Learning Theories
Nicolette Thayer
Stacy 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
Oral
Anal
Phallic
Latency
Genital
Age
Description
Birth to 2
• Mouth (sucking, biting)
source of pleasure
• Eating and teething
2-3
3-6
6-12
12-18
• Bowel movements source
of pleasure
• Toilet learning
• Genitals source of pleasure
• Sex role identification and
conscious development
• Sexual forces dormant
• Energy put into schoolwork
and sports
• 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-ups
Generativity (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
•
•
•
Concrete operational
Six to 12
•
•
Gradual acquisition of language
• Symbolic
• Egocentric
Physical characteristics, judged
by appearance only
“Conservation” develops slowly
• 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
Primitive
Description
• 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
•
External
Ingrowth
• 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
•
• Child starts to use objects to signify meaning and words
Rhyming is a device used to help solidify her memory of objects and sounds
• 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.
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
SelfRegulation
SelfEfficiency
Retention
Motivation
Attention
Preferences
Awareness
Expectations
Models
Response
Learning
Behavior
Environment
Contingencies
Action
Punishment
Reinforcement
Humanistic Theory
Involves principles of motivation and wellness,
centering on people’s needs, goals, and
successes.
Abraham Maslow
• 1908-1970
• His theory of Selfactualization 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_vygotskysstages-language-development.html