Kia Ora bloggers, In health we have been learning about behavioural theorists, we are learning about how their discoveries help us understand about the human brain better. Our task is to choose two that we have to research and write about, I am choosing B.F Skinner and Erik Erikson.
Skinner is famous for his discover of operating conditions and how they influence the choice of people, he discover how people behavior can be strengthened and weakened by its consequence(Reward and punishment) Its the same principal as teaching a dog how to do a trick by giving it treats after it does the desired action. This discovery has helped people understand much more about how the behaviour of people can be changed by consequence.
This can help people develop good habits by rewarding themselves after doing work, going for a run or being active. Operating conditions has been enforced in people from a young age as they are rewarded with sweets, praise and stickers when they do their work.
Erik Erikson is known for his discovery of the theory of psychosocial development, this theory states that someones personality develops in a predetermined sequence across eight distinct stages from infancy to late adulthood. The theory states that each stage centers on a core social or emotional conflict that must be resolved to gain a basic physiological virtue, as written in his theory they go in the order, In infancy the core conflicts are trust and mistrust, in toddlerhood its autonomy vs shame and doubt, in preschool its initiative vs guilt, in school age its industry vs inferiority, in adolescence its identity vs role confusion, In young adulthood its intimacy vs isolation, in middle adulthood its generativity vs stagnation, in late adult hood its ego integrity vs despair. All of these stages are a basic virtue they must learn to reach a type of physiological virtue.