Theorists (Learning and Development) Flashcards
Types of learning theories (POSH CB)
Pshychoanalytic (Freud, Bowlby): based on Sigmund Freud’s theories: the conscious mind can influence our thoughts, feelings and behaviours: what happens in our childhood can deeply condition our current actions and behaviours.
Operant conditioning (or instrumental conditioning) (Skinner, Pavlov): a method on learning based on rewards and punishments, connecting behaviours with consequences.
Social Learning (Bandura): learning occurs by observing or being guided by other individuals in social contexts
Humanist (Maslow, Montessori): lives are shaped in the here and now
Cognitive (Piaget and Vygotsky): it’s about analysing the mental processes that allow us to acquire, store, manipulate and retrieve information
Behaviourist (John Watson): influencing behaviour by mental training and the influence of habits.
John Bowlby’s attachment theory
The relationship between children and their carers can influence their development. At least one person needs to provide support, otherwise they might develop emotional problems and developmental delays. As well as negatively affect their ability to form relationships as adults
4 stages of attachment: Preattachment -Attachment in the making - Clear-cut attachment - Multiple attachments
Evolution of the attachment theory
John Bowlby (1950): 4 stages of attachment, sensitive period for attachment formation is 6-30 months
Mary Ainsworth Attachment Styles theory (1970s): There are three types of attachments, one is secure, the other two are insecure (anxious-resistant and anxious avoidant). The strange situation experiment can determine the attachment style.
Mary Main’s intergenerational transmission theory (1980s): Attachment patterns are transferred from parents to their children, which is why the responsiveness and sensitivity are important. Mary Main also identified a fourth attachment style, disorganised attachment, for children who are likely to have experienced neglect or abuse.
Cassidy and Shaver’s review of the attachment theory (1999) challenged Bowlby’s claim that there is a sensitive period for attachment formation and they demonstrated that this can also occur later in life
Stuart Shanker’s Self-Regulation Theory
Self-regulation is the ability to stay calmly focused and alert. It can be learnt from calm, supportive adults. It is important because it is related to an individual’s chances of success
Stressors can be: environmental, biological, emotions, cognitive, social
The 5 Rs = steps to manage stress: recognise stressors, reduce stress, reflect, restore energy, reframe behaviour.
Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs
There is a hierarchical order of needs, without the basic needs met a child cannot learn or aim to self-actualisation (inborn desire). We need to fulfil the basic needs first.
Deficiency needs: Physiological needs, safety and security, love and belonging
Growth needs: Self-esteem, self-actualisation
Carol Dweck’s Mindset theory
There are two types of mindset
Fixed mindset: belief that our abilities and intelligence are determined at birth
Growth mindset: belief that abilities and intelligence can be developed, everyone can grow.
We need to model a growth mindset to show children that they can achieve anything with hard work. We can do this with praise focused on effort and not result, and supporting children to see challenges and setbacks as learning opportunities.
Jerome Bruner’s Scaffolding theory
We learn in a three-step process
Enactive representation: hands-on actions, learning by doing
Iconic representation: linking memories of experiences to pictures, ex. Drawing what they have seen at a trip
Symbolic representation: transforming what they have learnt into language, experience and knowledge can now be expressed with words and symbols.
SCAFFOLDING: To learn, children need to revisit the same topics over time, with increasing levels of complexity, ex. Giant blocks, smaller blocks, the drawing a block tower. scaffolding can also occur with modelling, then step back and letting the child have a go, offering support if needed.
Erik Erikson’s Psycho-socio development theory
The theory highlights the importance of supporting, praising and motivating children, recognising their efforts; building their self-esteem and self-identify is essential.
Eight stages healthy individuals go through from birth to death, at each stage we have different needs and are differently influenced by others.
Basic trust vs mistrust (1-2 yrs): we learn to trust or not trust others based on our first relationships.
Autonomy vs shame and doubt (2-4 yrs): as we discover ourselves, if we are allowed to do so we develop self-confidence, otherwise we develop shame and self-doubt.
Initiative vs guilt (4-5 yrs): if children are allowed to discover new things they develop initiative; if we are held back and told that what we do is silly, we develop guilt.
Industry vs inferiority (5-12 yrs) if we receive recognition for our efforts and interests we develop industry (=hard-working), if we get too much negative feedback we feel inferior and lose motivation.
Identity vs role confusion (13-19 yrs): if we are allowed to explore our social roles we develop identity, if we are pushed to conform to pre-set rules we can experience role confusion and feel lost (Erikson coined the term identity crisis).
Intimacy vs isolation (20-40 yrs): if we manage to make a long-term commitment in love we are confident and happy, but if we can’t form intimate relationships we feel isolated and lonely.
Generativity vs stagnation (40-65 yrs): we can either support the next generation or become pessimistic and stagnant if we haven’t resolved our earlier conflicts.
Ego integrity vs despair (65+) looking back at our lives, if we think we did well we are content and develop integrity, otherwise we experience bitterness and despair.
Jean Piaget’s cognitive constructivism
Children learn effectively and are more motivated if they can freely explore the world, using their own senses. Children go through four stages of cognitive development to reach full human intelligence.
Sensory-motor stage (0-2): learning through exploration with 5 senses, develop curiosity and start to explore as they learn to move around. Babies are egocentric
Preoperational stage (0-7): still egocentric but more independent, start developing language and imagination, understand symbols and their problem solving emerges. Around 4 years = intuitive age, starting to ask questions to learn more about the world.
Concrete operational stage (7-11): children become more empathetic, improve their problem solving and logic.
Formal operational stage (12+): much more independent, can form argument, their logical skills have fully developed, they have more confidence in their ideas and have a better understanding of abstract concepts, identity, morality, compassion.
Maria Montessori
Children should be protagonists of their own learning, they are allowed to explore independently and decide what to focus on and for how long (this promotes intrinsic motivation and resilience). In this way they can learn confidence and self-discipline. Children should be responsible for keeping the environment tidy and have small everyday tasks (e.g. clear up after a meal).
The adult’s role is support and supervision as well as carefully planning the environment. Most resources are everyday objects and natural materials.
Johns Watson’s behaviourism theory
Considered to be the father of behaviourism
“intelligence, temperament and personality are determined by the environment in which a child is raised”, therefore with the right stimuli a child can be conditioned to become any type of peron or professional we want.
Litte albert experiment: frightening sound paired with touching an animal resulting in the child becoming afraid of the animal even without the sound: proved that human behaviour can be controlled.
Watson claimed that parents should not show emotional affection not to interrupt a child’s learning (“Child rearing”) -> he allegedly regretted this claim as his own children suffered.
Albert Bandura’s social learning theory
Merged elements from Behaviourism (conditioning) + cognitive theory (memory and attention)
Children learn by observing and imitating behaviours and reactions from others around them
The three fundamental components to learning are: Observing, imitating and modelling.
It is essential to keep the learner engaged so that they are focused to retain the information they receive and then they can be motivated to reproduce and repeat what they have seen
Bobo doll experiment: children can learn different kinds of behaviours and reactions by observing them from others (learnt behaviours).
Observed reward and punishment can be as effective as personal experience, for example seeing a child being rewarded for a positive behaviour will likely result in them repeating that same behaviour too.
Bandura defined the concept of self-efficacy: it’s about believing in their own abilities, and it is essential for learning because it motivates them to keep trying and imitate others.
Susan Isaacs
The setting should mirror the family home with warmth and features, but also be an extension of it with opportunities that might not be available at home.
Children learn through play, the environment should be stimulating with different textures, objects, materials. Children should be empowered with everyday responsibilities to learn boundaries and they should not be directed in their learning. Adult provide support, model enthusiasm, curiosity, problem-solving, observe and assess.
Tina Bruce
Influenced by Froebel. Importance of play as an active learning process initiated and led by children, the adult does not direct but planning the environment to ensure there are many stimulating resources and that they reflect the diversity of cultures and needs (e.g. languages, adjustments).
The environment should be stimulating to promote imagination, creativity and learning, children should be given responsibilities and be allowed to make errors and choices.
She identified twelve features of play: children use first-hand experiences from life and rehearse their future in their role play, they make the choice to play and make the game’s rule; play can be carried out independently, in pairs or in a group with other children or adults; during play, children try out their most recently acquired skills and might not share their play agenda with others, but they are deeply focused on their activity and are not distracted easily; through play, children try to process their feelings and relations, often using pretend play and symbolic representation.
Lev Vygotsky’ social constructivism theory
Rejected Piaget’s stages: children can learn regardless of their stage, as a result of social interactions
Three main types of play: Pretend, make-believe, imaginary (this one is essential for cognitive, social, emotional development)
Everyone is born with four elementary mental functions, attention, sensation (sensory receptors), perception (interpreting sensory information), memory.
The social and cultural environment then allows to use the four elementary mental skills to develop higher mental functions. E.g. twin boy and girls are brought up in different ways with different expectations which leads to different skills
Zone of proximal development: what we can do with the help of a more knowledgeable other, or technology: in this zone, learning can precede development = they can acquire skills beyond their natural maturity.
Thought develops as a result of conversation (link between speech and mental concepts: the inner speech develops from external speech).
