Explaining Childrens Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Explaining Childrens Development - Essay Example His definition of this approach was highly practical. Thus, Watson believed psychology should be a purely objective field of knowledge used to accurately predict and control human behaviour and development. Introspection and self-analysis are useless if applied to psychology and there is no difference between humans and animals. In fact, Watson neglected the concept of the conscious and unconscious as such (Littleton, Toates, & Braisby, 2002). Formulating his views Watson relied primarily on the Ivan Pavlov's discovery of the mechanism of classical conditioning. Pavlov's studies of dog's digestion transformed the common understanding of learning and development. The scientist carried out a series of experiments in order to test his initial conclusions. He provided a sound or light signal that was immediately followed by some food placed in the dog's moth. The dog started to perceive the signal in conjunction with the food and after several repetitions the dog salivated immediately after the signal even without any food. This fact made Pavlov introduce a new psycho-physiological concept of a conditional stimulus in distinction to an unconditioned stimulus (Littleton, Toates, & Braisby, 2002: 170-171). Although Pavlov revealed the phenomenon of classical conditioning during experimental studies, which involved animals, the key principle of this process proved valid in human behaviour too. Watson described an example of the classical conditioning in human beings. Albert, an infant with a pet rat, was not afraid of it until once Watson banged a metal plate while the boy was reaching for his pet. Subsequently, Albert started to demonstrate fear of the rat (Littleton, Toates, & Braisby, 2002: 172). Another good example of the classical conditioning in human behaviour is the bell-and-pad technique that is often used to cope with bed-wetting in children. Two perforated metal sheets connected to a low-tension battery are placed under the bed sheet. When a child moistens the bed urine short-circuits the sheets, and the battery produces a laud alarm making the child wake up. After several alarms the child is able to wake up without the alarm: the sensation of a full bladder is finally conne cted to the necessity of waking up (Lattal & Chase, 2003). Skinner further elaborated on the behaviourist conception of behaviour by paying attention not only to stimuli resulting in certain patterns of behaviour, but also exploring the stimuli affecting the actor after performance. In a series of experiments involving rats and pigeons that were rewarded with food for pressing a lever in the Skinner box, the scientist observed that positive stimuli led to more frequent repetition of the act that caused them; he called such stimuli "reinforcers" (Littleton, Toates, & Braisby, 2002: 175-176). Skinner recognised situational influences as predominant factors that cause different reactions of children. The reactions largely depend upon the previous experience and genetic code of individual. Skinner also believed that analysis of specific mental states, which had been so popular in psychoanalytic

Calculus Concepts Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Calculus Concepts - Assignment Example For instance, a function y +3x +2 = 0 is expressed with both dependent and independent variables. Although implicit functions can be converted to explicit functions, it may result to a complex function which may be hard to solve. Implicit differentiation is useful in differentiating implicit functions (functions not in the form y = f(x)). Given a function say , implicit differentiation demands we differentiate all elements of the equation with respect to x, even y variables but not treating y as a constant. This would give: In the second education, all functions of y are differentiated using chain rule where . Once the differential is performed is made the subject of the formula. Implicit differentiation is useful in performing implicit functions. Instead of putting y the subject of the formula and making the function a complex one, implicit differentiation assists in simplifying implicit functions. Logarithmic functions are useful in solving differential problems that involve complex product or quotient rule. In logarithmic differentiation, the function is expressed in the form of the natural logarithm, and it is implicitly differentiated. Given a function with a lengthy product that would give a huge sum while using the product rule, logarithmic differentiation comes in handy. For instance; One of the applications of Calculus is in curve sketching. Curve sketching involves using specific values of functions to estimate its structure. In curve sketching, we have the absolute maximum and a local maximum. The main difference between the two is that the absolute maximum is the maximum value of the function that takes over the whole domain. This means that in a given range, the absolute maximum is the largest value of the function obtained by performing a differentiation of the functions and equating it to zero. On the other hand, the local maximum is the largest value of the functions on a given section but not on the entire domain. The given image below