Four Psychological Perspectives on Learning -Kelli

According to Smaldino, Lowther and Russell, “Learning is the development of new knowledge, skills, or attitudes as an individual interacts with information and the environment, (Smaldino, Lowther and Russell, 2008)”. There are four main components of learning: cognitive, affective, motor skill, and interpersonal. These all lead into the four Psychological Perspectives on Learning, which are the Behaviorist Perspective, Cognitivist Perspective, Constructivist Perspective, and the Social-Psychological Perspective.The Behaviorist Perspective encompasses what psychologist B.F. Skinner was passionate about in the 1950’s. He discovered that reinforcing or rewarding the desired response would lead to positive results. He was very interested in learning new skills, instead of focusing on reflexive behavior. Skinner’s theory was built upon the reinforcement theory, which was a series of tests performed on pigeons. From this, it was gathered that the same type of experiment would work on humans. Behaviorists mainly base all their research on observable behaviors and don’t focus so much on what is going on internally with the subject. The Cognitivist Perspective involved work from the Swiss Psychologist Jean Piaget. These types of psychologists look more at the mental processes that people use in responding to their environment. It looks more in depth at how people process thought, use problem solving skills, and makes decisions. “Cognitivists create a mental model of short-term and long-term memory, (Smaldino, Lowther and Russell, 2008)”. Cognitivists gathered that new information is mostly stored in the short-term memory, where it is rehearsed until it needs to be stored in long-term memory. If teachers use this type of perspective in their classrooms, students become more self-motivated and independent in their learning. The Constructivist Perspective looks at the involvement of students in meaningful experiences. Constructivists feel that the main role of teacher instruction is to provide students with different ways to assemble and organize knowledge. They feel that this type of learning occurs most effectively when students are engaged and involved in unique and authentic tasks that are directly correlated to meaningful contexts. The main goal of a teacher in the aspect is not necessarily to teach the new information, but to create situations that stimulate the students own thought and conclusion on the topic. The Social-Psychological Perspective looks at the effects of the social organization of the classroom on learning. They look at the group structure of the classroom, whether it is more independent study over small group. They look at the authority structure and how much control the students have over their assignments and activities. Lastly, they look at the reward structure of the classroom. They look at how the teacher encourages cooperation from the students or if it is geared more towards competition for any type of rewards. It has been discovered that cooperative learning is more effective and benefits the students more than a competitive and individualistic learning environment. All teachers have their own way of doing things. Whether you use one perspective or all perspectives, that’s what makes us all very different. We have to gear the way we teach toward the types of children that we deal with. That’s what makes us all unique and wonderful in our own way. Our main purpose is to teach and as long as we are doing that in a way that will shape our students futures, that’s all that matters.
Reference:Smaldino, S., Lowther, D., & Russell, J. (2008). Instructional technology and media for learning (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall.