Cognitive Theory Cognitive development of a child takes palace in various stages. But their styles of thinking distinguish them. Piaget first revealed that the thinking and reasoning of children occurs at different time periods as they grow. He distinguishes the four stages that occur in children’s’ lives which are very distinct and explain the development of cognition. The stages form his Piaget’s Stage theory, are preoperational stage, sensory motor stage, concrete operational stage and formal operational stage. The first stage is the sensory motor which happens from the day of birth to around the age of two. At this stage the child only knows what is given to him. The child is concerned physical objects and his motor skills as well as the results of their movements He learns of objects which exists even when such object are not visible to them. The second stage is the preoperational stage which is when a child is from two to seven years old. A child can speak and learn problem solving skills like counting and numbering. This stage is further divided to intuitive phase and preoperational phase. The child concerns himself with learning verbal skills and making sense of the world which occurs in the preoperational phase. The intuitive phase is the Childs ability to make conclusion from his experiments with concrete objects. At this stage however, children are incapable to speak clearly what they mentally mean may not be exactly what they express. The final stage is the formal operational stage which occurs from the age of 12-15. At this stage the child’s thinking is more adult-like even in his thought process. They are capable of reasoning hypothetically, systematically and logically with no need of physical things, the child is capable of imagining the shape of object, things which they have never existed or neither have they experienced. This means that the child is capable of Meta cognition, which is thinking about thinking. Piaget further theorizes on Development and adaptation which is called constructivist theory which ahs process that contributes to the cognitive development of a child these processes are accommodation, assimilation and equilibrium. Assimilation is the internalization of new experiences to the cognitive structures which were in existence. Accommodation deals with the adjustment into new mental structures and equilibrium is when the person aims to strike a balance between the environment and himself between accommodation and assimilation that assist in solving problems. Assimilation-accommodation is a dual process which enables the creation a schema for knowledge organization. This schema assists the child to understand the world around him. A schema is cognitive processes which include information, ideas, plans and actions which grow as one’s life experiences increases This shows that the teacher has a great role to play in enabling the mental development of a child. Children according to the theorist can learn social intervention and culture through social activities, such as writing, music, counting system, rules, and language. Language is a representation of symbol that enables communication. Equations concerning the world can be established by the child through language. It is a system that has made thinking possible because it is categorized into the social, inner and egocentric aspects. A child can be able to perform problem solving tasks through independent and assisted performance in the process of learning. Childs learning of culture. Piaget’s believes that the developmental stages of cognitive development of a child are universal. He also acknowledged that the learning process might differ in rate due to factors of social influence and maturity. This means that at different level, a child adopts new skills and thus should not be forced to learn a complex skill beyond his level. Cognitive changes come before linguistic mastering according to Piaget learning is symmetrical which happens in stages one occurring after another. Piaget theory does not consider the role of the child in his thought process this is that certain characteristics do not simply stop at a point in child’s development.

Operant conditioning B.F skinner who was a behaviorist was the first to come up with the term operant conditioning which is basically used to explain the influence of a certain behavior’s consequences on the occurrence of that behavior in future. In this text, I will describe the theory of operant conditioning whilst comparing and contrasting positive and negative reinforcement. Other aspects of operant conditioning I will discuss in this text include but are not limited to the most effective reinforcement form as well as a real life scenario in which I would apply operant conditioning to shape behavior. Lastly, I will develop a reinforcement module for a behavior of my choice. Operant conditioning which is also known as instrumental conditioning basically denotes a learning process influenced or informed by punishment or reward of behavior. there is a close link between a given behavior and its resulting consequence. With that in mind, it is hence clear that according to operant conditioning, motivations and thoughts that are internalized cannot be used to explain an individual’s behavior in its entirety. Instead, the theory suggests that the observable, external causes of an individual’s behavior should be taken into consideration. A consequence that increases the frequency of occurrence in a given behavior is called reinforcement. When it comes to positive reinforcement, the consequence of experiencing a condition that can be regarded as positive strengthens a given behavior. In contrast, when it comes to negative reinforcement, the consequence of avoiding a condition that can be considered negative strengthens a given behavior. However, in comparison, both positive as well as negative reinforcement result in a behavior increase. Skinner used what is known as a box experiment to explain both negative reinforcement and positive reinforcement. In positive reinforcement, the engagement of rat in the target behavior like a lever press would result in the delivery of a sugar solution or food which acted as stimulus. In negative reinforcement, an extremely loud noise would be played inside the cage of a given rat until it undertakes the behavior that is targeted. On engaging in that behavior which is targeted i.e. a lever press, the loud noise is cut out. In my opinion, the most effective reinforcement is positive reinforcement. In this kind of reinforcement, a display of the target behavior is rewarded. That is, a given behavior is met with a stimulus that is regarded as favorable. This ends up strengthening the behavior in question. In my own opinion, this is by far the most effective reinforcement as people have a tendency to act in a given way when there is a benefit that accrues to them. This is a scenario played out in most work situations where employees can be motivated to perform better or be more productive through motivation. Managers have been known to use pay increases, promises of promotions or bonuses to stimulate favorable employee performance. This is a practical example of positive reinforcement and it has been proven to work because basically, it is the human nature to seek that which is favorable. In a real life scenario, I would apply operant conditioning to shape of enhance the performance of my younger siblings. Here, I could ensure I reward them with a present i.e. a bicycle, a trip, a good story book or any other item they may desire each time they perform well in school. Here, my siblings will always engage in the target behavior, which is, working hard and consequently improving their school grades. This is a good example of positive reinforcement in practice. Consequently, I can use negative reinforcement to enhance the performance of my siblings in school. Here, I can eliminate what they like most i.e. watching television until they improve their performance in school. Here, I would only remove the negative stimulus i.e. the TV restriction once they display better performance. For purposes of reinforcing my selected behavior, I would use continuous reinforcement. In this case, my selected behavior is bettering the performance of my siblings. Here, each time one of the siblings brings better or improved grades home, I will ensure I reward him or her by availing a predetermined gift or present. For boys, I could buy them truck toys or take them out to the zoo. For girls, I could buy them dolls or fancy pair of shoes. In this case, I would use the continuous reinforcement schedule for the initial stages of learning to initiate a veritable ling with regard to the behavior and response. It is only after succeeding in this stage that I will shift to the partial reinforcement schedule. It is important to note that operant conditioning is distinct from classical conditioning. While operant conditioning is involved with modifying behavior that can be said to be voluntary, classical conditioning is involved with respondent behavior conditioning influenced by conditions which in one way or the other can be regarded as antecedent.