How theories of development and frameworks to support development influence current practice

Theories of development and frameworks to support development are massively important to those working with children. They help us to comprehend children and understand how they react to different situations which affect their behaviour and in turn the way they learn. Theories and ways of working with children have merged to provide frameworks for children’s care, for example the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). This tries to ensure everyone works together, along the same lines. Some of the theorists and their theories have had a huge influence on current practice.

The fundamentals of the social learning theory significantly describe offenders and their criminal behavior which is learned based on observation and imitation. A researcher by the name of Albert Bandura along with coworkers tested the social learning theory with several experiments on children and their imitation of aggression based on what they saw and were exposed to. Bandura’s focus was to prove that human behavior such as aggression is learned through social imitations and copying the actions of others. Walters (1966) gives details about the Bobo doll experiment and explains its purpose related to learning a violent behavior based on observation. In the experiment, the tested subjects were children of both sexes, ranging from the ages of three to six years. Some of the children were exposed to a non-aggressive adult, while the other children were placed in a room with an aggressive adult who would both physically and verbally attack the Bobo doll. The control group in the experiment was not exposed to any adult. During the second phase of the experiment, the children were left in a room by themselves with the toys, and watched to see if they would demonstrate the aggressive behavior like that of which they observed adults doing earlier. Walter (1966) describes the results as “children who had been exposed to an aggressive model showed more imitative physical and verbal

Negative reinforcement is removing an unpleasant consequence when a behavior is exhibited in order to encourage said behavior. This was shown when

B.F. Skinners theory of operant conditioning is probably the most commonly used theory in practice in early years settings. Skinner suggested that people draw conclusions based on the consequences of their behaviour when exploring the environment. He divided the consequences into three areas. The first area being positive reinforcers where people are likely to get something they desire if they repeat a certain behaviour. He suggested that this was the most effective way to encourage new learning. This can be seen in early years settings where by children are rewarded for good behaviour this lots of praise, attention, stickers or treats. This will help children to carry on showing good behaviour until such a time when it is learned. Second is negative reinforcers which are used to stop something from happening but the behaviour is also likely to repeated. Just like when a child is going down a slide but doesn’t like going fast so they use their hands on the sides to slow themselves down. The third is punishers, which is a behaviour that you learn to stop doing e.g. if you receive a shock from an electric fence then you learn to stay away from it.

The room was also equipped with a one-way window so the child could be observed without their acknowledgement. The experiment showed that the consequences in the films that the children observed in the ending, created a different outcome. The children who witnessed the film were the adult was rewarded was most likely to repeat or imitate the aggressive behavior toward the Bobo doll. In the situation of the other children who watched the adult being punished for their aggressive behavior, the children were less likely to recreate the aggressive behavior towards the Bobo doll. After the findings Bandura added to the experiment. The children who watched any of the three films were asked to recreate what the adult did in the film. Each imitation the child recreated correctly, they were rewarded with candy and stickers. Virtually all the children were capable of recreating all actions, aggressive or non-aggressive. The different variations of the films the children watched had no impact on them. In conclusion to Bandura’s experiment, you are capable of imitating any behavior, aggressive or non-aggressive, but you are more likely to imitate if there is expectation of any type of reward.

2. Negative reinforcements – this also makes children repeat behaviour but in different ways e.g.: If a child does well in an exam therefore they don’t have to do their chores.

Positive reinforcement is utilized in the classroom by a teacher to strengthen a desired behavior and to increase its likelyhood to occur again. An example, would be giving out a candy bar everytime a student sits in their corresponding seat. A second example, of positive reinforcement in a classroom would be praising a student with a “good job” or “excellent” stamp after a student gets the correct answer to a problem. Positive reinforcement can not only strengthen good behavior amongst students but also cause extinction of dispruptive behaviors. Students will notice the postive behaviors reinforced by rewards while negative behaviors

How much we do and feel are learned from other people. Albert Bandura researches further on how watching others influences our behavior. Bandura choice to study Aggression; watching violence reduces aggression. To figure out if it was true or not, Bandura experimented on young children ages 3-5 years old. This experiment was called the Bobo Doll Experiment; demonstrating how children learn through observation and imitation. The study showed that the young children imitated everything they had seen by the adult which they were kicking, hitting, and hammering it. In his study, what was most interesting is when the child imitated the adult of the same sex. Basically, the results of Bandura is based on what the children saw, is what they did.

The first stage of the experiment is called modeling. In this stage the children were individually shown into a room where they would sit in one corner and pay with potato prints and pictures and the adult sat in the other corner with a mallet and the Bobo doll. In the first group, 24 children would watch a male or female adult abuse the doll both physically (kicked, punched, threw, and hit with different objects) and verbally (made aggressive and non-aggressive statements). In the second group, 24 children were exposed to adult who played quietly in the corner with the toys but avoiding the Bobo doll. The third group, 24 children were not exposed to neither an aggressive or non-aggressive adult. After 10 minutes went by, the adult in both groups left the

An example of positive reinforcer that happened in my life was in third-grade elementary school. The third level class decided to start a reading competition for whoever reads the most books you will get rewarded with prizes. Whenever you finish a book, you take a test of questions regarding the book, and you pass to get points. Points can be used to get rewarded with prizes and at the end of the school year whoever get the most points will get a big trophy. The continuous reinforcement of students reading was a great success, and a majority of students in the class continued reading the following year with changes in productive behavior ("Module

The Bobo doll was a fun toy and probably because it could be abused is what made it fun. Albert Bandura’s famous Bobo doll experiment utilized this fact by testing where children might possibly get their aggression (Smith & Mackie, 2014). Where do children get their aggressive attitudes from as in nature or nurture is a question it was hoping to address. The children were exposed to adults that would beat up on the doll and later be observed to see if this influenced them to be aggressive (Smith & Mackie, 2014). There is a theory that a thing observed will not act the same way as it does when it is not, and it makes one wonder how they try to curb this fact when doing experiments of this type.

The Bobo doll experiment was the collective name of experiment conducted by Albert Bandura in 1961 and 1963 when children’s behaviors after watching a violence video. This experiment done in children. Albert Bandura made a video of children who used to more violence video. Instated out of 100% of people, 60% boys are more aggressive comparison to girls, because boys play more aggressive and dramatic games than a girl. According to the research, Albert found that both girls and boys who watched the older people, “how they play and beat the doll”. In our country we believe that, we learn from our siblings, if brother and sister are nice and good than small child also good. Children learn what they saw and lots of kids spend more quality time

From a very early age, children begin to learn about the association between behaviors and consequences. They realize that there is always going to be a consequence whether it’d be positive or negative, that would follow the behavior. Sometimes children behave very well and most of the time, children tend to give parents and others around them a hard time. When it comes to behavior modification, some basic steps include identifying the behavior, setting expectations, monitoring progress, and reinforcing correct behaviors. Positive reinforcement has a lot of effect on children when it comes to modifying a targeted behavior. A reinforcer,

Dr. Bandura was most popular for his observational learning theory, Bobo doll experiment. He interact different ethnicity school age children with a bobo doll in a room with a doors closed, giving privacy to the children, resulting different personality behaviors reflects. Some kids were playing with it; some were aggressive and violent with the bobo doll. A child who has violent in nature was noticed aggressive and violent towards the bobo doll, and the other side of the coin children who rose in a peaceful healthy nature, were playing and having connection with the doll. After the research, they collect personal background, family relationships and people they interact in daily basis, Dr. Bandura and his colleagues Dorie and Sheila Ross able to conclude learned behavior initiate with the people who they associate with mainly from family itself, also children learn through people around them.

In this experiment, each child was brought into a room individually and asked to watch a clip of a model displaying both physical and verbal aggression towards the Bobo doll. In the model rewarded condition the model was awarded with sweets and soft drinks while in the model punished condition a reinforcing model was brought in “shaking his finger” and giving comments such as “If I catch you doing that again... I’ll give you a hard spanking.”. The results showed that when let to go in the playroom, children on the model-punished condition showed less imitative aggression than the other groups. However, if all children were given rewards for imitating the model, all groups showed a high level of imitation. With this information Bandura then postulated that observational learning consists of four aspects. Firstly, attention a process whereby people observe and gain certain information on the behaviour or situation being observed. Secondly, retention which involves a process of “transforming and restructuring information in the form of rules and conceptions” (Wood & Bandura , 1989). Next, reproduction where the individual reenacts the behaviour that was formerly observed. Finally, motivation which is what the individual needs in order to repeat the behaviour in order to learn