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Theory of Cognitive learning (1936)

Jean Piaget researched what developmental stages children should be at certain ages and the types of behaviours and thinking patterns that form around those stages. It attempted to explain how a child constructs a mental model of the world and cognitive development as a process set in 4 stages.

Piaget’s theory of cognitive development (1936) is centered around the belief that children learn and develop in four main stages, starting from birth to age two, from age two to seven, seven to eleven and then finally from eleven upward. He believes that cognitive development is initially started by the sensory stimuli encountered by children in their first two years, and then furthered by symbolic thinking, concepts attached to situations and theoretical, hypothetical and counterfactual thinking.

Eg. Piaget’s daughter (in the early stages of the pre-operational stage) spoke of two slugs that were some distance apart as being the same slug.

-        Limitation of his study was the small sample size he used to research his methods, this consisted of children from well educated professionals of high socioeconomic status.—therefore difficult to generalise his findings to the general public.

-A criticism of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development is that his stages of development may be inaccurate, and that ‘development does not always follow a smooth and predictable path’

-Another criticism is that Piaget had a very action-orientated approach, and that he believed that the ‘physical manipulation of external objects is essential for normal cognitive development’, which is unsupported, as children born without the freedom and physical movement or capability of physical actions (such as paralysed children) are still capable of normal cognitive development.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRF27F2bn-A – Example of Piaget’s theory in action

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BF Skinner can be considered as one of the most influential of American psychologists, he was a behaviourist who developed the theory of operant conditioning. 1953-63 were his most prominent years in the development of his theories. BF Skinner theorised that operant conditioning was when ones behaviour was determined by its consequences whether that be through positive reinforcement & negative reinforcement or punishment.

His studies primarily focused on observable behaviour through experiments conducted on mainly animals, examples of this include:

The Skinner Box/ Operant conditioning chamber: A rat being placed in a box, this box had two levers, the rat conditioned into choosing one lever through punishment and positive reinforcement, where the rat was electrocuted for choosing the wrong lever but rewarded with food for choosing the correct lever. The aim for this experiment was to determine which form of reinforcement led to the most efficient outcomes.

Critical evaluation involved:

Criticism surrounding his work includes the fact that he didn’t consider cognitive and inherited factors to learning and behaviour, he also does not consider social theories behind behaviour (learning through observation).

Operant conditioning focuses on extrinsic factors as opposed to intrinsic factors, providing a less than holistic study into behaviour.

Use of animals considerably ineffective as these animals, such as rats, are incapable of metacognitive functions.

His theories do have practical applications that can used in classroom settings such as the encouragement of participation for all attempts and providing useful feedback (no student is ignored through this). Satiation can also be encouraged through token economies (rewards for listening).

Practical applications can also be used in psych wards, prisons, work places, etc.

Example video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6LEcM0E0io

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Classical conditioning experiment Bart Simpson fears a cupcake

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John  B. Watson (born January 9, 1878 in South Carolina) was an American psychologist most renowned for his work in the field of classical conditioning for learning. He experimented often with animals, as he saw they and humans shared similar behavioural responses. He believed that we as humans are no different to animals, that we do not have conscience or perception. In 1913 he coined the term 'behaviourism', and had been celebrated for this prior to the experiment involving Little Albert. His use of the loud noise acted as the stimulus that caused the response in Albert to cry whenever he saw the rat again, called the conditioned response (being trained to respond in this way). Watson knew the child was already mentally disabled, suffering from neurological impairment, but had deceived everyone from this. The child died at age six.                                                                                                                                                                                                           Obviously this experiment would not be possible nowadays due to ethical reasons so it has been criticised for breaching ethics as he was indirectly torturing Albert. An advantage, however, is that this procedure can be replicated, and has been used, to reduce fearful or irrational behaviours, or therapy.                                                          Malone, J, & García-Penagos, A 2016, 'When a clear strong voice was needed: A retrospective review of Watson's (1924/1930) behaviorism', Journal Of The Experimental Analysis Of Behavior, 102, 2, p. 267-287, Scopus®, EBSCOhost, viewed 30 July 20, 2018                                  Cherry, K. (2018). Who Was Pioneering Psychologist John B. Watson?. [online] Very well Mind. Available at: https://www.verywellmind.com/john-b-watson-biography-1878-1958-2795550 [Accessed 30 Jul. 2018].

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John  B. Watson (born January 9, 1878 in South Carolina) was an American psychologist most renowned for his work in the field of classical conditioning for learning. He experimented often with animals, as he saw they and humans shared similar behavioural responses. He believed that we as humans are no different to animals, that we do not have conscience or perception. In 1913 he coined the term 'behaviourism', and had been celebrated for this prior to the experiment involving Little Albert. His use of the loud noise acted as the stimulus that caused the response in Albert to cry whenever he saw the rat again, called the conditioned response (being trained to respond in this way). Watson knew the child was already mentally disabled, suffering from neurological impairment, but had deceived everyone from this. The child died at age six.                                                                                                                                                                                                           Obviously this experiment would not be possible nowadays due to ethical reasons so it has been criticised for breaching ethics as he was indirectly torturing Albert. An advantage, however, is that this procedure can be replicated, and has been used, to reduce fearful or irrational behaviours, or therapy.                                                          Malone, J, & García-Penagos, A 2016, 'When a clear strong voice was needed: A retrospective review of Watson's (1924/1930) behaviorism', Journal Of The Experimental Analysis Of Behavior, 102, 2, p. 267-287, Scopus®, EBSCOhost, viewed 30 July 20, 2018                                  Cherry, K. (2018). Who Was Pioneering Psychologist John B. Watson?. [online] Very well Mind. Available at: https://www.verywellmind.com/john-b-watson-biography-1878-1958-2795550 [Accessed 30 Jul. 2018].

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The Little Albert Experiment | Psychology is Nuts