EAR-20 Lecture 29: EAR-20 - Day 29
Keenan Lieu
Spring 2020
Child Growth and Development
● Learning Theories (Watson's Behaviorism, Skinner's Operant Conditioning, Social
Learning Theory)
○ Mechanisms of change involve learning principles, such as reinforcement and
observational learning
○ Focus on how children are shaped by their environments
○ Emphasize role of external factors in shaping personality and social behavior
■ Different histories = Individual differences
○ Emphasize continuity in development (no stages)
● Watson's Behaviorism
○ Used classical conditioning
■ CR: the learned response (salivation to tone) to a previously neural, but
now conditioned stimulus (tone)
■ CS: an originally irrelevant stimulus (tone) that, after association with an
unconditioned stimulus (meat) triggers a conditioned response (salivation
to tone)
■ US: stimulus that unconditionally, naturally and automatically triggers a
response (meat)
■ UR: naturally occurring response (salivating) to the unconditioned
stimulus (meat)
○ Children's development is determined by their social environment
○ Learning through classical conditioning was the primary mechanism of
development
○ Demonstrated the power of classical conditioning in a famous experiment with
"Little Albert"
● Skinner's Operant Conditioning
○ Operant Conditioning: Behavior is under environmental control; everything we
do is influenced by past outcomes; behavior modification
■ An organism learns to repeat behaviors that lead to favorable outcomes
(reinforcement) and to suppress behaviors that lead to unfavorable
outcomes (punishment)
■ Positive reinforcement:
● increase behavior
● add a desirable stimulus
● ex: hug, receiving paycheck
■ Negative reinforcement
● increase behavior
● remove and aversive stimulus
Document Summary
Learning theories (watson"s behaviorism, skinner"s operant conditioning, social. Mechanisms of change involve learning principles, such as reinforcement and observational learning. Focus on how children are shaped by their environments. Emphasize role of external factors in shaping personality and social behavior. Cr: the learned response (salivation to tone) to a previously neural, but now conditioned stimulus (tone) Cs: an originally irrelevant stimulus (tone) that, after association with an unconditioned stimulus (meat) triggers a conditioned response (salivation to tone) Us: stimulus that unconditionally, naturally and automatically triggers a response (meat) Ur: naturally occurring response (salivating) to the unconditioned stimulus (meat) Children"s development is determined by their social environment. Learning through classical conditioning was the primary mechanism of development. Demonstrated the power of classical conditioning in a famous experiment with. Operant conditioning: behavior is under environmental control; everything we do is influenced by past outcomes; behavior modification.
