Example research essay topic: Short Term Memory Social Learning Theory - 1,038 words

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... it is encoded (this means that memory traces are made). Then, the information can be stored in the memory and later retrieved. The three memory components are sensory register, Short-term memory, and long-term memory.

Our sensory registers are like a video camera, they pick up information as it is happening. Short-term memory can be likened to the cable that carries the information from the camera to the video tape. Our short-term memory can hold only a limited amount of information for a limited amount of time. The last of the components, long-term memory, can be compared to the video tape. The video tape stores the information picked up by the camera, and carried by the cable, for an indefinite period of time, until we are ready to retrieve it (by way of a VCR). The first concept is chunking and the capacity of short term memory.

Miller (1956) presented the idea that short term memory could only hold about 7 items, plus or minus 2, where a chunk is any meaningful unit (web). The experience I have had with the chunking concept is rather simple. I find it easier to remember a persons phone number if I make a word out of the last 4 digits. For example, My best friend Becka had gotten a new phone number. Since I call her all of the time, it was more convenient to learn her number than to write it down and look it up every time I wanted to speak with her. Her new number was 3287, the best way I could remember it was to put it in the form of a word- EATS.

Becka no longer has that number, but I still The second concept is TOTE (Test-Operate-Test-Exit). Miller thought that TOTE should replace the stimulus-response as the basic unit of behavior. In a TOTE unit, a goal is tested to see if it has been achieved and if not an operation is performed to achieve the goal; this cycle of test-operate is repeated until the goal is eventually achieved or Ivan Pavlov introduced us to classical when his dog began salivating at the sound of a bell. Classical conditioning occurs when a natural reflex responds to a stimulus. Classical Anyone who is interested in saving money can understand the significance of a blue light flashing at K-Mart. The blue light flashing usually means that there is a sale in whatever department the light is.

I have gone into the local BX many times and have seen a blue light flashing, this time for a salesperson to give a customer assistance, and automatically thought there must be a sale. One of the leading behaviorists, B. F. Skinner, believed that learning occurs from changes in behavior. These changes occur when a person responds to events in his / her environment. A response produces a consequence such as defining a word, hitting a ball, or solving a math problem.

When this stimulus-Response pattern is rewarded, the individual is conditioned to respond. This pattern of learning is known as Operant conditioning. (web) Reinforcement, or reward, is the key element in Skinners theory. A reinforcer can be anything that strengthens the When I was in the fourth grade, my teacher used positive reinforcement to ensure we wanted to behave correctly. Mr. Brown told us that if we could be good for one week, then the next week we were allowed to sit in a Lazy-Boy chair he had placed in his classroom.

This, of course, motivated us to behave in the manner in which he was When I was a child, my mother used to tell me over and over to clean my room. One day my friends and I were playing outside. My mother called me in and told me that I had to stay in my room until it was finally clean. Not wanting to miss out on the game that my friends and I were playing, I quickly complied. The social learning theory of Albert Bandura also emphasizes the importance of observing and modeling the behavior of others.

Sometimes, just watching how other people behave and how they are reacted to can make you learn a lot. The entire time I was growing up, my parents took me out to dinner with them on a weekly basis. One time we were sitting in an expensive restaurant and the people seated next to us were chewing their food loudly with their mouths open. I watched as the people around them turned to look at them with disgust. I quickly learned that this was not acceptable behavior and always chewed my food quietly and with my Another aspect of modeling is the concept of observational learning. We learn by watching others demonstrate how to do something.

As a child, my mother wanted me to learn how to play golf. I had no idea how to play, or the rules of the game. She took me to the local golf pro and signed me up for lessons. The first thing we did was go out to the sand traps on the course. Then the instructor explained to me which club I needed to use to hit the ball out of the sand.

Then he told me how to swing the club to hit the ball out of the sand. I was lost. Then he took his sand wedge out of his bag, climbed into the Sand trap and demonstrated to me how to hold the club depending on how far I would have wanted to hit the golf ball. Watching him demonstrate how to hit the ball, I soon learned how to do it. If he had continued to tell me how to strike the ball to get the desired effect, I would still be lost. All in all, there have been many learning experiences in my life, and Im sure there will be many more.

I truly believe that we can not learn solely by one theory alone. We need different instruction for different activities. Richard C. Sprinthall, Norman A. Sprinthall, and Sharon Note Of, Educational Psychology- A developmental approach, 1998 Constructivist Theory- web Social Learning Theory- web Information Processing Theory- web George Washington University, Operant Conditioning- web Bibliography:

Research essay sample on Short Term Memory Social Learning Theory