Title: Behavioral and Cognitive Theories | Lifespan Development
Headings: Behavioral and Cognitive Theories
Behavioral and Cognitive Theories
What you’ll learn to do: explain key principles of behaviorism and cognitive psychology
Learning outcomes
Exploring Behavior
The Behavioral Perspective: A Focus on Observable Behavior
Classical Conditioning and Emotional Responses
Pavlov and Classical Conditioning
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Watson and Behaviorism
Link to Learning: Little Albert
Operant Conditioning
Link to Learning
Comparing Classical and Operant Conditioning
Social Cognitive (Learning) Theory: Observational Learning
Do parents socialize children or do children socialize parents?
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Exploring Cognition
The Cognitive Perspective: The Roots of Understanding
Piaget: Changes in thought with maturation
Making sense of the world
Stages of Cognitive Development
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Criticisms of Piaget’s Theory
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Information-Processing Approaches to Development
Neo-Piagetian Theories
Cognitive Neuroscience Approaches
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Glossary
accommodation:
assimilation:
behavioral perspective:
classical conditioning:
cognitive neuroscience:
cognitive perspective:
concrete operational stage:
conservation:
egocentrism:
formal operational stage:
information-processing approach:
law of effect:
object permanence:
operant conditioning:
Piaget’s theory of cognitive development:
preoperational stage:
reciprocal determinism:
reversibility:
schemas:
sensorimotor stage:
social-cognitive learning theory:
theory-of-mind (TOM):

Content: Classical Conditioning and Emotional Responses
Classical conditioning theory helps us to understand how our responses to one situation become attached to new situations. For example, a smell might remind us of a time when we were a kid. If you went to a new cafe with the same smell as your elementary cafeteria, it might evoke the feelings you had when you were in school. Or a song on the radio might remind you of a memorable evening you spent with your first true love. Or, if you hear your entire name (Isaiah Wilmington Brewer, for instance) called as you walk across the stage to get your diploma and it makes you tense because it reminds you of how your father used to use your full name when he was mad at you, then you’ve been classically conditioned. Figure 1. Ivan Pavlov
Classical conditioning explains how we develop many of our emotional responses to people or events or our “gut level” reactions to situations. New situations may bring about an old response because the two have become connected. Attachments form in this way. Addictions are affected by classical conditioning, as anyone who’s tried to quit smoking can tell you.