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Skinner’s Operant Conditioning Theory

Skinner’s learning method of operant conditioning happens in terms of rewards and punishments for behavior. According to Skinner (1938) with the help of operant conditioning, a person makes an association between a particular behavior and a consequence and therefore, it causes of voluntary behavior and accordingly its consequences. Skinner’s operant conditioning theory was basically based on Thorndike’s (1898) “Law of Effect” theory which is a behavior followed by positive consequences is likely to be repeated whereas a behavior which is followed by unpleasant consequences is less likely to be repeated. However, Skinner coined a new term into the Thorndike’s “Law of Effect” namely as “reinforcement” which stands for the   behavior that is reinforced is likely to be repeated while the behavior which is not reinforced is likely to die out. In terms of basic principles of operant conditioning, positive reinforcement is strengthening a behavior by also increasing the probability...

Bruner’s Three Modes of Representation

According to Bruner (1957) the outcome of cognitive development is thinking and the intelligent mind creates from experience "generic coding systems that permit one to go beyond the data to new and possibly fruitful predictions" (p. 234). Children are supposed to acquire a way of representing the recurrent regularities in their environment. Hence, Bruner (1957) postulated that important outcomes of learning include not only the concepts, categories, and problem-solving procedures but also the ability to invent things.   Jerome Bruner’s research on children’s  cognitive development  proposed three modes of representation namely as 1) Enactive representation, 2) Iconic representation and 3) Symbolic representation. Those modes of representation are related to people’s storage and encoding knowledge or information in their memory. The first mode of representation which is enactive representation is based on action. This mode lasts from 0 to 1 years. This mode invol...

Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

Piaget’s theory of cognitive development basically focuses on how a child constructs a mental model of the world due to the fact that Piaget disagreed with the idea that intelligence was a fixed trait. Therefore, according to Piaget, children are born with a very basic mental structure which is genetically inherited and evolved where all subsequent learning and knowledge are based on. In other words, cognitive development happens because of biological maturation and interaction with the environment. Piaget’s cognitive development theory concerned with children instead of all learners and it mainly focuses on development rather than learning since it proposes discrete stages of development. Regarding the cognitive development theory by Piaget, there are three basic components namely as schemas, assimilation and accommodation and lastly  stages of cognitive development. As for the first  component ,  schemas, they are basic building blocks of such cognitive models and ...

Schema Theory

The term schema is related to  organizing and orienting attitude that also contains past experiences. In other words,  schema is the knowledge of network of mental frames as well as cognitive constructs . Therefore, the schemata is the main determiner of the focus of a text and also what is learned from a text so  schemata organize and maintain knowledge that is stored in the long-term memory.  Schemata present people’s personal simplified view over reality derived from their past experience as well as prior knowledge by enabling people to recall and modify their behavior, concentrate attention on key information as well. According to Rumelhart (1980), there are four analogies of various aspects of the Nature of Schema. Firstly, a schema has variables which can be associated with different aspects of the environment so schemata are like plays since plays have characters, setting, actions, schemata have as well. Secondly, due to the fact that schemata enable...