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Psy 104 Final Paper Essay Classical conditioning is a developmental theory introduced by a man by the name of Ivan Pavlov. Ivan Pavlov was born on the 26th of September in 1849 in a town called Ryazan in the country of Russia. Ivan Pavlov’s father was a priest and Ivan was the oldest out of 11 children. When Ivan was seven years old he had an accident where he fell from a balcony onto his head. Because of the injuries he sustained from the fall Ivan had a hard time with academics and was kept out of school till he was eleven years old. Ivan Pavlov went to college at St. Petersburg University and was originally going to school for science but since he was bad at math he decided to go for physical science. He ended his schooling in the Academy of Medicine. Before Ivan Pavlov went on to develop his theory of classical conditioning â€Å"In 1904 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for his researches into the neural mechanism by which the secretion of gastric juices was stimulated. † (Harre, 2006) Classical Conditioning is a process of behavior modification by which a subject comes to respond in a desired manner to a previously neutral stimulus that has been repeatedly presented long with an unconditioned stimulus that elicits the desired response. Ivan Pavlov liked to test his theories out on animals mainly dogs. An explanation of his studies with dogs is â€Å"In this type of learning, a neutral stimulus is paired with a stimulus that naturally elicits a response. For instance, a lab coat would not ordinarily bring any response—it is a neutra l stimulus; food naturally elicits a salivary response. When the lab coat is paired with the food repeatedly and learning is complete, the lab coat is no longer neutral. The dog has learned to associate the lab coat with food, even when no food is present. The former neutral stimulus (lab coat) now elicits the response (salivation) even in the absence of the original stimulus (food)† (Mossler, 2011) Another example of classical conditioning is â€Å"John B. Watson and his assistant, Rosalie Raynor, invented a different version. They quickly taught an infant named Little Albert to fear a white rat by banging a loud gong just behind the tot whenever the rat appeared. After just seven gongs, Little Albert was scared to death of the same rat he had played with before the training began. His fear was so great that it generalized to other furry objects, including a Santa Claus mask. (Johnston, 1999) The Second developmental theory I will be discussing is Jean Piaget’s cognitive theory. Jean Piaget was born on the 9th of August in 1896 in Switzerland. His father was a professor of medieval literature at the University of Neuchatel. Jean Piaget was originally interested in zoology and by the age of 15 he had written several artic les on mollusks. Jean Piaget went to the same university that his father taught which was the University of Neuchatel and he also studied at the University of Zurich for a small amount of time. Jean Piaget changed his interest of oology. â€Å"Piaget’s interests turned to child cognitive development while working to standardize tests for schoolchildren. At this time, he witnessed a pattern among children’s correct and incorrect answers, leading him to develop a theory of the stages of understanding through which a child’s cognition passes. He quickly established a clinical method of study, involving not only observation but also verbal interaction with the child subjects of his research. Piaget’s writings on the subject attracted much attention initially and then fell into obscurity for many years. Upon publishing detailed analyses of his work involving his three children, his work once again received wide recognition in the field† (Edinburgh University Press, 2005) Jean Piaget’s theory was his idea that children learned through stages which each one was crucial into leading the child into the next stage of development. Jean Piaget’s theory was broken down into four stages. Those stages are sensorimotor stage, preoperational stage, concrete operations, and formal operations. Each stage is very important to the development of a child and I will explain each one. The sensorimotor stage is the first stage of Jean Piaget’s theory in which† infants gain cognitive understanding primarily through their senses and movements, which are coordinated through reflexes. † (Mossler, 2011) The second stage of Jean Piaget’s theory is the preoperational stage which lasts from ages two to seven. This is the stage where children begin to acknowledge the world through mental structures and symbols. Children learn to play make believe and learn to speak whatever language they are being taught by their parents. They use inadequate logic because at this time they can only view things with one perspective. The third stage of Jean Piaget’s theory is called concrete operations which lasts between the ages of seven and twelve. This is the stage where a child’s thought is guided by logic and they have learned to view things from multiple perspectives. The fourth and final stage is called formal operations. This stage lasts through adulthood and is the stage where children begin to learn complex forms of thought such as being able to hypothesize, think of complicated plans, and accurately predict outcomes. An example of Jean Piaget’s theory is â€Å"in order to understand behavior and outcomes, an infant may experiment by throwing food. The infant gets to understand how the explosion of food behaves as well as the potential explosion by parents. Because adolescents have more sophisticated cognition, they can understand the consequences of throwing food—both what it might look like and the reaction of others—without actually experimenting with the behavior. † (Mossler, 2011) The third and final developmental theory I will be discussing is Albert Bandura’s social-cognitive theory. Albert Bandura was born on the 4th of December in 1925 in Mundare, Alberta, Canada. Albert Bandura went to college at the University of British Columbia where he got into psychology by accident because he had no classes in the morning so he decided to take a psychology class. He got his B. A in psychology. Albert Bandura then went to get his M. A at the University of Iowa Social Cognitive theory is a theory that states that portions of an individuals knowledge acquisition can be directly related to observing others within the context of social interactions, experiences, and outside media influences. What I am trying to say is, people do not learn new behaviors solely by trying them and either succeeding or failing, but rather, the survival of humanity is dependent upon the ability of people imitating and replicating the actions of others. Depending on whether people are rewarded or punished for their behavior and the outcome of the behavior, that behavior may be imitated. An example of Albert Banduras social cognitive theory is â€Å"study influences on aggressive behavior in children, during which children were shown to imitate, without prompting or incentive, aggressive adult behavior towards a large blow-up doll (Bandura et al. 961). This raised fears that have never been resolved that children might mimic aggressive or violent behavior seen on television. † (Walker, 2007) Another example is â€Å"In his classic study using children who watched adult models punch Bobo dolls, Bandura demonstrated that humans could learn simply by observation. That is, he showed that re inforcement was not always a factor in eliciting behavior. Instead, we know that children also learn by modeling (or imitating) the behavior of others. Imitation partly explains how babies learn to smile, children learn to do cannonballs in a pool, or adults learn to behave in a new environment without being reinforced. † (Mossler, 2011) The difference between classic conditioning and the social cognitive theory is that instead of using associations, reinforcement, and punishment to make someone do something or not do something the social-cognitive theory is teaching people to do things through observation and imitation. The difference between Jean Piaget’s theory and the others that I have wrote about are the fact that he believes that things we be learned without being shown that they will eventually acquire the skills through stages. Another difference between classical conditioning and the social cognitive theory is the need for social interaction with other people. Classical conditioning does not require one human interacting or observing but the social cognitive theory requires it. There are not many similarities between classical conditioning, cognitive theory and, the social cognitive theory. The only similarity I could find is that they are all learning based. In conclusion classical conditioning, social cognitive theory and, cognitive theory are some of the most common developmental theories. Though they may not be that similar a lot of the developmental theories are sometimes ideas that branch off from other theories. I am sure fifty years from now there will be knew theories that come out that can better explain the development of humans physically, mentally and, emotionally. I say that because the social environment changes all the time with new trends and fads and acceptance of things that were once taboo. Reference Mosser, K (2011), Child and adolescent development. Bridgepoint Education, Inc BANDURAS THEORY. (2006). In Elseviers Dictionary of Psychological Theories. Retrieved from http://www. credoreference. com. proxy-library. ashford. edu/entry/estpsyctheory/bandura_s_theory JEAN PIAGET. (2005). In Key Thinkers in Linguistics and the Philosophy of Language. Retrieved from http://www. credoreference. com. proxy-library. ashford. edu/entry/edinburghthinkl/jean_piaget Walker, J, (2007) Psychology for Nurses and the Caring Professions (3rd Edition) Retrieved from