Voluntary Voluntary

Type of Learning Learning through association

Learning through reinforcement

Learning through observation and

imitation

Role of learner Passive Active or passive Active

Cognitive Theory

Focuses on thought processes and how they change with age and experience

Jean Jacques Piaget

• 1896-1980• Studied both thought

process and how they change with age

• His ideas serve as our guide to the cognitive theory

• Expert on the development of knowledge from birth to adulthood

• Major force in child psychology

Stage Age What Happens

Sensorimotor Birth to 18 months to two years

• Initial use of inherent reflexes • Out of sight, out of mind

• Movements from accidental to more deliberate

• Learns to coordinate motor functions

Preoperational Two to six or seven

• Gradual acquisition of language• Symbolic• Egocentric

• Physical characteristics, judged by appearance only

• “Conservation” develops slowly

Concrete operational Six to 12

• Begins to “conserve”• Can handle several ideas at the

same time• Starts to remove contradictions• Can understand other points of

views

Sociocultural Theory

Focuses on the child as a whole and incorporated ideas of culture and values into

child development.

Lev Vygotsky

• 1896-1934• Zone of Proximal

Development• Focused on how values,

beliefs, skills, and traditions are transmitted to the next generation

• Looked more closely at mental abnormality

• Theory is rooted in experimental psychology

Stage Description

Primitive

• Characterized by the infant experimenting with sound production.• The coos, ga-gas and babbles emitted have no purpose but to explore the baby's sense of

sound• Lack of speech means no verbal thought is taking place

• Not that the baby has a lack of thought, but rather a lack of relationship with her thoughts

Naive

• Begins when babies learn to speak• The baby speaks words without grasping their purpose and meaning

• Over time, the child uses slightly more complex phrases • These phrases lack an understanding of grammar or structure, determines meaning from

the responses others give to his phrases

External• Child starts to use objects to signify meaning and words

• Rhyming is a device used to help solidify her memory of objects and sounds

Ingrowth

• Occurs when children start to internalize many of the tasks he learned during the previous phases

• A need to communicate with others people around him improves his ability to internalize thought and actions

• Inner speech shortens during this phase, called predication.• Thought sentences lack a subject, because that subject is already known to the child.

Ecological Theory

Based on the premise that development is greatly influenced by forces outside the child.

Uric Bronfenbrenner

• 1917-2005• developed the ecological

theory to explain how everything in the child's environment affects how a child grows and develops

• In his view development is “a joint function of person and environment”

Multiple Intelligences Theory

Outlines several different kinds of intelligences, rather than the notion of intelligence as

measured by standardized testing.

Howard Gardner

• 1943-• Asserts that there is

strong evidence both from the brain-based research and from the study of genius

• His theory has a big impact on schools—transforming curricula and teaching methods

Area Definition

Musical Intelligence • Be able to hear, recognize, and remember patterns

Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence • Use parts or all of your body to solve a problem or make something

Logical-Mathematical Intelligence

• Think in a logical pattern and understand principles of a system

Linguistic Intelligence • Use language to express your thoughts, ideas, feelings, • Ability to understand other people and their words

Spatial Intelligence • Represent the world internally in spatial terms

Interpersonal Intelligence • Understand other people

Intrapersonal Intelligence • Understand yourself• Knowing who you are, and how you react

Naturalist Intelligence • Discriminate among living things• Sensitivity to other features of the natural world

Maturation Theory

The sequence of behavior and the emergence of personal characteristics develop more through predetermined growth processes than through learning and interaction with the environment.

Arnold Gesell

• 1880-1961• Physician intrigued with

the notion that children's internal clock seemed to govern their growth and behavior

• Established norms for several areas of growth and the behaviors that accompany such development

Learning

Behavior

Preferences

Expectations

MotivationRetention

Self- Efficiency

Awareness

Self-Regulation

Contingencies

Reinforcement

Models

Action Punishment

Response

Attention

Environment

Humanistic Theory

Involves principles of motivation and wellness, centering on people’s needs, goals, and

successes.

Abraham Maslow

• 1908-1970• His theory of Self-

actualization is a set of ideas about what people need to become and stay healthy

• Asserts that every human being is motivated by a number of basic needs

Nature vs. Nurture

• The argument regarding human development that centers around two opposing viewpoints

• Nature refers to the belief that it is a person’s genetic, inherent character that determines development

• Nurture applies to the notion that it is the sum total of experiences and the environment that determines development

Bibliography

• Beginnings & Beyond (Foundations in Early Childhood Education)

• http://physchology.about.com • http://

www.ehow.com/info_8451423_vygotskys-stages-language-development.html