Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Four Psychological Perspectives

Four Psychological Perspectives
Unit 2


Lisa Gibson and Brenda Duraski

Kaplan University
ET503-01 - Professor Carleen Shaffer
November 22, 2010




            The four Psychological Perspectives are: Behaviorist, Cognitivist, Constructivist and Social-Psychological Perspectives.
            Behaviorist Perspective are approaches which are different from most other perspectives. They view people as controlled by their environment and specifically that we are the result of what we have learned from our environment. B. F. Skinner, a psychologist at Harvard University, conducted scientific studies of observable behavior (Smaldino, Sharon, Lowther, Deborah L., Russell, James D., 2008). His interest was in voluntary behavior. This involved learning new skills rather than reflexive behavior.
            Cognitivist Perspective focuses on studying mental processes and on determining the role that mental processes play in affecting emotions and behavior (Garvey, 1999). Cognitive psychologist explore the mental processes individuals use in responding to their environment. Cognitive psychologists are interested in how a person understands, diagnoses, and solves a problem, concerning themselves with the mental processes that mediate between stimulus and response.
            Constructivist Perspective-The general principle of constructivism is that children create a coherent system of knowledge based on their interactions with the world (Constructivist Perspective, 2002). They structure this knowledge within a logico-mathematical framework that includes ideas about objects and their relations with one another. Constructivist believe that learning occurs when students are active in authentic tasks that relate to meaningful context.
            Social-Psychological Perspective is the study of instruction and learning. Focusing on the effects of the social organization of the classroom on learning is one aspect. When walking into a classroom, do you see any whole group or small group activities? Do we see students working independently? If so, how are these being effective. Robert Slavin (1990), developed a set of cooperative learning techniques that embodies the principles of small-group collaboration, learner controlled instruction, and rewards based on group achievement.
            In conclusion, there are different diverse learners when dealing with education. Each of the different types of perspectives have implications for instruction in general and for the use of technology.


References
Constructivist Perspective. (2002). Retrieved from http://www.circleofinclusion.org/english/approaches/kamii.html
Garvey, J. (1999). Perspectives: Cognitive. Retrieved from http://purgatory.net/merits/cognitive.htm
Smaldino, Sharon, Lowther, Deborah L., Russell, James D. (2008). Instructional Technology and Media for Learning. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education Ltd. .