Summary: Social proof describes a psychological phenomenon in which people mirror the actions and opinions of others. In other words, people’s decisions are often impacted by the preferences and modeling of individuals or groups around them. Keywords: informational social influence, marketing, group norms, standards of behavior, testimonials, crowds, social modeling, sales, business, conformity, group conformity, […]
Network Effects
Summary: Network Effects describes the phenomenon how the value of a good or service increases as more people start to use that good or service. Originators: Theodore Vail (1845-1920), Robert Metcalfe (1946-Present) Keywords: network externality, demand-side economies of scale, marketing, customer base, value, monopoly, social media, congestion, good, service Certain products only have value if […]
Prisoner’s Dilemma
Summary: The Prisoner’s Dilemma is a hypothetical scenario which illustrates the difficulty of deciding whether to cooperate or compete with other people. Understanding the costs and benefits of cooperating and competing is applicable to various fields including business, economics, and politics. Originators: Merrill Flood (1908-1991, Melvin Dresher (1911-1992), Albert William Tucker (1905-1995) Keywords: game theory, […]
Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Model of Development (Bronfenbrenner)
Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model is a theory of educational psychology that studies human development over time. Urie Bronfenbrenner was a Russian-American developmental psychologist whose bioecological model was integral to the formation of American Headstart pre-kindergarten programs. [1] He was influenced by fellow developmental psychologist Lev Vygotsky. The model suggests the interactions between the individual and their […]
Metacognition (Flavell)
Metacognition is defined in simplest terms as “thinking about your own thinking.” The root “meta” means “beyond,” so the term refers to “beyond thinking.” Specifically, this means that it encompasses the processes of planning, tracking, and assessing your own understanding or performance. The phrase was termed by American developmental psychologist John H. Flavell in 1979, […]
Maker Spaces
A maker space is a community space in a school or other gathering place where students are able to take part in hands-on learning in creative ways. They are called maker spaces because they provide opportunities for students to design, create, manufacture, and invent new things. They are usually housed in school libraries or other […]
Situated Cognition (Brown, Collins, & Duguid)
Summary: Situated cognition is the theory that people’s knowledge is embedded in the activity, context, and culture in which it was learned. It is also referred to as “situated learning.” Originators & proponents: John Seely Brown, Allan Collins, Paul Duguid Keywords: activity, authentic domain activity, authentic learning, cognitive apprenticeship, content-specific learning, context, culture, everyday learning, […]
Abraham Maslow Biography
In his seminal work “Motivation and Personality, Abraham Maslow wrote: “The scientist who is also something of a poet, philosopher, and even a dreamer, is almost certainly an improvement on his more constricted colleagues.” [6] While he was not talking about himself, it is nonetheless true that Abraham Maslow was not only the scientist known […]
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