Summary: Social identity theory proposes that a person’s sense of who they are depends on the groups to which they belong. Originators and Key Contributors: Social identity theory originated from British social psychologists Henri Tajfel and John Turner in 1979. Keywords: identity, ingroup, outgroup, social comparison, categorization, intergroup
Mindset Theory Your intelligence and other characteristics – where do they come from? Can they change? People vary in the degree to which they attribute the causes of intelligence and other traits. Are they innate and fixed factors (“fixed” mindset) or are they variable factors that can be influenced through learning, effort, training, and practice (“growth” […]
Summary: Systems thinking can be described as the ability to think about a system as a whole, rather than only thinking about its individual parts. Originator and Proponents: Ludwig von Bertalanffy, Peter Checkland, Peter Senge, Donella Meadows Keywords: systems thinking, stock and flows, interconnected relationships, interdependencies
Information processing theory discusses the mechanisms through which learning occurs. Specifically, it focuses on aspects of memory encoding and retrieval. Contents Contributors Key Concepts Resources and References Contributors George A. Miller (1920-2012) Atkinson and Shriffin (1968) Craik and Lockhart (1972) Bransford (1979) Rumelhart and McClelland (1986) Key Concepts The basic idea of Information processing theory […]
Kernberg describes the significance of object-relations on self-esteem regulation and pathological narcissism. Contributors Otto F. Kernberg (1928-present) Key Concepts Otto Kernberg’s theories have been instrumental in the continual development of the ‘Object-relations theory’ of psychology. This field of thought, developed by Melanie Klein in the mid 1900s, is one of the central schools of thought […]
Summary: Mahler describes a series of stages occurring within the first three years of life aimed at the developmental goal of Separation and Individuation. Originator: Margaret Mahler (1897-1985), a Hungarian-born American psychiatrist Keywords: Separation-Individuation, Ego psychology, Developmental stages, Object constancy, Mother-infant interactions
A model of human psyche, transitioning from a paranoid-schizoid to a depressive position, while emphasizing the critical role of parental care during infancy.
Theory of Mind, Empathy, Mindblindness Summary: Theory of mind refers to the ability to perceive the unique perspective of others and its influence on their behavior – that is, other people have unique thoughts, plans, and points of view that are different than yours. Originators and key contributors: Jean Piaget (1896- 1980), a Swiss psychologist, […]
Constructivism as a paradigm or worldview posits that learning is an active, constructive process. The learner is an information constructor. People actively construct or create their own subjective representations of objective reality. New information is linked to to prior knowledge, thus mental representations are subjective. Contents Contributors Key Concepts Resources and References Contributors Lev Semyonovich […]
The cognitivist paradigm essentially argues that the “black box” of the mind should be opened and understood. The learner is viewed as an information processor (like a computer). Contents Contributors Key Concepts Resources and References Contributors Marriner David Merill (1937 – ) Charles Reigeluth (1946 – ) Robert Mills Gagné (1916 – 2002) Jerome Bruner […]