David Gonzalez

            Throughout the semester, I’ve learned that much of what we know about human thoughts and behaviors have emerged due to major psychological theories. For example, behaviorists displayed how conditioning can be used to learn new information and behaviors. It is important for both psychologists and teachers to have a deep understanding of these important principals. As with all theories in science, some theories fall out of favor while others still remain widely accepted and utilized. Despite this, all have contributed widely to our understanding of human learning and behavior. I will be concentrating on the two major theories we worked on this semester, Behavioral and Cognitive Psychology. 

            Behaviorism is a theory in psychology that is based upon the thought that all human (as well as animal) are acquired through conditioning. These theories were famously championed by psychologists such as Skinner and Watson. Behaviorists believe that conditioning occurs through an individual’s interaction with it’s environment, and our behaviors, including all learning, is shaped by environmental stimuli and our learned responses to those stimuli.

            Cognitive psychology revolves around our internal states: particularly that of motivation, critical thinking, attention and sociability. The focus on cognitive education theories revolve around how people acquire, process and store information. Until the 1950’s, behaviorism was the dominant school of thought utilized in psychology, but due to the cognitive revolution, attention began to move toward attention, memory and problem solving. Cognitive theory focuses upon an individual’s internal state; this contrasts with behaviorism, which concentrated hard observable interactions with an individual and it’s environmental.