Monterey, Quincy Mae M.

Learning theories are conceptual frameworks describing how information is absorbed,

processed, and retained during learning. Cognitive, emotional, and environmental influences, as
well as prior experience, all play a part in how understanding, or a world view, is acquired or
changed and knowledge and skills retained.
Behaviorists look at learning as an aspect of conditioning and will advocate a system of rewards
and targets in education. Educators who embrace cognitive theory believe that the definition of
learning as a change in behavior is too narrow and prefer to study the learner rather than their
environment and in particular the complexities of human memory. Those who
advocate constructivism believe that a learner's ability to learn relies to a large extent on what
he already knows and understands, and the acquisition of knowledge should be an individually
tailored process of construction. Transformative learning theory focuses upon the oftennecessary change that is required in a learner's preconceptions and world view.
Outside the realm of educational psychology, techniques to directly observe the functioning of
the brain during the learning process, such as event-related potential and functional magnetic
resonance imaging, are used in educational neuroscience. As of 2012, such studies are
beginning to support a theory of multiple intelligences, where learning is seen as the interaction
between dozens of different functional areas in the brain each with their own individual
strengths and weaknesses in any particular human learner.

BEHAVIORISM:
Behaviorism (also called the behaviorist approach) was the primary paradigm in
psychology between 1920s to 1950 and is based on a number of underlying
assumptions regarding methodology and behavioral analysis:

Psychology should be seen as a science. Theories need to be supported by

empirical data obtained through careful and controlled observation and
measurement of behavior. Watson (1913) stated that psychology as a
behaviorist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science.

Behaviorism is primarily concerned with observable behavior, as opposed to

internal events like thinking and emotion. Observable (i.e. external) behavior can
be objectively and scientifically measured. Internal events, such as thinking
should be explained through behavioral terms (or eliminated altogether).

People have no free will a persons environment determines their behavior

When born our mind is 'tabula rasa' (a blank slate).

Monterey, Quincy Mae M.

There is little difference between the learning that takes place in humans and that
in other animals. Therefore research can be carried out on animals as well as
humans.

Behavior is the result of stimulus response (i.e. all behavior, no matter how
complex, can be reduced to a simple stimulus response association). Watson
described the purpose of psychology as: To predict, given the stimulus, what
reaction will take place; or, given the reaction, state what the situation or stimulus
is that has caused the reaction (1930, p. 11).

All behavior is learnt from the environment. We learn new behavior through
classical or operant conditioning.

Varieties of Behaviorism
Historically, the most significant distinction among versions of behaviorism is that
between Watson's original classical behaviorism, and forms of behaviorism later inspired
by his work, known collectively as neobehaviorism.
In his book, Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It Watson (1913, p. 158) outlines the
principles of all behaviorists:
Psychology as the behaviorist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of
natural science. Its theoretical goal is the prediction and control of behavior.
Introspection forms no essential part of its methods, nor is the scientific value of its data
dependent upon the readiness with which they lend themselves to interpretation in terms
of consciousness. The behaviorist, in his efforts to get a unitary scheme of animal
response, recognizes no dividing line between man and brute. The behavior of man,
with all of its refinement and complexity, forms only a part of the behaviorist's total
scheme of investigation.
The History of Behaviorism

Pavlov (1897) published the results of an experiment on conditioning after

originally studying digestion in dogs.

Watson (1913) launches the behavioral school of psychology (classical

conditioning), publishing an article, "Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It".

Watson and Rayner (1920) conditioned an orphan called Albert B (aka Little
Albert) to fear a white rat.

Thorndike (1905) formalized the "Law of Effect".

Monterey, Quincy Mae M.

Skinner (1936) wrote "The Behavior of Organisms" and introduced the concepts
of operant conditioning and shaping.

Clark Hulls (1943) Principles of Behavior was published.

B.F. Skinner (1948) published Walden Two in which he described a utopian

society founded upon behaviorist principles.

Bandura (1963) publishes a book called the "Social Leaning Theory and
Personality development" which combines both cognitive and behavioral
frameworks.

Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior (begun in 1958).

B.F. Skinner (1971) published his book Beyond Freedom and Dignity, where he
argues that free will is an illusion.

Classical Conditioning

Classical conditioning is a type of learning in which an animals natural response to

one object or sensory stimulus transfers to another stimulus. This illustration shows
how a dog can learn to salivate to the ring of a bell, an experiment first carried out in
the early 1900s by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov. For conditioning to occur, the
pairing of the food with the ring of a bell must be repeated many times, so that the
dog eventually learns to associate the two items.

Operant Conditioning

It was coined by behaviorist B.F. Skinner. It is a method of learning that occurs

through rewards and punishments for behavior. Through operant conditioning, an
association is made between a behavior and a consequence for that behavior.

Operant conditioning relies on a fairly simple premise - actions that are followed by
reinforcement will be strengthened and more likely to occur again in the future.

Laws of Learning by Edward Thorndike

Law of Effect: Responses closely followed by satisfaction will become firmly

attached to the situation and therefore more likely to reoccur when the situation is
repeated.

Law of Exercise: Behavior is more strongly established through frequent

connections of stimulus and response.

Law of Readiness: A series of responses can be chained together to satisfy some

goal which will result in annoyance if blocked.

Monterey, Quincy Mae M.

COGNITIVISM:
The term cognitive psychology came into use with the publication of the book Cognitive
Psychology by Ulric Neisser in 1967.
Cognitive Psychology revolves around the notion that if we want to know what makes
people tick then we need to understand the internal processes of their mind.
Cognition literally means knowing. In other words, psychologists from this approach
study cognition which is the mental act or process by which knowledge is acquired.
Cognitive psychology focuses on the way humans process information, looking at how
we treat information that comes in to the person (what behaviorists would call stimuli),
and how this treatment leads to responses. In other words, they are interested in the
variables that mediate between stimulus/input and response/output. Cognitive
psychologists study internal processes
including perception, attention, language, memory and thinking.
The cognitive perspective applies a nomothetic approach to discover human cognitive
processes, but have also adopted idiographic techniques through using case
studies (e.g. KF, HM).
Typically cognitive psychologists use the laboratory experiment to study behavior. This is
because the cognitive approach is a scientific one. For example, participants will take
part in memory tests in strictly controlled conditions. However, the widely used lab
experiment can be criticized for lacking ecological validity (a major criticism of cognitive
psychology).
Cognitive psychology became of great importance in the mid 1950s. Several factors
were important in this:

Dissatisfaction with the behaviorist approach in its simple emphasis on external

behavior rather than internal processes.

The development of better experimental methods.

Comparison between human and computer processing of information.

The History of Cognitive Psychology

Norbert Wiener (1948) published Cybernetics: or Control and Communication in

the Animal and the Machine,introducing terms such as input and output.

Monterey, Quincy Mae M.

Tolman (1948) work on cognitive maps training rats in mazes, showed that
animals had internal representation of behavior.

Birth of Cognitive Psychology often dated back to George Millers (1956) The
Magical Number 7 Plus or Minus 2.

Newell and Simons (1972) development of the General Problem Solver.

In 1960, Miller founded the Center for Cognitive Studies at Harvard with famous
cognitivist developmentalist,Jerome Bruner.

Ulric Neisser (1967) publishes "Cognitive Psychology", which marks the official
beginning of the cognitive approach.

Process models of memory Atkinson & Shiffrins (1968) Multi Store Model.

Cognitive approach highly influential in all areas of psychology (e.g. biological,

social, behaviorism, development etc.).

Cognitivism focuses on the transmission of information from someone who knows (such
as an expert as opposed to facilitators) to learners who do not know.
3 Stages of Memory

The Sensory Memory: Receives input from senses which lasts from less than a
second to four seconds and then disappears.

The Short-Term Memory: Sensory input that is important or interesting is

transferred from the sensory register to the STM. Memory can be retained here for
up to 20 seconds.

The Long-Term Memory: Stores information from STM for long term use.

Cognitive Development by Jean Piaget

Monterey, Quincy Mae M.

CONSTRUCTIVISM:
Constructivism in psychology is a method of therapy that 'focuses on both the internal
and external systems of meaning-making.' Constructivism is an approach that also
combines other forms of psychotherapy, including cognitive behavioral therapy (an
action-oriented form of therapy that encourages clients to change maladaptive thinking
patterns that lead to maladaptive behaviors and negative emotions)
and psychoanalysis(a branch of psychotherapy based on theories about the
relationship between the conscious and unconscious minds).
Constructivism in Education
Constructivism learning theory is the further development as behaviorism arrives at
cognitivism. According to its teaching theory: knowledge is uncertain; the learning
process of knowledge is also the construction process of knowledge; students are the
main body of learning activity and they construct knowledge on their own initiatives;
teachers are the helpers and the drivers for students constructing knowledge.
Piagets Theory (1983) mentions that children do not simply mimic everything that is part
of the external environment, but rather that developing and learning is an ongoing
process and interchange between individuals and their surroundings. According to
O'Donnell, Reeve, & Smith (2012) constructivism encapsulates how a learner constructs
knowledge via different concepts: complex, cognition, scaffolding, vicarious experiences,
modeling, and observational learning. This makes students, teachers, the environment

Monterey, Quincy Mae M.

and anyone or anything else in which the student has interaction active participants in
their learning.
Knowledge Construction Mechanism

Assimilation- Which is using an existing schema to deal with a new object or

situation.

Accommodation- This happens when the existing schema (knowledge) does not
work, and needs to be changed to deal with a new object or situation.

Equilibrium- Seeking cognitive stability through assimilation and accommodation.

HUMANISM:
Humanistic, humanism and humanist are terms in psychology relating to an approach
which studies the whole person, and the uniqueness of each individual. Essentially,
these terms refer the same approach in psychology.
Humanism is a psychological approach that emphasizes the study of the whole person.
Humanistic psychologists look at human behavior not only through the eyes of the
observer, but through the eyes of the person doing the behaving.
Humanistic psychologists believe that an individual's behavior is connected to their inner
feelings and self concept.
The humanistic approach in psychology developed as a rebellion against what some
psychologists saw as limitations of the behaviorist and psychodynamic psychology. The
humanistic approach is thus often called the third force in psychology after
psychoanalysis and behaviorism (Maslow, 1968).
Humanism rejected the assumptions of the behaviorist perspective which is
characterized as deterministic, focused on reinforcement of stimulus-response behavior
and heavily dependent on animal research.
Humanistic psychology also rejected the psychodynamic approach because it also is
deterministic, with unconscious irrational and instinctive forces determining human
thought and behavior. Both behaviorism and psychoanalysis are regarded as
dehumanizing by humanistic psychologists.
Humanistic psychology expanded its influence throughout the 1970s and the
1980s. Its impact can be understood in terms of three major areas:

Monterey, Quincy Mae M.

1) It offered a new set of values for approaching an understanding of human nature and
the human condition.
2) It offered an expanded horizon of methods of inquiry in the study of human behavior.
3) It offered a broader range of more effective methods in the professional practice
of psychotherapy.
Humanistic Psychology Assumptions
Humanistic psychology begins with the existential assumptions that phenomenology is
central and that people have free will. Personal agency is the humanistic term for the
exercise of free will. Personal agency refers to the choices we make in life, the paths we
go down and their consequences.
A further assumption is then added - people are basically good, and have an innate need
to make themselves and the world better. The humanistic approach emphasizes the
personal worth of the individual, the centrality of human values, and the creative, active
nature of human beings. The approach is optimistic and focuses on noble human
capacity to overcome hardship, pain and despair.
Both Rogers and Maslow regarded personal growth and fulfillment in life as a basic
human motive. This means that each person, in different ways, seeks to grow
psychologically and continuously enhance themselves. This has been captured by the
term self-actualization which is about psychological growth, fulfillment and satisfaction in
life. However, Rogers and Maslow both describe different ways of how self-actualization
can be achieved.
Central to the humanist theories of Rogers (1959) and Maslow (1943) are the subjective,
conscious experiences of the individual. Humanistic psychologists argue that objective
reality is less important than a person's subjective perception and understanding of the
world. Because of this, Rogers and Maslow placed little value onscientific
psychology especially the use of the psychology laboratory to investigate both human
and animal behavior.
Humanism rejects scientific methodology like experiments and typically uses qualitative
research methods. For example, diary accounts, open-ended
questionnaires, unstructured interviews and unstructured observations. Qualitative
research is useful for studies at the individual level, and to find out, in depth, the ways in
which people think or feel (e.g. case studies).
Humanism views human beings as fundamentally different from other animals mainly
because humans are conscious beings capable of thought, reason and language. For
humanistic psychologists research on animals, such as rats, pigeons, or monkeys held

Monterey, Quincy Mae M.

little value. Research on such animals can tell us, so they argued, very little about
human thought, behavior and experience.
Humanistic psychologists rejected a rigorous scientific approach to psychology because
they saw it as dehumanizing and unable to capture the richness of conscious
experience. In many ways the rejection ofscientific psychology in the 1950s, 1960s and
1970s was a backlash to the dominance of the behaviorist approach in North American
psychology.
The History of Humanistic Psychology

Maslow (1943) developed a hierarchical theory of human motivation.

Carl Rogers (1946) publishes Significant aspects of client-centered therapy (also

called person centered therapy).

In 1957 and 1958, at the invitation of Abraham Maslow and Clark Moustakas, two
meetings were held in Detroit among psychologists who were interested in
founding a professional association dedicated to a more meaningful, more
humanistic vision.

In 1962, with the sponsorship of Brandeis University, this movement was formally
launched as the Association for Humanistic Psychology.

The first issue of the Journal of Humanistic Psychology appeared in the Spring of
1961.