Lifespan Development. Tara L. Kuther

generation during middle adulthood (Crain, 2016). Erikson’s lifespan theory of development holds implications for every period of life. We will revisit his theory throughout this book.

Table 1.3

      Behaviorist and Social Learning Theories

      In response to psychoanalytic theorists’ emphasis on the unconscious as an invisible influence on development and behavior, some scientists pointed to the importance of studying observable behavior rather than thoughts and emotion, which cannot be seen or objectively verified. Theorists who study behaviorism examine only behavior that can be observed and believe that all behavior is influenced by the physical and social environment. For example, consider this famous quote from John Watson (1925), a founder of behaviorism:

      Give me a dozen healthy infants, well formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select—doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant, chief, and yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors. (p. 82)

      By controlling an infant’s physical and social environment, Watson believed he could control the child’s destiny. Behaviorist theory is also known as learning theory because it emphasizes how people and animals learn new behaviors as a function of their environment. As discussed in the following sections, classical and operant conditioning are two forms of behaviorist learning; social learning integrates elements of behaviorist theory and information processing theories.

      Classical Conditioning

      Classical conditioning is a form of learning in which a person or animal comes to associate environmental stimuli with physiological responses. Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936), a Russian physiologist, discovered the principles of classical conditioning when he noticed that dogs naturally salivate when they taste food, but they also salivate in response to various sights and sounds that occur before they taste food, such as their bowl clattering or their owner opening the food cupboard. Pavlov tested his observation by pairing the sound of a tone with the dog’s food; the dogs heard the tone, then received their food. Soon the tone itself began to elicit the dogs’ salivation. Through classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus (in this example, the sound of the tone) comes to elicit a response originally produced by another stimulus (food). Classical conditioning has been observed in newborns, as shown in Figure 1.4. Many fears, as well as other emotional associations, are the result of classical conditioning. For example, some children may fear a trip to the doctor’s office because they associate the doctor’s office with the discomfort they felt upon receiving a vaccination shot. Classical conditioning applies to physiological and emotional responses only, yet it is a cornerstone of psychological theory. A second behaviorist theory accounts for voluntary, nonphysiological responses, as described in the following section.

      Ivan Pavlov (1849–1936) discovered classical conditioning when he noticed that dogs naturally salivate when they taste food, but they also salivate in response to various sights and sounds that they associate with food.

      Sovfoto/Newscom

      Operant Conditioning

      Perhaps it is human nature to notice that the consequences of our behavior influence our future behavior. A teenager who arrives home after curfew and is greeted with a severe scolding may be less likely to return home late in the future. An employer who brings coffee and muffins to her staff on Monday morning and then notices that her employees are in good spirits and productive may be more likely to bring them snacks in the future. These two examples illustrate the basic tenet of B. F. Skinner’s (1905–1990) theory of operant conditioning, which holds that behavior becomes more or less probable depending on its consequences. According to Skinner, a behavior followed by a rewarding or pleasant outcome, called reinforcement, will be more likely to recur, but one followed by an aversive or unpleasant outcome, called punishment, will be less likely to recur.

      Description

      Figure 1.4 Classical Conditioning in a Newborn

      Classical conditioning has been observed in newborns, who naturally make sucking movements (unconditioned response) in response to sugar water (unconditioned stimulus). When stroking the forehead (neutral stimulus) is paired with sugar water, infants come to make sucking movements (conditioned response) in response to forehead strokes (conditioned stimulus).

      Operant conditioning explains much about human behavior, including how we learn skills and habits. Behaviorist ideas about operant conditioning and the nature of human behavior are woven into the fabric of North American culture and are often applied to understand parenting and parent–child interactions (Troutman, 2015). Developmental scientists, however, tend to disagree with operant conditioning’s emphasis on external events (reinforcing and punishing consequences) over internal events (thoughts and emotions) as influences on behavior (Crain, 2016). That is, controlling a child’s environment can influence his or her development, but change can also occur through a child’s own thoughts and actions. A child can devise new ideas and learn independently, consistent with the lifespan concept that individuals are active contributors to their development.

      Social Learning Theory

      Like behaviorists, Albert Bandura (1925–) believed that the physical and social environments are important, but he also advocated for the role of thought and emotion as contributors to development. According to Bandura’s social learning theory, people actively process information—they think and they feel emotion—and their thoughts and feelings influence their behavior. The physical and social environment influences our behavior through their effect on our thoughts and emotions. For example, the teenager who breaks his curfew and is met by upset parents may experience remorse, which may then make him less likely to come home late in the future. In this example, the social environment (a discussion with upset parents) influenced the teen’s thoughts and emotions (feeling bad for upsetting his parents), which then influenced the teen’s behavior (not breaking curfew in the future). In other words, our thoughts and emotions about the consequences of our behavior influence our future behavior. We do not need to experience punishment or reinforcement to change our behavior (Bandura, 2012). We can learn by thinking about the potential consequences of our actions.

      In a classic study conducted by Albert Bandura, children who observed an adult playing with a bobo doll toy roughly imitated those behaviors, suggesting that children learn through observation.

      Albert Bandura

      One of Bandura’s most enduring ideas about development is that people learn through observing and imitating others, which he referred to as observational learning (Bandura, 2010). This finding suggests that children who observe violence rewarded, such as a child grabbing (and successfully obtaining) another child’s toy, may imitate what they see and use aggressive means to take other children’s toys. People also learn by observing the consequences of others’ actions. A child observer might be less likely to imitate a child who takes another child’s toy if the aggressor is scolded by a teacher and placed in time-out. Observational learning is one of the most powerful ways in which we learn.

      Bandura has also contributed to the field of lifespan human development through the concept of reciprocal