Cognitivism
- 1960s
- Growing rejection of strictly behaviorist views
- Not complete rejection of behaviorism, but recognize
- unobservable change in cognitive structures, processing knowledge, thoughts impact learning/behavior change
- cognition can be influenced and changed
- contexts and person/behavior/environment interactions impact learning and behavior change
- self control, self-management are possible and desirable
- Bandura, Piaget, Vygotsky, Lave, Meichenbaum
Social Cognitive Theory
- Bandura
- Environment, person, and cognition/Behavior influence all each other reciprocally
- reciprocal causation/determinism
- Learning occurs in a social context
- people learn by imitating others
- people learn by observing others, cognitively processing observations, storing those observations and thoughts, and then using them at a later time
- Learning can occur even in the absence of an observable change in behavior
Assumptions of Social Cognitive Theory
- People can learn by observing others
- Learning is an internal process
- People are motivated to achieve goals
- People regulate and adjust their own behavior
- Reinforcement and punishment may have an indirect effect on behavior
Cognitions
- Thoughts
- Beliefs
- views, guiding principles, judgements and decisions about ourselves, people close to us, our community, and how the world functions
Characteristics of Beliefs/Cognitions
- Instrumental: show how we think, feel, and behave
- Way we feel is associated with the way we interpret and think about a situation
- Components of our personalities and sense of identity
- Filter what we perceive (pay attention to) in environment and self
Modeling
- People can learn by observing the behavior of others and outcomes of those behaviors
- watching what happens when others act
Bobo Doll Studies
- Kindergartener’s were shown a video of a woman playing calmly or a video of a woman beating up a bobo doll with hammer and shouting aggressive phrases
- Kids modeled the behavior of the woman in the video that they saw
- Bandura: observational learning or modeling
- aggressive video = aggressive play with bobo
- Variations on study: Model rewarded or punished, kids rewarded or punished, live clown vs. doll
- Implications: the effects of media on children, violent children after seeing violence on tv
Types of Models
- Live - real person
- Symbolic – an image or a real person (TV, movies, etc) or character (Superman)
- Verbal or written instructions on how to act
Observational Learning requires 4 different processes (Learning –> Performance)
- Attention: observer must attend to relevant characteristics of model and pick out significant aspects
- Symbolic representation: observer translates what they see into a conception of it and remembers it
- Transformation to action: observer converts the conception into an appropriate course of action – Performance
- Motivational incentive: observer must want to perform the observed behavior
- - positive and negative implications
- - impacted by individual differences
- - need to be motivated to put into action
Incentives
- Anticipation that reinforcement will be given if a particular behavior is performed or not performed
- people develop expectations about what they think will happen as a result of different behaviors
Effects of Modeling on Behavior
- Teaches new behaviors
- Influences frequency of
- previously learned behaviors
- similar behaviors
- May encourage previously forbidden behaviors
- disinhibition effect
Characteristics of Effective Models
- Competence - perceived by the observer to know what she is doing
- Prestige and power
- Gender-appropriate behavior
- Relevance - behaviors to be reproduced need to have some functional value
- Identification with the model - observer views the model as being similar to himself in a relevant way
Vicarious Reinforcement and Punishment
- Learner watches the consequences of behaviors engaged in by others.
- which influences their own future behavior
- People decide to act or not to act, based on observing others.
- A person’s belief in his/her ability can also be influenced by watching others succeed or fail
- Self-Efficacy
2. Self-Esteem
- judgement of your own capability
2. judgement of your own self-worth
Self-Efficacy Theory
- Bandura
- A person’s belief about how adequately she can perform in a particular situation
- A person’s beliefs about how effective she is or will be at learning or completing a new skill or behavior
- Involves behavioral and cognitive processes
In the face of obstacles, expectations of personal self-efficacy determine
- whether coping behavior will be initiated
- how much effort will be expended
- how long effort will be sustained
- The stronger the perceived self-efficacy, the more active the efforts
Ways of Developing Efficacy
- Mastery Experiences
- Social Modeling
- Social Persuasion
- Physical and emotional states
Mastery Experiences
- Performance Accomplishments
- Overcoming Obstacles
- Success raises mastery expectations
- it builds belief in one’s efficacy
- Repeated failures lower mastery expectations
- depends on the timing and total pattern of the experience of failure
- After strong self-efficacy expectations are developed through repeated successes, the negative impact of occasional failures is likely to be reduced
Social Modeling
- Vicarious Experience
- When people see others like themselves succeed by sustained effort they come to believe that they too have what it takes
- if others can do it, so can I
- Seeing other people perform activities without adverse consequences generates expectations in observers that they will improve if they intensify and persist in their efforts.
Social Persuasion
- Verbal Persuasion
- If people are persuaded they have what it takes to succeed, then they exert more effort and avoid focusing on their doubts
- People are led, through suggestion, into believing they can cope successfully with what has overwhelmed them in the past
- does not provide an authentic experiential base
- can contribute to success achieved through corrective performance
Physical and Emotional States
- Emotional Arousal
- Read one’s own states correctly in order to judge capabilities
- People rely partly on physiological arousal in judging anxiety and vulnerability to stress
- Diminishing emotional arousal can reduce avoidant behavior
- Acknowledging that arousal is both informative and motivational determines level and direction of motivational inducements to action
Dimensions of Efficacy Expectations
- Magnitude - level of difficulty for a task
- how hard you think the task is
- Generality - degrees to which a person’s perceived self-efficacy for one task transfers to another
- Strength - degree to which people believe they can succeed
- how capable/good/strong you think you are
Effects of Efficacy Beliefs
- Cognitive
- how you view yourself and your abilities
- Motivational
- whether or not you try
- Emotional
- overcoming emotional stress and depression,
- coping
- Decisional
- affects the choices people make at turning points in their lives
Social Development Theory of Learning
- Vygotsky
- Emphasized social and cultural contexts of learning
- connections between people, interact in shared experiences
- Cognitive development is dependent on social interaction
- Scaffolding
- Zone of Proximal Development
Scaffolding
- Vygotsky
- Mediated Learning
- Instructional strategies
- Modeling a skill
- Providing hints, prompts, cues given now and then later removed by the teacher
- Break up learning into chunks and provide structure or tools for each chunk
- More difficult tasks can be accomplished in collaboration with a more competent person (a more skilled partner)
- Examples: Training wheels on a bike
Zone of Proximal Development
- Vygotsky
- Describes the area between a child’s level of independent performance (what child can do alone—without assistance) and the child’s level of assisted performance (what the child can do with support or assistance)
- Reflects learning potential
- looks at difference between independent performance and assisted performance
- The developmental stage when you are ready to advance on the the next thing with help
- when you are at the just right challenge for a particular task, you are in that zone
Situated Learning
- Jean Lave
- social anthropologist
- influenced by Vygotsky
- Gradual acquisition of knowledge and skills as the novice learns from experts in the context of everyday activities.
- Learning is a function of the activity, context, and culture in which it occurs (is situated)
- social interaction is critical component
- “community of practice”
- Behavior is a result of both the person and situation
- does not result from either factor alone.
- an interdependent, evolving interaction among an individual’s cognition, environment, and behavior
How Situated Learning works in practice
- A “community of practice” where “newcomers” work alongside “oldtimers” to gradually acquire more proximity to, and responsibility for, the community’s product
- Animal Farm??
- The learner is placed in contexts that reflect the real world and apply to everyday situations.
- Fellow consumers serve as the mechanism for feedback.
Situated Learning Techniques
- Stories
- serve as familiar, meaningful way to store, link, and provide ready access to information
- Reflection
- provides time to think about what you are doing, puzzle over new situations, anticipate what to do next, and to put problems into a meaningful context
- Cognitive Apprenticeship
- links novices with experts
- immerses novices in the authentic culture and activity of the practice to be acquired
- Collaboration
- fosters skill in working with others of unequal knowledge and ability to come to a shared understanding about the task in which they are engaged
Sensory Processing Disorder and Behavior at Perkins
- Nervous system imbalanced –> student craves sensory input –> lack of acceptable behavior repertoire = behavior problem
- OT: offer acceptable activities/behaviors to replace undesirable behaviors
- Sensory Channels
- Tactile, Proprioceptive
- Visual, Vestibular, Auditory
- Olfactory, Gustatory
Positive Behavioral Supports
- Eliminate challenging behaviors and replace with desirable behaviors
- Reduces focus on negative interactions
- Based on Behavioral Theory
Positive Behavioral Supports take into consideration
- Individual Student
- Environment
- Task Demands
- Specific Learning Curriculum
- Instructional Pace
- Reinforcement
Positive Behavioral Supports are Based on Behavioral Theory
- The context and outcome of behavior determines the functions of behavior
- Change outcome of behavior to less desirable
- Make desired behavior more functional
Functional Behavioral Assessment
- Completed by student’s team
- Begin by identifying undesirable behavior
- - and the antecedents/triggers for it - Goal is to identify the function of the behavior
- Identify desirable replacement behavior
- Positive behavioral supports
- Create plan
- - how will we track progress
OT’s role in Functional Behavioral Assessment
- Share our knowledge!
- Help to coordinate behavior plan
- Suggest appropriate sensory activities to use as positive behavioral supports
- Avoid using sensory activities as rewards
- - part of the necessary structure for a productive environment
- - needed, not an extra - Take data