[WEEK-04] Theories of Development - Learning Theories Flashcards
What are the four main types of theories behind human development?
- Psychoanalytic theories.
- Learning theories.
- Cognitive theories.
- Biological/Ecological theories.
Who coined the term ‘behaviorism’?
John Watson (1913).
What main idea did Watson have in terms of human development?
Watson believed that children could be trained to be or do anything as long as the environment was accurately manipulated.
What does behaviourism suggest?
That development of behaviour is caused by environmental influences.
What do learning theories suggest about development?
They suggest that development results from an accumulation of experiences.
Who researched Classical Conditioning?
Ivan Pavlov (1897).
“Each incidence of learning begins with a biologically programmed ________-________ connection (reflex).”
Stimulus-Response.
Salivation occurs naturally around food. What is the unconditioned stimulus and response in this example?
The unconditional stimulus: the food.
The unconditional response@ salivation.
How did Pavlov research the effects of conditioning?
Pavlov’s dog study.
Pavlov conducted research exploring salivation in dogs.
How did Pavlov condition dogs in his research (1897)?
During conditioning, Pavlov would ring a bell right before presenting a dog with food; the presence of food would trigger salivation in the dog.
Once conditioned, Pavlov found that the dog would salivate as soon as it heard the bell that signified food, even if no food was shown after the bell was rang.
In this study, the bell is the conditioned stimulus and salivation is the conditioned response.
What did Pavlov conclude in his conditioning research (1897)?
He concluded that the dogs can be conditioned to respond to the sound of a bell that accurately presents food.
What was the aim of John Watson’s ‘Little Albert’ study (1920)?
Watson wanted to use Pavlov’s ideas of conditioning to develop a new emotional response to a stimulus in an infant.
What happened during Watson’s ‘Little Albert’ study?
An 11-month-old infant was shown a white rat which it was naturally curious by and was allowed to play with it. They then began exposing Little Albert to loud noises whenever the white rat was present.
What behaviour did ‘Little Albert’ learn in Watson’s study?
Little Albert ended up learning hysterical fear of the rat due to the conditioning of the sounds. Whenever he saw the rat after the sounds were played, the infant would cry hysterically at the sight of the rat.
Watson concluded that Little Albert had exhibited generalisation. What does he mean by this?
This is the association of a learned response with a new, but similar, stimulus - he exhibited fear in the white rat, but he also exhibited new fears with anything that was white and fuzzy such as rabbits, white fur coats, and santa claus masks.
