Theories of behaviorism, cognitivist and sociocultural theories of learning

In essence, i believe that the three theories of learning can be used in our world today but varies in effectiveness according to the different levels of Jonassen's Taxanomy of Problem.

I disagree with the part of the theory of behaviorism which states that people are selfish. If that was true, then how about people like Mother Theresa and
other people who have sacrificed their personal needs for other people? A behaviorist could argue that it made her feel good. However, my personal view is
that what Mother Theresa went through is not easily justifiable by her feeling good about it.

However, I would agree that most people are selfish. In fact, the carrot and stick system promoted by the behaviorist system is a usable system of education. It is most applicable in solving the lower complexity problems as stated by Jonassen. The system is most effective when used on children but even adults need to have such a system implemented on them. An example of this would be laws and the meritocracy system of capitalist political systems. Laws are the stick and working hard to get what you want is the carrot. However, laws can be broken and that is why the carrot and stick system is only applicable to the ignorant which more often than not, are children.

Moving on to the cognitivist theory of learning, cognitivists believe that the focus is on each different individuals to cater to their different cognitive process so as to educate each of them to the maximum. Regarding this, I would say I tend to agree more with the sociocultural theory of learning which states that it is the 'system' we are in which affects our learning. However, if you ask me my personal opinion, I would say that it is both theories are workable depending on individuals. For instance, most people would tend to follow the norm like for example fashion or the seating arrangement of classes. This would be a case of conforming to the 'system' in which we are in. However, there are also deviants like guys who wear dresses or the school outcast who sits at the front row in a corner. Hence, both systems work but the sociocultural theory or learning would cater more to the masses while the cognitivist system would cater to the standouts who refuse to conform to social forces.

For the cognitivist theory of learning, I would say that the whole list of Jonassen's Taxanomy of Problem can be applied. For the sociocultural theory of learning, however, it is again most effective at lower levels of complexity and slowly loses its effectiveness as problems get more complex. I would, however, mention that dependent on context, the sociocultural theory can be more effective than the behaviorism theory and vice versa. For instance, when you give sweets to children and cane them while teaching them and when you try to use social forces on them, the first one would be more useful. For teenagers however, as long as you can make something look 'cool', they will probably do it as compared to you telling them the merits of working hard to get something and punishment.

In conclusion, the three theories are still applicable in our world today but dependent on the context in which you use them.

Oh, and just for the record, I responded to Bernadette Sandra's blog and the other three I read are Ryan Seah Jiahao, Loh Yee Teng Eunice and Tan Mei Long Chloe.