Quilapio, Amira Fatmah P.

BSN I-A

In social learning theory Albert Bandura (1977) states behavior is learned from the
environment through the process of observational learning. Children observe the people
around them behaving in various ways. This is illustrated during the famous bobo doll
experiment (Bandura, 1961).
First, the child is more likely to attend to and imitate those people it perceives as similar
to itself. Consequently, it is more likely to imitate behavior modeled by people of the same
sex.
Second, the people around the child will respond to the behavior it imitates with either
reinforcement or punishment. If a child imitates a models behavior and the consequences
are rewarding, the child is likely to continue performing the behavior. If parent sees a little
girl consoling her teddy bear and says what a kind girl you are, this is rewarding for the
child and makes it more likely that she will repeat the behavior. Her behavior has been
reinforced (i.e. strengthened).
Third, the child will also take into account of what happens to other people when deciding
whether or not to copy someones actions. This is known as vicarious reinforcement.
Skinner -Operant Conditioning
Operant Conditioning deals with operants - learning is considered a change in behavior
nothing more, nothing less. So when talking about the act of learning; Skinner is really
talking about the act of behavioral change. Behavior changes depending upon the
consequences of that behavior.
Neutral operants: responses from the environment that neither increase nor decrease
the probability of a behavior being repeated.
Reinforcers: Responses from the environment that increase the probability of a
behavior being repeated. Reinforcers can be either positive or negative.
Punishers: Responses from the environment that decrease the likelihood of a behavior
being repeated. Punishment weakens behavior.

Positive reinforcement strengthens a behavior by providing a consequence an

individual finds rewarding.
Negative reinforcement strengthens behavior because it stops or removes an
unpleasant experience.
Punishment is defined as the opposite of reinforcement since it is designed to
weaken or eliminate a response rather than increase it.
Extinction-A behavior is followed by the withholding or removal of a positive
stimulus, thus the behavior decreases.

Jean Piagets theory of intellectual development prominent work is his theory on the
four stages of cognitive development. Piaget (1973) believed that the child plays an active
role in the growth of intelligence and learns by doing. He regarded the child as a
philosopher who perceives the world only as he has experienced it. The theory of cognitive
development focuses on mental processes such as perceiving, remembering, believing,
and reasoning. Reasoning is the essence of intelligence, and reasoning is what Piaget
studied in order to discover how we come to know. Piaget believed that cognitive

development is cumulative; that is, understanding a new experience grows out of a

previous learning experience.
1. The Sensory-Motor Stage extends from birth until approximately the age of two.
During this stage senses, reflexes, and motor abilities develop rapidly. Intelligence is
first displayed when reflex movements become more refined, such as when an
infant will reach for a preferred toy, and will suck on a nipple and not a pacifier
when hungry.
2. Preoperational Stage this stage may be the age of curiosity; preschoolers are
always questioning and investigating new things. Since they know the world only
from their limited experience, they make up explanations when they dont have
one.
3. The stage of concrete operations begins when the child is able to perform
mental operations. Piaget defines a mental operation as an interiorized action, an
action performed in the mind. Mental operations permit the child to think about
physical actions that he or she previously performed.
4. Piagets final stage coincides with the beginning of adolescence, and marks the
start of abstract thought and deductive reasoning. Thought is more flexible,
rational, and systematic. The individual can now conceive all the possible ways they
can solve a problem, and can approach a problem from several points of view.
Havighursts Developmental Tasks Theory
Havighursts main assertion is that development is continuous throughout the entire
lifespan, occurring in stages, where the individual moves from one stage to the next by
means of successful resolution of problems or performance of developmental tasks.
If the person successfully accomplishes and masters the developmental task, he feels
pride and satisfaction, and consequently earns his community or societys approval.
Conversely, if the individual is not successful at accomplishing a task, he is unhappy and is
not accorded the desired approval by society, resulting in the subsequent experience of
difficulty when faced with succeeding developmental tasks.
Developmental Tasks of Infancy and Early Childhood:
1. Learning to walk.
2. Learning to take solid foods
3. Learning to talk
4. Learning to control the elimination of body wastes
5. Learning sex differences and sexual modesty
6. Forming concepts and learning language to describe social and physical reality.
7. Getting ready to read
Middle Childhood:
1. Learning physical skills necessary for ordinary games.
2. Building wholesome attitudes toward oneself as a growing organism
3. Learning to get along with age-mates
4. Learning an appropriate masculine or feminine social role
5. Developing fundamental skills in reading, writing, and calculating
6. Developing concepts necessary for everyday living.
7. Developing conscience, morality, and a scale of values
8. Achieving personal independence

9. Developing attitudes toward social groups and institutions

Developmental Tasks of Adolescence:
1. Achieving new and more mature relations with age-mates of both sexes
2. Achieving a masculine or feminine social role
3. Accepting one's physique and using the body effectively
4. Achieving emotional independence of parents and other adults
5. Preparing for marriage and family life Preparing for an economic career
6. Acquiring a set of values and an ethical system as a guide to behavior; developing an
ideology
7. Desiring and achieving socially responsible behavior
Developmental Tasks of Early Adulthood
1. Selecting a mate
2. Achieving a masculine or feminine social role
3. Learning to live with a marriage partner
4. Starting a family
5. Rearing children
6. Managing a home
7. Getting started in an occupation
8. Taking on civic responsibility
9. Finding a congenial social group
Developmental Tasks of Middle Age
1. Achieving adult civic and social responsibility
2. Establishing and maintaining an economic standard of living
3. Assisting teenage children to become responsible and happy adults
4. Developing adult leisure-time activities
5. Relating oneself to ones spouse as a person
6. Accepting and adjusting to the physiologic changes or middle age
7. Adjusting to aging parents.
Developmental Tasks of Later Maturity
1. Adjusting to decreasing physical strength and health
2. Adjusting to retirement and reduced income
3. Adjusting to death of a spouse
4. Establishing an explicit affiliation with ones age group
5. Meeting social and civil obligations
6. Establishing satisfactory physical living arrangement
References:

McLeod, S. A. (2011). Bandura - Social Learning Theory. Retrieved from

www.simplypsychology.org/bandura.html.
McLeod, S. A. (2015). Skinner - Operant Conditioning. Retrieved from
www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html.
Piaget, J.(2015). Jean Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development. Retrieved from
www.icelseducators-for-learning.ca/index.php?
option=com_content&view=article&id=46&Itemid=61.