Programmatic assessment of theories provides insight from different theorists on how, why, and what he or she believes are steps needed to be taken or followed to obtain specific results. Since the early 1800's, several theorists have developed theories pertaining to thinking, feeling, behavior, and learning. The following contents will summarize a few learning theories, such as classical and operant conditioning, cognitive development, and psychosocial development. Researching different theories will assist the reader and therapist in understanding and implementing treatments for individuals pertaining to physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual across the life span. .
Theories.
As far back in history as one can research, individuals have displayed inquisitive behavior, which demonstrates a capacity to learn, and learn new behaviors. According to the psychology dictionary, learning is defined as the process through which one acquires new information or build on information previously learnt (Psychology Dictionary, 2013). The author of this paper believes the more one learns the information absorbed creates a stimulus creating changes in behaviors, reactions, and perspectives. Through the year's theorist have questioned and studied how behavior is formed and what affects behavior. One of the first theorists to study the process of how learning affects individuals' behaviors, and formed the school of thought known as behaviorism was John Watson (All Psych Online, 2011). .
Classical Conditioning.
Behaviorism is known as the school of thought in psychology, and the theory states learning occurs through interactions with the environment (Cherry, 2013). Several Behavioral theories exist today; however, classical conditioning was one of the first behavioral theories developed by Ivan Pavlov during 1849-1936. This theory states that the learning process is associated between environmental stimuli and the natural stimuli (Cherry, 2013).