Gender Roles (Chapter 8)

There are roles in each culture that define what we can and cannot do, or what we are expected to do or not to do depending on whether we are male or female. These roles are considered gender roles. There are also some other terms that define who we are and what we are supposed to do. Sex, our biological, anatomical makeup that define us as male or female. Sex roles are things that consider you male or female. For example, a female is the only gender that can nurse a baby so her sex role is nursing. Gender roles can differentiate around the world because not everyone expects the same thing. The roles of expectations based on gender effects many aspects of development. The theories of gender development begin with physical development, the process of egg cell being fertilized by sperm where we all start in the womb as females. 

Social learning theorist, Albert Bandura, focused on our development through vicarious knowledge as the way we obtain knowledge. This means that we learn from the behavior of those that we admire. Modeling, according to Bandura, is “one of the most pervasive and powerful means of transmitting values, attitudes, and patterns of thought and behavior” (Bussey & Bandura, 1999, p.16). Girls imitate older women, such as their mothers and boys imitate older men, such as their fathers. Jerome Kagan, another social learning theorist, identified how important modeling was in the development of gender roles in his break down of four phases. The four stages include identifying with the model, acting like the model, feeling what the model feels, and being the model. The way that children play also has something to do with the social learning aspect of development.  Starting around age two, children generally prefer same-sex playmates, and this is persistent across cultures (Alexander & Hines, 1994). This is because boys prefer to be more rough while girls are much less active. 

Lawrence Kohlberg, cognitive development theorist, theorized that three processes occur that help an individual determine their gender role. Gender identity, the first process, is when a child is able to discriminate whether someone else or themselves are male or female based on their appearance. This occurs around the ages of three and four. Gender identity is important “because gender is the only fixed general category into which children can sort themselves and others...” (Kohlberg, 1987, p. 35). At this point children are still in pre-operations and do not have the ability to conserve so they believe that gender is not permanent and can change. During gender identity children also begin to play with toys that are gender appropriate for that (ex: Barbies for girls and GI Joe for boys). The second process, gender stability helps little girls and boys understand that girls will remain females and boys will remain males. The third process, gender constancy, comes about are the ages of six and seven when a child understands that gender remains constant regardless of changes in appearance or activity. This point relies on the development of the ability to conserve, therefore during this process children understand that they will remain male or female even if they have an appearance that is opposite of what they are. 

Sandra Bem, gender schema theorist, theorized that because we are surrounded by gender from the moment that we are born the development of every experienced schema comes from the things that we are surrounded by from birth. Therefore, the things that we experience comes way before the stages that Kohlberg theorized which means that the idea of gender schema development comes much earlier than the cognitive development stage. The Bem Sex Role Inventory helps give specific evidence for each gender role. The inventory consisted of, the Androgyny score which “reflects the relative amounts of masculinity and femininity that the person includes in his or her self-description, and, as such, it best characterizes the nature of the person's total sex role” (Bem, 1974, p. 158). The individual taking the BSRI can be considered Masculine, Feminine, Androgynous, and Undifferentiated. A masculine individual exhibits high masculine personality traits and low female personality traits where as a feminine individual exhibits high feminine personality traits and low male personality traits. An androgynous individual exhibits both high masculine and feminine traits whereas the undifferentiated individuals exhibits the opposite which as both low masculine and feminine traits.

The Psychoanalytic and Identification Theories begin with Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson. Freud believed that identification was the primary aspect of gender roles where children subconsciously developed behaviors and beliefs. This began in the Phallic Stage where the focus of pleasure is based upon the genital area. This is when the male children fall in love with their mother, Odepius Complex, and the female children fall in love with their fathers, Electra Complex. Erik Erikson developed his theory from Freud's psychoanalytic works, but Erikson's theory concerns the development of personality that occurs in stages and involves resolutions of crises that are presented through a child's interactions with other and the environment.

 During my senior year of high school, in Advanced Placement Literature class, we were required to Oedipus Rex and do a presentation. My presentation covered the Freudian theory and others. Laius, Oedipus’ father was told that his son would kill him and sleep with his wife. So, they decided to give Oedipus away. He moves from Corinth to Delphi where he is given the news that he would kill his father so that he could sleep with his mother. He tried his best to prevent this oracle from coming true by moving again, but it seemed that trouble followed his every move. One way to resolve the Oedipus complex the child must first identify with the same sex parent. They must also realize the more realistic ego knows that the father is the stronger person in this situation.  

As a parent, I will make sure my child’s ego is the strongest. I would prefer their ego be the strongest because it is much easier to control the seeking of pleasure (ID) and moral reasoning (superego).

Identity Development (Chapter 7)

A person's identity helps them identify, who they are. A person's identity also tells everything about them, the way they think and why they take on certain actions. There are three major theorists that contribute to the development of identity along with some others. Those three major theorists are Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson and James Marcia. They help define identity, self-schema, possible selves and future selves. Along with those are Freud's Theory of Personality and Psychosexual Stages of Development, Erikson's Eight Ages of Men, and Marcia's Identity Statuses. Self-schema/Self-Concept is when a person learns about their self through their past or present experiences with/within society. Another way a person views themselves is through possible selves and future selves. The definition of possible selves/future selves is what a person would like to become, what they expect to become, and what they want to avoid becoming. Markus (1983) stated  that "possible selves are described as cognitive structures within the self-concept that function as carriers of a person's aspirations, motives, and goals" (p.554).

Freud is best known for his Theory of Personality and Psychosexual Stages of Development. His theory of Personality was broken down into three parts: id, ego, and superego. This is the part of the personality that is focused on pleasure and is rooted in the unconscious (Segrist, 2009). The second part, the ego, is a conscious and unconscious aspect that deals solely with reality. The superego deals with morality, right and wrong, orders placed on the individual by the social world. Freud's five stages of Psychosexual Development also contributed to personality. The stages are oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital. The oral stage is experienced during infancy, during this time the mouth is considered to be the erogenous zone. If these stages are not successfully resolved the infant will develop a fixation and for the first stage it is an oral fixation. This fixation will cause them to develop issues such as biting their finger nails or chewing on pens. The anal stage depends on the parent's control level over their child. If the parent is too lineint, the child may develop an anal-explusive personality, which causes a destructive child. On the other hand, a child with a strict parent may develop a obsessive personality. During the third stage, the phallic stage, children realize that there are differences between boys and girls. The Latency stage, the fourth stage, is focused on relationship building and excelling in school. Lastly, the Genital stage is where children develop romantic relationships with others and go through puberty. 

Erikson's Eight Ages of Men thrived from parts of Freud's theory. However, Eriksons' theory focused on social and cultural aspects and their effectiveness unlike Freud's which focused on sexual aspects. Erikson's theory consists of eight stages which pertained to each stage of life. In these stages, each stage builds off the previous stage. Each crisis would be positively resolved before moving to the next stage, where the individual gains a virtue. If the crisis isn't positively resolved, a pathology is developed which can be resolved later. 
                                                          Erikson's Eight Ages of Men

1. Basic Trust vs. Mistrust - Infancy
2. Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt - Toddler hood
3. Initiative vs. Guilt - Early Childhood
4. Industry vs. Inferiority - Middle Childhood
5. Identity vs Role Confusion - Adolescence
6. Intimacy vs. Isolation - Early Adulthood
7. Generativity vs. Stagnation - Middle Adulthood
8. Ego Integrity vs. Despair - Older Adulthood 

James Marcia expanded Erikson's work on identity development and created four identity statuses that an adolescent may experience throughout their lifetime. They include Identity Diffusion, Foreclosure, Moratorium and Achievement. When a person is experiencing Identity Diffusion it means that they have not experienced a crisis or committed to an identity. During Identity Foreclosure, the individual has not experienced crisis, but they are committed to an identity because of their parent's choice or someone else. When they have or are experiencing a crisis, but have not made an identity commitment that person is in Identity Moratorium. Identity Achievement is exactly what it sounds like, the accomplishment of experiencing a crisis and have committed to an identity. 

My present self-concept describes me as a college freshman at The University of Memphis, sister, volunteer, and Charlotte Russe associate. My college major is Child Development and although I am volunteering at a few daycares over the summer I plan to put a stop to that soon. I say this because I look forward to receiving a degree in Child Development so I will no longer have to volunteer I can receive an income for what I love to do. However, I do plan to continue working at Charlotte Russe until I graduate. Growing up I always wanted to become a pediatrician, but when I was a sophomore, in high school, I changed my mind. After deciding I no longer wanted to become a pediatrician I chose Labor and Delivery Nurse would be similar, but much easier. Once I got to college and reviewed the four year plan for a Nursing major I changed my mind again
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As a teacher, I will encourage my students to keep their grades up and maintain a great personality because it will allow them to stand out. I think it is important for them to keep their grades up because it will create a positive image of and for their possible selves. We will also talk about the things that they fear, quite frequently, so that they can avoid these things happening to them. For example, I grew up in a public housing community and my biggest fear is that one day I may have to raise my kids there. So, my goal is avoid living there not only my children, but myself as well. 

Moral Development (Chapter 6)

Moral Development, the focus on thoughts, behaviors, and feelings concerning interactions with others and society, consists of three developmental components. The three developmental components of moral development: moral reasoning, moral behavior, and moral emotions. The three theorists of moral reasoning are Jean Piaget's theory of moral development, Lawrence Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development, and Elliot Turiel's Social Domain Theory. Moral development has three of it's own major components: cognition, behavior, and emotions. The cognitive component considers what we think about as right or wrong, and why we choose to think that.

Moral reasoning is when you decide how and why a behavior is right or wrong. Jean Piaget was interested in the development of children's logico-mathematical reasoning and he thought of this in two ways. Piaget's (1932) two stages are heteronomous and autonomous moral reasoning. Heteronomous moral reasoning focuses on how bad or wrong something was dependent on the size of the outcome. Autonomous moral reasoning focuses on the intention meaning it is more dependent on what the child intended to happen. 

Lawrence Kohlberg's theory was used for extensiveness across the entire lifespan. His theory consisted of three levels and six stages. The three stages were: 1).Preconventional, 2).Conventional, 3).Postconventional with two stages between each level. Stage one, punishment obedience orientation, mirrored  Piaget's heteronomous stage, meaning that children obey parents to avoid punishment. Stage two, instrumental purpose and exchange, is about making a deal with another person. Stage three, mutual interpersonal expectations, is focused on what others in a society think according to social roles. Stage four, social system, focuses on what society wants according to society's laws. Stage five, the social contract, covers what an individual uses their personal discretion to decided what should or should not be followed. Lastly, stage six universal ethical principles is described as all human beings being treated equally no matter age, race, or gender. Kohlberg's theory did consist of two major critiques, one was that he underestimates the abilities of young children and the other was that he confused moral issues with social-conventional issues.

Moral behavior is behavior that is rewarded, influenced by two important factors: reinforcement and observational learning. Albert Bandura (1986) suggested that just as children learn from their own enactive experiences, children and adults learn vicariously (from other's experiences) as well. Basically, children learn from watching how others behave, represented by acting morally and resisting temptation. Modeling is not only represented by behaviors that a child sees, but those that are restrained as well. 

Things that encourage us to act ethically or allows us to whether or not we have acted ethically are moral emotions. Moral emotions consist of shame, guilt, pride, and gratitude. Moral emotions let ourselves and others know what we care about. Shame and guilt are the negative moral emotions, the purpose of negative moral emotions is to "inhibit actions that violate moral norms" (Hart & Matsuba, 2007, p. 116), such as cheating. The purpose of positive moral emotions is to motive good behaviors like sharing, either for the self which is pride or the others, gratitude.

 Temptation is the itch to do something wrong. Temptation is usually considered breaking a rule which occurs through social modeling. Albert Bandura theorized that children learn from what they see and from their own experiences. Resisting temptation is centered on moral behavior. Moral behavior is behavior that is rewarded. Encouraging moral behavior results in reinforcements and punishments. The reinforcements and punishments are a way to promote moral behavior and avoid temptation. Resisting temptation must first be verbalized to indicate the rule being followed. Second, a good reason to stray from the rule should be expressed also. Regulating moral behavior in the classroom allows students to control their own moral behavior.

There have been multiple occasions where I was faced with temptation. However, I can say that it has never affected me greatly. I remember the last time I was faced with temptation was during high school. I wanted a tattoo badly because it was the latest fashion trend for my generation. First, I asked my mother could I get one and without hesitation she said I couldn’t and she gave me the reasons why. I decided that I was old enough to go without her so I was going to go get a tattoo anyway. After deciding that, resisting temptation kicked in. I told myself that I was not getting a tattoo because according to the word of God and my religion it was not the right thing to do. If I would have continued to follow temptation I would have committed a sin and disobeyed my mother as well.

As a parent, I will help my children fight temptation the best way I can. I will always remind them to avoid people and places that lead them into temptation. There are plenty ways to avoid temptation. You can do so by occupying your time with different hobbies to keep you busy, trusting in God that he will lead you in the right direction, and studying the bible. As a teacher, I will help my students resist temptation by using their classmates as examples for acceptable and unacceptable behaviors in the classroom.
 

Cognitive Development (Chapter 5)

There are four theorists interested mainly in thinking, or cognition. They include Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, David Elkind, and Benjamin Bloom. Cognitive theorists examine how people think and the difference in their thinking patterns across the lifespan. Cognitive development is influenced by brain development, but they are not similar. Brain development covers the physical structures of neurons and the connections between them. Cognitive development deals with abstract ideas and thoughts and their uses. They are similar because it is difficult to think without proper brain function.

Jean Piaget understood human beings as organisms that are engaged into activities within their environment that help them adjust and survive which is considered adaption. In 1962, Piaget decided that humans are different from other organisms. People are humans of their own thinking which are controlled by thoughts for specific purposes. Piaget considers adaptation as a lifelong process known as constructivism meaning that individuals construct meaning from interacting with other and the environment. Each one of these interactions organized a thought structure called a schema which helps them organize information about the environment and how they adapt to it. Adaption is achieved through balancing with the use of two processes: assimilation and accommodation. Accommodation causes you to change a pre-existing thought structure due to the intake of new information while assimilation doesn't. When these thought structures are in balance, they are said to be in a state of equilibrium, but when the individual is presented with new information it is considered disequilibrium.

Piaget theorized that development occurs through four different stages of thinking: sensorimotor, preoperations, concrete operations, and formal operations (Piaget, 1967). During the sensorimotor stage, children from age 0-2 develop the thoughts of motor schemas, sensory info, and imitation. During preoperations children from ages 2-7 develop the thoughts of egocentrism, symbolic, representation, and animistic thought. In the concrete operations stages children from ages 7-11 develop concrete and logical types of thought. The children ages 11 and up develop abstract thought.  

Although Piaget theorized these four different stages of thinking they have been criticized by many. One critic is that his proposed stages for each stage actually take place later in reality. He has also been criticized about his research methods. When testing he used his own three kids through the first few years of life.

Vygotsky theorized that development is sociocultural, meaning that an individual develops through their interactions with others. Vygotsky suggested that development happens specifically through cultural interactions and that as development occurs, it transforms both the individual and the culture (Vygotsky, 1978). Vygotsky's theory is situated in culture, focused predominantly on language. Language and thought interacting with one another is the mechanism of development. and these two are always shaped by the individual's history, cultural context, and social environment (Vygotsky, 1978).

Children use langauage to think through problems and learn new skills. Private speech is used to communicate with others and for a child to direct their own personal thoughts and manage their emotions. Inner speech is what a child uses inside of their head to talk them through something which will eventually become private speech. Vgotsky's sense of development also includes the ZPD, Zone of Proximal Development which is what the child can accomplish with the help of an adult or peer, someone more knowledgeable than them. The idea of the helps from the adult or peer is defined as scaffolding, or acting as a resource.

Elkind, a student and colleague of Piaget, took Piaget's egocentric thought from the formal operational stage and gave it the name adolescent egocentrism which is composed of three patterns: the imaginary audience, the personal fable, and the invincible fable. The imaginary audience(Elkind, 1967) is the "belief that others are preoccupied with his appearance and behavior that constitutes the egocentrism of the adolescent" (p. 1030). Elkind's personal fable is when an individual comes up with the idea that their family and friends don't understand what it is like to be them. The invincible fable and personal fable can perform together, this is when the adolescent believes that something won't ever happen to them because they are different. 

Bloom's taxonomy is the coincidence of Piaget's, Vygotsky's, and Elkind's theories. This taxonomy, a method for classifying items into order categories, are the more complex types of thought. Bloom's taxonomy is seen as six different levels starting with the basic level of thinking which is remembering. Remembering is followed by, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. Bloom's Taxonomy is one of the most comprehensive pictures we have to of how to help students develop critical thinking skills (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001).

 Jean Piaget’s theory of development consists of four different stages of thinking. The four stages of thinking are sensorimotor, preoperations, concrete operations, and formal operations. During the preoperational stage, ages two to seven years old, children begin to understand the concept of symbols and they understand what they represent. However, during this stage children also have a hard time understanding reality causing them to adapt to egocentrism. Egocentrism is the child’s thought that the only thing that matters is their selves, leaving all other points of view absent. Egocentrism is also considered the development of self-centeredness, without a care for any other social causes. Piaget’s idea of egocentrism does not happen to all kids, but it does in most.   

I am always with my family when I am home for a break or just a weekend trip home. We have quite a few smaller children in our family. They pick on and argue with one another the entire time they are together and without them knowing, I watch them. They always go through the stage of “that’s mine”, “give me that back”, “I’m telling on you,” and numerous other things to upset each other. The youngest of them all, Ja’Miya, always cries because she the older kids take her toys when she’s done playing with them. However, she still believes that they took it from her, such as out of her hand, and she cries until they give it back. Ja’Miya does not have the idea of sharing together because even though they are cousins she does not think that they are supposed to touch her toys. Ja’Miya is three so she is fairly into her stage of egocentrism and it shows in everything that she does. She is more into the idea that it’s her world and we just live in it!

This connection is meaningful to me because I can break the thought process of egocentrism in my classroom. I will always make sure my students share with their classmates. I will also teach them that sharing is the right thing to do because it’s easier to get along with one another if you share. I am not sure how easy it will be to break the thought process of egocentrism, but I will do the best I can to break this cycle. As a parent, I will ask my child to tell me about how their day was so they can think more about what took place around them. I will also make sure that I do not spoil my child or set a bad example because that also causes them to develop egocentric thinking. 
     

Intelligence Theory (Chapter 4)

Intelligence is the ability to adapt to one's environment. The focus is on testing and measurement, when an individual gets the correct answer on a test that determines their ability to adapt to new situations and environments. According to the intelligence perspective, development is considered a continuous thing. On the other hand, the cognitive focus is the way an individual processes an environment, the activities they preform within the environment. In cognitive development the focus is on the thinking process not if they can answer test questions correctly. The cognitive process is not an continuous act, it involves different forms of knowing, understanding and processing. Cognitive focus is more qualitative than quantitative. 

There are a number of early intelligence theories the first one is that of Alfred Binet. Binet is associated with the development of the first intelligence test in 1904, commissioned by the Paris school system used to separate the kids with a lower intelligence level from those with a normal intelligence level. With the help of his student. Theodore Simon, Binet developed a test called the "1905 scale." William Stern, German psychologist, coined the idea of a mental quotient which was the calculation of the mental age divided by the chronological age. Lewis Truman decided to multiply the mental quotient by 100 calling it the IQ or Intelligence Quotient. 

An IQ score of 100 is the average score on intelligence tests. The average score for those with an normal score is 85-115, those higher than 115 indicates that the individual is is smarter than average, and scores lower than 85 would characterize an slowing learning group.

Charles Spearman discovered the "G" and "S" intelligence theory, called the factor of generalized intelligence (Spearman, 1904), and the s factor is considered the factor of specialized abilities. Spearman says that we all start off with both a g and s factors, but as we age the s factor increases causing us to develop a big S factor. Therefore, out specialized factors become larger. 

L.L. Thurstone disagreed with Spearman about the g and s factors, so he developed the seven independent factors labeled Primary Mental Abilities (Thurstone, 1938). These seven factors consist of Number facilities, Reasoning, Memory, Spatial perception, Perceptual Speed, Verbal comprehension, and Word Fluency. 

J.P. Guilford expanded Thurstone's work into a model for the structure of intelligence (SI) which consisted of three cubical dimensions. One dimension represents what you are thinking about, the second dimension represents how you are thinking about the contents, and the third represents the possible results of how you are thinking about the contents. Using this representation, Guilford outlined 120 different kinds of intellectual abilities, using this he developed his test for divergent and convergent abilities. There are several issues with IQ tests which is the validity of the test, it's accuracy and consistency, whether it is culture-free or culture-biased.

For the last forty years, there has been the development of new intelligence theories. Howard Gardner, Robert Sternberg, and Daniel Goleman. Opposed to general intelligence, Gardner developed a theory of multiple intelligences which consist of Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical, Musical, Spatial, Bodily-kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, and Naturalistic. Gardner believes that when an individual excels in one of the domains, he is determined to be intelligent in that particular domain. 

Sternberg believes intelligence to be meeting self-directed goals. Humans have three intellectual abilities: analytic intelligence, creative intelligence, and practical intelligence. Analytic intelligence gives you the ability to judge, creative intelligence gives you the ability to create, and practical intelligence gives you the ability to apply. 

Goleman produced the idea of emotional intelligence in 1995 which he considered better at predicting an individuals IQ better than standardized tests. They involve four major domains: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. Self awareness allows the individual to separate feelings from actions, self management gives the individual the ability to control anger, social awareness helps to take the perspective of others, and relationship management helps solve relationship problems. 

Intelligence across the lifespan includes a few stages of life and how intelligence is measured throughout these stages. Infant responses include infant's attention, habituation, and dishabituation. During childhood the parental influence is most important it helps to create higher performance. Studies have shown that IQ scores for an individual can shift 28 points on average between the ages of two years and seventeen years (Bjorklund, 2000). Adolescence intellectual growth corresponds to the change in brain structure. The intellectual abilities across the lifespan were first theorized by John Horn and Raymond Cattel, represented by fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence. Fluid intelligence declines with age, while crystallized intelligence doesn't. 

 Intelligence is affected by cognitive development. Cognitive development deals with the way an individual processes, interprets, and understands their environments or particular situations. In intelligence the concentration is more on how the individual responds to the environment. However, both intelligence and cognitive development focus on the ability to adapt to the environment. Intelligence may serve for many different purposes like various intelligence measurements, controversies associated with intelligence testing, intelligence theories and the direction of future intelligence research. The viewpoint of cognitive development and intelligence differ in the meanings of ability, adapt, and environment. Intelligence development can be interpreted as different things when examining in several ways. Intelligence tests and achievement tests measure two different things. Intelligence tests are designed to assess a person’s tendency to be successful in the things that they have a love for. Achievements tests are used to test school curriculum content tests like math and reading. Achievement tests are more useful in our world today because they provide students, teachers and parents with a visibility of a student’s strongest and weakest subjects. They mainly serve as information for teachers to guide their instruction in a way that the student understands.      

On the first day of AP Calculus in high school, my teacher issued a test. Math has always been my weaker subject so I had no sense of comfort with taking this test. The test consisted of math problems from Pre-Calculus and prior math classes, something I did not remember. I was automatically frightened by the way this test was going to affect my grade in this class, my first grade. I lost all sense of instruction once my teacher handed out this test. I overheard her saying that if we did not remember any of this or for the questions that we did not remember simply write “I don’t know.” She went on to say, “You will not receive a grade on this test, this is just for me to see where you are in the subject of math.” I immediately felt relieved! That was the best thing she said all year, although it just started. I began to take the test, starting with the things I was slightly familiar with, finishing with the questions that I didn’t know the answer to. Although I’ve always hated achievement tests I find it really important that teachers issue those so that they will refrain from skipping something a student is familiar with.

This connection is meaningful to me because it recalls what you remember every time something new is introduced to you. I am unsure of how I would incorporate this in my classroom as a preschool instructor. I feel that I could issue a worksheet that has several letters of the alphabet of it and have my students circle the letters in their name. I know that I would give my students something simple, familiar with things they are introduced to everyday. I would not really consider it a achievement test more of a “What You Know” worksheet.

           

Behaviorism and Social Learning (Chapter 3)

There are two types of learning one developed by physiologist Ivan Pavlov and the other by B.F. Skinner, operant conditioning. Classical conditioning focuses on the use of stimuli to create involuntary responses. Along with classical conditioning are other learning mechanisms, explored by Ivan Pavlov. The learning mechanisms include: stimulus generalization, discrimination, and extinction.

On the other hand, operant conditioning, on the behalf of B.F. Skinner is the better learning methods for humans. Skinner believed that humans are similar to animals and that they lack consciousness, making their actions controllable through reinforcements and punishments. Reinforcements are things that increase the likelihood of a behavior. These two types are positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement. Positive reinforcement consists of adding something that the child likes in order to reward a behavior. Negative reinforcement is taking away something that they do not like in hopes that the behavior that caused the removal will continue. There are also two types of punishment, Punishment 1 and Punishment 2. Punishment one adds the event of an unfavorable event while punishment two removes this favorable event. For example, a child may have to write "I will clean my room everyday" after being continuously asked to clean his/her room multiple times. In punishment two, a child may have to suffer from the removal of their favorite activity in order to weaken a certain behavior.

The are also two schedules of reinforcement, continuous and intermittent schedules. In continuous reinforcement a behavior is reinforced every time it takes place. This type of reinforcement is beneficial when you are trying to encourage a learner while learning a new behavior because the behavior is likely to change. During intermittent reinforcement, a behavior is only periodically reinforced. This reinforcement is used for previously learned behaviors.

The social learning theory consists of two main theorists, Julian Rotter and Albert Bandura. Rotter's theory was heavily influenced by Sigmund Freud and Alfred Alder. However, Rotter believed something different than them, she believed that an individuals personality come from their situated environment. Which means that they things they experience impacts their life which has an influence on their behavior. Rotter's theory consists of four elements: behavioral potential, expectancy, reinforcement value, and the psychological situation. Rotter also developed the "locus of control", which refers to the ability that an individual believes that they have control over something that takes place around them. There are two types of locus of control: external and internal.

Bandura was created with with developing the social cognitive theory. It's concepts included modeling, observational learning, self-efficacy, vicarious learning, and learning contracts. Modeling is the idea of adding to and subtracting from observed behavior. Modeling also has four components of its own, attention, retention , reproduction, and motivation. Observational learning is when behavior changes from observing a model. Vicarious learning is the idea of learning from observing the actions and consequences others receive. Self-efficacy is defined as “people’s judgments of their capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required for attaining designated types of performances” (Bandura, 1986, p. 391). These self-efficacy beliefs come from four different sources: mastery experience, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and psychological states. Bandura's creation of a learning contract is an agreement between a student and teacher that ensures a child will follow particular rules to refrain from getting into more trouble.

Learned helplessness develops when an individual can not cope with the negative things that have happened throughout their life, allowing the situation to control them. When the situation becomes a negative aspect in their life they suffer a low-efficacy and and external locus of control.

When I was younger, my siblings and I very seldom received punishments. Our great grandmother says the best way for a child to learn is to punish them. However, that is not the case for all individuals. My family believed more in physical punishment rather than removing the more favorable things. Physical punishment wasn't a beating or anything; we were spanked but it was dependent on the action. I was never off into video games and I did not have a cell phone at a young age, so my only choice was physical punishment. On the other hand, my older brother had to deal with things like having to sit out his upcoming football or basketball game because my mother knew that it is what he loved most.We were not always punished growing up for every little thing we did because my mother believed in “three strikes.” This meant that we had two chances to get ourselves together after she had already attempted to talk to us about it. The third time, you received punishment.

This connection is meaningful to me because I can relate this to actions taken in my classroom and to my children, when I have them. I will choose things like punishment one and two to discipline my kids. I feele that punishments one and two are more beneficial punishments. However, in my classroom I probably won’t use punishments one and two because I feel that those are more for parents and not for instructor’s use. I will use things like separating my students from their friends if they get too nosey and I have to ask them to quiet down numerous times.

Physical Development (Chapter 2)

Physical development is the development of the body from conception until death. Physical development allows us to reach our full potiential over time. Within a cell, where the development process starts, the nucleus contains hereditary material that makes up our DNA ,which creates our genes. Genes from our parents are what make us different from one another. Our genes are developed through a set of 46 chromosomes, one set of 23 from each parent. The genes from our parents are expressed through alleles, dominant and recessive. The dominant and recessive allele matches are what determine our dominant and recessive traits, such as dark hair and thin lips. However, to develop a recessive trait, the recessive allele must come from both parents.

Physical development takes places in a number of different stages and they all contribute different characteristics. Prenatal Development is divided into three month sections called trimesters: Germinal period (weeks 1 & 2), Embryonic period (weeks 3-8), and Fetal period (months 2-9). In the germinal stage the sex organs, eyes and ears start to appear. During the Embryonic period or the second trimester the distinct sex organs begin to appear. In the third trimester or the fetal stage the eyes are able to open and all the body parts are formed.

Infant Physical Development refers to two distinct physical patterns of growth, cephalocaudal and proximodistal. Cephalocaudal growth starts at the top of the head and moves downward, in this growth pattern infants gain control of their head first. Proximodistal growth starts in the center of the infant body first and moves outward, in this growth pattern infants develop the ablity to use their hands first. In addition to the physical patterns of growth in infants, they also develop motor and perceptual skills such as crawling and walking.

In Childhood Development there is a change in weight, height, reproductive growth and brain cells. All of these types of growth can be affected by genetic and environmental factors. Motor development in this stage ranges by age, for example from the ages of 2 to 2 1/2 years the child develops the galloping technique. During this stage of development children also begin to use more complex language to communicate with their caregiver.

Adolescent Development is the time when children move from childhood into adult majority, which also causes a change in social and emotional feelings. During Adolescent Development puberty happens, puberty is the process when the body develops well enough for sexual reproduction. The mean beginning ages for puberty in the United States is 11.5 years in males and 12.5 in females. The onset of menstruation is the hallmark of puberty for females and ejaculation for males.

My personal adolescent development began when I was in the sixth grade. I experienced menarche, the onset of my menstruation, around the eighth grade, and just as they are supposed to, things changed. My body began to develop in certain areas, some more than others, and it showed. However, I did not have sexual experiences earlier due to my earlier start of puberty, but I did mature quicker than those around me. My cognitive development was at the top of the charts. But my emotional development, still to this day, does not seem as if it is fully together. I have younger cousins that experienced menstruation younger than I did when I was growing up. That goes to show how effective the secular trend is, because things changed within the environment around them every day which caused them to experience things earlier than usual. I always thought that there were things that they made with the food that we consume that cause quicker changes than usual in kids now. It is also fairly true that girls mature faster than boys because my younger girl cousins' act older than my little brother, who I don't think, has experienced puberty yet, but I am not too sure.

For the development of my career, it is important to know that boys and girls physiologically develop at different times. Therefore, I cannot expect as much from my males students as I would my females students. The popular saying that girls mature faster than boys is what I would have to dwell on mostly because it will apply to all situations. However, I have made the choice to deal with smaller kids so I will not have to worry so much about puberty, adolescent development and menarche. I will focus more on the parenting style of the kids and my teaching style in order to help them process things better.