The constructivistic approach to teaching and learning is based on a combination of a subset of research within cognitive psychology and a subset of research within social psychology, just as behavior modification techniques are based on operant conditioning theory within behavioral psychology.
The basic premise is that an individual learner must actively build knowledge and skills (e.g., 布鲁纳, 1990) and that information exists within these built constructs rather than in the external environment. [See Ullman (1980) versus Gibson (1979) for an overview of this controversy within the cognitive perspective.]
然而, all advocates of constructivism agree that it is the individual's processing of stimuli from the environment and the resulting cognitive structures, 产生适应性行为, 而不是刺激物本身(哈纳德), 1982).