Theoretical blog #2. Jean Piaget Structural Approach Theory and Bandura Social Learning Theory

                                                                      Peter Kowal

Theoretical Blog #2

Jean Piaget Structural approach Theories and Banduras Social learning theories

According to Jean Piaget structural approaches to cognition, and Social learning theories, both of them had some similarities and different viewpoints in some ways.  Piaget structural approach, cognition children progress through series of four keys stages of cognitive development marked shifts in how they understand the world around them. Piaget believed that children are like little scientist and that they actively try to explore and make sense of the world around them and want to learned.

 Piaget learned this by observed his own children a stage theory of intellectual development that include four stages which are the sensorimotor, stage from birth to the age of 2 years, the preoperational stage from 2 to 7 years, the concrete stage from 7 to 11 years age and the formal operational stages from adolescence, this is a final stage in Piaget theory involved an increase in logic and ability to use deductive reasoning and understanding of abstract ideas. Piaget key concept for his theory are Schema which described both the mental and physical action involved in understanding and knowing. Some of Piaget theories are Assimilation, accommodation and Equilibrium. Piaget belief that children try to strike balance between assimilation and accommodation which is achieved through a mechanism, he called equilibration.

 

Bandura Social Learning Theories, is similar to Piaget Theory in some point but little bit different. Bandura Social leaning theory, has become the most influential theory of learning and development, his concepts of learning theories are important. Bandura theory added social element that people learn a new information and behavior by watching other people. And important an aspect of Bandura social learning theory is the notion of self-efficacy (Bandura 1997). Self-efficacy which refer to a person belief about his or her ability to perform behavior that lead to expected outcome. He said that people learned through observing other, without direct involvement in their experience. (pg.101)  Bandura demonstrated that children learned and imitate behaviors they have observed in other people. One of his example was that Bandura children studies observed and adult acting in a violent ways, when children who watch the act of a violent were brought into the room with children who did not watch that violent act, they children who watch the act imitate violently while the children who did not see the violent act did not act violently. Bandura had identified his three basic model of observational learning: A live model which involved an actual individual and a verbal instructional model which involved description and explanation. The last one was a symbolic model which involved real or fictional characters which displaying behaviors in the books.

Peter Kowal