Development_and_Learning_Theories

DIPLOMA OF COUNSELLING CHC51708 DEVELOPMENTAL AND LEARNING THEORIES CHCCSL504A ASSESSMENT TASK 13A Prepare a written overview of the following learning theories * Nature vs. Nature Theory. * Freudian Concepts. * Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. * Piaget’s stages of cognitive development. * Eriksson’s psychological stages. * Skinner/ Thorndike’s law of effect. * Badura Social Learning Theory. The Nature vs. Nurture Theory The Nature vs. Nurture Theory is primarily focused on whether our behaviours are governed by our genetic make-up “Nature” or by our experiences and environment “Nurture”. My understanding of this theory is that human beings behaviour is determined from their biological inherited genetic make -up, but ultimately our environment can cultivate and mould what our genetic make –up predisposes: therefore although our genetic make-up can determine our behaviours, intelligence, hair colour/eye colour, our environment can modify our behaviours, intellectual capability, and cultural core values and how our minds interpret experiences. This theory identifies that there is a significant intricate relations between our genes and our environment. This theory has been in debate for over 100 years amongst scholars. The debate is what area has a superior affect “Nature” or “Nurture” or whether our biological inherited genes can be modified and shaped by our experiences and environment. The Nature vs. Nurture theory has been used in murder cases to justify malformed behaviour. People such as Charles Darwin (Psychologists) and Oliver Slacks (Neurologists) have done numerous studies to discover the link between to two. Sigmund Freud’s Concepts Sigmund Freud was the founder of Psychoanalysis. Freud’s concepts believe that our behaviour is influenced by our unconscious motivations, which ultimately means that we have a conscious and unconscious mind. Freud developed the Personality Structure Model known as the Iceberg Model. The Personality model looks at three main characteristics that exist within the realms of the human mind. Freud’s concepts believe that the allocation of energy between the 1D, Ego, Super Ego, conscious, and unconscious (also known as the psyche) will directly influence an individual’s personality and behaviour. * ID: Our ID is the primary process thinking area. It processes visual and irrational terms, also the pleasure principle, wish fulfilment. The biological component is the instincts that are associated with the unconscious mind. * EGO: Ego is the secondary process thinking, Physiological component is the Reality principle. * SUPER EGO: Super Ego is the moral imperativeness, contains the conscience and the ego ideal. * Please see diagram below. Along with the ID, Ego and Super Ego is Freud’s concept of the conscious and unconscious. The discovery of the unconscious and conscious mind was a fundamental achievement of that time also was one of the key principles of psychoanalysis. The daring part of psychoanalysis was to emanate into the conscious awareness the unconscious mental processes and material that was not normally directly accessible to the self awareness. According to Freud the conscious and unconscious are made up of the following: * Conscious: Is contact with the outside world, also consists of the preconscious-material just beneath the surface of awareness, and internalized taboo’s. * Unconscious: Difficult to retrieve material, this material is well below the surface of awareness. In the 1920’s Freud tailored his views on the conscious and unconscious mind, as he discovered that the conscious and unconscious had different instristic worth. Freud also had identified the barriers between the conscious and unconscious mind also Freud had identified other crucial factors called Ego Defence Mechanisms these are: * Ego defence mechanisms: Is what personality development occurs by the type of ego defence mechanisms the ego will develop to guard against anxiety. Some of the main known characteristics of the ego defence mechanism include : Dysfunctional behaviour and thinking. This is when the ego is still utilizing defence mechanisms after the defence mechanisms have already performed and filled the original obligation. Irrational thinking: This will occur when as a method of dealing with anxiety. This allows the mind to deny, disfigure and hide reality. This type of defence mechanism will impede any psychological development. Ego defence mechanisms will also block the psychic energy, making psychic energy less effective and productive. Projection: Projection is where a person will project an outlawed desire onto another individual or object; this therefore will eliminate the neurotic anxiety by projecting the outlawed desire onto an external person or object. Repression: Repression entails restraining thoughts. Primal repression works by keeping large parts of the ID unconscious to keep instinctual object choices free from our attentiveness so these instinctual object choices cannot cause anxiety. Fixation: Fixation can occur when an individual cannot move past a stage of personal development because they are fearful of the developmental task connected with moving to the next stage. Regression: Regression occurs as a result of an individual being fearful of moving onto the next developmental stage, so the individual will actually regress to an earlier developmental stage. Reaction Formation: Reaction formation is when the ego will concentrate on more of the opposite of something than the other causing the personality to show certain dominating characteristics, this is to avoid anxiety. For example a man may have a fear of being soft and gentle so therefore he will behave in a tough manner. Freud looked at the stages of personality development. The concept of personality development emphasizes on the segregation of three systems ID,Ego,and Super Ego, personality development also looks at social development, cognitive development also development of motor skills. Another one of Freud’s most controversial studies and concepts was his theory and studies about the Psycho Sexual Stages. Psycho sexual stages highlight the transformations of sexual instinct during childhood development. Freud’s concept of these psycho sexual stages in childhood development believes that the first three stages of childhood development are branded by the reallocation of energy between the erogenous zones; the erogenous zones are parts of the human body that cause pleasure such as the mouth, genitals and anus. The Psycho sexual Stages have been broken down into the following: Oral Stage of development (birth until one and a half years old) In the oral stage of development the primary erogenous zone is the mouth. Freud’s concept of this stage focuses on the pleasure the infant receives from using the mouth to suck, bite, taste, hold on to objects, and close. The concept identifies that an infant that develops a stronger drive to do one of these actions will cultivate a personality type associated with that action. The primary development task of the oral stage of development being is resolution of dependency/independence through achieving a secure attachment to parents or caregivers. Anal Stage of Development (one and a half years to two years old) The anal stage of development occurs between the ages of one and a half years to two years old. The primary erogenous zone here is the anus. It focuses on the pleasure the toddler derives from having the capacity to release pooh. The main development task at this stage is development of ego control over ID reflexive actions. The Phallic stage of development (five to six years old) In the phallic stage of development the erogenous zone is focused to the genitals. Freud that this stage of psycho sexual development in children is experienced differently, because boys become alert to the fact they have a penis, and girls become alert that they do not have a penis. According the Freud the male phallic stage s primarily focused on the boy’s unconscious desire for his mother and to take his father’s place also known as the Oedipus complex. The boy has a fear that his farther will punish him for having desire for his partner, and fears that he will be castrated, Freud called this castration anxiety. So with the boy having castration anxiety he will then repress his longing for his mother; therefore the Oedipus will vanish. The phallic stage of development in girls according to Freud is simular and corresponds with the boy’s castration anxiety. Apparently girls go through a stage called penis envy. This is where the girl’s first love and connection is with her mother, but then will develop envy because she recognises the farther has something that she doesn’t “a penis”. Freud’s Psychoanalysis concepts in practice today Since the early 1900’s there have been some significant breakthroughs with counselling methods and techniques that have developed the counselling profession, new methods include Cognitive Behavioural therapy (CBT A. Elis), Solution Focused Therapy, Client Cantered Therapy (C.Rogers),Play Therapy, Music Therapy ECT. Freud’s physoanalytical approach was the original “talking cure”. The concept of the talking cure was to enable clients to talk freely about what disturbances they were experiencing, also to simply say whatever came into their head. The goal ultimately was to unlock and allow some of the unconscious thoughts and information to surface. Psychoanalysis has been the foundation for many analytical techniques that many practicing therapist, psychologists, and counsellors still use today. Strengths of psychoanalysis * Psychoanalysis is very comprehensive and provided the foundations for further research and studies to be conducted by other psychologists, so therefore psychoanalysis was a catalyst for other theories. * Provides in depth insight into understanding of human behaviour and how early relationships in an individual’s life can influence their adult life. * Looks at the basis of mental illness. Weaknesses * Most of Freud’s case studies were on a generalized group, it did not look at cultural differences or other factors such as cognitive development. * Psychoanalysis can take a long time. Piaget’s Cognitive Development Therapy Jean Piaget was a Biologist whom was a Biologist but had a profound interest in psychology and philosophy. Piaget developed cognitive learning theory based on his research and observations on the intelligence of children. Piaget’s cognitive theory indentifies the following key principles in cognitive learning and development: Adaptation  | What it says: adapting to the world through assimilation and accommodation  | Assimilation  | The process by which a person takes material into their mind from the environment, which may mean changing the evidence of their senses to make it fit.  | Accommodation  | The difference made to one's mind or concepts by the process of assimilation.  Note that assimilation and accommodation go together: you can't have one without the other.  | Classification  | The ability to group objects together on the basis of common features.  | Class Inclusion  | The understanding more advanced than simple classification, that some classes or sets of objects are also sub-sets of a larger class. (E.g. there is a class of objects called dogs. There is also a class called animals. But all dogs are also animals, so the class of animals includes that of dogs)  | Conservation  | The realisation that objects or sets of objects stay the same even when they are changed about or made to look different.  | Decentration | The ability to move away from one system of classification to another one as appropriate. | Egocentrism  | The belief that you are the centre of the universe and everything revolves around you: the corresponding inability to see the world as someone else does and adapt to it. Not moral "selfishness", just an early stage of psychological development.  | Operation  | The process of working something out in your head. Young children (in the sensorimotor and pre-operational stages) have to act, and try things out in the real world, to work things out (like count on fingers): older children and adults can do more in their heads.  | Schema (or scheme)  | The representation in the mind of a set of perceptions, ideas, and/or actions, which go together.  | Stage  | A period in a child's development in which he or she is capable of understanding some things but not others  | Stages of Cognitive Development Stage  | Characterised by  | Sensori-motor  (Birth-2 yrs)  | Differentiates self from objects  Recognises self as agent of action and begins to act intentionally: e.g. pulls a string to set mobile in motion or shakes a rattle to make a noise  Achieves object permanence: realises that things continue to exist even when no longer present to the sense (pace Bishop Berkeley)  | Pre-operational  (2-7 years)  | Learns to use language and to represent objects by images and words  Thinking is still egocentric: has difficulty taking the viewpoint of others  Classifies objects by a single feature: e.g. groups together all the red blocks regardless of shape or all the square blocks regardless of colour  | Concrete operational  (7-11 years)  | Can think logically about objects and events  Achieves conservation of number (age 6), mass (age 7), and weight (age 9)  Classifies objects according to several features and can order them in series along a single dimension such as size.  | Formal operational  (11 years and up)  | Can think logically about abstract propositions and test hypotheses systematically  Becomes concerned with the hypothetical, the future, and ideological problems  | The development of Piaget’s cognitive learning theory has been influential n regards to designing education programs for children. In the counselling context Piagets Cognitive development theory can be of benefit when counselling children. As it enables a counsellor to identify the different cognitive stages of children, also to keep in mind that children subsequently do learn differently from adults. Strengths * Provided lots of insight into how children learn in early stages of development. * Enabled better education systems to be developed. * Enabled counsellors to develop new techniques to work with children Weaknesses * Lacks connection with emotion and environment. * Only looks at child cognitive development. Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs Maslow’s hierarchy of needs works on the theory that human beings behaviour s primarily motivated by our instinctual needs. The motivating needs are of a more physiological nature rather than being a psychological nature. Maslow’s theory illustrates that physiological needs, security needs, social, and esteems needs are all in the D category of needs. These needs surface due to deprivation and instinct, therefore satisfying these needs is of great magnitude to enable one to avoid foul feelings and consequences. The highest point of Maslow’s pyramid of needs is self actualization; this is illustrated as being a B need also known as being needs. This need doesn’t primarily grow from having a lack of something nor from deprivation but from an aspiration to grow as and know oneself as an individual. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs consists of the following: * 1) Physiological needs: Physiological needs such as water, shelter, and food are the foundation of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs because they are vital for a human being to survive. All the other needs on the pyramid are secondary to physiological needs because those other needs cannot be met until an individual’s physiological needs are fulfilled. * 2) Security needs: A person’s security needs are fundamental for survival but are not as demanding as physiological needs. Examples of security needs are safe housing, steady employment, and shelter. * 3) Social needs: Maslow considered these needs to be less basic than physiological and security needs. Examples of social needs are acceptance, affection, romantic relationships, companionship, and religion. * 4) Esteem needs: Providing that all the first three needs of the pyramid have been met, esteem needs become increasingly important to an individual. Example of esteem needs is personal worth and value, accomplishments, personal achievements, social recognition, and self esteem in oneself. * 5) Self Actualization: Self actualization is at the top of the pyramid. Maslow believes that this stage in life usually comes with mature age around 50 onwards. Examples of self actualization are being concerned about own personal growth, fulfilling potential, being self aware, also less occupied with the expectations of others. Please see diagram below of Maslow’s Pyramid of needs. Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs in Practice Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is very relevant to counselling practice today. Counselling practice may deal with a lot of the higher needs in the pyramid such as esteem, self actualization and social needs. It creates insight that clients will be walking in with issues from the lower scale of the pyramid. It can enable a counsellor to motivate a client from what their primary needs are, also understand the clients behaviour because they may be experiencing deprivation of the lower needs such as physiological and safety. Strengths * Identifies that human behaviour can be motivated by needs. * Provides an in depth understanding of human needs. Weaknesses * Identifies human behaviour from a physiological prospective rather than a psychological prospective Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages Erikson’s theory identifies the eight stage psychosocial development stages throughout a human beings life span. Erikson’s theory identifies that an individual needs to successfully complete the tasks that are connected with one developmental stage to prepare the individual to move forward to the next stage. If an individual fails to complete the associated tasks with that stage it can consequently result in that individual having maladaptions and malignances, also can impede the individual from moving onto the next stage. Erikson’s definition of a maladaption is when an individual is primarily focused on the positive aspect of the task, so therefore the individual is not pragmatically balanced by the negative side of the developmental task. Erikson’s definition of a malignancy is when an individual ultimately fails the developmental tasks and cascades into the negative aspect of the developmental stage. Unlike Freud’s theory Erikson believed that development consistently takes place throughout a life time from birth to death. Erikson’s eight stage development theory consists of the following: Trust VS Mistrust (0-1yrs) This stage is focused on the infancy stage of life. This stage is when an infant will develop trust for their parents or caregivers. This is when the infant gets a sense of trust for the environment around them. When the fundamental needs of this stage are not met, this can cause the infant anxiety, to feel withdrawn, insecure, and can hinder the growth and development of the infant; it can also prevent the infant from building trusting bonds with people. Autonomy VS Shame and Doubt (1-3yrs) In the autonomy Vs shame and doubt developmental stage this is when a toddler’s muscles are growing and maturing allowing them to crawl and walk. With a toddler learning to crawl and walk, they are also learning about the distinction between self doubt and self reliance. According the Erikson children at this age need to be protected from the experiences of shame, but Erikson’s states that parents being to overprotective will slow development of autonomy. If the child can acquire the right amount of balance between autonomy and doubt this leads the child to have a feeling of willpower and strength. If the child experiences failure that enables the child to feel doubt and shame the child will develop a negative maladaptive tendency. Initiative VS Guilt (3-6yrs) In the initiative VS Guilt stage a child expands on activities that enable them to learn about their initiative, their ability to positively react to challenges, learn new skills , responsibility and also a sense of what it right and wrong. Along with the child learning about right and wrong the child will also start to get a gage of approval and disapproval and guilt. Guilt for children at this stage can come from not being able to achieve a goal, sibling rivalry, or doing something classed as wrong. According to Erikson the experiences of guilt or failure at this stage of development can go in two directions, the maladaption can be where the child will take initiate but will not have restrained from guilt. The reverse side of a maladaption is malignancy, the malignancy at this developmental stage is when the child becomes reserved and ultimately will avoid taking initiave because of guilt and failure. Industry Vs Inferiority (6-11yrs) Industry Vs Inferiority development stage is a considerable move from the Initiative vs. Guilt developmental stage. During the Industry Vs Inferiority stage young children are developing even more learning skills, they become more aware of responsibly and also have deepened understanding on how to discipline themselves and become more focused on becoming competent at things. This is also an age where young children are more aware of their gender role identity. Children will experience success ultimately leading to feel competent forwarding to an increase in industry. Erikson’s theory states that the maladaption occurs when a child is given feedback that indicates they are a failure, this type of feedback will cause a child to become dejected and lead them to feel inferior. The child may even very task orientated and have a lack of ability to enjoy life. Erikson believes that the malignant side of this stage is inertia meaning inactivity, the child stops putting in sgeffort to get tasks completed and tends to give up when faced with difficult challenges. Ego Identity Vs Role Confusion (11-20yrs) Ego Identity Vs Role Confusion= Adolescence. Besides the pimples this developmental stage is where young people are developing their sense of belonging, who they are, ideology, goals, meaning, and become obsessed with the way they look. Erikson believes that western society is incompetent in aiding young people to develop their identity, due to “lack of rite of passage rituals that affirm the identity of the adolescent and his/her place in society” (learner notes volume 5 development and learning theories). Erikson believes that successful completion of this stage allows a young person to feel ego identity also integrity so therefore can be comfortable being themselves. The maladaption of this stage appearance of role confusion is where fanaticism surfaces and where the young person embraces a role in a group that has little respect for different points of view. The malignant side of this developmental stage is confusion, where the young person embraces a role that is a negative identity. Intimacy Vs Isolation (20-40yrs) Intimacy Vs Isolation is the stage in which ego identity is developed along with the ability to build strong attachments where a young adult can get a sense of who they are. Erikson states that one of the most fundamental development tasks of this particular stage is to be able to have the capacity to develop intimate adult relationships without losing oneself in the process. When an individual had difficulty completing the task of securing attachments it can lead them to being isolated, disturbed and experience self preoccupation. The maladaptive result of isolation is promiscuity, where the adult will casually enter relationships without really bonding with others. The malignant result of isolation is elimination; this is where the person will isolate themselves from others. Generavity Vs Stagnation (40-65 yrs) Generavity Vs Stagnation is the developmental stage n life where an individual is predominately concerned with occupied with guiding the next generation. The concern engages the person in to ensure that they have left a legacy for the next generation to go forward with. Generativity is not only focused about leaving a legacy but can also be articulated through contributing to society and others. Generativity can also be expressed through activities such as working with the community, teaching, projects, the arts, and social clubs. In this developmental stage failure to achieve generativity can result is stagnation. The maladaptive form of generativity is being overly committed where the individual leaves almost no time for themselves. The malignancy of this stage is rejectivity; where the individual is so consumed in self so that they reject any commitments to help others and society. Integrity Vs Despair (65 years onwards) In this stage of development an individual is accepting and learning loss; loss of loved ones, loss of physical abilities, opportunities, loss of vacation. For an individual to deal with the losses they will have to accept and come to terms with their own lives. Erikson believed that this developmental stage was the gold of all the seven stages as it enables ego integrity to surface, because the individual is at the stage that they can judge wherether or not they have ultimately had a fulfilling life. Erikson states that if ego integrity does not occur at this stage then the fear of death will transpire. Erikson said that the maladaptive form of this stage is despair presumption meaning that the person shuns away from integrity believing that they life was worthwhile. The malignancy of this stage is where one is purely content for their self and their life. Application in counselling practice The beauty of Erikson’s developmental theory is that it can enable a counsellor to understand some maladaptive or malignant behaviour that a client may be experiencing because they have not achieved the developmental goal for what stage of life they are at. Therefore it can open up a channel for the counsellor to understand the client’s behaviour. If the counsellor can determine whether or not the client’s behaviour s directly related to not avhevieng a developmental goal, they can then aim at aiding the client to achieve that goal. Strengths * Looks at the developmental stages from birth the death; can provide understanding of behaviours associated with developmental stages. * Defines development stages as appropriate to our culture. Weaknesses * The developmental stages may vary in different cultures. B.F. Skinners Behaviour Theory B.f. Skinners learning theory is solely based on the systems of operate conditioning. Skinner believed that organisms will be inclined to execute behaviour to obtain a desired response. The operate conditioning theory identifies that an individual’s behaviour can be controlled by manipulating behaviour by positive and negative reinforces. A positive reinforcement will produce a positive response to behaviours by using things such as reward and praise; this therefore encourages the learner to make a desired link between stimuli and responses. A negative reinforcer is where the leaner will experience an unpleasant experience from behaviour therefore will cause the learner to avoid undesired links between stimuli and responses. The identification of the use of positive and negative reinforcement has been used as a tool for behaviour modification. One of the best well known studies and examples of operate conditioning that Skinner conducted was the rat in the cage experiment also known as the “Skinner box”. This was where skinner had a rat in a cage; in this cage was a foot pedal that when pressed by the rat would release pellets of rat food. The rat discovered that when he presses the pedal food would be released, so therefore the rat was constantly pressing the bar to get more food. The reinforcer was the food, the stimulus action was pressing the bar to get more food; therefore this was a positive reinforcer encouraging the behaviour to continue. Then skinner would turn the pellet machine off. The rat would be pressing the pedal but would get no food, after a while of dong this rat ceased the pedal pushing behaviour so this lead to extermination of the behaviour. These cage experiments lead to identify the following: * A behaviour that was supported by a reinforcing stimulus will inevitably result in the likelihood of that behaviour taking place again in the future. * A behaviour that was not supported by the reinforcing stimulus results in a decreased likelihood of that behaviour occurring again in the future. * Continuous reinforcement will increase the rate of learning. * Positive and negative reinforcement together can modify behaviour. * An absence of any type of reinforcement can also be a factor in modifying behaviour. If an individual receives no acknowledgement for their behaviour there is an increased probability that they will modify their behaviour until they get some form of reinforcement. Applications to counselling practice Operate conditioning theory can be useful intervention to enable a counsellor to aid a client to modify their behaviour by using positive reinforcement as a catalyst to motivate behavioural change in the clients life. Operate conditioning also enables a counsellor to be able to identify what environmental triggers are connected with the client’s disturbances and deviant behaviour. Strengths * Continuous reinforcement will increase the rate of learning. * Continuous positive reinforcement will increase positive behaviour. * Identifies environmental triggers in relation to a person’s behaviour. Weaknesses * A lot of Skinner’s research was based on animals instead of humans. * Is based more on behaviour modification with children rather than adults. Albert Bandura’s Social learning theory Albert Bandura’s social learning theory is based on the concepts of environmental modelling. Bandura names his discoveries on social learning theory “reciprocal determinism” meaning that not only do we learn from our environment, our behaviour causes our environment. Bandura considered the personality to consist of three main elements these are the behaviour, the environment, and the individual’s psychological processes. Our psychological processes also are made up of our own capacity to process and entertain imagery and language. Social learning theory identifies that there are a numeral amount of conditions n order for effective modelling to take place these are: * Attention: Identifies that various factors can increase or decrease the amount of attention given such as prevalence, affective valence, distinctiveness, functional values, and complexity. An individual’s own characteristics can also affect the amount of attention paid such as arousal level, perceptual set, past reinforcements, and sensory abilities. * Retention: Having a capacity to remember and retain what one has paid attention to. Retention capacities include mental images, motor rehearsal, cognitive rehearsal, and cognitive organisation. * Reproduction: Capacity to reproduce the image and own observations of the image. * Motivation: Having a motivation to imitate. Motivational factors for imitation can include any past reinforcements, any assured reinforces, vicarious reinforcement, and any imagined incentives. Bandura’s theory suggests that observational learning and modelling has a significant role in behaviour, learning, and personality development. There have been neurological studies that prove that learning does occur from observational learning. Evidence from a P.E.T scan proved that observational learning is a true and scientific factor. The P.E.T scan identified that the brain of an observer flares up identically as the brain of the person participating in the activity. A P.E.T scan is a medical procedure that provides information about how certain body organs work. P.E.T scans are used to identify conditions of the heart and the brain. So therefore environmental modelling and social learning theory is very relevant to people’s behaviour, which ultimately means that people are influential both in a positive and negative form. Application in counselling practice Social learning theory is relevant to counselling practice. It can enable a counsellor to identify what environmental factors may possibly contribute and triggering a client’s behaviour. It can also enable a behaviour modification program to be developed for and with a client to achieve desired behaviour patterns. Strengths * Social learning theory integrates environmental, cognitive, and psychological elements. * Has enabled some fantastic educational programs to be developed. * Provides understanding of how influential people and environment are on a Childs behaviour and development. Weaknesses * Social learning theory dos not actually identify the actual cognitive capacity of individual children. * The case studies where mainly on children. References * Better Health Channel * www.learningtheories.com * www.learningandteaching.com * Leaner notes volume five Development and Learning Theories.