Chapter 2: Theories of Development

What is a Theory?

What is a theory? What are its purposes? How can you tell if a theory is good? What is the relationship between theory and the goals of

research – description, prediction, control, and explanation?

Theories of Development

Psychoanalytic Behaviorism Social Learning Cognitive Biology/Ethological Ecological

Psychoanalytic Theory

Importance of early childhood experiences Emphasis on unconscious forces Three levels of personality – Id, Ego & Superego Psychosexual Stages of Development – correspond to

biological changes Defense Mechanisms

Freud’s Psychosexual Stages

Anal: birth - 18 mos. Oral: 18 mos. - 2/3 Phallic: 2/3 - 6 years Latency: 6-11 Genital: 11/12+

Some Defense Mechanisms

Denial Repression Projection Displacement Reaction Formation

Psychosocial Development

Erikson’s 8 psychosocial stages We develop by confronting and resolving psychosocial

crises Must risk at each stage of development what we

worked so hard to acquire in the previous stage

Erikson’s Stages

Trust vs. Mistrust: year 1 Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt: 2nd year Initiative vs. Guilt: 3-6 Industry vs. Inferiority: 6-11/12 Identity vs. Confusion: 10/12-20 Intimacy vs. Isolation:early adulthood, 20s, 30s Generativity vs. Stagnation: middle adulthood, 40s-50s Integrity vs. Despair: late adulthood, 60s+

Behavioristic Approaches

Classical Conditioning John Watson Mary Cover Jones Lil Albert Associations, counterconditioning

Figure 2.1  Classical conditioning. In (1), an unconditioned stimulus leads to an unconditioned response, whereas in (2) a conditioning stimulus does not lead to the same response. In (3), the unconditioned stimulus is paired with the conditioning stimulus a number of times so that eventually the conditioning stimulus alone elicits the original response, as in (4).

Behavioristic Approaches

Operant Conditioning Patterns of reinforcement and punishment shape behavior BF Skinner Postive and negative reinforcement

Figure 2.2  Schematic model of operant conditioning. In (A), the operant behavior alone is not rewarded. In (B), conditioning begins. The operant behavior takes place by chance; it is immediately reinforced. It occurs again, by chance or deliberately, and the reinforcement is repeated. As the timeline in the figure shows, repetition becomes more and more frequent as the learner catches on. Eventually, the operant behavior continues even without reinforcement at the terminal stage (C).

Social Cognitive Approach

Albert Bandura Children can learn through observation & imitation Importance of modeling (imitation) Direct reinforcement Vicarious reinforcement Inhibitory effect vs. disinhibitory effect eliciting effect Self-Efficacy judgments are important – “I am an

entity capable of action and those actions have predictable consequences.”

Figure 2.3  The four combinations of stimulus effects that define punishment and reinforcement.

Piaget’s Cognitive Approach

Children construct their own cognitive world What is the logic behind children’s reasoning? Children advance cognitively through experience that

causes shifts in their patterns of thinking

Piaget’s Cognitive Approach

4 stages of cognitive development Sensorimotor – birth to 2 (action and sensation) Preoperational – 2-6 years (perception rather than

logic) Concrete Operations – 6-11 years (reversible

actions) Formal Operations – adolescence and beyond (abstract

ideas)

Ethological Approach

Imprinting, critical period Lorenz

Figure 2.4  A model of imprinting. Under appropriate environmental conditions, exposure to a releaser during the critical period leads to imprinting, which is manifested in predictable behaviors. Imprinting does not occur in the absence of a releaser or if the releaser is presented too early or too late.

Ecological Approach

Vygotsky’s emphasis on culture and historical events Significant historical events can have an impact on

an entire generationWarFamine/or the Great DepressionTechnology – such as space travel or the

internet

Ecological

Urie Brofenbrenner

Microsystem Mesosystem Exosystem Macrosystem Chronosystem

Figure 2.5 Bronfenbrenner’s ecological view of influences on the developing child. At the center is the child in immediate, face-to-face interactions in a variety of microsystems. Microsystems also interact and affect one another to define mesosystems, which are themselves affected by wider social realities (exosystems). All of these ecological systems reflect the dominant cultural values and beliefs of wider society (macrosystem). And all of them change over time (chronosystem).