Behaviorism, Cognivitism, and Constructivism

Behaviorism, Cognitivism, and Constructivism Theories

Behaviorism Four Types of Relationships Between Behavior and Consequences (Reber, 2019).

3. Punishment- An unpleasant event or situation follows a behavioral response, consequences 4. Omission- A behavior response that removes a pleasant state *Decreased chances of a behavioral response*

1. Positive reinforcement- A positive event follows a behavioral event, also known as a reward 2. Negative reinforcement- A behavioral response removes a displeasing stimulus or object *Increased chance of behavioral response*

Cognitivism Role of Memory- Long-term (Hunkins & Ornstein, 2017).

• An individual stores and retrieves information in this type of memory.
• 2 Types of long-term memory
• Semantic- How the world is
• Procedural- How we do things
• The capacity to store information is infinite.
• Successful learners can shift working memory information to long-term memory very quickly.

Constructivism

Jean Piaget was a theorist associated with the constructivist theory.

Characteristics of Constructivism Individuals are actively involved in the processes of thinking and learning (Munteanu et al., 2023). To obtain information, individuals cannot simply imitate others but rather adjust the information to a level they can understand.

Metacognition During this process, individuals are aware of how they obtain and use their knowledge (Munteanu et al., 2023).

Behaviorism

John B. Watson is associated with the behaviorist theory. Behaviorism involves a stimulus, object, or event, that evokes a behavioral response. In this learning theory, an individual learns through their experiences and their mind associates memories with experiences that elicit behaviors as a response (Reber, 2019).

Cognitivism

Len Vygotsky developed a theory where the teacher is the facilitator and the student is the leader (Hunkins & Ornstein, 2017). He defined learning as something that should not be definitive but rather be applied in other situations.

For the highest level of learning, transference to occur, individuals need to construct or gain an understanding regarding reasoning and problem-solving strategies.

The learning in this theory is shaped by an individual's interaction with the culture. Discovery learning is most associated with cognitivism. Students organize the data and information further identifying the relationships leading to increased motivation and openness to new experiences.

Cognitivism Role of Memory- Short Term (Hunkins & Ornstein, 2017).

• An individual's immediate or working memory.
• The information or situations that are presently happening.
• The limits are flexible and capacity increases by chunking significant information.
• An individual decides if the inputs are stored due to significance, or discarded due to insignificance.

Constructivism

In constructivism, individuals connect new learning with pre-existing knowledge about a specific subject or event. During this learning process, individuals generate specific meanings and an understanding of the information.

Two main types of learning best associated with constructivism are problem-solving or critical thinking and creative thinking (Munteanu et al., 2023). When individuals engage in problem-solving or critical thinking, they analyze information or a situation. The creative thinking type of learning is best associated with discovery and instinct.

Behaviorism Types of Learning (Reber, 2019).

Classical Conditioning When an automatic conditioned response is associated with a neutral stimulus. Ex: A specific text tone is associated with an individual to elicit a sense of happiness when a text is received from them.

Operant ConditioningWhen a targeted behavior cannot be associated or connected to a specific stimuli. Ex: A child may be told a loss of recess can occur if they continue to talk when it is not their turn.