Three Different Learning Perspectives

There are three different learning perspectives which have been established and designed to help with students learning within a classroom environment and society at large. Learning is believed to be a never ending process.  As human beings we are learning daily from various situations that are presented to us within our day to day activities. The three learning perspectives that have been established are: Social Cognitive Theory Behaviorism, and Cognitive Psychology.

Behaviorism is defined as a modification of activities after the learning process has initiated. This learning perspective emphasizes primarily on the “responses and stimuli” which is observed when learning is in progress and how behavior are affected through stimuli surrounding. Behaviors are significantly affected by certain learning perspective and may possible be controlled by one’s environment. Behavioral consequences must take place, in an effort for learning to be effective. The Behaviorism can aid teachers in gaining understanding in how student’s behavior fluctuate in the course of the learning process and how to create a classroom environment that will be more productive.

Cognitive psychology is a sub discipline for exploring the mental internal processes. It is the study of how human beings think, remember, speak, perceive, and solve problems. Cognitive focuses on processes and experimenting on how individuals are able to “mentally process new information and build knowledge and understanding from these experiences (Ormrod, 2011).”When observing this perspective the individual’s behavior is not the key focus since the cognitive processes are determined separately. Through recognizing this learning perspective in a learner, the teacher will be able to assist the learner with comprehending and processing information in a way that is best for them to retain information.

Social Cognitive Theory is comparable to the Cognitive Psychology learning perspective since it is also defined as “mental phenomenon” which transpires internally and may or may not be affected by the learning process behavior.  The learning perspective also works off both the cognitive and behavior processes which is that the social cognitive theory is grounded upon the philosophy that an individual’ s observations of their environment does  affect both cognitive and behavior processes. Therefore the behavioral consequence is believed to be “directly experienced.” Which may perhaps be controlled, by cognitive process and the environment. The learning effects of this is that through observation of others, individuals are capable of retaining productive skills “self-regulation skills”  within a classroom setting.

The Behaviorism learning perspective is typically witnessed in a classroom where students frequently demonstrate an absence within positive behavior and have a tendency to misbehave. It is their belief that they should receive rewards and does not acknowledge the rewards of peers.  Students whose history of unsuitable or inappropriate behavior within the classroom are sometimes diagnosed or identified as being ADHD. They tend respond to positive reinforcement.

The Cognitive Psychology learning perspective is generally observed within a classroom where students have difficulties with ability to focus.  These students are able to pay attention to the lesson being taught, however, resulting in the inability to grasp or understand the concept which is being taught. Those students who display behavioral and social issues are often unfocused and distracted by their feelings and as a result will disrupt the entire lesson by displaying behaviors that are socially inappropriate. Those students may furthermore display a decline in their lack of ability to learn new ideas and with their cognitive processes.